Business Logic vs. Free Software Idealism
For some time now, business and free software have coexisted relatively peacefully. But in recent months this cooperation has shown signs of becoming strained.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 10:04:19 AM EST

GNU/Linux: Source Code and Human Rights
By using Free and Open Source software, you are supporting one of the few initiatives that give developing nations and the poor any hope of participating as equals in the modern world.
Thursday, May 8, 2008 09:56:57 AM EST

GNU/Linux: Too Much about Hate, Not Enough about Pride
Starting from nothing, the free software community has achieved the impossible, confounding all sorts of expectations. So why all the angst?
Monday, April 7, 2008 10:22:30 AM EST

In Defense and Praise of Debian
Should Debian be more commercial, as Ubuntu is? A look inside one of the GNU/Linux movement’s leading distributions.
Monday, February 11, 2008 10:18:58 AM EST

11 Predictions for Free Software in 2008
From KDE to the OOXML controversy to video drivers: a gaze into the crystal ball for free (as in free speech, not as in free beer) software.
Monday, December 31, 2007 09:44:51 AM EST

Innovation in Free Software is No Fantasy
Those who have experienced free software projects firsthand know that they depend on innovation and genrally foster it. And although this isn't a highly innovative era for the computer industry as a whole, free software is an exception--and likely to become more of one as it continues to come into its own. In fact, the very idea of free software is one of the most innovative ideas in the history of computing.
Monday, December 10, 2007 10:57:20 AM EST

Cruisin' with Linux
There's an enormous difference between your average PC consumer and the hardcore computer enthusiast. One of the key differences is how much time someone is willing to expend on a system.
Monday, October 29, 2007 10:12:51 AM EST

The Best Open Source Business Models
Discovering the perfect formula for profiting from an open source project is not easy. There are countless variables that must be considered, many of which determine early on whether or not a project will be successful with the community using it.
Monday, September 10, 2007 11:22:49 AM EST

Put The Power of Linux Into Your Business
So, Mr. Small- and Medium-Businessman, what's holding you up? Don't you need to run a Web site, be able to transfer files around your office, or automate some processes so they run 24/7? Wouldn't you like to put the worry of a virus wiping out your valuable data out of your mind? Have you ever thought about how nice it would be to buy one DVD and be able to load it on all the machines in your company?
Monday, May 14, 2007 10:46:05 AM EST

It Takes a Project to Raze a Forest
One of the basic premises of evolution is that traits that are advantageous to the species are perpetuated and adverse ones winnowed. Extending the metaphor to software design project management, one would expect that modern "best practices" would be the ones that had resulted in the most benefit to companies. James Turner analyzes why this is not usually the case, and what can be done to correct the problem.
Thursday, May 4, 2006 09:02:57 AM EST

Visually Impaired User Weighs In on Assistive Technology Debate
One of the arguments in Massachusetts against OpenDocument centered on the needs of the visually impaired. In this guest column, a visually impaired PC user explains that not only is using an exclusively Windows solution a crash-prone option, it is also far more expensive than equivalent technologies in OS X and, eventually, Linux. Scott Seder makes the case for more open source development in the Assistive Technology arena.
Thursday, January 5, 2006 11:09:09 AM EST

To Serve Small Business
"IT service companies have been telling small businesses 'trust us' for a long time. With nowhere else to turn, our customers trusted us to deliver reliable and economical IT solutions. Was their trust misplaced? Happy with the status quo, failing to investigate or innovate alternatives, have we simply been feeding off our customers?"
Thursday, December 1, 2005 10:04:46 AM EST

Is the Importance of Commercial Linux Distributions Waning?
Maria Winslow gives her take on the power of commercial distros: "The conventional wisdom asserts (and I have argued as well) that only a commercial Linux distribution can provide the 'whole product' to customers, and make the shift to widespread mainstream adoption. But now I'm not so sure..."
Monday, June 13, 2005 02:56:56 PM EST

How Can Vendors Make 64-bit Computing Attractive?
64-bit platforms are here. The operating system of choice, Linux, is here. So what does it take to get more widespread adoption of the next generation of processing power? Rob Reilly has a few words of advice for those hardware vendors.
Monday, May 23, 2005 03:39:47 PM EST

The Closing of the Bazaar
Linux is the bazaar within which many participate. But what happens when one merchant of the bazaar does so well that they overshadow every other member of the market? The bazaar does not go away, but according to Progeny Chief Strategist and Debian founder Ian Murdock, there is a real danger that the strongest Linux company can limit access to what is really open-source and free about Linux.
Monday, September 8, 2003 01:21:39 PM EST

LinuxWorld Expo New Haven for Corporate Users, Vendors
The end of the Linux as a geek-oriented operating system has officially arrived. This change has been coming for quite a while and it was confirmed last week during the LinuxWorld Expo in Manhattan. Is it a joyous occasion or a requiem for the beanbag chairs? LinuxPlanet Editor Brian Proffitt reports on the change from within.
Sunday, January 26, 2003 10:00:39 AM EST

Linux in the Enterprise Closer Than You Think
Meeting and greeting members of the corporate community has given LinuxPlanet editor Brian Proffitt a new perspective on what's needed in the enterprise. More applications? Better support? Stronger education? Maybe so. Or maybe Linux just needs a clearer message.
Thursday, December 12, 2002 01:50:18 PM EST

.comment: Linux Lewis vs. Microsoft Tyson
Recent developments have given Linux supporters cause for hope. But favorable government rulings and computer companies taking new interest in Linux take us only part way, says Dennis E. Powell. They let us enter the battle -- but it's still up to us to win.
Wednesday, January 30, 2002 04:02:55 AM EST

.comment: Judge Robert Bork on the Microsoft Settlement
Despite knee-jerk responses from all points on the political spectrum, U.S. v. Microsoft is not a political case but instead one of right and wrong, as Dennis E. Powell learned in an interview with controversial and outspoken antitrust expert Judge Robert Bork.
Wednesday, January 23, 2002 10:38:27 AM EST

.comment: The Trouble with January
What is it with January? Every year at this time, weird bugs and malfunctions spring to life. Dennis E. Powell describes this year's crop at his house.
Wednesday, January 16, 2002 03:07:30 PM EST

.comment: Why Windows Users Should Oppose the Settlement (and Other Notes That Defy Categorization)
"Windows users should hate the settlement; the dean of KDE bugs gets squashed; the shootout on bootloader hill; and an idea for bringing Linux to those who could really use it. Dennis E. Powell clears his desk."
Wednesday, January 9, 2002 10:02:18 AM EST

.comment: A Two-Pound UNIX Workstation On the Cheap
Linux might not take to Toshiba's tiny Libretto like a penguin to water, but with a little effort you can own a feather-weight Linux laptop for very little money. Dennis E. Powell explores the risks and rewards of two-pound Linux on the cheap.
Wednesday, January 2, 2002 03:13:46 PM EST

.comment: I Want One!
From a nifty little notebook that's difficult to find to new notebook peripherals standards to a more notebook-friendly Linux distribution, Dennis E. Powell describes things he wants, but won't get, for Christmas.
Wednesday, December 19, 2001 02:32:58 AM EST

.comment: Crunch Time
The public comment period on the proposed Microsoft settlement has opened. Dennis E. Powell offers a lesson in guerilla civics: why you should care and how you can make your opinion count.
Wednesday, December 12, 2001 02:07:42 AM EST

.comment: Good Idea or Wacky Fantasy?
There is a lot of duplication of effort among Linux productivity applications developers, some of it unnecessary. Dennis E. Powell, in a fit of insanity or, possibly, clarity, proposes a LUPI solution.
Tuesday, December 4, 2001 10:12:20 PM EST

