Charles Babcock at Interactive Week reports on the state of Linux clustering, and the tools that are making such computing arrays easier than ever to assemble. Products discussed include offerings from SGI, TurboLinux, and VA Linux. (Full disclosure: VA Linux owns NewsForge.)

ZDNet eWEEK reports that Motorola and IBM are set to announce further support for the Bluetooth. Motorola plans to combine Bluetooth with its modem products, and IBM is ready to start licensing its Blue Drekar software driver for development of the wireless protocol on Linux.

From a CNET story: VA Linux Systems warned Monday that its fiscal fist-quarter results will not meet expectations because of slower than expected sales growth from new customers in the dot-com sector. (Disclosure: VA Linux owns NewsForge.)

An article on SecurityFocus discusses Quova’s new Internet scanning service. Called GeoPoint, the system is able to match up IP addresses with physical locations. During GeoPoint’s construction phase, Quova’s network probes aroused the ire of system administrators who “likened the scanning to a burglar looking for unlocked doors, while others complained about the false alarms the probes produced.”

Slashdot readers discuss an analysis of the new Amiga Virtual Processor assembly language.

Dennis Fisher at ZDNet eWEEK continues speculation on the Napster-Bertelsmann deal. “Among the issues that the new partnership must eventually address: other major record labels that are working on their own paid download services; the existence of alternative free file-sharing programs, such as Gnutella; and the biggest issue of all — users’ willingness to pay for online music.” Sara Robinson at Interactive Week says “Napster’s alliance with Bertelsmann could finally give the beleaguered music service something it’s been lacking: a business model.”

LinuxFocus.org:While the big companies were trying to sell expensive licenses, the Free Software Foundation was trying to spread
the concept of free software. Free meant freedom to run the program, to modify the program, to distribute copies
or modified copies for the benefit of the community, but not always for free (you may charge for it). If you want to
learn more about it, just go to http://www.gnu.org.
Many people were attracted by this philosophy and at the beginning of the 90’s there were different flavors of free
Unix: NetBSD, Linux…
Today, about 50 commercial or free Unixes are available (may be more!).
So what?

GNU.org on its front page under the heading “GNUs Flashes” says “Please
support the FreeDevelopers.net project. FreeDevelopers.net is a democratic
entity for the development of free software,” with links to the
FreeDevelopers.net site. From LinuxPR.com.

Weta’s primary rendering resource is based on SGI 1200 Linux servers, says TheOneRing.net.

Mission Critical Linux,
Inc. has announced
that Robert Tumanic will join the organization as Chief Operating Officer.Mr. Tumanic will replace Steve Ofsthun, who will assume the new position of
Senior Vice President of Engineering. Robert has spent over 27 years helping
companies achieve new milestones in their business development.

As Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Tumaric will be responsible for
increasing service readiness levels, strengthening infrastructure and
internal processes, and maintaining focus, as well as overseeing overall
operations management.

Mr. Tumanic has left his position as Vice President and Managing
Principal at Unisys Corporation, where he helped achieve a double-digit
growth rate for its Information Services Group and was a key member of the
management team that turned around the company’s services business. Robert’s
work helped Unisys gain the number two spot in ComputerWorld’s readership
survey of system integrators in both 1995 and 1997. Prior to Unisys, Robert
was a Senior Partner at Deloitte & Touche Chicago, where he was responsible
for major client engagements; helped develop their systems integration
practice; and led a nationwide advanced technology unit.

“I am delighted to have Robert Tumanic join our executive team,” said
Moiz Kohari, President and CEO of Mission Critical Linux. “Our ambitious
business plan empathizes continuous development and growth. Bob brings with
him invaluable experience in recognizing opportunities and maximizing
potential that will help us become a force to be reckoned with in the Linux
marketplace.”

About Mission Critical Linux, Inc.

Mission Critical Linux offers enterprise-ready Linux professional
services to help plan and deploy efficient and highly available Linux
systems; custom engineering for specific development needs; and 24/7 support
to ensure maximum systems availability and performance. By combining these
services with ground-breaking Linux technologies such as Secure Service
Technology and Convolo Cluster Software, the Company provides commercial
Linux users with the tools needed to maximize their IT infrastructure.
Headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, with offices in Santa Clara,
California and Europe, Mission Critical Linux can be reached at
www.missioncriticallinux.com or at +1 877.625.4689 or +1 978.606.0200.

–Bonnie Lupis