An Associated Press story recounts the recent desktop challenges for Linux, including the closing of Eazel.

Microsoft Senior Vice President Craig Mundie set off a
far-reaching debate recently when he introduced Microsoft’s Shared
Source program, which blends access to source code with the
preservation of strong intellectual property rights by software
developers, and contrasted Shared Source to Open Source and the GNU
Public License.

There’s been a strong response from the open source and free software
communities, accusing Microsoft of trying to co-opt the momentum of
open source with a program that offers superficial similarities, but
few of the real benefits. Microsoft counters that they are trying to
find a balance between the needs of commercial developers and the
lessons learned from the open source movement.

“We think that this is a debate worth having,” says Tim O’Reilly.
“Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein’s book ‘Republic.com’ makes the
case that when people talk only to those who already agree with them,
their views become more extreme, but when they engage with those of
opposite views, both sides move towards the middle. The best way for
the open source community to change Microsoft’s business practices is
to engage them in serious conversation, not just criticize them from a
distance.”

At the O’Reilly Open Source Convention on July 26th, Craig Mundie will
discuss ways in which Shared Source differs from Open Source, and why
Microsoft believes that the Shared Source Philosophy supports a strong
software business case for commercial software developers and their
customers.

Red Hat CTO Michael Tiemann will then make the case for open source.
His speech will be followed by a panel discussion with Tiemann, Mundie,
and other experts on intellectual property and the software industry.
The panel will be moderated by Tim O’Reilly.

About the O’Reilly Open Source Convention:
The 3rd annual O’Reilly Open Source Convention will be held July 23-27,
2001, at the Waterfront Sheraton Hotel and Marina in San Diego,
California. This year’s expanded convention includes over 250 sessions
in 14 tracks on key open source technologies such as Perl, Apache, XML,
Python, PHP, MySQL, Linux, and many more. The convention will attract
over 2000 hardcore system administrators, programmers, and Web
developers, who join the leaders of the critical open source
technologies to learn how to understand, code, and manage these
powerful tools. Held in conjunction with the Open Source Convention,
the O’Reilly Summit on Open Source Strategies, organized by O’Reilly
Research, brings together technology leaders from open source companies
along with executives (CTOs, CIOs, CEOs) from leading companies that
use open source software for strategic advantage. For more information
see: http://conferences.oreilly.com/oscon/.

For more details on Craig Mundie’s speech, please see:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2001/view/e_sess/1834.

O’Reilly Open Source Convention and Perl Conference 5 Early Bird
Registration through June 22, 2001:
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2001/pub/10/register.html.

O’Reilly is a registered trademark of O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All
other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

From the Censorware Project: “The internationally famed spokesperson for the Open Source
movement, Eric S. Raymond, has his website Tuxedo.org blocked by
SurfControl as “hacking.” The poor clueless corporation wrongly defines
hacking as “illegal use of equipment,” “creating viruses,” etc.”

The latest edition of MOSIX is now available. MOSIX is a set of software that enhance the Linux kernel (currently based on 2.4.5) for use in cluster computing. Version 1.0.3 fixes a memory leak bug.

News and notes on the latest release of GNOME-DB/libGDA are available at LinuxProgramming.com: “GNOME-DB/libGDA are a complete framewok for developing database-oriented
applications, and actually allow access to PostgreSQL, MySQL,
Oracle, Sybase and ODBC data sources. Apart from this development
framework,
they also include several applications and utilities which make them
quite suitable for many database-related tasks.”

Kimbro Staken writes “The dbXML Project has released dbXML 0.9 alpha today. With this release the server is feature complete. dbXML is a Native XML Database designed from the ground up to manage large quantities of XML data. More information about this release can be found in the announcement. http://www.dbxml.org/news/06042001-1.html“

Fort Lauderdale, FL June 4, 2001 – Metro Link, Inc., the leading provider of UPnP-enabled technology and graphics for embedded systems, today announced Metro EnableWorks for the Java(TM) Platform with support for the OSGi (Open Services Gateway Initiative) service bundle framework. Metro EnableWorks enables UPnP devices to connect with the Java-technology based OSGi framework targeted for home gateway devices, allowing seamless integration of the two home automation industry standards. Metro Link also reached an agreement with Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), a founding member of the OSGi standard, to allow Metro Link to license Sun’s Java Embedded Server(TM) Technology which is designed to be fully compliant with the OSGi 1.0 specification. This will enable Metro Link to offer a complete solution for connectivity of UPnP devices with the rich world of OSGi gateways and services.

“We have worked hard to become the premiere player in the home automation market and are pleased that our efforts have been recognized by Sun,” said Garry Paxinos, Metro Link CTO. “The integration of Java and OSGi support broadens the scope of products Metro EnableWorks will control in the future and allows more devices to communicate on the same network.”

“Sun is committed to enabling service providers to deliver value-added services over the broadband pipe to home networks”, said Aisling MacRunnels, Director of Marketing for Sun Microsystems. “We have always believed in open standards and been transparent to the various broadband and home networking standards. This agreement will bring the power and security of Java technology-enabled services to UPnP enabled devices.”

Consisting of a UPnP Device SDK and a UPnP Control Point SDK, Metro EnableWorks is designed to provide the developer with a fast, easy path to UPnP compatibility for embedded applications such as set-top boxes, residential gateways, web pads, wireless devices, audio-video equipment, appliances and other consumer electronics.

Metro EnableWorks simplifies the development of UPnP compatible devices by handling all aspects of device discovery, description, control and eventing through a simple, well-documented Java object model and API. The Metro EnableWorks SDKs support both JDK(TM) v. 1.1 and Java(TM) 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE(TM)) and work with any operating system supporting JDK 1.1 or higher. They also work with the Java(TM) 2 Micro Edition (J2ME(TM)) for small, embedded devices.

About Metro Link
Metro Link, Inc. enables consumer electronic devices to connect with appliances such as set-top boxes, Internet appliances and white goods via a network using its UPnP technology and provides graphics for embedded Linux and real-time operating systems. Metro Link, a premiere provider of UPnP technology and a leader in the CEA R7.4 community, was the first to ship an SDK for embedded UPnP devices. To learn more, visit www.metrolink.com or Greg Lafferty at 954-660-2444 or greg@metrolink.com.

All trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

The Register reports that Intel plans to release its 845 chipset — better known as Brookdale — earlier than it had planned. The original ship date was October 2001, but company v.p. told Bloomberg the release will be “earlier than October,” and hopefully in time for the pre-Christmas factory rush.

NCR has designed a futuristic concept ATM, described by Australian IT as “sleek, stylish, [and] aerodynamically designed.” The ATM of the future sports Bluetooth technology, allowing it to chitchat with phones, handhelds, and other wireless gadgets yet to be imagined. As a concept machine, it’s not likely to hit the streets any time soon, but its technology should show up in new cash machines within the next year or so.

“Research In Motion Limited (RIM)
(Nasdaq: RIMM; TSE: RIM), a world leader in the mobile communications market,
and Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced one of the first
Java(TM) technology-based wireless handhelds at the JavaOne conference this
week. Going beyond standard KVM integration, RIM has implemented Java 2 Micro
Edition (J2ME) as the core operating system for the BlackBerry wireless
handheld and has ported BlackBerry applications to work on J2ME. This design
will allow third party applications to tightly integrate with built-in
BlackBerry applications such as calendar and email.” Read the full press release at PR Newswire.