Blogs

Winter-y Mix Creates Need for Mash-up

bproffitt — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:24:30 -0800

Lately my section of the Midwest has been bombarded with one of the worst things a winter season can deal out: freezing rain. From those of you in warmer climes who have not experienced the joys of this fun-fest, it's basically when it starts to rain in warmer air up in the atmosphere. As the rain falls into colder air below (around the 0° C mark), it hits solid objects like trees, power lines, streets and immediately turns to ice.

Special Delivery

bproffitt — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:00:33 -0800

This morning, before I sauntered into the teeming hub of control for the Linux Developer Network, I performed what has become a semi-weekly ritual here at the Proffitt home: the return of a watched DVD to its home company. But today, along with the movie, I also placed two envelopes with empty printer cartridges and a survey about my auto repair shop in the mailbox as well. And it struck me, as I closed the mailbox door and put the flag up, that there has been a remarkable sea change in the way the US Postal Service has had to do business in the last few years.

Debian, Philosophy, and People

tytso — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:59:10 -0800

Given the recent brouhaha in Debian, and General Resolution regarding Lenny’s Release policy as it relates to Firmware and Debian’s Social Contract, which has led to the resignation of Manoj Srivastava from the position of Secretary for the Debian Project, I’m reminded of the following passage from Gordon Dickson’s Tactics of Mistakes (part of Dickson’s Childe Cycle, in which he tells the story of the rise of the Dorsai):

It's Nearly 2009--Open Source is Here to Stay

bproffitt — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:43:06 -0800

Last week, Saugatuck Technology published a new whitepaper that detailed the affect open source software has had on business and the affect business has had on open source.

The big takeaway--at least the one most touted in the follow-up blogs and news reports about the paper--is that open source is driven more by the contributions of corporations and vendor-run projects than by individual developers.

19 Standards Orgs.--Including LF--Support Rambus Brief

aupdegrove — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:25:49 -0800

Yesterday I filed a pro bono amicus curiae (”friend of the court”) brief with the United States Supreme Court in support of the Federal Trade Commission’s petition for writ of certiorari in its suit against Rambus Technologies. I’m pleased to report that 19 standard setting organizations (SSOs) - including the Linux Foundation - representing over 13,300 members, joined as amici curiae supporting this brief; the list of participants appears later in this blog entry. As noted in the brief itself, these SSOs:

LSB 4.0 Release Candidate 1 Released

licquia — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:59:49 -0800

I am pleased to announce the availability of LSB 4.0 Release Candidate 1.

This version of LSB 4.0 has been put in the normal release directories, but IS ONLY A RELEASE CANDIDATE! In particular, certification is not yet open for LSB 4.0.

We are continuing to use the previously-announced beta page for accessing information on LSB 4.0 prereleases. That page can be found at:

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/LSB_4.0_Beta

More on the “I’m Linux” Video Contest

Amanda McPherson — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:17:54 -0800

Last week, we launched the Linux Foundation video site. The site will of course house the growing collection of Linux Foundation original video from our events, but I hope it will also become a place for the Linux community to share their Linux video content. The intention is for it to become the central location for Linux videos, so Linux users and developers can easily find pertinent and educational Linux video information. If you have Linux video, we would appreciate your uploading it to this site.

Congratulations Ted! (as the Linux Foundation’s new CTO)

aupdegrove — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:20:37 -0800

If you haven’t already heard the news, long-term kernel developer and pillar of the open source community Ted Ts’o has been named the new Chief Technology Officer of the Linux Foundation. Ted is a great choice for a variety of reasons, one of which is that few people have been knocking around the Linux world longer than Ted - he was the first North American kernel developer.

Week 51: Desktop? What Desktop?

bproffitt — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:09:50 -0800

It's getting to be near the end of the year, and--inevitably--there is a new round of year-in-review and year-ahead articles filling up the technical media cycles. There's just something about January 1 that compels journalists and bloggers to wrap up the last 366 days into a nice, neat package and predict how things are going to go during the next 365 days.

