A Smart Partner column makes the point that Linux and Unix are embracing the new 64-bit Itanium chip, then asks the question, “Where’s Microsoft?”

IDG.net (via CNN.com) has a short primer. It asks, “Why doesn’t everyone use Open Source software?” Good question! The answer: “The concept of open source software is sometimes hard to
understand for IT executives who are familiar with traditional
ways of buying software. Concerns about support and
accountability are valid when thinking about using open source
software. But supporters assert that open source is more
reliable because problems can be found and fixed quicker.

The success of the Linux operating systems (a version of the Unix operating systems and a free alternative to
Microsoft Windows) has improved the reputation and increased the popularity of open source development.”

All the information is at LWN.net.

Posted at LWN.net: Two Keynote panels on the topic “Is Open Source Software
THREATENING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?” will be held at Linux@work
Europe 2001 in Paris and Brussels. The panels are June 13 and 14.

An anonymous reader tips us off to the story at LinuxDevices.com. The story has the specs and a picture of the device.

It’s at ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/alan/2.4/. Intermediate diffs are available from http://www.bzimage.org.Cox writes, “In terms of going through the code audit almost all the sound drivers
still
need fixing to lock against format changes during a read/write. Poll
creating
and starting a buffer as write does and also mmap during write, write
during
an mmap.”

2.4.5-ac8
o Fix sign handling bug in random sysctl (me)
| From Stanford tools
o Add more idents to the NS558 driver (Vojtech Pavlik)
o Fix oops on some HID descriptor sets (Vojtech Pavlik)
o Fix reuse bug in UML net code + clean up (Jeff Dike)
o ES1370 driver locking (Frank Davis)
o Update init/main.c patch for umask (Andrew Tridgell)
o Fix uml fault race, and looping fault on
protection error (Jeff Dike)
o Update devices.txt (H Peter Anvin)
o Update the airo driver (fix pci pm oops.
spinlock abuse, delete after kfree, unchecked
copies) (Jeff Garzik)
o Remove old UML umn driver (Jeff Dike)
o Fix resource leaks and printk levels in isapnp (Mike Borrelli)
o Add new procfs programming documentation (Erik Mouw)
o Fix usb xconfig breakage (Andrzej Krzysztofowicz)
o Replace accidentaly lost UP_APIC help (Mikael Pettersson)
o Olypmic driver update (Mike Phillips)
o Clean up LVM spelling, debug macros (Andreas Dilger)
o Make various bits of LVM static (Andreas Dilger)
o Make lvm_snapshot_use_rate its own function (Andreas Dilger)
o Make lvm_do_lv_create loop the right amount
o Fix lvm stamping on a semaphore causing an oops
o Fix lvm hardware block size handling (Andrea Arcangeli)

2.4.5-ac7
o UML cleanups (Jeff Dike)
o Trap invalid addresses in UML ethernet driver (Jeff Dike)
o Reimplment UML user space access (Jeff Dike)
o Add device node support to hostfs (Jorgen Cederlof)
o Fix hang if the UML net helper fails to run (Jeff Dike)
o Support setting time in UML kernels (Livio Baldini Soares)
o Move more non portable code out of UML core (Jeff Dike)
o Merge most of remaining UML ppc changes (Chris Emerson)
o Printk cleanups, remove one non portable (James Stevenson)
o Add speaker mixer support to the cmpci mixer (Carlos Gorges)
o Fix inittdata ordering in i2c docs (Andrzej Krzysztofowicz)
o Add usb skeleton driver (Greg Kroah-Hartmann)
o Fix ns558 unload (Marcus Meissner)
o Further cs46xx fixing (Frank Davies)
o S/390 updates from the IBM folks (Martin Schwidefsky)
o CS46xx pop/crackle fixes on IBM T20 (Thomas Woller)
o Make USB require PCI (me)
o Tulip driver update (Jeff Garzik)
o Fix slip/slhc missing symbols problem (Michael Guntsche)
o IRDA updates (Dag Brattli)
o Add cs4232 isapnp probing (Marcus Meissner)
o Merge airo_cs driver (Benjamin Reed, Javier Achirica,
Jean Tourrilhes)
o VIA workarounds for APIC IRQ routing (Jeff Garzik)
o Fix bootmem.c comment cut&paste accident (Richard Urena)
o Update LVM with new VG_CREATE ioctl (and (Joe Thornber)
VG_CREATE_OLD for back compatibility)
o Fix pv_t/lv_t confusion in lv_status_bydev_req (Joe Thornber)
o Lots of update/fixes for _lv_status_by* code (Joe Thornber)
o Add support for I2O IOP’s requiring private
resource spaces (me)
o Hopefully fix hid jerkiness (Michael)

From Debian.org: The first Linux Expo in Italy takes place from June 6th to 7th in Milano. The Debian project has received the opportunity to run a booth in the
“.Org” pavillon demonstrating its work. An italian delegation of Debian with Federico Di Gregorio will run the booth.

A column at ZDNet focuses on the difference. “What both sides ignore is that
[closed source] and [Open Source] serve two very
different purposes for two
very different types of
developers, and there is a
place for both within the
current IT community. There
are developers who work for
or are software vendors: their
primary business model
comes from the sale and
support of applications. There
are also developers who
work for or are, what I will
call, and ‘tool makers.’
Toolmakers create
applications for their
company’s or their own use.”

A story at Interactive Week says that while Intel’s new Itanium chip isn’t selling like hotcakes, it could give Linux vendors “a sterling opportunity ot make much-desired inroads into high-end computing environments.”

From PR Newswire: Lineo, Inc. a leading
innovator in embedded systems, real-time and high availability solutions,
today announced it has created a new open standards platform based on Java and
Linux with several key partners including Insignia Solutions (Nasdaq: INSG),
Trolltech AS and Opera Software AS. The new software platform, Embedix Plus
for Smart Handheld Devices, will incorporate Lineo Embedix SDK, Insignia
Jeode Java Virtual Machine technologies, Trolltech Qt/Embedded
graphical user interface and the Opera 5 for Linux Web browser. The platform
has been developed to provide manufacturers with a complete solution to more
quickly produce smart handheld devices, PDAs and other information appliances.