Editor's Note: Is Ximian Practicing Appeasement or Practicality?
Ximian announced the final release of Evolution 1.0 today, providing the Linux desktop with what may be the strongest e-mail client and PIM going. It also announced a proprietary software offering that will allow Evolution to interoperate seamlessly with Microsoft's Exchange server. If anyone had doubts that Ximian has parted ways with the Anything But Microsoft crowd, it's time to lose them as the company Miguel de Icaza founded to polish the ideologically pure desktop he created joins the list of Linux outfits exploring mixed licensing models and life in the Not-Post-Microsoft Era.
Monday, December 3, 2001 01:25:34 PM EST

.comment: Other Agendas
Alternate agendas, ulterior motives, conspiracy theories, and inappropriate advocacy -- all have permeated Linux, says Dennis E. Powell, and they can end up harming those things they are intended to help.
Wednesday, November 28, 2001 01:08:45 AM EST

.comment: In Praise of IBM
IBM, computing's 800-pound gorilla, has made a big commitment to Linux. Will it extend to the desktop? Dennis E. Powell reports that his friends at the Armonk leviathan hope so, but in any case, Linux profits from IBM's involvement.
Wednesday, November 21, 2001 05:48:49 AM EST

.comment: Leveraging Linux
Sooner or later, the lack of security in Microsoft products is bound to attract the attention of lawyers, who Dennis E. Powell believes will go after the companies that use them. And then, Powell writes, Linux knowledge will be a premium commodity.
Wednesday, November 14, 2001 03:15:00 AM EST

.comment: The Settlement Sucks
Dennis E. Powell argues that while Microsoft may well have evaded the stiff penalties many were hoping for, there's still an opportunity in the form of a comment period, during which citizens can encourage the court to consider whether the settlement was truly in the public's interest. Is it too late for justice? Or has justice been served?
Wednesday, November 7, 2001 03:00:42 AM EST

.comment: Brain-Munching Insects and SuSE 7.3
Headaches come in many forms. One of the two that currently have Dennis E. Powell floored is the "update" routine in SuSE 7.3. Read about why if you're planning to update to SuSE 7.3 from a working installation of 7.2, you might want to proceed with caution.
Wednesday, October 31, 2001 02:28:56 AM EST

.comment: The Distribution We Need
While Microsoft says no one should talk about its products' dangerous lack of security, Dennis E. Powell argues that in the current world more than pretend security is essential -- and wonders when we'll see a Security-Enhanced Linux kernel in a mainstream distribution, along with a more user-friendly way of filtering the flood of spam to come.
Wednesday, October 24, 2001 01:47:32 AM EST

.comment: The Plateau
Step back and take a look at the Linux of today and you might be surprised. Dennis E. Powell was as he realized that the new crop of Linux distributions are something he's comfortable recommending even to those who are not especially technically inclined. The improvements left to make, he found, are because Linux users seek perfection.
Wednesday, October 17, 2001 01:44:53 AM EST

.comment: KDE3 Is Coming
In this week's .comment, Dennis Powell leads the way through a build of the KDE Project's first alpha release of KDE 3. Even adventurous users may want to wait for another release before beginning the process of chipping in bug reports, he says. Beyond the normal hangups of alpha software, however, is a more troubling issue: that of backward compatibility between Qt 3 and the large library of apps built around Qt 2. Will library creep endanger Linux in the enterprise?
Wednesday, October 10, 2001 02:45:00 AM EST

.comment: Bought and Paid For
The old dictum about politics and sausages appears to hold true once again, as Dennis Powell takes us on a tour of the ramifications of the SSSCA, a bill worded so vaguely that it could either prove meaningless or criminalize Linux. To the bill's primary backer in Congress, though, it's nothing personal: just another day on the payroll.
Wednesday, October 3, 2001 01:46:03 AM EST

.comment: Strategic Linux
In the wake of another week of worm madness, this time with Nimda, Dennis Powell takes stock: the Gartner group says it's time to look at something besides IIS while Microsoft rewrites its code - something for which few are holding out hope even as it underscores the danger of single-source software. It's time, says Powell, for developers and distributors to step up and work out the challenges posed by a diverse, decentralized development model while demonstrating that Linux is the best solution for protecting our information infrastructure.
Wednesday, September 26, 2001 12:30:55 AM EST

The StartX Files: How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Fresh from summer vacation, Brian Proffitt fills us in on the latest from Microsoft. Is Windows XP a Linux-killer? It seems "any of the major distributions make more progress when they do a major point release." How about Word 2002? According to Proffitt, a few new useful features are mixed liberally with enough gimmicks to make it a questionable proposition. Bottom line? "Frankly, I don't think there has ever been a better time for Windows users to really examine Linux as a viable alternative."
Thursday, September 20, 2001 04:45:42 PM EST

.comment: A Different View of Security
In the wake of world-changing events, it's important to remember the basics of security at many levels. Dennis Powell comments on backups, patches, and the questions surrounding personal freedom in a wounded society that's proud of its openness.
Wednesday, September 19, 2001 12:39:33 AM EST

.comment: Of Freedom
Dennis E. Powell comments on the tragic attacks in the United States: "Commentary on the nature and state of a computer operating system seems almost disrespectful. What's more, it would be difficult to devote my full attention to it, anyway. This afternoon, though, a friend brought into focus something very much worth saying, I think, and it's a way in which Linux, of all things, ought to be a beacon to a troubled world," he writes.
Wednesday, September 12, 2001 12:48:28 AM EST

.comment: Your Friendly Neighborhood Linux Salesman
Linux is faced with a golden opportunity: Steve Ballmer is reduced to arm-waving and gibbering, WindowsXP promises to irritate more than it impresses, and the Department of Justice isn't letting up on Microsoft. So what's a Linux fan to do? Well... flamewars are fun, but an even better option is to go out and be somebody's guru today. Dennis Powell offers a collection of tips on helping a friend or loved one make the Linux leap while the opportunity's there.
Wednesday, September 5, 2001 12:14:33 AM EST

Editor's Note: Nobody Expects the ISO-8859-1 Inquisition!
After an embarrassing run-in with what looked like the infamous smart quotes, editor Michael Hall accused the AbiWord project of caving into a Microsoft non-standard. But a little further research indicates that there's more to the issue of improperly rendered characters than the typical Microsoft embrace/extend/break cycle of standards compliance. This week's editor's note examines the issue of smart quotes, character sets, and how the ISO-8859-1 Inquisition may need to check itself before leveling accusations when those tell-tale question marks pop up, because AbiWord, at least, is innocent.
Tuesday, September 4, 2001 03:16:45 PM EST

.comment: A Dead End and a Milestone, or "What's Up, .doc?"
If one of the unhappier realities of the Linux publishing industry is that the vast majority of Linux books are likely being written in Microsoft Word to satisfy the need editors and publishers have for rainbow-colored revision copies, one of the more pleasant facts of the Linux world is that just when you're cursing the lack of a feature in your almost-favorite app, it pops up. Or not. As he battles the forces of .doc, Dennis Powell considers KDE's pending jump to Qt-3.0 and all the happy confusion (and progress) that might entail.
Wednesday, August 29, 2001 03:31:05 AM EST

.comment: Surprised by Poverty
Back-channel pundit chatter pegs this year's LinuxWorld as a somber event, conducted while the Linux community takes tally of companies fallen on hard times, or closed down, in the past year. Dennis E. Powell says while some companies may have chosen to act as if the boom years were never going to end, others planned for hard times and will be here on the other side of hard times. If you had a problem with "irrational exuberance," he argues, you shouldn't be a sucker for "irrational despair."
Wednesday, August 22, 2001 12:27:30 AM EST

Editor's Note: Heroes of the Revolution
A quietly deleted request to run a petition didn't cause any lost sleep: it was profane, demanding, and threatening. Months later, though, an unassuming Linux enthusiast stepped up and showed the Linux community at its best, and provided a reminder of who the real heroes of the Linux revolution are.
Monday, August 20, 2001 03:35:08 AM EST

