NEC Tuesday said it has developed a new
microprocessor for use in smart cards can boost Java
performance ten-fold over competing chips. From Network World Fusion.

ZDNET reports that KDE Team officials, in a news release issued Monday,
said that the hundreds of open-source developers who
worked on Kopernicus basically re-engineered the KDE
1 environment.

“What’s the thorniest public policy issue when it comes to the Internet? I would call it a tie between intellectual property and privacy. Napster and other peer-to-peer devices will almost certainly require a new patent and copyright regime. Government has to play some kind of role in enforcing rules to stop people from stealing other people’s property — intellectual or otherwise. Privacy is a different matter. I recently moderated a panel discussion on the subject in Austin, sponsored by Dell and the Online Privacy Alliance. The consensus was that government should have a limited role in policing privacy.” –Kelly McNeill

By Emmett Plant
NewsForge Columnist
Speaking of GNU/Linux

You know, when you think you’re the master of your domain, you set
yourself up for a fall. I’ve been working with Linux for a few years now,
and I’ve got Linux on my laptop, I don’t even own (or run) a copy of
Windows on any of my machines. I’m super-cool. My friends and relatives
are amazed at how cool Linux is by the nifty stuff I show them. I wasn’t
ready for my friend Mike to whip out his laptop and show me things that
would knock me down a few pegs on my own Linux-coolness meter.Mike and I work on Linux.com, another Web site in the OSDN conglomerate of
Linux news and information sites. I’m officially Mike’s boss; I’m the
editor-in-chief and he works “underneath” me in the Format section of the
editorial department. As I write this, we’re sharing a hotel room in Atlanta,
Georgia.

We’re not here because we’re consummating an internet relationship. I’m
straight (sorry, guys) and married (sorry, ladies), after all. We’re here
to cover the Atlanta Linux Showcase for Linux.com. Management likes to cut
costs, so we’re rooming together. Contrary to the rumors circulated by San
“Nettwerk” Mehat, I don’t snore. It was a case of mistaken identity, and
San has apolgized. Doesn’t matter; if Mike snores, I doubt it will keep me
up. I can sleep through anything.

So, anyway, back to Mike kicking my ass on the Linux cool-o-meter. After
about 30 seconds, Mike is playing Spaceballs on his laptop. He says,
“This is really cool, check this out.” Mike slams a few keys, and boom,
we’ve got the trailer for The Matrix playing in full-screen. Okay, okay,
big deal. People can play movies using Linux. Though I’ve never done it
myself (short battery life on the laptop, just not enough time at home), I
was aware that it was going on. Still, talking about it isn’t as
impressive as seeing it first-hand.

Okay, so then Mike starts playing with his Palm, and he hotsyncs it using
the IR on his laptop. Neat. I gave away my Palm III years ago to someone
who could actually use it; it was useless to me. I’m not in sales or
anything like that. I can forgive a cell phone and mp3 player on my belt,
but I already had more free RAM on my belt than the Apollo missions. Never
saw it sync with IR before. Neat!

Then Mike decides to kick back a little bit and play some games on his
laptop. Not the games ported by Loki. Mike starts playing some old Super
Nintendo games on his Linux laptop in emulation. Again, I was aware of the
technology, but it’s just not as cool when you see it first-hand. I got to
see Yoshi’s Island, Killer Instinct and the Super Mario All-Stars games. I
know there’s a certain amount of legality here, but I’m pretty sure that
Mike actually owns the original copies of those games in cartridge form
somewhere in his house.

I guess the thing here is that I was really surprised at the level of
coolness that Linux can bring to the desktop. I felt like one of those
silly managers that’s blown away by his employee’s Nifty Thing. I hope I
never have my finger on the pulse of Linux. I know, I’m a writer. It’s my
job to stay on top of the hip-and-trendy. I really like to be surprised
sometimes, too.

Movies? Videogames? Not a viable desktop operating system? Try a new
argument. Okay, okay, we’re not there yet, and we’re getting there soon,
and we’re really not ready for the desktop yet. But how much longer can
Windows users say we’re not ready? Things are changing, and fast. I’m
wondering how long it will be until the argument is, “Well, it was started
by that Finnish lad, and you know what they say about the
Finnish…”

Sun and other traditional UNIX vendors are crediting, at least a little bit, Linux with the continued survival and well-being of UNIX in its on-going competition with Microsoft’s server software. The full story is at ZDNet.

Napster, the subject of a lot of controversy for its music-sharing functionality has adopted the unofficial Macintosh clone “Macster” as its official version for the Macintosh, says PC World IDG, and Napster won’t try to make Macster look like it’s non-Mac counterpart.

ZDNet says people who have both DSL and Windows Me are finding they can only use one or the other. Most DSL providers have not provided drivers for the latest version of Windows and it is causing compatibility headaches.

Security Focus says a law has been passed outlawing the reverse engineering of recorded media in the US.

Linux PR is reporting on the efforts of TuxTop – the largest maker of Linux-based laptops – to create a portable application competition.

Andamooka is a new open content books reader support site. It features free hosting for authors of open content books and offers community annotation and discussion which can help readers get more from the
book and authors learn how to improve their books. The first Andamooka book will be KDE 2.0 Development. Two prerelease pieces are online now: a chapter on KParts, and an abridged API reference. The entire book will be online in early November.
– Submitted by David Sweet