06.09.08

Links 09/06/2008: GNU/Linux Sets World Record, Beats Windows Server 2008 at Greenness Test

Posted in News Roundup at 1:40 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

• 24 Core, 48GB RAM Linux cluster runs on 400W
  

  The Helmers project shows that there is 3x the performance at 1/2x the cost for those willing to innovate. By no small coincidence, this is what I see every day when I visit Red Hat customers who are replacing proprietary systems with open source solutions.

• Linux captures the ‘green’ flag, beats Windows 2008 power-saving measures
  

  Our tests point to Linux as the winner of the green flag by margins that topped out at 12%. But we must note that our results are full of stipulations imposed by our test bed, and as the more truthful car advertisements might warn — your wattage may vary.

• Technology Today: Linux — A new user’s review
  

  All in all I have been very impressed with Ubuntu Linux 7.10 and would recommend it to anyone who is willing to learn a new operating sytem.

• People wonder why I don’t use windows
• Ubuntu after a month
• Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 94
• Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva Performance Compared
• Slackware 12.1 – The Newest Version of the Oldest Surviving Linux Distribution
• What Makes Amarok the Most Popular Audio Player on Linux?
• Stallman attacks Oyster’s ‘unethical’ use of Linux
• Military Supercomputer Sets Record
• There is only one Linux!!!
• Linux training
• Getting To Grips With Netpkg In Zenwalk 5.2
• Michael Chen: India Third-Largest Contributor To Fedora Community
• MontaVista Vision 2008 Embedded Linux Developers Conference to Present Educational Sessions and New Technology from Top Companies

Laptops/UMPCs

• Rock star Linux: remixed, unplugged and live
• Acer introduces Aspire one, its first low-cost notebook
• Crystal Ball Sunday #4: Linux and System Builders and Integrators
• The impact of the Eee PC
• Ubuntu Chief: OEMs Turning to Us for Netbook OS
  

  Adds Shuttleworth: “The aim was to do something very simple that could be tested easily, work with touch devices and made shippable very quickly. It also needed to be efficient on lower-power devices, and work well with Intel hardware, which seems to be the preferred platform for this generation of devices and allows us to slip a few nice effects in that would be hard without the right hardware support.”

• How Ultra-portable Laptops will help Linux

Open Source

• Eclipse framework overshadowing proprietary embedded tools
  

  It may still take a few years to solidify its position, but Eclipse appears to be on the way to overshadowing proprietary embedded tool chains.

• Talend Announces First Open Source Product with Change Data Capture for Real-Time Data Integration
• How to Pick a Good Gift for a Geeky Dad

Books

• It’s a book! Two Bits
• Networking Futures: The Movements against Corporate Globalization

Leftover

• I Started Some Vole-bashing

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Novell Threat Assessment: More Like FUD and Harassment

Posted in Novell, Security, Windows at 2:49 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Reader’s thoughts on Novell’s perspective on security

A reader has sent us some thoughts about the following threat assessment questionnaire from Novell which, unsurprisingly, requires that you install the proprietary Adobe Flash player (yes, for a simple questionnaire). Some of the questions evoked our reader’s response, as follows:

Is your organization subject to regulatory compliance (PCI, HIPAA, SOX, etc.)?

Er… NO, and what difference would it make to computer security and why are you posting such waffle?

Does the organization need to enforce integrity on products such as anti-virus, 24×7 even if the device is remote?

No, we have ‘computers’ that don’t get viruses.

If an infected machine is introduced to the network are there protections against network infection and propagation.

We don’t need such protections, our computers don’t get viruses.

Do your endpoints have a firewall that is driver based and not controllable by the end user?

Such software firewalls are next to useless, we have embedded firewalls at the gateway. █

Related and recent post:

• Is Novell Ignoring Critical Security Problems?

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Microsoft Tries to Gradually Weave Together Its Codeplex and SourceForge

Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 2:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Embrace, extends and… you know the rest

We warned about this quite a while ago and on several occasions we showed how it had developed [1, 2, 3, 4]. Don’t take it from us though. Take it from Microsoft’s explanation of the situation. Here is it from Fort 25 [sic].

Microsoft & Sourceforge

[...]

So here’s how to get involved: If you’re a project contributor, maintainer, or user – visit http://sourceforge.net/community/cca08/ – Select ‘Nominate’ and get started recognizing your favorite OSS Projects. You can ‘Search’ for projects too – Sourceforge has developed a clever widget that returns results across forges. In the case below, I searched for ‘XNA’ and received multiple Codeplex results.

Very nice. How long before SourgeForge is filled with Windows-only applications that rely on Microsoft’s proprietary stack for their operation? Remember: to Microsoft, “open source” is just some development methodology.

The moves from Microsoft are worrisome and the example above just part of a bigger picture. That would ‘dilute’ SourceForge.net to the point where the site no longer has much to do with Free software, let alone GNU/Linux. It would also give away partial administration rights to the company which compared open source to “communism” and Linux to “a cancer”.

Speaking of embrace-and-extend maneuvers, don’t forget the Microsoft-oriented XenSource, which appears to be extending.

For example, Citrix says that XenServer sales continue to double each quarter and that all the major x86 server vendors are actively bundling and shipping the product. Citrix has also increased the number of trained XenServer resellers from 300 to more than 2,500 in that timeframe. Finally, Citrix is making internal investments in sales and marketing staff and actually delivered a new version of XenServer this March. Sounds like progress to me.

It is likely that Microsoft will continue to use its money to invade and control its rivals’ side. It just needs to smile and play innocent while doing all of this. █

“People everywhere love Windows.”

–Bill Gates

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IRC #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: June 8th, 2008

Posted in IRC Logs at 2:01 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

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