.comment: We're Getting There!
Longtime .comment readers will want to sit up and take notice this week as Dennis E. Powell confronts GNOME on his desktop, considers Red Hat for the first time since version 5.0, contemplates a package/source manager that may unite geeks and the source-averse once and for all, and comes up concluding that now, more than ever, Linux has a fighting chance. Just in time to provide a real alternative to Windows XP.
Wednesday, August 15, 2001 03:26:00 AM EST

.comment: The Great, the Pretty Bad, and the Breathtakingly Stupid
"We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company." Or Charter Communications, apparently, as Dennis E. Powell discusses in this week's column. Learn all about yet another wilderness of ineptitude as Code Red is downgraded from "major security threat" to "phantom line noise." They're just the low point, though. gimp-print is "great" in its role as the source of some of the best Linux device support going; and eComStation (possibly the terminal incarnation of OS/2) is merely "pretty bad" as it quietly dashes the hopes of a past computing generation's answer to Microsoft.
Tuesday, August 7, 2001 11:47:39 PM EST

Editor's Note: The Bug Days of Summer
Summer's slow, not a lot is happening it's the perfect time to spend some time making something you love, or at least like a whole lot, a little better. Bug Days are the perfect time to stop talking and contribute what you can. We've also got the perfect SirCam stopper (it's still out there).
Thursday, August 2, 2001 02:21:40 AM EST

.comment: Leave the Front Door Unlocked, Too
Dennis Powell notes that last week was interesting for those to whom private property matters: New Englanders returned from a trip to find their home occupied by a couple that doesn't believe in private property, and Michael Stutz released the "design science license," an effort to bring copyleft to all copyrighted materials, not just software. It's a soft-headed idea, argues Powell, who calls it a plan for progressive redistribution of talent that will appeal to the talentless.
[ The original edition of this column mistakenly identified David Stutz as the author of the DSL. The correct author is Michael Stutz. We regret the error. -ed. ]
Wednesday, August 1, 2001 02:53:44 AM EST

Editor's Note: The Customer's Always Wronged
Michael Hall revisits the state of technical and customer support one last time, recounting his struggle with the DSL people and some reader responses to his mandatory Linux removal. The bad news: tech support is universally bad regardless of what OS you're running. The good news: there's a quiet Linux underground in the support pits you might stumble across if you're lucky.
Monday, July 30, 2001 02:55:21 AM EST

Editor's Note: Sun's Practical Present, Tech Support Revisited
Last week, Sun released the results of its GNOME usability study. Michael Hall says the Linux community couldn't have asked for a nicer present than one that helps talented hackers understand an area where their coding skill does them little good: the over-cited, seldom-understood world of usability. Plus: a second look at tech support, with the one document every Linux advocate should keep taped to the wall when it comes time to help those hopeless newbies.
Thursday, July 26, 2001 03:56:24 AM EST

.comment: The Weakest Link
Stirred, at last, by the assault of Code Red and SirCam, Dennis Powell says enough is enough: even if Linux users aren't pushing these malicious bits of code across the Internet, we still suffer from their effects. It's time to politely demand our Microsoft-using friends and acquaintances either change their operating system, or take their machines off the 'net. A polite sample letter is included.
Wednesday, July 25, 2001 02:26:40 AM EST

.comment: The Digital Millennium Rape Act
The arrest of Dmitry Sklyarov, a member of a relatively small community (hackers), is just the first step in a slippery slope designed to erode freedom while fronting a dangerous agenda. Dennis E. Powell argues that controlling the means by which a crime can be committed is never the right answer to ensuring lawful behavior in a citizenry, and says the parallel example of gun control bears him out.
Monday, July 23, 2001 02:23:15 AM EST

.comment: The Desktop? The Desktop!
As is often the case, it's a week of surprises and changes of direction around the Linux world and Dennis Powell catches us up on a few of them. Read about how KWord may be ready to be your word processor, Caldera's abdication of the desktop, the problems with (and a possible solution for) root-privilege-requiring CD burners, the sense behind SuSE's design, and just a bit about William Gates III: Organ Grinder.
Wednesday, July 18, 2001 09:00:48 AM EST

Editor's Note: The Support Call HOWNOTTO
When Michael Hall made a routine call to technical support for a laptop purchased from a major (and allegedly Linux-friendly) hardware vendor, the first piece of advice he got was "dump Linux." Learn about how to make all the wrong moves in this informal "tech support HOWNOTTO."
Monday, July 16, 2001 03:18:13 AM EST

.comment: A Moderate Approach to Intellectual Property
On its face, a lawsuit brought on behalf of Adobe to force the KOffice project to change the name of killustrator to something sounding less like Adobe's own vector drawing software may sound like an invitation to once again revisit worn rants about the harmfulness of intellectual property. Dennis E. Powell argues that seeing as how even the GPL depends on it, the real issue isn't with the existence of intellectual property, but with the execution of intellectual property laws. This area of the law is one we choose to scorn and ignore at our own peril, and it's time, says Powell, for cool heads to step to the plate.
Wednesday, July 11, 2001 01:08:05 AM EST

The StartX Files: Real Live Trolling
Brian Proffitt files a report from the OS Wars front as experienced on the South Shore rail headed into Chicago. His unfortunate experiences with a pair of would-be advocates show there are still some people out there doing more harm than good when it comes to promoting Linux.
Monday, July 9, 2001 10:53:42 AM EST

.comment: Cold Turkey
After spending some time with the horsey crowd, Dennis E. Powell has a new outlook on all the issues facing the Linux world. Reflecting on issues like Caldera's per-seat licensing plans and Adobe's legal wranglings with the KIllustrator developers, he comes to a simple conclusion: Linux and the Internet are not the center of the universe, and it would behoove us all to take a break.
Thursday, July 5, 2001 09:26:16 AM EST

.comment: Separated By a Common Operating System
When Dennis Powell's Caldera installation died, he decided to use the occasion to look at two other Linux distributions: Progeny Linux and SuSE Linux. While he likes both of them, he realized that there's really no such thing as a generic Linux distribution, as both distros -- as well as most other Linux distros -- are set up to box users into relationships with manufacturers, as knowledge of one distribution has little to do with any other distribution. If Microsoft were to cook up a plan to cause Linux to disappear in a virtual Tower of Babel it could scarcely be more effective than that which has been adopted by distributions on their own, voluntarily.
Wednesday, June 27, 2001 09:20:55 AM EST

The StartX Files: A Little Housekeeping
In this week's StartX files, Brian Proffitt takes a quick look at SuSE 7.2 and asks whether this latest version, arriving so soon after 7.1, is a necessary purchase for SuSE veterans. Also in this week's column: Brian will be revisiting last year's "Word to the Wise" series with an update on word processors for Linux. The list he'll be covering is in this week's column, so make sure to check it out for your favorite.
Monday, June 25, 2001 08:51:21 AM EST

.comment: On Writing About Linux
A central cliché in the news-consuming audience is the bloodthirsty media, pandering to the darker impulses of its audience. A central cliché among reporters is the bloodthirsty audience's demand to be pandered to, and the subsequent reward of those efforts with ratings and pageviews. Dennis Powell looks at the issue of covering bad news about Linux from a reporter's perspective, using two recent stories about GNOME and KDE as examples. At issue: Are Linux reporters here to cheerlead? Does reporting bad news constitute endorsement of the news? And why did a story about Red Hat turning its first profit (in many ways representing Linux turning its first profit) get only half the attention?
Wednesday, June 20, 2001 09:16:01 AM EST

The StartX Files: Chasing Them Naughty Blues
Why do you use Linux? Because you're running from something or embracing something? In this week's StartX Files, Brian Proffitt says people run Linux more because they're for freedom and the chance to contribute. For the rest of the world, software may "just be a tool." For the Linux community, Linux is "a chance to create something new, something unique, and something bigger than ourselves."
Monday, June 18, 2001 09:21:50 AM EST

