LinuxGram reports that TheKompany.com is looking for people to help “craft sets of shapes for Kivio flowcharting kit,” its Linux-based challenger to Microsoft’s Visio.

From Linux Journal: “One longstanding type of application often described as ‘The Thing Linux Needs’ is the accounting system. Considerable variation exists in
what people would like to see included in an accounting system. Most notably, they want something Gooey and Friendly, intended for personal
finance, reminiscent of Intuit’s Quicken or Microsoft Money; or they want something Gooey and Friendly, intended for business finance,
reminiscent of Intuit’s QuickBooks or PeachTree Accounting. From its advertising, you might expect the Linux General Ledger (LGL) to be a
program more like the latter than the former.”

ZDNet has a column about a writer’s switch to Linux. “For me, the most compelling thing about Linux is the pace of innovation.” Here’s another ZDNet story about a switch to the Linux desktop, by the editor of LinuxDevices.com.

From LinuxGram: “France Telecom is plowing $7 million into Webb Interactive Services’ Jabber.com instant messaging (IM)
subsidiary, an investment that suddenly gives new life and credibility to Jabber, the XML-based open
source IM competitor to the AOL and Microsoft instant messengers.

Jabber was facing imminent disaster.

In its most recent financial report for last year, Webb warned that without new capital it only had enough
money left to keep operating until June.

It lost $48.6 million in 2000 on sales of only $4 million.”

Reuters has a story about Hewlett-Packard’s decisions about Linux. “Linux is not for everyone,” the story says in reference to HP’s Linux stance.

LinuxGram has a short item. Coventive Technologies, a Taiwan embedded Linux start-up, has named ex-Motorola and AMD executive Rajan Kumar to run its Americas operation as vice president and generation manager.

Posted at LinuxSecurity.com: “This announcement describes a change in the security support status of
the FreeBSD 3.x branch, as well as the introduction of two new methods
for tracking security fixes to FreeBSD 4.3-RELEASE: a FreeBSD CVS
branch based on 4.3-RELEASE which will contain security fixes only,
and the intention to trial binary security update packages for users
of FreeBSD 4.3-RELEASE on the i386 platform.”

ZDNet has another response to Microsoft from Linux creator Linus Torvalds. “You don’t lose money by sharing knowledge, when the terms are that whoever you share with
will share his knowledge back with you. You’re in a stronger position,” Torvalds said.

LinuxGram has a story saying LinuxWizardry, which is apparently short of cash, has delayed two of its key products and is now selling just its $399 VPN/firewall appliance.

From 2600.com (which may not work very soon): “Imagine our surprise when we were told by readers that 2600.com no longer belongs to
2600.com! That’s the nightmare that we were greeted with on Friday due to a bizarre foulup
with Network Solutions … We don’t know anything about these people or what their intentions are. We do know that we
never authorized any sort of a transfer and that we were never notified of any unpaid bill
that might have resulted in the domain becoming available.”