From PR Newswire: Caldera Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALD)
today announced Caldera Volution, its Linux-agnostic management product,
claimed the Best Network Server Application Award at LinuxWorld, New York.

From Linux Weekly News: ”
This is to announce the first public release of the Linux-NTFS project
hosted on sourceforge. The first release contains the all new and wonderful ntfsfix utility, which
repairs some of the damage that the current Linux NTFS driver does when
writing to an NTFS partition.”

Abisource: Get the skinny on AbiWord developments and interesting posts to the AbiWord mailing list.

Duke of URL takes a look at the latest from SuSE.

From IDG.net: “Civil liberties are under attack in Europe in the form of software legislation and cyber-crime codes,
open source software guru Richard Stallman (ed. note: RMS won’t appreciate being called an open source anything, but we didn’t say it, IDG did…) warned this weekend.

Stallman called on like-minded Europeans to organize themselves to fight the new legislation,
speaking at a two-day conference hosted by the Flemish Free University of Brussels.

“It is going to be necessary to organize yourselves politically to change government policy,” he told a
packed auditorium of students and Linux devotees Saturday.”

Mary Jo Foley at ZDNET asks us if we’re scared:
“A couple of months back, I asked open-source backers if they were afraid of Linux becoming less of a grassroots
initiative, and more one controlled by the big industry powers. After this week’s LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in
New York, which kicked off with keynotes from IBM and Intel, I’d like to ask again.”

From a WSJ.com article at ZDNET: “A group of respected security researchers has found vulnerabilities in one of the most popular
data-networking technologies that could expose corporate computer networks to eavesdropping and
unauthorized access.

The group, which includes a computer-science professor at the University of California at Berkeley, a recent graduate
and a current computer-science student, discovered the weaknesses in the so-called Wired Equivalent Privacy
algorithm, or WEP. The security measure is employed in the wildly popular 802.11b wireless networking technologies
that allow people to connect to networks using simple radio antennas in their laptop or desktop PCs.”

From PRNewswire: “LynuxWorks, Inc., a provider of
open source and true real-time embedded solutions for the post-PC era, today
announced that FairCom Corporation’s c-tree Plus(R) File Handler V6.10,
embedded database technology, and the FairCom(R) database Server V6.10.34 will
be supported on the LynxOS(R) Real Time Operating System (RTOS) and the
BlueCat(TM) Linux operating system from LynuxWorks.”

Microsoft Corp. on Monday said it will be unveiling new versions of its
core Windows and Office products later this year and will rename them to reflect a
wider range of Web services.

The products will be called Windows XP and Office XP, with the XP standing for experience, the company said in a
statement, reports ZDNET.

– by Robin Miller –
After LinuxWorld in New York last week, I am wondering if big-time Linux shows are still needed. Wouldn’t companies interested in promoting Linux products and services (including NewsForge owner VA Linux) be better off spending their time and money on more general computer and Internet shows than at events devoted strictly to Linux?Although representatives of IDG, the company behind LinuxWorld, kept telling me the show drew “over 20,000 people,” attendance felt thinner than that to me. There wasn’t the same “hubbub” feel I got from LinuxWorld in San Jose last summer or last winter’s one in New York. This show had more and slicker corporate displays, and more people than ever in corporate uniform shirts manning and womanning those displays, but there was less excitement in the air than I felt at previous shows.

I was not the only one who felt this way. A young Gnome booth person said, “It seems like we’re seeing mostly people wearing ‘exhibitor’ badges come to our booth, not so many who are just here to see the show.”

At the same time, there is growing interest in Linux among “mainstream” computer users. I went to a small, regional computer trade show in Tampa, Florida, a few months ago, and the most popular booth in the place was a tiny thing put together by a local Linux Users Group. Their booth was tiny, lacked professional signage, and generally looked like it was put together in a few hours by a group of volunteer hackers — which it was. All it offered was some people (not dressed in corporate garb) who could answer questions about Linux, and some giveaway install CDs donated by several distro publishers. But that was all it took, at a small-time local computer show, to draw an enthusiastic crowd eager to learn more about Linux.

The show’s promoter has invited the LUG back to his next show, and has asked them if they could contact any of the Linux companies that might want to have paid displays. I think at least one or two of them should have small presences there. (I know this is where I would be putting my efforts if I was a Linux company marketing person.)

I can understand why VA, Red Hat, and other Linux companies need to have major presences at Linux-specific shows; they need to “show the flag” to “the community.” IBM, Dell, Compaq, and other companies just moving into Linux surely feel they must do the same. But I don’t think “the community” is overly impressed with big displays and banners. I think “the community” would be just as impressed with small, humble lounge areas where they could meet casually with the vendors’ engineers and programmers, and “the community” would just as soon spend its time in tech sessions as wandering around a trade show floor dominated by sales and marketing people.

There are plenty of computer industry trade shows with bigger attendance than any Linux show, where hoopla is well-received. Last year at Internet World, Red Hat had a comparatively small, rather hidden booth — and it was jammed with people begging for demo CDs. This was fine Linux evangelism. There are ISPcons and many other expos and conferences attended by potential Linux hardware and software users, all of which could benefit from increased Linux presences — and from which Linux companies could benefit by attending.

Perhaps it’s time to scale the Linux-specific shows back a bit; to turn more of them into developers’ conferences and LUGfest-style meetings, and to send the giant corporate displays with “Linux” in 10-foot letters on them to other shows where Linux is still new and exciting — or at least isn’t being featured in every single booth space.

The funny thing is, I don’t believe the lack of need for giant “Linux only” trade shows means Linux is a failure. Rather, it’s an indication of Linux success. Linux is no longer an “upstart” or “alternative” operating system, but part of the mainstream, and those who are selling Linux products and services should not be afraid to go forth into the mainstream computing world, with their heads high, to compete against the rest of the world head-to-head, instead of confining themselves to a Linux ghetto inhabited primarily by people who already believe in the cause.

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