The Week of the Linux Desktop Debate

Amanda McPherson — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:40:52 -0800

It never seems to fail: this time of year brings out predictions, and with them debate about the future of Linux, especially on the desktop. It’s a good sign that we go through this back and forth: it shows the wide and diverse community of users, developers and pundits who feel they have a stake in Linux. (Either that or they just need something to write about this time of year.)

So this week, a dozen articles and posts appeared either stating or refuting that this year really will be the year of the Linux desktop.

openSUSE 11.1 Sports New Free Street Cred

bproffitt — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:25:39 -0800

Today's a big day over at openSUSE: they've released version 11.1 of that distribution, and my friend Joe Brockmeier is sure to be busy handling all of the attendant chores with this event. Of course, I can't feel too sorry for him, since it's 72 and sunny where he is right now, and it's 20 with a snow storm here.

Linux Foundation December Newsletter

Amanda McPherson — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:49:02 -0800

In this month's Linux Foundation newsletter:

Rambus Redux: The FTC Tries One Last Time (and so do I)

aupdegrove — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:30:32 -0800

If you’ve ever wondered whether there is a SCO case for open standards, many people would say that the answer is “yes.” And the stand in for SCO that they would pick is a company called Rambus incorporated.

When to Release 2.6.28?

jcorbet — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:42:19 -0800

The 2.6.28-rc8 kernel prepatch is out. That means that the final 2.6.28 release must be getting close. I once heard Linus say that he would never hold a kernel release past -rc9 regardless of the situation; there comes a point where you have to send it out into the world and get on with development. In this case, though, 2.6.28 appears to be stabilizing nicely. The list of regressions is getting fairly short. So this kernel will truly be ready to go soon.

Week 50: Building a Community, One Post at a Time

bproffitt — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:46:44 -0800

With the end of the year approaching, it becomes natural to look back at the year past and sum up what's happened. Curiously, even though I should be in the mood for this, having just sent out the usual Proffitt Family Christmas newsletter, I find myself looking ahead more than looking behind.

Japan Symposium 2008: Small, But Mighty!

bproffitt — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:23:40 -0800

Tokyo, Japan was the host for the latest LF event: the Linux Foundation Japan Symposium, and video from the conference is now available on the Linux Foundation's events pages.

On November 19, 102 attendees came to Otemachi KDDI Hall in central Tokyo to get the latest news and information on developments around the Linux operating system. This seems small, but reports on the ground said this was a lively and interactive crowd.

10 Standards Recommendations for the Obama Administration

aupdegrove — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:20:51 -0800

The goals of the Obama administration are in tune with — but in some technical respects, ahead of — the technological times. Unless certain standards-related dependencies are promptly addressed, the timely achievement of the president-elect’s innovation and technology policy will be jeopardized. Unfortunately, the government does not have the historical competency to address these dependencies. What, then, is the new administration to do?

Vista Orphans and IBM’s Open Collaboration Client

Amanda McPherson — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:05:05 -0800

I may work at the Linux Foundation, but I have never publicly been caught saying 2009 (or 2008, or 2007 etc) would be the year of the Linux desktop. (I’ve never even said it privately even though I use a Linux desktop everyday.) While Linux is an important desktop option and companies such as Novell have made significant corporate wins, it has failed to garner enough users on the desktop to put a significant dent in Microsoft’s marketshare. One of the key reasons for that has been most corporations standardizing on Windows.

Week 49: How to Write Your Own LDN Article

bproffitt — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:34:01 -0800

You may have noticed the addition of a new articles on LDN today: the excellent "Anatomy of the Linux Kernel" from M. Tim Jones.

Conneseurs of the Linux trade press might be thinking to themselves, "hey, this article looks very familiar." And they would be correct: this is a piece that originally appeared on IBM developerWorks back in June, part of the "Anatomy" series Tim has written for that site.

Is the Linux Community Watching a Setting Sun?

tytso — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:50:03 -0800

The title of this post was a headline that was probably written by an overly sensationalistic editor at http://www.searchenterpriselinux.com. The actual article, though, was written by Pam Derringer, was a pr

Oracle Donates Data Integrity Code to Linux

bproffitt — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:14:22 -0800

Some interesting news just came over the wires: Oracle, that really big database company you may have heard of, and Emulex, a smaller host bus adapter vendor you may not have heard about yet, just announced that donation of block I/O data integrity infrastructure code to the Linux kernel.

