LinuxWorld.com has a column about the importance of the Linux desktop, saying if Linux loses sight of the desktop, it could lose the server race as well. “Linus Torvalds himself recently said that the desktop is king. But I get the impression he sees the desktop
market as simply a competitive challenge. To many of us, the thought of Linux dominating the desktop truly is an
escape from tyranny. And we don’t care if we end up running one brand of Linux, several brands of Linux, or a
big mix of Linux and the various free BSDs.”

CRN.com talks with IBM president, Sam Palmisano, after his LinuxWorld address.

“Palmisano’s message: Get on board with Linux and you will
find yourself selling more hardware, software, middleware and
services. The opportunity for solution providers is huge … “

LinuxWorld.com interviews Nat Friedman, CEO of Ximian. “Friedman and de Icaza met at Microsoft. Friedman told me that they met while de Icaza was
interviewing for the Internet Explorer team in Redmond. Friedman was — hold on to your hats — a Microsoft
employee at the time, working on the IIS (Microsoft’s Web server) project. It boggles the mind. They also met
online in a network set up by and for Linux developers.”

Don’t worry, it’s humorfrom Segfault: “In a recent email to the kernel developer’s list, Linus Torvalds announced that he has decided to scrap
the old way of naming kernel releases in favor of a new, more Microsoft-like approach.

Beginning with the new 2.4.2 kernel, the new naming scheme will go into effect. Kernel 2.4.2, for
example, will be known as Linux 3005. Linus’ vision for moving forward, in keeping with the new 3005
designator, would be (for 2.4.3) Linux NextMillenium, (for 2.4.4) Linux MilleniumAfterThat, (for 2.4.5)
Linux NextMilleniumAfterThat.”

From PR Newswire: Computer Associates
International, Inc. announced today that Unicenter TNG, its flagship
eBusiness management solution, was awarded “Best System Integration Solution”
at The LinuxWorld Conference and Expo.

From Information Week: “The last trade show I went to where SGI, IBM,
Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems had four of
the most prominent booths on an otherwise
unremarkable show floor was the now-defunct Unix
Expo in 1994. With so many mainstream Unix
vendors, and even one major-league corporate
software name, Computer Associates, on the show
floor, Linux World Expo (www.linuxworldexpo.com)
barely mustered the traditional, rebellious,
open-source spirit. Add Compaq (owner of Tru64
Unix) and Caldera Systems (which recently acquired
Unixware and some of the SCO Unix product line) to
those companies, throw in Linux operating-system
vendors such as Red Hat, Mandrakesoft, and SuSe,
add a dash of BSD Unix flavor from vendor BSDI,
and you’ve got an operating-system stew that was
as much Unix as it was Linux.”

ABC News has an often-reported story explaining how Linux companies plan to make money some day. “Linux software companies think they can master making a profit by selling
applications built from free, open-source parts. Three of the most prominent, Eazel,
Sun and Corel, have different strategies: one is going with support and services,
one is using free software to drive purchases of costly hardware, and the third
says, hey, time to pay for your application software.”

Reuters reports on the corporate presence at LinuxWorld. “Standing at his booth … Thursday, Jim
Graham, chief technology officer of CodeWeavers, pined
as he compared last year’s Linux World Conference and
Expo with the one this week.

‘There’s kind of a lack of a community,’ said the
executive … The lords of Linux are no longer Don Quixotes living in the
counterculture of the operating systems world. Fewer pony-tails and
beards, which proliferated at earlier conferences that promoted open
source, were in evidence this year.”

From PR Newswire: CompTIA, the Computing Technology
Industry Association today announced that its Linux+ certification program has
welcomed three more companies as cornerstone sponsors. CompTIA is bringing
major industry vendors and customers together to create a globally accepted
benchmark certification for Linux.
Course Technology, Intel Corporation and SuSE have announced their
participation in the development of the new Linux+ certification.

The humor site Segfault has the bad news: “In an announcement that rocked the computing industry yesterday, Snowfox’s roomie declared that
‘Debian is so f*cking stupid.’ Amazon.com was hit hardest … He
went on to say, ‘I can’t believe this crap,’ and ‘what the hell?’ Roomie is a known industry expert and a
key player in Linux reporting, hailed for prounouncing “Linux” without a long U vowel.”