Interviews Section Index

The first two editions of Effective C++ were embraced by hundreds of thousands of programmers worldwide. The reason is clear: Scott Meyers' practical approach to C++ describes the rules of thumb used by the experts--the things they almost always do or almost always avoid doing--to produce clear, correct, efficient code. With the third edition now out, Ibrahim Haddad interviews the author to see what's new.

It will come as no surprise to many that the notion of open source is not just for software. Maria Winslow recently spoke with Bob Waldie, CEO of Opengear, about his efforts to apply the open source model to hardware.

Tom Jackiewicz is the author of Deploying OpenLDAP, a title that aims to dissolve many of the myths and cover the mechnanics of using OpenLDAP in your organization. Martin C. Brown talks to Jackiewicz about his book, his job (managing OpenLDAP servers), and what he does when he isn't working on an LDAP problem.

Translation of an application is one of the most useful ways of getting free and open source projects out to the world. In this interview, LinuxPlanet looks at one such project in Uganda, and learns how time and effort can bring new technology in a familiar language.

With $20 million from a Microsoft settlement in their pockets, what does the often-hyped Linspire have in mind next? According to CEO Michael Robertson, it's OEM time.

Everyone needs a good security pro on their IT team. But where does someone pick up the skills needed to become such a pro? We talked to David Rice from the SANS Institute to learn how to enter a profession needed for all platforms.

With much of the Linux industry consolidating around Novell/SUSE and Red Hat, and some other smaller Linux distributions feeling the squeeze, Mandrakesoft managed to return to profitability in the first quarter of the year. Right now, the Linux distributor is brimming with activity around new products, partnerships, and Web-based services.

One of the few positive things to come out of the current legal battle that The SCO Group is waging towards IBM, Red Hat, and seemingly all things Linux is the growth of a new Web site that provides detailed legal analysis and information surrounding the lawsuits. Groklaw's Pamela Jones sits down for a special year-end interview with LinuxPlanet.

Next month's Enterprise Linux Forum has a lot going for it, including the conference chairman, Jon "maddog" Hall. Managing Editor Brian Proffitt interviews maddog to learn his thoughts on the Forum, Linux in the enterprise, and how corporations and the open source community can better work together.

After you've taken the largest computer company in the world and nimbly embraced one of the most important new phenomena in the industry, spending a tidy $1 billion in the process, what do you do for Act 2? That's the question facing Jim Stallings as he takes over the reins of IBM's Linux initiative. LinuxPlanet contributor Robert McMillan spoke with Stallings recently to ask him about his vision for the future of Linux and to try and get him to answer the big question: How much is IBM spending on Linux today?

Launched by former MandrakeSoft CEO Henri Poole and two other MandrakeSoft refugees in the summer of 2001, Affero is trying to build a standard system of reputation measurement for the Internet. LinuxPlanet recently caught up with Henri to ask him about Affero and his new position on the Board of Directors of the Free Software Foundation.

After years of contributing to the Linux kernel via third parties like Red Hat or SuSE, Oracle is now focusing on more direct participation on the Linux kernel list. And, in the next few weeks it is planning to release a major overhaul of its open source developer site. Robert McMillan interiews Oracle's Linux point man Wim Coekaerts.

Norway's Trolltech AS has formally announced a relationship with IBM, which is using Trolltech's ATopia office application suite as part of its 405LP design. LinuxPlanet caught up with company CEO Haavard Nord to ask him about the IBM deal, the latest on Trolltech's Qt libraries, the embedded device market, and about what Sun could learn from Trolltech's dual-licensing scheme.

"Are software patents about to kill open source? The growing number of questionable software patents and the inability of individual developers to defend themselves from frivolous patent suits has many in the open source community concerned. Now that Microsoft has settled its antitrust case, some hackers worry that it will become more aggressive in its attack on open source. And that could spell a frivolous patent lawsuit for some projects: Wine, Samba or Linux, to name three..."

Recently, Purdue University Professor Gene Spafford gained attention in the Linux community for his disparaging remarks on the Linux operating system's security. But Linux administrators and users should not take his remarks personally: Spafford believes that Linux and Windows each have poor security designs. LinuxPlanet welcomes writer Robert McMillan, who recently interviewed the security expert for his take on the state of computer security today.