In fact, the code is already in Linux 2.6.27.

All Politics are Tribal: The Myth of “One Citizen, One Vote”

aupdegrove — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:15:10 -0800

Open source projects lean toward meritocracies, rather than democracies. As a result, some voices and votes in open source projects mean a lot more than others, and nobody pretends otherwise. Democracies, on the other hand, claim that everyone’s vote should be equal. But is that really the way it is?

Got an Idea for a Networked Linux App? Shoot for $100K

bproffitt — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:51:19 -0800

In mid-October, Cisco Systems quietly announced the start of a new contest, one which could have a big impact for any team of skilled Linux developers. How big? Try $50,000 for the winning team.

The contest is an international competition for developers to code a Linux-based application for Cisco's Application Extension Platform (AXP), which sits on the company's routers. Cisco is clearly looking to build interest in and an application pool for the AXP, and giving away $100 grand in total prize money is a pretty good way to kick-start the process.

Followups to the ebooks Ethical Question

tytso — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:36:28 -0800

When I have a moment, I’ll try to tally up the responses that I got to “An ethical question involving ebooks”and see if there are any interesting patterns based on self-identified generational markers. Obviously, this is not a properly controlled survey, so the results aren’t going to mean much, but it is interesting that some fairly passionately written comments came from folks who self-identified as coming from generations that broke with the common ste

An Ethical Question Involving ebooks

tytso — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:48:36 -0800

I recently purchased a short story from Fictionwise, which was not DRM’ed, so I could easily get it into a form where I could read it on my Sony eReader. Thanks to that short story, I was introduced to an author, and a character, which I found very engaging. When I decided to find out more about the character, I found that the author had written two additional short stories, and three additional novels many years ago, but has since stopped writing any more books involving that character.

Looking Back on OOXML: SC 34 Recommends ISO “Reforms”

aupdegrove — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:08:00 -0800

Although much of the brouhaha of the OOXML adoption process has abated, the post-partum process of reviewing how SC 34 gave birth to IS 29500 continues. SC 34 is the committee in ISO/IEC that adopted both ODF and OOXML. SC 34 continues to hold meetings in which a variety of related matters are being considered, including the ongoing maintenance of each standard, and whether and how the Directives that control the deliberations of JTC1 committees might profitably be amended to address the concerns that arose during the consideration of these two overlapping document format standards.

Week 47: Classifying a Linux Knowledge Base

bproffitt — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:59:40 -0800

I was talking to a new freelance writer for LDN this afternoon, and when the subject came up about how I decided what topics to cover.

More Milestones in Linux Kernel Development History

bproffitt — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:39:51 -0800

The fact that the Linux kernel now has an estimated development value of $1.4 billion is an intriguing development—it certainly represents a significant milestone for the Linux kernel community. After we published the "Estimating the Total Development Cost of a Linux Distribution" whitepaper, out of curiosity I wondered where in the overall development history of the Linux kernel the $1 billion number was actually reached.

Will Flash Ever Be a Standard?

bproffitt — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:35:18 -0800

Yesterday, I caught wind of some good news. It was the kind of good news that is immediately good for me and ultimately good for Linux. It was announced by MLB Advanced Media, major league baseball's online division, that video on MLB.com would no longer be delivered via Microsoft's Silverlight format but instead with Adobe Flash technology.

Shouldn’t Obama use Linux, and not a Mac?

Amanda McPherson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:35:35 -0800

For those of you who haven’t heard, Barack Obama will be the first president to have a laptop on his desk at the oval office. (He does however have to give up his trusted Blackberry.)

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in a conversation with Arianna Huffington on MSNBC, today said that he hopes Obama uses a Mac and not a PC. Excuse me Eric (and Arianna) isn’t there another option you may be missing?