.comment: Coming Kicking and Screaming Into Digital Photography
There are all sorts of takes on just what the "Linux community" is: Is it kernel hackers? People who've developed the most used applications? Anyone who's ever contributed anything? All of the above and the users, too? It's actually a lot of little communities of people led by common interests to become friends, as Dennis E. Powell was reminded while trying to learn the best way to burn CDs.
Wednesday, June 13, 2001 09:12:46 AM EST

Editor's note: Exactly how large is the Linux market?
In a study partially sponsored by Microsoft, the market-research firm Gartner Group estimates that Linux represented less than 9 percent of all server shipments in 2000. This is seemingly at odds with market research from IDC and AllNetResearch, which report that Linux has upwards of 35 percent of the server space. So what's the deal?
Monday, June 11, 2001 01:42:19 PM EST

The StartX Files: Kick Butt and Take Names, Young Grasshopper
This week's StartX Files takes a lesson from noted moral authority James T. Kirk: If the fight isn't going your way, change the rules. In this case, rather than rushing into pitched battle for "the desktop" and attempting to engage that market on every front, forget the overwhelming variety of home user "greeting card" software and aim for the business market, where GNU/Linux may still be incomplete, but stronger.
Monday, June 11, 2001 10:49:06 AM EST

.comment: My Semi-Annual Security Rant
What do your politics have to do with your computer? For some, who question conventional wisdom and large institutions, the answer is an unashamed "everything." Going down a list of some of the worst recent privacy abuses, from weapon-sniffing scanners to the seemingly innocuous TiVO, Dennis E. Powell addresses the ironies inherent in a computing community intent on maintaining its firewalls while personal privacy vanishes. "Say hello to Big Brother," says Dennis.
Wednesday, June 6, 2001 08:38:42 AM EST

The StartX Files: Why Johnny Can't Read Linux Books
Lately you may have noticed fewer Linux books on the shelves of your local bookseller: Brian Proffitt explains that this is the result of a fickle publishing industry ever looking for the next big thing, and the self-reliant/self-documenting Linux community itself. Here's an insider's view from a published
Linux author.
Monday, June 4, 2001 08:58:02 AM EST

gnotebook: The Desktop War: A Separate Peace
It's a good day for Progeny users as the distribution releases its own GNOME 1.4 packages, an interesting time for Linux as the community debates its future on the desktop, and a time for reassessment for Michael Hall, as he presents the final edition of gnotebook.
Friday, June 1, 2001 08:21:59 AM EST

.comment: Road Building
There are many questions about Linux that go unanswered because it would just take too long to do the research. Risking his life on the dreaded Interstate 95 and associated roadways, Dennis E. Powell has done the research necessary to answer one of them, satisfying the curiousity of the thousands, hundreds, scores, dozens (or, when you get right down to it, probably a number you could count on the fingers of one hand) of people who were wondering.
Wednesday, May 30, 2001 10:43:22 AM EST

The StartX Files: Roughed Up by Flightless Water Fowl
When Brian Proffitt set out to investigate the origins of Tux in order to answer serious questions about the correct use of our favorite mascot's likeness and name, he forgot that nobody expects the Penguin Inquisition. A harrowing tale of naked lightbulbs and bondage among the flightless water fowl.
Tuesday, May 29, 2001 08:34:07 AM EST

.comment: If Not Now, When?
Dennis Powell also takes exception to the notion that it's time write the Linux desktop's obituary. On the other hand, he offers up some points for why things aren't moving so fast: resistance to proprietary hardware support, and resistance to for-pay software among them. This week Dennis reminds us that the best technical solution doesn't always win, and the real task ahead for convincing people to make the switch to a Linux desktop lies in providing a truly compelling reason.
Wednesday, May 23, 2001 09:01:25 AM EST

The StartX Files: The Linux Uncertainty Principle
Where do you want Linux to go today? Brian Proffitt maintains that the Linux desktop isn't dead, but it's ensnared in conflicting visions and the occasional misplaced need to match Microsoft feature for feature while forgetting the value of incremental gains in basic end-user functionality.
Tuesday, May 22, 2001 09:44:13 AM EST

Editor's Note: RIP: Linux on the Desktop
With the departure of Eazel and the inability of anyone to make a buck on selling a desktop-oriented Linux distribution, it's time to write the obituary for Linux on the desktop -- or at least admit that it's unlikely that Linux world domination via the desktop will occur any time soon. Instead, writes Kevin Reichard, we should take joy that Linux has become a valuable and essential server operating system, and that when planning for the future we should build on that success, rather than lamenting the demise of Linux on the desktop.
Monday, May 21, 2001 01:17:44 PM EST

.comment: How Distributions Can Succeed (and help Linux take over the world)
Do we buy Linux distributions because of what the distributors have done to Linux, or do we buy them to get a fairly standard Linux with particular installation tools and documentation? Dennis E. Powell argues for the latter, and explains why he believes that the less distributions do to Linux itself, the better it will be for users, for Linux, and for the distributions themselves.
Wednesday, May 16, 2001 09:06:06 AM EST

The StartX Files: Losing the Horizon
When a pilot "loses the horizon," it's a disorienting, unnerving experience that can mean real trouble without a calm head. When Brian Proffitt got "the mail" from Richard Stallman asking that he adopt the phrase "GNU/Linux," he had the same feeling. Here he offers a history and examination of an old controversy, notes why RMS has a point, and explains that no matter where you land on this one, it's important to keep sight of the horizon.
Tuesday, May 15, 2001 11:58:02 AM EST

gnotebook: Falling Down on the Job, Climbing Out of Post-Ximian Depression
The twin-headed dragon of Post-Ximian-Release blues and a weekend of Mundie bashing had Michael Hall in the doldrums until he sat up and took inventory. In his most brazen attempt to keep things positive yet, he presents a list of some Good Things that happened during the Mardi Gras of Malice that was Mundie Madness.
Friday, May 11, 2001 01:38:02 PM EST

.comment: A Tale of Two Packages
One key difference between Linux and the Unixes that have come before it is its very real potential as a desktop operating system for everybody, and SuSE is a good example of a distribution doing the work to make that happen. So what to make of the fact that something like PCMCIA seems to work "out of the box" while XFree86 4, despite all its enhancements, continues to present daunting configuration challenges? Dennis Powell explains.
Wednesday, May 9, 2001 09:48:55 AM EST

The StartX Files: How Linux Could Lose to Microsoft
With Mr. Mundie's speech last week, many in the Linux community took the opportunity to let out a collective, barbaric "Yawp!" and commence gleeful bashing. While it may have relieved a lot of stress, it didn't do anything to promote Linux and may well have been the best response Redmond could have hoped for. In this week's column, Brian Proffitt argues that while a horselaugh may well be worth a thousand syllogisms, the arrogance it connotes is PR gold for Microsoft.
Tuesday, May 8, 2001 08:46:32 AM EST

.comment: Wanna Invest in a Bridge? Okay, How About a Donation?
Was Eazel a company to invest in or nothing more than a shakedown? Dennis Powelll argues that if you're going to send money to Eazel to help the company out as it approaches failure, you could just as well send it to his new Brooklyn Bridge Appreciation Foundation. Dennis maintains that Eazel's behavior is bad for GPL'd software, questions the FSF's curious reticence over financial disclosure, and challenges Ximian's commitment to Free Software.
Wednesday, May 2, 2001 08:52:01 AM EST

The StartX Files: Tux, My Hero
Brian Proffitt is happy to report a nearly flawless Windows 2000 installation, with only the niggling detail of its inability to find any of his computer's hard drives keeping him from Redmondian Nirvana. The only logical response for consumers who may be faced with similar problems when Windows XP arrives is to go out and buy new hardware. Or, should we seize this opportunity to act, take advantage of the Linux alternative.
Tuesday, May 1, 2001 08:45:36 AM EST

gnotebook: Assessing What We Owe
It's widely understood that Eazel, the company behind GNOME's Nautilus, is in no small amount of financial trouble. Enough so, in fact, that the company has started accepting contributions via PayPal. The question this raises is one of how GNOME users should react: either thanking them for the code and moving on, or pitching in as a way of recognizing the company's contributions.
Friday, April 27, 2001 09:19:56 AM EST

