Eazel, the creators of the upcoming Nautilus file manager, will have a significant say in the direction future
GNOME interfaces will take, according to this article from Linux Today.

These
eSolutions, proclaims Canada Newswire, highlight the unique capabilities of PortalSphere Application
Server including rapid development using a wide choice of tools, lightning
fast data access and business logic processing, real-time event handling,
scalability (10,000+) users and the security and reliability of Unix/Linux.

“The internet of today is already passé”, states this article from Globe Technology.

The new internet–the hypernet–is just around the corner–composed
of a billion net-connected mobile phones, and billions of networked
game-consoles, handhelds, toys and information appliances.

Linux Orbit compares the installation of the familiar Microsoft
Windows NT Server 4.0 against the popular Linux distribution, Linux
Mandrake 7.1.

Slashdot readers talk about a Law.com article saying the Uniform Computer
Information Transactions Act isn’t doing well in state legislatures.

“What once seemed a sure bet — passage
of a controversial bill that would give the
industry almost absolute power in
determining the terms of product sales —
is languishing in statehouses across the
country.

Now major software manufacturers and
computerized information companies,
including Microsoft, America Online, Intel,
and the Nasdaq stock exchange, are
quickly mobilizing to push for … UCITA.”

Editor’s note: I contacted RMS and asked him to comment on the licensing story we posted Thursday. That night, I received an email from him. It is published here, unedited. — TG“It is misleading to describe the GNU GPL as ‘open source licensing’,
because it was not developed by the Open Source Movement. I wrote it
as part of the Free Software Movement.

“The Free Software Movement was founded in 1984 to promote the freedom
to share and change software. The GNU/Linux operating system, in
which the kernel Linux is typically used, is also mainly the work of
the Free Software Movement. We stand for principles of freedom,
cooperation, ethics, and community.

“The Open Source Movement was founded in 1998 to advocate similar
practices but in a less firm and less deep way. They explicitly say
that they do not see the issue as a matter of principle, just one of
practical convenience, and this is the main difference between the two
movements. In addition, they aim primarily for the support of
business, while we aim primarily to convince individuals to insist on
their freedom. For more explanation, see the page
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html.

“The Open Source Movement gets a lot of publicity nowadays, with the
result that people often think they have absorbed or replaced the Free
Software Movement. Media articles labeling our work as ‘open source’
often feed this confusion; every week I get mail from someone
addressing me mistakenly as a fellow ‘open source developer’. There
must be thousands of people who support the Open Source Movement
because they think I do.

“The open source people have a right to promote their views, but we
would like our work to promote our views. The Open Source Movement
does include the GNU GPL in its list of recommended licenses, but
please describe it as a ‘free software license’, so that people will
not get the wrong idea of where it comes from and what its purpose is.

“This is not just a side issue — the purpose of the Free Software
Movement is crucial to understanding what is wrong with the criticism
of the GPL in the article. Someone in the Open Source Movement might
respond quite differently to this issue because he would have
different basic goals.” —RMS

NewsForge editors read and respond to comments posted on our discussion page.

Wired.com reports on a new round of browser wars between Netscape owner AOL and Microsoft: “There’s even
an interesting twist: This time the combatants have adopted
each other’s battle strategy.

On Wednesday, at the Internet World Fall 2000 trade show,
America Online released version 6.0 of its online service. AOL 6.0
packs a plethora of new and — since the service has always
been targeted to Internet beginners — surprisingly sophisticated
features.”

More followup on stories that Microsoft has been cracked and its source code stolen. Reuters on ZDNet: Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer said Friday the break-in was not damaging, although the crackers may have gotten access to “key programs.” Meanwhile, Slashdot readers comment on the break-in. One says: “It’s just about the software which comes with NT and Microsoft sells for NT and everybody uses on NT.
An equally stupidly-designed UNIX mail reader would be equally bad. But most UNIX systems don’t use
such software.”

Chimpzilla will be spilling the beans on its latest weapons in the
battle against you-know-who on Monday at a lavish bash at the
Paris Ritz. Plans for moving to DDR memory and details on
upcoming SMP Athlons will be announced in what cynics might
describe as a spoiling tactic coming just a month before Intel debuts
the Pentium 4. From The Register.

ZDCOUK reports: A half-dozen companies at Internet World are banking on
3D becoming mainstream. But will Web surfers suffer
through the long downloads and plug-ins?