Weekly news wrap-up: Microsoft at LinuxWorld, freedom for PGP!

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–By Grant Gross –

It was a holiday-shortened news week here in the United States, but leave it to Microsoft to still make some news in the Open Source world. This bit of news didn’t come from Microsoft flacks; some Linux advocates noticed Microsoft has a booth at the upcoming LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. Robin “Roblimo” Miller suggests Microsoft’s need for dialog with the Linux community smacks of desperation.
Also this week, DesktopLinux.com announced the winners of its wIndependence Day essay contest. Poor Microsoft, seems like everyone’s picking on the company lately.

Enough about Microsoft. Also brewing some controversy this week was PGP author Philip R. Zimmermann, who suggested the current owner of the encryption program, Network Associates, should either open-source the program or sell it back to him. The company isn’t biting, at least so far.

Open Source can equal a business plan, really

There were a couple of stories this week on how to make money with Open Source software. Linux Magazine gives individuals advice on how to make money using their Linux skills, while Robin profiles Marty Roesch, who’s built a successful company from his Snort Open Source project.

Odds ‘n’ ends

  • An anonymous donor will reward $200,000 to the team who gets Linux to run on Microsoft’s X-box gaming console.

  • The Free Standards Group launched a Linux Standards Base certification program.

  • One brave soul has tried to estimate how much Linux would cost to develop if it weren’t Open Source. Let’s just say it’d cost “a lot.”

    Success story of the week

    Jack Bryar reports that several manufacturers in Asia, including a couple of large steel-makers in Japan, are turning to Open Source software, including Linux.

    Newly released (because Open Source projects don’t take holiday weeks off)

  • KDE 3.02 was released.

  • Opera 6.02 for Linux was made available this week.

  • Pepper, a programmer’s editor for FreeBSD and Linux, was released this week.

    Newly reviewed

  • Russell C. Pavlicek takes a Walmart.com PC preloaded with LindowsOS for a test drive and can’t quite recommend it.

    New at NewsForge/Linux.com

    Among the other stories we reported first this week:

  • The folks at Hacktivismo.com have announced a Free Software browser-based steganography application that allows activists and human rights workers around the globe to hide data in Web site pictures.

  • The Glen Burnie LUG, advertising itself as a different kind of advocacy group, has kicked off and is already working on Linux converts.

    Stock news

    The Nasdaq closed Friday at 1,448.36, diving from 1,463.21 June 28. The mini rally the week of the 28th didn’t last. Of the 11 companies on our Open Source-related list, five were up, five down, and one was even. Hardware-related companies like IBM, HP and Sun did the best this week.

    In business news, MandrakeSoft laid out its reasons for not joining the UnitedLinux coalition. The French Linux company is suggesting UnitedLinux has taken the wrong path.

    Here’s how Open Source and related stocks ended this past week:

    Company Name Symbol 6/28 Close 7/5 Close
    Apple AAPL 17.72 18.74
    Borland Software Int’l BORL 10.30 9.13
    Caldera International CALD 0.70 0.661
    Hewlett-Packard HPQ 15.28 16.30
    IBM IBM 72.00 73.50
    MandrakeSoft 4477.PA e2.30 e2.30
    Red Hat RHAT 5.87 5.39
    Sun Microsystems SUNW 5.01 5.39
    TiVo TIVO 3.71 3.65
    VA Software LNUX 1.00 .90
    Wind River Systems WIND 5.01 5.15

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