.comment: New Stuff
This week's .comment involves looks both forward and back. Dennis Powell takes a look at the newest Opera beta and the vexations the previously stable browser introduces in its latest iteration; examines some of the newest features and snags found in KDE 2.2 alpha 1; and returns to HancomOffice, a Korean office suite that elicited an unhappy review not too long ago. The trouble with Hancom, it seems, might not be its developers but rather the lack of a standard development target.
Wednesday, April 25, 2001 08:14:07 AM EST

The StartX Files: Like Sands Through the Hourglass...
After looking at PLWM -- the Pointless Window Manager -- last week, Brian Proffitt catches up with Peter Liljenberg, one of the primary developers of PLWM (along with Morgan Eklöf). Liljenberg admits that the Python-based PLWM isn't actually so pointless and has great potential as a hands-on window manager for disabled users and set-top systems.
Tuesday, April 24, 2001 08:17:57 AM EST

gnotebook: GNOME Fans of the World... Relax.
Rabid cravings for GNOME 1.4 binaries getting you down? Michael Hall says "Relax." There are worse waits. His notes on fresh meat madness from a mile up.
Friday, April 20, 2001 05:06:32 AM EST

.comment: Something for Everybody II
Inspired by an interesting application found in the resurrected OS/2, Dennis Powell issued a call for A Grand Unified Package Handler that would let users slip the surly bonds of binary packages and manage their source-built applications sensibly. Thanks to the magic of reader feedback, he's back today with a report on CheckInstall, a tiny but powerful tool that could put us back in touch with the tarball in the best way possible.
Thursday, April 19, 2001 09:04:51 AM EST

.comment: Something for Everybody
OS/2 is back from the dead in the form of eCommerceStation with a fascinating new software management tool called Wise Machine. What's that got to do with Linux? According to Dennis Powell, it may be pointing the way to sensible management of packages built from source. His call for a "super package manager" within.
Wednesday, April 18, 2001 07:46:29 AM EST

The StartX Files: Things That Are Pointless
It's a pointless world we live in sometimes: pointless corporate sponsorships, the pointlessness of branded life, and the relief from despair only a trip to Las Vegas to make some honest cash can bring. This week Brian Proffitt proposes the perfect way to metatheme your X desktop with a pointless window manager: PLWM.
Tuesday, April 17, 2001 09:04:36 AM EST

gnotebook: Midnight Travels With Progeny
Progeny Debian GNU/Linux has thrown in its lot with GNOME as its default desktop. Michael Hall takes a quick look at some useful GNOME-oriented features of the distribution (recently released as version 1.0), discovers a source for GNOME 1.4 binaries for it, and issues a plea for assistance in finding the perfect GNOME support person for the upcoming Great Desktop Swap with Dennis Powell.
Friday, April 13, 2001 02:00:13 PM EST

.comment: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Last week several class action suits were filed against Red Hat, and most readers are already familiar with the pile-on VA Linux has endured. In both cases, the suits are the result of a headlong retreat from investor euphoria over the "new economy," and according to Dennis Powell, they're harbingers of the litigious rape of even more Linux companies.
Wednesday, April 11, 2001 08:30:15 AM EST

The StartX Files: When the Mouse is An Anathema
Is it a business expo or the kiddy table at Thanksgiving dinner? Brian Proffitt decided to blow off COMDEX and a moribund Linux Business Expo: "I can tell you why Linux Business Expo was yanked," he says, "too few Linux executives were willing to put themselves through the embarrassment of displaying at the junior varsity convention." Instead he stayed home and learned all about Ratpoison, a window manager that's out to make you forget your mouse with a vengeance.
Tuesday, April 10, 2001 08:59:34 AM EST

gnotebook: Bugs, Press Releases, and Molasses: The GNOME 1.4 Launch Considered
GNOME 1.4 was released to the world earlier this week after a premature announcement and a last-minute bug. All wasn't necessarily well, even if you discount the slings and arrows of armchair Medusa doubters. Michael Hall discusses why Medusa really is a good thing, why the GNOME Foundation should call this one a practice run, and where the binaries are.
Friday, April 6, 2001 10:17:08 AM EST

.comment: The Developers Haven't Heard
If the trend among Linux distributors reflects more and more disenchantment with the notion of selling Linux desktop installations, Linux developers seem happy to remain behind that particular curve. Dennis Powell argues that better typeface handling, better word processing, and better print support are all in the works, and that it's up to the distributors to take a step back and abandon the "one size fits all" distro.
Tuesday, April 3, 2001 11:11:01 PM EST

The StartX Files: Of Mice and Finns
Using a GUI doesn't mean you have to depend on a mouse. Brian Proffitt's latest column covers PWM and ion: two window managers that help you keep your desktop in order and your fingers on the keyboard.
Monday, April 2, 2001 06:08:35 PM EST

gnotebook: Googlizer: GNOME's Handy Search Applet and Gift Horse of the Week
When Michael Hall downloaded googlizer, a small but handy search tool for GNOME by Alan Cox, he couldn't pass on the opportunity to look a gift horse in the mouth. His resulting odyssey into a bit of browser-related esoterica taught him all he needed to know to bend GNOME's default browser to his will, even if you're a GNOMEite who happens to like Konqueror best.
Monday, April 2, 2001 01:16:38 AM EST

.comment: Little-Iron Chef
When is Linux like "Iron Chef" and "Junkyard Wars"? When you're spending your days playing with old hardware and a bleeding edge distro. Dennis Powell picked up some old toys for a song and was reminded after ten epic days of struggle that sometimes yesterday's software is best for yesterday's hardware. Read about Dennis' visit to the hardware boneyard, and learn why he says Linux distributions can no longer claim
to run on minimal hardware.
Wednesday, March 28, 2001 10:12:35 AM EST

The StartX Files: When Musophobia is a Way of Life
There's more to losing the rodent than a statement of your deep and abiding personal 'l33tness: for some people, using a mouse is simply not an option because of physical issues. Brian Proffitt tried to spend a few days mouse-free and found out that adopting a keyboard-centric lifestyle on the Big Two desktops isn't terribly easy. Read what he learned in the latest edition of the StartX files, kickoff to a new series on keyboarder-friendly window managers.
Tuesday, March 27, 2001 08:13:43 AM EST

Editor's Note: Do the Retail Linux Numbers Mean Anything?
PC Data released its survey of Linux retail sales, and there's only three distributions that apparently matter anymore: SuSE, Red Hat, and Mandrake. But Kevin Reichard argues that the numbers don't really mean anything: since Linux can be acquired in any number of ways, the pure retail numbers only show what distributions are putting any effort at all into retail sales -- and little else.
Monday, March 26, 2001 01:10:00 PM EST

gnotebook: Nautilus Revisited: Unhappy Users Make All the Wrong Demands
Nautilus 1.0 has been out for scarcely a week, and in some quarters there are already demands that it be forked and stripped to the bare essentials, or removed from the impending GNOME 1.4 release entirely. Michael Hall argues that this is borne out of impatience, misplaced competitiveness, and a distorted perception of where Linux is in the race for the desktop.
Friday, March 23, 2001 09:14:39 AM EST

.comment: What Are We Shooting For, Anyway?
It's great that Linux is scalable to the point that it runs on both an Intel box and an S/390 mainframe, but for Dennis E. Powell, Linux won't truly be a success until it conquers the final frontier: the desktop. In this column, he explores the factors that are inhibiting Linux on the desktop -- including a lack of support from distribution packagers.
Wednesday, March 21, 2001 08:43:05 AM EST

