The Linux Journal interviews Ted Ts’o on the Linux kernel team’s plans for version 2.5. LJ asks, what’s going to be really cool in 2.5, and what’s going to be really hard in 2.5?

Ts’o answers: “Zero-copy in the networking and block device layers. Better scalability in the block device layer in general. No more two terabyte
limitations, which is a good thing given that it might not be long before it becomes a real, fundamental limitation, even for ‘normal’ systems.”

Sm@rt Partner has more information on IBM’s aquisition of the Informix database. IBM will partner with Ascential Software, Informix’s remaining subsidiary, by marketing the company’s database management tools. More from InfoWorld.

The announcement is at Progeny.com. Progeny Linux Systems, Inc. announces the
release of the first edition of Progeny Debian. The download edition is available now at
www.progeny.com/download. The box set will be available on April 23rd.

Slashdotters discuss a report at Scientific American saying that 15,817 scientists have threatened to boycott all journals that
refuse to provide free public online access to their articles.

Anonymous Reader writes, “Red Hat’s latest release is here with the much improved 2.4 kernel. Its new features make it a compelling upgrade for both server and workstation installation. In addition, there has been more of an emphasis on security in this release than in previous Red Hat releases.” The story’s at OSFaq.

An anonymous reader tipped us off to this ZDNet item on Dan’l Lewin, Microsoft’s Silicon Valley-area evangelist. With strong name recognition from a 25 year career that included stints at Apple and NeXT, Lewin “provides a familiar face that can open doors in Silicon Valley, making him quite a catch for Microsoft” as the software company embarks on its quest to make .Net a computing standard.

Brian Vincent posts the latest summary of discussions and news of interest to Wine users and developers.

LinuxProgramming.com: “pydoc.el is an Emacs/XEmacs/InfoDock interface to the Python pydoc system.
It provides convenient integration with powerful programming editors,
speeding both Python learning and day-to-day access of reference
documentation while programming.”

SecurityPortal.com posts highlights of major Linux security announcements made from april 16 through April 22. Kernel upgrades, Samba printing vulnerabilities, VMWare issues, and more.

Interactive Week: “Most server vendors produce their own version of a storage appliance that is
mounted on a rack and loaded with disk drives. In addition, some of the fastest
growing start-ups – the former Cobalt Networks, now part of Sun Microsystems;
Procom Technology; and Snap Appliances – produce storage appliances. So do big
players, including Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. Last week VA
Linux Systems announced a Linux-based storage appliance, the 9450 model.” (Disclosure: VA Linux owns NewsForge).