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Linux Archive

Support for Familiar Applications Slowing Down Linux Adoption

You can easily surf the Web and run a spreadsheet on a Linux-powered PC, but good luck if you want to balance your checkbook. Linux has more fans all the time, but a lack of familiar applications is slowing adoption, says News.com. Major software makers say they're waiting for more Linux users before bothering to adapt their products to open-source--but Linux advocates say the window of opportunity is closing. Not even Linux guru Bruce Perens can find all the open-source software he needs: "I admit it--I still have a Windows machine that I use solely to run Quicken and TurboTax once a year."

Linux Lacks Testing Methodologies

OSDL lab manager and open source test-giver Tim Witham is on a mission to push Linux performance testing to higher-level, real-world applications, to produce reliable, retestable, comparable data that will let users compare the operating systems or open source applications in a transparent fashion. Witham said everybody seems to have a different idea of what performance metrics means.

Linux: Abusing the MODULE_LICENSE Macro

In 2001 during the 2.4 kernel development cycle, a MODULE_LICENSE macro was introduced which allows a module to explicitly declare how it is licensed. Currently there are five supported types of free software modules, "GPL", "GPL v2", "GPL and additional rights", "Dual BSD/GPL", and "Dual MPL/GPL", otherwise the kernel is considered "tainted".

Windows Programs on Linux?

Project David is the codename for a new middleware program that sits on top of Linux to enable it to run Windows based applications seemelessly. Flexbeta has more. Editor's Note: With no proof and no source code, there's little reason to regard this as more than a hoax. However, if it's true, it would be a huge development.

Linux Creator Calls Backporting a ‘Good Thing’

The creator of the Linux operating system, Linus Torvalds, has weighed in on the issue of backporting features from newer Linux kernels into older ones, calling the practice a good thing for the most part. When asked by e-mail to comment for internetnews.com, Torvalds wrote: "I think it makes sense from a company standpoint to basically 'cherry-pick' stuff from the development version that they feel is important to their customers. And in that sense I think the back-porting is actually a very good thing."

Conectiva Linux 9 – The Latin American Distribution You Should Know

Conectiva Linux, developed by Brazilian vendor Conectiva S.A., is the most popular distribution in South America, so it’s quite surprising that there aren’t more reviews of their products online. This is really quite surprising – while you may not have heard much about Conectiva Linux itself, you almost certainly know quite a lot about three of their most important contributions to the open source community – the Conectiva Crystal icon set, apt-rpm, and Synaptic.

Introducing “Cooperative Linux” – Linux for Windows, No Less

A month ago, a trial version of a little-known Linux application called "CoLinux" was released that is the first working free and open source method for optimally running Linux on Microsoft Windows natively. It's the work of a 21 year-old Israeli computer science student and some Japanese open source programmers; in Israel, analysts are already saying it could help transform the software world.

OSDL’s Carrier-Grade Linux

To help the advancement of Linux in the telecom space, the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) started a working group called the Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) working group. Its mission is to specify and help implement an open source platform that is highly available, secure, scalable, and easily maintained—suitable for carrier-grade systems. Read more at LinuxDevCenter.