Zack Brown anc Paul Emsley post the latest summary of articles from the debian-hurd mailing list. Hot topics in this edition: “Status of ef2sprogs” … “GCC-3.0” … “Status of some packages.”

Linux Journal reviews AppGen’s Moneydance, a Quicken-like personal finance manager written in Java: “…if Quicken is what has been keeping you locked into that other OS, I think you may be able to reclaim a disk partition if you switch over to
Moneydance.”

IBM developerWorks: “Perl is a convenient and effective tool for complex Web applications development. However, even experienced
programmers resist Perl because it seems difficult to learn and use. This article demonstrates that object-oriented
implementation of Perl simplifies the effort and could be much more effective than other Web technologies, especially with
separate design and application functionality.”

Linux is fast becoming a key component of the Network age of today
and the future. Linux is now core of systems ranging from small smart
devices to supercomputer clusters. A working knowledge of Linux is
critical for professionals who use computing devices as tools for their work..

“Linux Fundamentals” course is designed for busy professionals with no
prior experience with Linux or any other flavor of UNIX. This two-day
introduction to Linux broadens their horizons with a detailed overview
of the operating system. Attendees learn how to effectively use a Linux system as a valuable tool. They get familiar with the architecture and various components of the operating system, learn both graphical and command line tools, and learn to do basic networking. This class is scheduled for July 21 – 22, 2001.

In addition to carefully designed lecture material delivered by
experienced Linux professionals, there is a heavy emphasis on hands-on learning. Attendees get a powerful Linux laptop on their arrival, alongwith other class materials.
At the end of the class they take this laptop with them to further enhance their Linux expertise. Professionals with basic UNIX experience can enroll in the the popular “Linux Certification Bootcamp” class.

About LinuxCertified.com

The mission of LinuxCertified.com is to bring Linux to mainstream IT
usage. We firmly believe that Linux has an enormous potential, once it crosses over from the early adopters to the more mainstream users. Our goal is to help this transition by providing:

– Linux trained and certified professionals

– Linux certified products that cater to mainstream users rather than
early adopters.

Contact:

info@linuxcertified.com

http://www.linuxcertified.com/

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Linux Professionals Institute and the LPI logo are trademarks of the
Linux Professional Institute, Inc.
RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc.
LinuxCertified.com is an independent entity from organizations providing Linux certification exams, and they do not sponsor our classes.
All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.

Today, OSDN’s parent company, VA Linux Systems, Inc., announced that
the
company would be taking some significant restructuring steps. As part
of that plan, the company is exiting the hardware business.

However, as you and other loyal readers of OSDN know, OSDN’s focus has
always been on the services we provide to the Open Source community,
and
we do not expect any major changes to OSDN as a result of this
restructuring. The community that is OSDN is a very important part of
who we are.

What does this mean for you? It means that that all of your favorite
OSDN sites — like Slashdot.org, SourceForge.net, freshmeat.net,
Themes.org, Linux.com, NewsForge.com, Geocrawler and QuestionExchange
— will be operating as usual. Indeed, with more focused resources of the
company available to OSDN, we are expecting more growth, more new
features, and more of all that’s made OSDN a success.

I cannot emphasize this point enough: The community is very
important
to OSDN and is ingrained into our culture. We are here to serve the
community, and we look forward to being here for a very long time,
working with you.

— Richard French
Senior Vice President & General Manager
OSDN

It’s on BusinessWire: VA Linux Systems, Inc.
(Nasdaq:LNUX – news) today outlined its new strategy focusing on application software, as well
as significant restructuring steps designed to immediately improve cash flow and reduce operating
losses.

As part of this strategy, VA Linux will exit the systems hardware business. Hardware orders will be
accepted until July 10, 2001, with the goal of completing all deliveries by the end of the fiscal year,
July 28, 2001. Staffing levels will be reduced by approximately 35% from the fiscal third quarter level
of 436 employees. The majority of layoffs will occur during the current fiscal quarter, with the
remainder over the next several months, as VA completes certain obligations to its customers,
primarily in the area of hardware service and support. (VA Linux owns NewsForge.)

It’s posted at LWN.net. Among the items: “KDE 2.2 Alpha Packages: If you want to live on the bleeding edge, Ivan
E. Moore II, the Debian KDE maintainer has made preliminary [2]KDE 2.2
packages available on people.debian.org.”

– By Grant Gross –

If you’re a business owner wondering just how this Linux thing can fit into you business, consider this announcement from IBM today: The number of business applications available for Linux has increased by 30 percent in 2001 alone, at least by IBM’s count.

IBM now counts 2,300 business-related applications available for Linux, according to IBM’s Global Solutions
Directory, which lists applications from IBM and independent software vendors.

One underlying message from Linux supporter IBM: There’s never been a better time to use Linux, whether you’re running a small mom-and-pop business or a large corporation.

Scott Handy, director of Linux solutions marketing for IBM, expects that rate of growth in business applications to keep up with the projected rate of growth in the Linux server market, which IDG projects will be 28 percent a year until 2004.

“We’re very happy to see the shift to business applications in addition to what Linux was used for before,” Handy says. “Linux has become a marvelous operating system, and now it’s really becoming a marvelous business operating system. It’s really self-sustaining at that point.”

The IBM press release, released this afternoon, also promotes IBM, of course. In this case, how IBM can help independent software vendors port their applications or create new applications for Linux.

Among the software vendors working with IBM to, in the words of the press release, ” deliver Linux-based applications,” are:

• SAP, “providing e-business software solutions,” according to the press release;
• QAD, “delivering collaborative commerce applications for global
  manufacturing enterprises and their private exchanges;”

• SAS, “delivering business intelligence, e-commerce and customer
  relationship management solutions;”

• jBASE Software, “offering client/server and World Wide Web based
  multidimensional database management software.”

IBM offers about a half-dozen ways for small software houses to work with Linux, from the previously mentioned Global Solutions Directory to a handful of Linux competency centers to worldwide IBM Developer Centers, where ISVs can port and test their Linux-based applications with IBM middleware and servers.

Among the Linux applications listed at the IBM Global Solutions Directory are offerings from Oracle, Red Flag Software, H.R. Management Software, and Innovative Software Europe. To search the directory database for Linux applications, click on the “Search for solutions now!” button on the front page, then click on the “Operating systems” button. Check “Linux,” then hit search.

The Register adds more to the continuing story. Caldera sees its per-seat license as putting it “midway
between Red Hat and Microsoft in the ideological debate about free software.”

Oreillynet.com has an article with its take on Microsoft announcing plans to release a
shared-source version of its .NET infrastructure for Windows and FreeBSD.