The StartX Files: A Strong Lack of Grace
Remember CDDB? The online database of CD data that enabled your CD playing software to identify all the tracks on a disc by name? Now they're Gracenote, they're charging developers for access to information you might have contributed yourself, and they've got a cozy little monopoly clause to make sure none of "their" information gets leaked out to those pesky free services. Brian Proffitt explains.
Tuesday, March 20, 2001 08:51:48 AM EST

The StartX Files: Why X Foibles Don't Matter
We've heard it from the analysts before: "Linux is too complex," "the Linux GUI is too far behind." The same analysts aren't, evidently, talking to their friendly local MCSE... the one with R - E - G - E - D - I - T worn smooth on his keyboard. In his latest column, Brian Proffitt tackles the problem with complexity, and asks if the experts aren't throwing brickbats at the wrong OS.
Tuesday, March 13, 2001 08:58:46 AM EST

gnotebook: Bluefish: GNOME's Happy HTML Hybrid
There's an awful lot of cluttered, bad HTML out there, and Michael Hall blames, in part, all the WYSIWYG HTML tools producing it. Is there an answer to the need for a friendly HTML editor that works well in modern desktop environments? Michael thinks he may have found one in the Bluefish HTML editor.
Friday, March 9, 2001 01:44:35 PM EST

.comment: Taking Inventory
Most Linux distribution and software leaders -- like Ximian, Red Hat, Eazel, Debian -- are rushing to promote automatic installations and upgrades for their customers. But for an operating system that relies so heavily on source code, this plan could end up fragmenting the Linux community, as distributions release software that is incompatible with everybody else's. Dennis E. Powell explains why we need a baseline standard in the Linux world to address these issues.
Wednesday, March 7, 2001 07:23:27 AM EST

The StartX Files: Peace, Love, and Linux? My Foot!
Is it "peace, love and Linux?" Or maybe just "sharks and thugs?" IBM's Linux campaign is a curious one. According to Brian Proffitt, it doesn't quite jibe with an underlying reality of Linux today: we fight too much over the wrong things.
Monday, March 5, 2001 09:48:42 PM EST

.comment: 1776? Yeah, Right.
Do the Free Software movement and the GPL indeed share common philosophical roots with the US Declaration of Independence? Or are they an attempt to confound a body of ideals built around free trade and private property? Dennis Powell says attempts to link the copyleft with the 'Spirit of 1776' are a laughable exercise in megalomania.
Friday, March 2, 2001 02:05:09 PM EST

gnotebook: Two for the Web: gnobog and Encompass
In the beginning was Mozilla, which promised to free us all from the heartache of Netscape. Then along came Galeon, which took the best of Mozilla and delivered us to the joys of a dedicated browser with little cruft. Now there's Encompass, which builds on gtkhtml to deliver a fast browser that launches in an eyeblink. Michael Hall takes a look at Encompass and another tool to make your browsing life easier: gnobog... the GNOME bookmark organizer.
Friday, March 2, 2001 08:14:32 AM EST

.comment: Can Microsoft Hurt Linux? In a Word, No.
All eyes are on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia this week, where Microsoft looks to have the ruling against it overturned. Will the outcome matter to Linux? Not according to Dennis Powell, who says Microsoft's up against something as difficult to pin down as water, and as tough to beat as a hard game of whack-a-mole.
Wednesday, February 28, 2001 11:51:18 AM EST

Lou's Views: Playing Hardball with Microsoft
If you thought Jim Allchin's recent comments were bad, Lou Grinzo argues you'd best brace for worse: "Microsoft is not only far better at this game than you imagine, they're far better at it than you can imagine." Need some proof? Consider a Redmond-funded magazine with a stable of pseudonymous writers, or the curious case of Professor Flack.
Tuesday, February 27, 2001 01:56:31 PM EST

The StartX Files: Seeing Linux Without Sight
If you can't see the computer, you can't use the computer, right? Wrong. In this week's column, Brian Proffitt explores the world of Linux for the blind, covering the Blinux project, Emacspeak, and SuSE's Braille-display supporting installer.
Tuesday, February 27, 2001 10:49:24 AM EST

.comment: Not Forking But Branching
Are there too many Linux distributions? With Caldera's announcement last week that it was eschewing the retail channel, Dennis E. Powell argues that it's time for the Linux community to reevaluate how Linux is deployed on distributions -- and concludes that we'd all be better off if Linux distributions were to specialize.
Wednesday, February 21, 2001 10:54:55 AM EST

.comment: Microsoft Doesn't Care What We Think
Close followers of Linux are up in arms over comments made by a Microsoft official the other day regarding the anti-commercial aspects of Linux. Trouble is, says Dennis E. Powell, there's a grain of truth in the comments, and unless the Linux world acknowledges that commercial interests are a part of Linux's future, Linux's future will be as a marginal toy operating system, not as a robust enterprise and desktop juggernaut.
Tuesday, February 20, 2001 11:00:46 AM EST

.comment: On the Outlaw Trail with Linux
After spending an hour browsing at his local computer superstore, Dennis E. Powell comes to the following realizations: that this superstore is really intended for 14-year-olds, that there was nothing that he really wanted have, and that Linux by its very nature would never be an intregal offering of the computer superstores -- with the last realization providing a high level of comfort and satisfaction.
Wednesday, February 14, 2001 06:49:33 AM EST

Lou's Views: KDE vs. Ximian
Yesterday saw a remarkably nasty spat between the leaders of the two major Linux desktop environments: GNOME and KDE. Even though cooler heads have prevailed and major damage was averted, the Linux community just experienced their own version of the infamous "thirteen days" of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In that spirit of having just dodged a bullet, Lou Grinzo provides everyone concerned with a little free advice from someone who's been through the industry meat grinder a few more times than most of the people on these two projects, not to mention the countless hordes getting riled up about this: Shut up, grow up, and stop fighting each other instead of your common enemies.
Tuesday, February 13, 2001 11:37:35 AM EST

.comment: Freedom's Just Another Word for Do It My Way
Free software, free beer, free source code...there are many interpretations of the word "free" when it comes to Linux, the Free Software movement, and the Open Source world. For Dennis E. Powell, freedom means that the end user has the freedom to make their own decisions -- and that's why he finds the strictures imposed by the Free Software movement to be as morally corrupt as the limits imposed by Microsoft.
Monday, February 12, 2001 12:57:04 PM EST

.comment: The Search for a Truly Great Keyboard
One of Microsoft's shrewdest moves -- and the one that can prove most troubling to Linux users -- is to convince hardware vendors to directly support Windows via Windows-only keys on a keyboard. Keyboards are probably replaced more frequently than any other piece of hardware and serve as your direct connection to the computer, so choosing a keyboard that supports Linux and is pleasing can be a monumental task. Dennis E. Powell reports on his search for the perfect Linux-compatible keyboard.
Wednesday, February 7, 2001 09:32:02 AM EST

.comment: Without a Parachute
When Dennis E. Powell hit the showfloor at the LinuxWorld Expo, he noted the subtle paradoxes that are now prevalent in the Linux world, like the increasing gap between those pushing Linux "solutions" and those scruffy nonprofits who set up tent in the .org pavilion. These paradoxes, he submits, should prove to be a road map to where Linux is headed in 2001.
Sunday, February 4, 2001 11:58:22 AM EST

.comment: The Wit and Wisdom of Linus Torvalds
To a distant observer, operating systems are dead things, little magnetic marks on some spinning gadget that somehow do something that lets you do something, or something like that.. Yet to people who spend vast time with their machines, those who have become imbued with the zen of it all, operating systems have distinct personalities -- reflecting the creators of Linux. And of these unique personalities, none is more interesting than the guy who started it all: Linus Torvalds. Dennis E. Powell wades through the kernel mailing-list archives to bring you the unfiltered Linus Torvalds commenting on a variety of topics: hardware, software, and those philosophical issues that make life interesting.
Wednesday, January 31, 2001 08:10:02 AM EST

