Maximum Linux reports on a seminar in South Africa that teaches IT professionals how to crack both NT and Unix boxes. “The course, slated to last four days, will show security admins just how crackers work in order to help
them understand how they can prevent such a scenario.”

From Maximum Linux: “Visual Basic for Linux? No, your eyes do not deceive you. Janus Software has announced the
immediate release of Phoenix Object Basic, a Linux native Rapid Application Development tool, that
combines ‘visual programming’ with the Basic programming language.”

“Certain processes must be run at specific times, over and over again. An example of this might be a backup process that is launched each night as the rest of the world sleeps, or a log analyzer that must run every minute.” The guide is at LinuxLookup.com. — Submitted by Anonymous Reader

InfoWorld reports: “Corporations and ISPs could be held liable for unwittingly allowing computers on their networks to become pawns, or ‘zombie’ machines, in DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks that harm customers or other companies.”

“Our first security update for LinuxPPC 2000 has been posted! It is
retroactive — that is, it covers every previous version of LinuxPPC, at
least back to Relase 4, which is almost two years old at this point.” The advisory is posted at LWN.net.

With Linux maturing rapidly, hardware vendors need to know how
their products will perform in mixed business environments across all major
distributions of Linux. The first annual International Linux Plug Fest has
attracted major OEMs, independent hardware vendors (IHVs) and system
integrators, including 3Ware, Adaptec, Ecrix, and Matrox to test the
interoperability of their wares in a certified lab environment. The press release is at LinuxPR.

Apple Computer Inc. shares lost
more than half their value Friday after the computer maker accounced lower-than-expected
sales of new products.

Apple fell 27.75, or 52 percent, to 25.75, their biggest one-day drop ever. The story’s at Bloomberg.

From eWeek: “Intel Corp. has pulled the plug on its problem-plagued Timna processor, a long-delayed chip that was being designed for low-cost desktop PCs and slated to be released early next year.”

From a column at ZDNet: “The venerable Pew Internet and American Life Project released a report Thursday that confirms — yet again — what my own unempirical experiences have found: that few people who use Napster seem to think they’re stealing, or feel any sort of guilt about violating copyright. In fact, 78 percent of the people surveyed say they have no ethical qualms about it.” The Register’s take on it: “Only uneducated Yanks respect copyright.”

Slashdotters discussan interview by MacSlash
with Jason Haas of LinuxPPC about the upcoming release
and enhancements.