ZDNet has a column taking issue with Linux being, as some have called, a “disruptive technology.” Says the column, “Linux plays by a different set of rules, yet it is attracting many conventional players anyway. To me, this is what’s truly disruptive.”

From the GNOE News site: “Nautilus Preview Release 3 is the final preview release
before Eazel ships Nautilus 1.0. PR3 has improved usability
and performance.

Nautilus provides access to Eazel Services, Web-based services that
include the integrated Eazel Software Catalog and Eazel Online Storage.”

From LinuxPR: NuSphere Corporation, provider of NuSphere MySQL, the leading packaged software
product for the open source database marketplace, today announced its partnership with OpenAir.com.

OpenAir, a suite of Web-native Professional Services Automation tools, will incorporate NuSphere MySQL as the preferred solution for
its recently launched data back-up service. The OpenAir back-up service enables users to back up the data in their OpenAir account at
any time, providing for added security and peace of mind.

IDG.net has a story about Oracle wanting to get Linux developers using the Oracle9i application server and the latest version of the Oracle8i database by offering an “Oracle Fast Start Kit” for free. Read the press release at PR Newswire.

Posted at LWN.net: The LPRng port, versions prior to 3.6.26, contains a potential vulnera-
bility which may allow root compromise from both local and remote systems.
The vulnerability is due to incorrect usage of the syslog(3) function.
Local and remote users can send string-formatting operators to the print-
er daemon to corrupt the daemon’s execution, potentially gaining root
access.

From LinuxPR: The Colorado Linux Info Quest (March 29-30) board of
directors is pleased to announce the addition of Hewlett Packard to our stellar list
of top level sponsors. HP joins LWN.net, tummy.com, Compaq, and SGI in
bringing this premier Linux event to the Rocky Mountain region for the second
year in a row.

ZDNet reports that the 2.4.1 kernel of Linux is attracting IT people because of a journaling file system “that allows administrators to more quickly recover date in the event of system failure.” Linux systems fail?

(Please, load a cheesy TV announcer voice into your
head now.) You’ve been pining for years — OK, days at least —
for an Open Source news that will cater to your needs,
your desires, your interests, and yours only. Maybe
you love FreeBSD
but you couldn’t care less about Linux news. Maybe you
want news about ReiserFS
and dynamic dns tool, and nothing else. Maybe you’re a
press
release junkie, but other news seems so ….
newsy. (For the “official” press release about these NewsForge features, check out LinuxPR.)

Boy, does
NewsForge.com
have a deal for you, starting this week!

NewsForge, the comprehensive Open Source news site
brought to you by the fine folks at OSDN and VA Linux,
has launched keyword customizable daily headlines for
users and customizable news feeds for other Web
sites.

That’s right, you heard it correctly, you decide which
of the dozens of daily NewsForge stories you want in
your email inbox or on your Web site through an RSS
feed. You get both our groundbreaking original
reporting and our links to the articles on the
hundreds of Web sites we scour for all the Open Source
news that’s fit to print. But instead of wading
through dozens of stories a day, you get only the news
you want!

Think of NewsForge as your personal Open Source news
tracker and time saver. You decide what keywords to
include, and our NewsForging technology, conceived by
editor-in-chief Robin Miller and created by
programmers Jamie McCarthy and Cliff Wood, will hunt
it down like the dog it is. Or choose one or two or
five of the two dozen broader topic areas from
NewsForge, and we’ll deliver Open Source news about
“government,” “mulitmedia,” or “patents and
trademarks.”

Said McCarthy, “This thing where readers can pick what
keywords they’re interested in, and only get mail or
an RSS feed on those stories, that’s pretty cool. I
hope VA patents it. I figure, if US5443036:
Method of exercising a cat gets a patent, we
deserve two or three.”

Added McCarthy, “Maybe four.”

All this for the low, low price of … zero. Nothing,
zilch, zip, free as in beer and as in speech.
Take our links, please.

NewsForge managing editor Grant Gross, when called at
9:50 a.m. Monday to be told of the new features,
added: “Ummmm, yeah, who is this? Let me wake up …
Ohhhh, that soooo rocks! This is the best thing that’s
happened to Open Source news, ever!”

But, wait, there’s more! Act now, and NewsForge will
throw in a new cartoon, the popular BadTech, joining
our current cartoon lineup, Kevin and Kell, at the
bottom of the NewsForge front page. BadTech joins the
NewsForge family this week.

From LinuxPR: NuSphere Corporation, provider of NuSphere MySQL,
the leading packaged software product for the open source database marketplace, announced today
that it has formally contributed a significant code enhancement to MySQL, providing database
programmers with more complex transactional capabilities that dramatically expand business
application possibilities for MySQL.

Linux Journal has a column comparing the software industry’s testing methods to others such as the auto industry. “What the automotive industry knows, and the software industry needs to learn, is how to do rigorous unit testing. Unit testing involves
testing each function individually to verify that it works under many different circumstances …
Only after subjecting the prototype to harsh tests under extreme pressure is it integrated with the rest of the vehicle for further tests.”