Sleeping with the Enemy
Sometimes writing about writing about Linux involves taking a few knives in the back from people you agree with because you didn't agree hard enough. But when Michael Hall ran across a thoughtful discussion of the future of Evolution on a Ximian/GNOME mailing list -- a discussion fueled by an ex-program manager for Microsoft Outlook, no less -- he came to the following realization: the constructive work is happening out of easy reach by any yahoo with a web browser and too much time on his hands, and that makes the yahoos irrelevant.
Friday, January 26, 2001 10:43:45 AM EST

.comment: Strange Alliances in U.S.v. Microsoft
It is awfully tough trying to figure out the motivation for people of widely varied political philosophies taking atypical views in that little lawsuit known as United States v. Microsoft Corporation, argues Dennis E. Powell. So he strips away the rhetoric and to find that there are basically two arguments in the debate -- both coming from the conservative side of the spectrum.
Wednesday, January 24, 2001 09:09:45 AM EST

Editor's Note: Linux in 2001
In the span of 14 months, Linux has gone from a really cool underground technology to the toast of Wall Street to a firmly established player in the enteprise and corporate-computing worlds. What will Linux bring in 2001? Kevin Reichard thinks that Linux will continue its rise as a enabling technology, but that it still faces a lot of challenges as a standalone technology, especially where the desktop is concerned.
Monday, January 22, 2001 04:01:14 PM EST

Ramen and the Danger of Default Linux Configurations
The security field is all aflutter about a worm that takes advantage of well-known security lapses in Red Hat Linux -- lapses that most experienced Linux system administrators addressed back in September 2000. And while the so-called Ramen worm doesn't do a whole lot of damage to Linux systems, it does point out the need for constant awareness to security issues -- beginning with the default configurations offered by most Linux distributions. Kevin Reichard reports.
Thursday, January 18, 2001 02:05:38 PM EST

Editor's Note: Reinventing the Wheel, Openly
If Linux is to succeed as a desktop operating system, it needs to offer more than just high reliability and good security -- it needs to offer compelling applications that attracts users. Kevin Reichard argues that the Open Source community's well-known hostility to commercial software will be the undoing of Linux as a desktop OS, forever consigning Linux to the enterprise/IT server ghetto.
Tuesday, January 16, 2001 03:03:21 PM EST

.comment: So You Think You Want to Use Linux
The conventional wisdom is that Linux is too difficult to learn for beginners or those with more experience with Windows or the Macintosh. Nonsense, says Dennis E. Powell, who lays out a path here for anyone wanting to introduce Linux to a newbie.
Wednesday, January 10, 2001 08:28:58 AM EST

Editor's Note: Linux at the Consumer Electronics Show: MIA
The Consumer Electronics Show is the place to see gadgets of all sorts, ranging from the latest and greatest home-computing devices to the trendiest personal electronics. At last week's CES in Las Vegas, Linux was missing in action -- even Transmeta, which employs Linus Torvalds, used the occasion to promote its laptops running Windows. Kevin Reichard reports.
Monday, January 8, 2001 01:04:24 PM EST

.comment: Be Careful What You Wish For
Recently a writer for the Los Angeles Time proclaimed Linux a failure after a two-week trial of desktop usage. But, as Dennis E. Powell points out, the many benefits to Linux cannot be discerned in a minimal two-week stint.
Friday, January 5, 2001 09:16:28 AM EST

.comment: A Golden Opportunity
The National Security Agency has done something unprecedented in the history of computing: the U.S. government agency has developed a secure version of Linux and given it away to the Linux community for use in future kernel and distribution versions. That the announcement of this gift was met with skepticism in the community highlights one of the biggest flaws in Linux, argues Dennis E. Powell: that those putting together Linux distributions really don't know or care about security, which in turn could squander a golden opportunity to make Linux the operating systen for people who are serious about security.
Wednesday, January 3, 2001 10:36:55 AM EST

From the Desktop: Looking Back From the Next Millennium
Just in from the future: the Linux interface will survive and be the model of all future computing efforts -- at least according to Brian Proffitt.
Thursday, December 28, 2000 09:13:04 AM EST

.comment: Ain't Anti-Aliasing Amazing?
When it comes to handling typefaces and fonts, Linux does an extremely poor job; in fact, its poor handling of fonts is probably one of the biggest reasons why Linux hasn't made more inroads on the desktop. That's why the newsgroups were buzzing with the news that anti-aliasing was now possible on the Linux desktop under KDE 2.0 and XFree86 4.02. But, as Dennis E. Powell reports, he found it virtually impossible to set it up on his Linux desktop -- even after some personal assistance from Keith Packard and Waldo Bastian.
Wednesday, December 27, 2000 07:40:20 AM EST

.comment: Browsing
Welcome back to the browser wars! Surprisingly enough, there's been a ton of development activity surrounding Web browsers in the Linux/Open Source world. In his weekly column, Dennis E. Powell explains why both Konqueror and Opera are fine choices for Linux users--and why he's abandoning Netscape.
Wednesday, December 20, 2000 08:48:24 AM EST

Editor's Note: It's Easy Being Green with Linux
When the Green Institute switches to a Linux server, the news doesn't exactly reverberate through the financial community. But, as Kevin Reichard argues, Linux is changing the computing community--one server at a time.
Monday, December 18, 2000 03:50:26 PM EST

From the Desktop: Fishing for Trout, Catching a Marlin
It's the eternal debate: should Linux be discounted just because it's based on "old" (i.e., UNIX) technology? Brian Proffitt argues otherwise, as he points out that what made the old technology so valuable in the past -- that is, reliability and ease of maintenance -- is what makes Linux so valuable today.
Monday, December 18, 2000 01:29:01 PM EST

Editor's Note: Waiting for the Black Helicopters
Yesterday LinuxWorld ran an extremely irresponsible piece of Microsoft-bashing. Kevin Reichard opines that this sort of writing is bad for the Linux world, as the truth about Open Source and Linux plays much better than ill-informed condemnations of others.
Thursday, December 14, 2000 12:13:57 PM EST

.comment: 86ing XFree?
XFree86 is a terrible, inefficient, arcane tool that's difficult to set up and impossible to manage, argues Dennis E. Powell. So what are the alternatives? There are a slew of them--including some potential replacements for X that reside directly in the Linux kernel.
Wednesday, December 13, 2000 08:31:09 AM EST

Editor's Note: theKompany's Act of Trust
Earlier this week theKompany stepped up to the plate and donated the source code to Kivio, a Visio-like diagramming tool, to the KDE project. Like many others in the Open Source community, he's expecting users to step up and pay for something that they can get for free. Michael Hall explains why people like theKompany's Shawn Gordon are taking a chance on Open Source--and why we need to support them if Open Source is viable as a model for the future.
Friday, December 8, 2000 08:34:40 AM EST

.comment: The Christmas List, or Wantin' Ain't Gettin'
As we approach the holidays, Dennis E. Powell is preparing a list and checking it twice--a wish list of applications and hardware that would benefit the Linux world.
Wednesday, December 6, 2000 10:25:57 AM EST

Editor's Note: Adobe Says No to Free Beer
When Adobe pulled the plug on FrameMaker earlier this week, it clearly had figured out that it couldn't make any money selling expensive, high-end commercial software to a community that lives for Free Beer. The distressing thing, Kevin Reichard argues, is that the community doesn't realize that the constant clamoring for Free Beer and the disdain for commercial vendors could lead to the eventual demise of Linux.
Thursday, November 30, 2000 04:33:32 PM EST

.comment: Making Money on Free Software?
The stock market has not treated Linux stocks kindly: after soaring early, Red Hat Software and VA Linux now have market capitalizations that are more in line with the rest of the computer industry. But the more important question is asked by Dennis E. Powell: whether pure Linux plays have a successful formula to be profitable in either the short term or the long term--and what this means for the entire Linux community.
Wednesday, November 29, 2000 08:37:26 AM EST