Linux Foundation November Newsletter

Community Manager — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:10:13 -0800

In this month’s Linux Foundation newsletter:

* Linux Foundation publishes guide to participating in Linux community
* Linux valued at $10b by new Linux Foundation white paper
* Linux Foundation holds successful first End User Summit
* The flagship LSB portability tool Linux Application Checker is released
* The Linux Foundation launches Linux Developer Network beta
* CME Group, Nokia, and Canonical among many making membership moves
* Linux Fast Boot Developments

Jon Corbet, Shadow Warrior?

Amanda McPherson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:53:32 -0800

Next week, our Linux Foundation Japan office hosts the Linux Foundation Japan Symposium, an event that was started to bring leading Linux luminaries to present and interact with local senior software developers, with the goal of increasing open source participation by talented Japanese developers. The result of these events is the widening of a global Linux community, which benefits everyone.

Week 46: Rock the Linux Vote!

bproffitt — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:32:48 -0800

The US elections are (blessedly) over, and like any political junkie, I am suffering from withdraw symptoms. After months of polls, blogs, and cable news, I find myself craving the process of democratically electing something, anything.

So you can imagine how excited I was to see that some LDN users were starting taking advantage of our Brainstorming tool. I wanted to take this opportunity to explain what this section of the LDN is all about and encourage everyone to participate!

Week 45: Open Source as a Linux Feature

bproffitt — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:10:10 -0800

For the record, I like the Twitter. But darned if I can figure out how someone would make money from it.

The concept of micro-blogging is straightforward: in 140 characters, you tell the world at large what you're doing, how you're feeling, or why your life is so good/bad. I know quite a few people who use it, and like it, but I know quite a few more who think the whole exercise is just silly.

Will We See Another Operating System?

Amanda McPherson — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:46:17 -0800

Two weeks ago we published a research paper estimating the development cost of a community Linux distribution. It was a fantastic project for the three of us who worked on it. The findings were surprising, even to me. It would take over $10 billion for a company to develop the software represented in Fedora 9.

Innovation Past and Future: What Price Venture Capital?

aupdegrove — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:39:59 -0800

If you hail from one of the hot beds of high tech--Silicon Valley, say, or (in my case) the Route 128/495 area of Massachusetts, you've doubtless heard the phrase "serial entrepreneur." What those words describe is someone who has started several companies, and the phrase, when used, is invariably regarded as a compliment. These days, if such a serial entrepreneur has some major successes under her belt, that makes her one of the elite of the high tech nobility - someone with the golden touch, that can turn ideas into huge returns for founders and investors alike.

Week 44, 2008: Don't Be Hatin'

bproffitt — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:26:27 -0700

There was a little bit of schadenfreude in my heart this week when I surfed over to the Linux Hater's blog and discovered that its author has decided to close up shop.

Linux Continues to Define the Future of Computing While Microsoft Follows

jimzemlin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:04:04 -0700

It is hard for the executive director of the Linux Foundation to feel bad for Microsoft, but they are having a bad week while Linux continues to move forward in innovative ways into new markets for computing. Let’s take a look at the difference between Microsoft and Linux this week:

Intel and Taiwan Inc. Invest in Open Source Research Center

jimzemlin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:17:42 -0700

Intel announced today (Thursday) its plans to partner with the Taiwanese government and invest in the island nation’s IT industry to launch an Open Source Software Development Center for mobile devices. Building on Taiwan’s undisputed role as a leading center for creating connected consumer devices, CEO Paul Otellini indicated that Intel had signed an agreement with the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). MOEA and Intel will establish a center for enabling Moblin and other OSS optimized for devices based on the Intel Atom.

Intel and Taiwan Inc. Invest in Open Source Research Center

jimzemlin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:17:42 -0700

Linux to Ship on More Desktops than Windows

jimzemlin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:06:07 -0700

For those that decry the constant prediction of the “year of the Linux desktop” I am happy to say that next year Linux may actually ship on more desktops than Windows or the Mac. That is right, I said next year. What is driving this? Two words: fast boot.

Working On the Railroad

bproffitt — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:56:59 -0700

Standards are often taken for granted though they are not easy to achieve.

