O’Reilly explains what UNIX filesystems are, how they work, and how they are organised. The article is technical and thorough.

ZDNet reports that Linux’ market share grew by 24% in the server market, while Windows only grew 20% last year, though Linux’ desktop share is estimated at only 1%.

Owen Taylor released GTK+ 1.2.9pre3 and said, barring major bug reports, it would become GTK+ 1.2.9.

Kelly McNeill writes, “”Open source software is a serious threat to all that is good and true and right in this country.” Not surprising and easily dismissed as anti-GNU (GNU’s not Unix) rhetoric from a company that is running scared, but the issues are much older, wobblier and more complex than “Windows good, Linux bad”
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The threat to innovation must be seriously considered. If GNU-ware can be used effectively in place of applications that cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, how can serious software companies hope to compete? Huge financial and intellectual resources are being drawn away from industry by open source freeware.””

Computer World reports on IBM’s efforts to spur Linux-based mainframe sales. From the article: “Linux is bringing a lot more flexibility to the mainframe than ever before”.

Alan Cox posts the latest changes and updates to the Linux kernel. In 2.4.2-ac7: Updates to fusion drivers, a few minor networking repairs, ‘make menuconfig’ issue fixed, and further Natsemi updates.

From Enterprise Linux Today: “After two years of hype, 2001 should be the year that Linux really breaks out as a significant player in the retail point-of-sale (POS) market, according to a new study released from IHL Consulting Group.”

“KDE developer Michael Goffioul today announced that he is actively addressing an area in KDE that warrants improvement: printing. He has committed source code to KDE CVS for a new KDE printing system to replace the limited Qt printing framework.” Read the announcement at KDE News.

CNET News.com says that handheld maker Palm is “on the verge” of announcing a souped-up version of its low-end M100 model to replace the Palm IIIxe. The M105 will ship with 8MB RAM and a serial cradle for syncing to a PC. Like its M100 cousin, the M105 cannot be upgraded. Suggested retail price is $200.

There is an Open Source alternative to the MP3 format: Ogg Vorbis. ZDNet reports “The team behind the Ogg Vorbis format has created the Xiph Foundation, which will serve as a nonprofit parent for the open-source development efforts. The programmers are trying to create a format for online music that will carry none of the patent license fees associated with MP3 and other proprietary technologies.”