Editor's Note: It's Time to Break Up the Linux Monopoly!
OK, so Kevin Reichard may be facetious here: Linux isn't close to establishing a monopoly, although it's clear that Linux is becoming a such a serious player in the server field that it threatens to seize some meaningful revenue from Microsoft. But he is serious about breaking up Linux--and here's why.
Monday, November 27, 2000 05:10:59 PM EST

.comment: British Beer, American Politics, and glibc-2.2
What do Tetley's, south Florida, and Linux have in common? Quite a bit, as Dennis E. Powell discovers this holiday season. He begins with a simple task--update his system so it's optimized for the K6-2 processor--but runs into a score of problems, including C compilers that don't exist and libraries that can't be found, with no road map to show the way. Worst of all, he emerges from the character-building journey to find that we still haven't elected a president and that there are widgets floating in his beer.
Tuesday, November 21, 2000 02:50:03 PM EST

.comment: Weaseling a Good Idea
When rumors of a KDE League first surfaced, the possibility that KDE supporters were forming an opposition group to the GNOME Foundation were soundly denied by KDE officials. Now, as it turns out, there was a KDE League in the works. Dennis E. Powell explains why the emergence of the KDE League is a bittersweet moment for Linux.
Wednesday, November 15, 2000 03:34:37 AM EST

Editor's Note: Windows 2000 Fails to Derail Linux
Most analysts assumed that the release of Windows 2000 would cause serious problems for Linux, potentially cutting into the installed base of Linux users. But as a new study by WebSideStory's StatMarket shows, Windows 2000 appears to have achieved growth not by stealing Linux users, but by cannibalizing other Microsoft operating systems.
Monday, November 13, 2000 04:04:07 PM EST

.comment: Big Brother's Cookies
If you're nervous at all about cookies, privacy, and the U.S. Government, take note of this: in a report done by the General Accounting Office, out of 65 surveyed government websites, 11 of them put cookies on your hard drive--seven without disclosure, and three sending their results to undisclosed third parties. The agency did not, for some reason, include the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency in its survey. Dennis E. Powell explains what you can do to preserve your privacy.
Monday, November 6, 2000 01:03:53 PM EST

Editor's Note: The Perils of Irresponsible Advocacy
These are heady times for Linux on the desktop, what with the release of KDE 2.0 and the ongoing development of GNOME and Nautilus. But, as Michael Hall points out, Linux has a ways to go before it can be considered the equal of Windows or the Mac on the desktop--and those who argue otherwise are guilty of irresponsible advocacy.
Friday, October 27, 2000 07:43:22 AM EST

From the Desktop: E Stands For Education
Schools around the world suffer from the same problem: low budgets and high expectations. To counter the problem of low budgets, our intrepid correspondent actually did something about it: he volunteered at his local school and started pushing the use of Linux for students. Linux wasn't the perfect choice for school, as Brian Proffitt discovers, and he shares some advice with the Linux community about what's needed to make Linux a serious contender in education.
Tuesday, October 24, 2000 06:12:22 AM EST

Editor's Note: Complexity and the Open Source Model
Are there are an unusually high number of Open Source projects that are delayed? It seems so, with the computing world breathlessly awaiting the release of Linux 2.4 kernel and Apache 2.0. But if these delays don't raise any concerns within the Open Source community, they might in the larger computing world--and, as Kevin Reichard warns, if Open Source gets a reputation for fostering out-of-control, often-delayed projects, then its momentum will soon dissipate.
Monday, October 23, 2000 01:33:28 AM EST

Editor's Note: Where Doesn't Tux Want to Go Today--Linux in the Service of the Monopoly-Minded
Will AOL use Linux's open architecture against it? That seems to be the case with the AOL-TV settop box being developed using embedded Linux and a Transmeta processor. By pushing a closed box and potentially acting in an anti-competive manner, AOL is subverting everything Linux stands for, writes Michael Hall.
Thursday, October 19, 2000 11:34:24 AM EST

.comment: TechnoPolitics
Politics may indeed make strange bedfellows, as Dennis E. Powell discovered when he took a look online to see which tech luminaries gave what to whom. Anyone who follows politics wouldn't be surprised that Larry Ellison and Bill Gates gave a lot of money to the same candidates and causes--and that Linux is totally unrepresented in the Americal political process.
Wednesday, October 18, 2000 09:20:36 AM EST

Editor's Note: Stick a Fork in It?
Last week there were some in the Linux community that were alarmed by a code fork in the Samba project, which raised the larger issue of forking in the Linux world and its potential impact on future code development. But, as Kevin Reichard points out, code forking already exists in most important Linux initiatives, including the kernel--and that most of the time the forking leads to a stronger product.
Monday, October 16, 2000 07:39:31 AM EST

.comment: The Price of the Bleeding
Did Red Hat rush out a version of Red Hat Linux that wasn't ready, or did it perform a public service by staying on the cutting edge of software releases? Dennis E. Powell looks at the issue from both sides and concludes that while the cutting edge may be a fun place to be, that same cutting edge can deeply wound you.
Wednesday, October 11, 2000 07:00:00 AM EST

Editor's Note: Turning the Town Red
When Microsoft invested in Corel, the immediate speculation was that the future of Wine was in doubt. (For the uninitiated, Wine is technology that lets Windows applications run under Linux.) But, as Kevin Reichard finds out after talking to CodeWeavers' Jeremy White, the future of Wine is rosier than you might think--just not in the form you might expect.
Monday, October 9, 2000 02:09:53 PM EST

Editor's Note: Red Hat's Michael Tiemann rebuts C|Net article
Red Hat's Michael Tiemann made headlines yesterday when he was quoted in C|Net as telling an investor conference that Red Hat started "the open-source revolution"--leading to deafening howls from the Linux community. But after Michael Hall took the time to chat with Tiemann, we found out what Tiemann meant by that statement--and why he is absolutely correct in making it.
Thursday, October 5, 2000 12:16:40 PM EST

.comment: Are We Asking for It?
It all began innocently enough: phantom images appeared on the screen, even though there was no Web browser running on the Linux box. And although the images ended up being legit--the result of an application grabbing files in the background--it led Dennis E. Powell to conclude: Much of the reason that Linux is relatively invulnerable is that nobody has gotten around to writing the software yet that will make it vulnerable.
Wednesday, October 4, 2000 11:38:39 AM EST

From the Desktop: Amiga, We Hardly Knew Ye
Feeling a little nostalgic for the 1980s? Then we have the window manager for you: AmiWM, a window manager that's based on the venerable Amiga interface. Nostalgia isn't the only reason to use AmiWM: as Brian Proffitt reports, AmiWM is a speedy and highly functional window manager that uses a minimum of system resources.
Wednesday, October 4, 2000 10:00:00 AM EST

.comment: Microsoft and Corel--Not Good News
So what does Microsoft really want from Corel? If Microsoft's past behavior is any indication, writes Dennis E. Powell, Microsoft wants one simple thing: a monopoly on key tools for computer users, like an office suite and an Internet browser.
Tuesday, October 3, 2000 10:34:06 AM EST

Editor's Note: Tech Triangulation and Linux
We all know that tech support can be a little spotty when it comes to outside organizations--like the telcos--and Linux. But as Michael Hall reports, sometimes tech support for Linux can be downright hellish and inaccurate.
Thursday, September 28, 2000 12:09:27 PM EST

Editor's Note: Couldn't Call It Unexpected
It's come to this: the "usability" experts are advising that folks avoid Linux because it's too difficult to use (i.e., it doesn't work exactly like Windows or the Mac). But, as Kevin Reichard points out, usability is relative, and what's easy to use for one person is difficult and bizarre for another.
Monday, September 25, 2000 02:48:01 PM EST

Editor's Note: Xi Graphics Is Here to Save You from Free Software
Who needs free software like KDE and GNOME when you can adopt CDE from Xi? Michael Hall admires the horrors that arise from trying to bring you yesterday's desktop in today's Linux.