This thought was the result of an unexpected weekend project where the kitchen sink faucet decided to spring a leak. While I am no Joe the Plumber, I decided to save some time and money and fix the problem myself.

Avoided Costs and Competitive Benefits: Estimating the Value of Linux

aupdegrove — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:42:17 -0700

How do you measure the value of free and open source software (FOSS)? That’s a puzzler, because it’s, well, free. Moreover, a popular distribution like Linux can incorporate the contributions of thousands of individuals working remotely from around the world. That means that there are almost no associated overhead costs over and above the time of the developers themselves.

Community-cation: A Look Back at Week 43, 2008

bproffitt — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:37:28 -0700

The whitepaper "Estimating the Total Development Cost of a Linux Distribution" published this week was a really fun bit of collaborative effort. It basically boiled down to Ron Hale-Evans analyzing the Fedora code, me scoping out the kernel code, and Amanda McPherson pulling it all together into a coherent document.

2.6.28 Takes Shape

jcorbet — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:15:20 -0700

Linus Torvalds released 2.6.28-rc1 and closed the merge window on October 23. So we can now see what will be in the 2.6.28 kernel. Once again, it looks like an active development cycle with a lot of new stuff for Linux users.

The Compelling Economics of Linux: What It Means for the Future of Computing

jimzemlin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:08:08 -0700

The Economics

Linux Foundation End User Summit Wrap-Up

Amanda McPherson — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:14:50 -0700

We have a great sense of timing at the Linux Foundation. Who else would schedule a summit for large Linux users on Wall Street the day after “black Friday”? Actually we were worried that the news of the financial markets would distract our end users from attending the event. Luckily for us, this didn’t seem to be the case. (Jim Zemlin lightened the mood with a clever presentation you should check out here.)

The Mirror Universe Linux

bproffitt — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:49:03 -0700

It's not everyday you learn that your employer could be part of a massive 20-year old conspiracy of "IT systems monopolists" to keep Microsoft from stealing their mojo.

Well, shoot. This never came up at the company picnic. (Awk-ward...)

Community-cation: A Look Back at Week 42, 2008

bproffitt — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:54:20 -0700

One of the recurring themes at this year's End User Summit was this whole notion of consumers vs. prosumers of Linux and open source software technology. "Prosumer" is not one of my usual words... I got it from Monday keynote speaker Anthony Williams, one of the authors of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.

Community-cation: A Look Back at Week 41, 2008

bproffitt — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:30:36 -0700

A lot of work has been done behind the scenes this week for the End User Summit in New York next week. Thanks to the talented people working on the show, I think it will be an excellent event. This is not, mind you, self-promotion--they've put me in charge of the slide shows, which shows my co-workers know how to best utilize me. :)

ODF Alliance Awards: Do You Know an ODF Hero?

aupdegrove — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:38:30 -0700

Note: Nominations for the awards noted below will close on October 8, so please act now
read more

LinuxWorld Is No More

bproffitt — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:11:53 -0700

Well, this wasn't unexpected, but it's sad news nonetheless. According to an announcement from IDG today, the show known as LinuxWorld has gone into the history books.

Community-cation: A Look Back at Week 40, 2008

bproffitt — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:36:05 -0700

Here in the US, it's been an interesting week in the financial and government worlds. And I mean "interesting" in the Chinese-curse sense of that word. Like most folks in the country, I've been watching the news with one eye on politics and the other on the ticker tape. Lost in some of the conflaguation of news was the announcement of our new event, LinuxCon, scheduled for September 2009 in Portland, Oregon.

A New Event for the Community

bproffitt — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:01:32 -0700

I gotta say, I'm pretty excited today. We've announced the 2009 event schedule, and we've added a new event for the Linux community: LinuxCon.

This is a conference that, like our other summits, is specifically geared towards a certain segment of the Linux community. The Kernel Summit we just hosted, as one example, is for the kernel developers. The upcoming End Users Summit, as another example, will be an opportunity for corporate end-users of Linux to share their goals and wishes for Linux in their organizations.

