From Wired.com: “At New York’s LinuxWorld, you’re either in or out, and if you’re out, well, in the rest of the world, you’re probably in. Surprise of surprises, Linux inventor Linus Torvalds was temporarily out, which didn’t really mean he was in.”

linuxnews.pl writes “Last night I was playing a bit with Kylix. Unfortunately, because of my poor experience with Pascal and tools like RAD, the game was rather short. But I can say, that with this tool, even a beginner programmer can prepare something what he wants. Unfortunately some part of Kylix functionality uses WINE libraries, so maybe it isn’t exactly a “pure linux application”, but probably that’s what gives Kylix a Windows-like look’n’feel. More (including screenshots) on LinuxNews.pl“

Russ Foster writes “SlashTCO is pleased to announce that Richard Morrell and Lawrence Manning, two of the leading figures in the UK Linux movement, are joining the staff of SlashTCO Limited. Full coverage at SlashTCO.com“

Russ Foster writes “Inpharmatica, a UK based bioinformatics company, is currently running Europe’s largest commercial bioinformatics supercomputer – and it runs on Linux. Pat Leach, the IT Director at Inpharmatica, had come from a commercial IT background and perspective. The SlashTCO team visited Leach, and his colleague Stuart Moodie, at Inpharmatica’s West London HQ to find out more about the company’s high-end Linux deployment. Full coverage can be found at SlashTCO.com“

linuxnews.pl writes “Agenda Hendheld Linux PC is now available to order. Agenda VR3 Developer Edition with 16MB Flash memory and 66MHz CPU costs US$ 179.00. More on LinuxNews.pl“ (Ed. note: This edition is for Agenda Developer
Program members only. It is not
feature-complete and is intended specifically for
software development use.)

Justin Mecham of JabberCentral writes ““A rose is a rose, by any other name.” But is the same true for a Jabber client? I don’t think so.”

“To answer this question, we first have to decide what a Jabber client is. To many, it is a program with which to chat with friends, and join in group discussions. On one level, of course it is. The current cluster of available Jabber clients are focused pretty much on the initial competency (there’s a reason why I’m not using the phrase ‘core competency’) of Jabber: Instant Messaging (IM)….”

“Jabber is an architecture, a way of thinking, a set of protocols, just as much as it is an actual implementation in the form of a server and clients. And this architecture lends itself to much more than the
exchange of gossip between friends, or the hosting of WAMs (Wide Area Meetings 😉 in group chat. It can be injected easily into the virtual routes between systems and users, acting as “message plasma” to bind those entities taking part in conversations as equal partners, and to provide them with a space and time structure in which to engage in those conversations.”

“

– by Tina Gasperson –
When it comes to swag, the T-shirts are the prize. Everybody knows that.
Open Source journalist Emmett Plant wrote about T-shirt and other swag protocol last year. T-shirts definitely
top the list of good stuff to get. But this year, vendors are making show
attendees jump through hoops to get their shirts. Funny thing is, the swag
hunters don’t seem to mind.Who would have ever thought that seemingly rational people would be idiots about
getting their hands on a yard of cotton jersey with some pretty pictures on it?
Want a shirt from Chilliware? Gotta let the booth babe put a temporary tattoo on your face
advertising the company. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Most other places
are putting price tags of the monetary kind on their cloth goods. I’ll never
pay! Give me free shirts or give me… uh, free bumper stickers or something.

Microsoft infiltrating Linux World?

I don’t make this stuff up. Perusing the show floor, I didn’t have to go far
before making several close encounters of the Windows kind. For example, a
company called Metrolink, self-described
as “the leader in X Window system software for embedded, Linux and Unix systems,” in partnership
with Coventive here at Linux World, was making presentations using Powerpoint.
So was Zelerate, “the leading provider of Open Source e-commerce
applications.”

The award for the boldest display of Microsoft usage, though, goes to Veritas.
This “data availability” company’s floor area featured about 10 big-screen
setups running on Windows and using Internet Explorer. I wonder if the
salespeople manning the booth were unsure about why no one was visiting them?
Another company unafraid to show up at a Linux event and run Gates-ware was
Nevrona, a Borland programming tools supplier. Like Veritas, their space was
full-blown Microsoft compliant. At least they don’t claim to be an Open Source
company, like some of the previously mentioned enterprises do.

Where’s that masseuse again, boss?

My editor clued me in to the fact that there was a fifty-ish woman giving
massages somewhere in the rear quadrant of the show floor. After an intense
search, I’ve turned up nothing so far. Where did you say that lady was, Grant?
After a couple of sleepless nights on the wonder mattress at the Ameritania Hotel, I
could use an expert backrub.

NewsForge editors read and respond to comments posted on our discussion page.

Info World reports on the Linux World Expo taking place in New York, and how it is more business oriented this year than last over community oriented.

CNet reports that MP3.com is starting a music licensing unit to help artists maintain control over their music.

TechWeb reports that Linux distributions now come in 188 flavours, of which 28 are derivatives of Red Hat.