Writing Audio-Capable Applications on Linux

licquia — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:42:36 -0700

Last week, I attended the Linux Plumber's Conference, a funny-sounding but very important conference. My wife can't get the image of Mario and Luigi out of her head, but "plumbing" in this case concerns the flow of data between core parts of the Linux system, not the flow of water.

One of the important mini-conferences held there was the Audio Conference, run by Lennart Poettering. A good portion of the miniconf was spent discussing good end-developer APIs for sound on Linux, or (more accurately) the lack thereof. Lennart talked about his ideas, but was intentionally vague about many of them, promising to follow up later with some documentation.

Community-cation: A Look Back at Week 39, 2008

bproffitt — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:54:29 -0700

Some good news for the Foundation this week, as we welcomed a new member, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, to our organization. Coming off of our successful Linux Kernel Summit, and the Linux Plumber's Conference that we helped underwrite, it was a good cap to a positive week's worth of news.

Taking a Second Look at the Standard Setting Process

jimzemlin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:11:57 -0700

Earlier today, Linux Foundation member IBM announced its adoption of a new
corporate policy that will govern its global participation in the standards
development process. It also revealed a list of standards reform
recommendations generated through a discussion among 70 standards experts
from around the world, and called upon all stakeholders, from the open
source community, to vendors, to government, to academia, to join in a
dialogue that can both raise the bar for standards development as well as

IBM’s New “I.T.Standards Policy” - and a Call for Wider Reform

aupdegrove — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 05:12:14 -0700

Although most of the thunder of the OOXML adoption battle has now died away, the after effects of that controversial process continue to linger. Some of the residual effects have been intangible, such as hard feelings on the part of at least four National Bodies over their inability to obtain a formal review of their complaints over how the OOXML adoption process was conducted. But there have been other responses that are more concrete, and directed at taking specific actions to raise the bar and avoid a repeat performance.

Free Riders, Canonical and Greg KH

Amanda McPherson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:15:41 -0700

On Wednesday kernel developer and Novell fellow Greg KH opened the first annual Linux Plumbers Conference with a keynote aimed squarely at the team behind Ubuntu, Canonical. I think Greg could have used the opportunity to inspire more than attack, but Greg obviously feels strongly about the necessity for upstream development. It’s also Greg being Greg: I believe he carries around a spoon just in case he encounters a hornets’ nest.

Does he have a point?

Community-cation: A Look Back at Week 38, 2008

bproffitt — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:12:04 -0700

The big news at the Linux Foundation this week was not one but two--count 'em!--two events in the lovely Portland, Oregon. Let OSCON pack up and prove it knows the way to San Jose--we like the Rose City, just fine, thank you.

From Ghana to Wall Street: The Linux End User Summit

Amanda McPherson — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:06:01 -0700

Earlier this year, at the urging of the Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board, I decided to create a new event: the Linux Foundation End User Summit. The intent is to combine a small group of large Linux users (generally on the server side) with core community Linux developers. The result will hopefully be technical innovation and knowledge sharing between those who use the software and those who develop it.

Message and Intent

bproffitt — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:43:35 -0700

I read this morning that Microsoft has hired a former colleague of mine, Peter Galli, to be a Senior Communications Manager on Microsoft's Platform Strategy team.

I was glad to hear Peter had landed somewhere after Ziff Davis went through its latest round of layoffs a couple of months ago. Granted, not so happy he landed at Microsoft, but it appears his role there will be similar to my role here at the Linux Foundation: community manager.

SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 BETA Program Starting

ddavis — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:14:33 -0700

Novell is about to begin the Beta programs for SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 which is expected to be released early in 2009. There will be a general Beta program for end customers, and there will be a separate Beta program for ISVs to help them get their applications ready for when SUSE Linux Enteprise Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 ships. We are planning on following the Linux Standard Base Version 4.0 (which is in development now) with the release of SLE 11

New toy: iPod Touch (2nd Generation)

tytso — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:24:00 -0700

With the price drop, I finally decided to get a 32GB iPod Touch, and I have to admit, Apple has done a really nice job. Its decisions about which applications it decides to arbitrarily blacklist from its AppStore (either now or without warning in the future) is evil, of course, but I don’t plan to develop on a locked-in platform such iPod/iPhone, so that’s not a problem.

Shuttleworth’s Apollo Challenge to the Linux Community

Amanda McPherson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:55:23 -0700

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, recently wrote a post detailing Ubuntu and Canonical’s contributions to the upstream projects that make up their distributions. There he mentioned a challenge he recently issued to the Linux and free software community: build a Linux-based UI and computing experience on par with Apple’s within two years.

The 2008 Kernel Summit

jcorbet — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:59:16 -0700

The agenda for the 2008 kernel summit has been posted. The summit is an annual, invitation-only event which is typically attended by 70-80 developers. It is a rare opportunity to bring part of the kernel community together for focused discussions on topics which affect the kernel as a whole.

Community-cation: A Look Back at Week 37, 2008

bproffitt — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:15:15 -0700

Since coming onboard with the Linux Foundation, one of the things that I have missed is taking a look at the week gone by to see what's what. I'm glad to say that things have settled down enough that I can now take the time to provide some analysis to what's happened this week.

Linux Foundation Expands Fellowship Program to Support Kernel Developers

jimzemlin — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:08:00 -0700

Sometimes a consortium can play a smaller supportive role that is really powerful. Helping people and organizations to pull together in the same direction can accomplish amazing things. It’s very gratifying.

Upstream Values

bproffitt — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:11:12 -0700

I have a confession to make: I've pretty much made it a small goal in life to see Mark Shuttleworth get married. Or involved in a steady relationship.

I've reached this conclusion after meeting him a few times and thinking "he's such a nice young man, he should find a girl and settle down." Apparently, there's something about Mark that brings out my inner shadchen. That, and the fact that my wife keeps asking about him anytime I mention I've had a conversation with him. Hmmm...

OSCON Ignores World Outside the Bay

bproffitt — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:48:09 -0700

A former co-worker of mine just passed along the news that OSCON was going to move to San Francisco next year.

For people who went to OSCON this year, myself among them, this was hardly a surprise. It was pretty much the buzz on the conference floor at this year's show... a buzz that continued a couple of weeks later at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco. O'Reilly, the event organizers, cited travel as a reason for reason not to go.

To All Chicago Cubs and Linux Fans: A Tale of Two Analyst Perspectives

jimzemlin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:16:15 -0700

This week we saw news centered around two studies on desktop computing trends: one from Forrester Research and one from IDC. Both reports come from highly regarded firms and both seem to point to contradictory trends.

What’s Your Open Source Dunbar Number?

Amanda McPherson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:48:55 -0700

This morning my “ambient awareness” (meaning the passive awareness I have from my news feeds and contacts on Twitter and Facebook) is buzzing with Clive Thompson’s excellent article in yesterday’s New York Times.

Grandma's Nice, But What About the CIO?

bproffitt — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:13:39 -0700

Most of us have stories about how we have done right by some family member and installed Linux for them in place of that other operating system. I myself have rescued my parental unit from the clutches of Vista.

If Google’s new browser isn’t even available on Linux, why is this great news for Linux?

jimzemlin — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:44:12 -0700

First let me state the obvious. If Google’s new browser is successful then the desktop operating system just became a lot less important. This is great news for Linux.

Six Nations “Just Say No” to ISO/IEC

aupdegrove — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:29:07 -0700

In the latest twist in the OOXML - ODF document format story, ISO and IEC, two of the most venerable standards organizations in the world, have been dealt a slap by government IT agencies in six countries. In a public statement, the agencies deplore the refusal of ISO and IEC to give full attention to appeals against the OOXML process earlier lodged by Brazil, India, South Africa, and Venezuela, and suggest that if the two global standards organizations are not interested in listening to member concerns, then these members may no longer be interested in adopting ISO/IEC standards.

Ubiquitous Firefox

bproffitt — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:50:57 -0700

So yesterday I was getting that "must-fiddle-with-my-computer" feeling again and I heard about this new extension for Firefox called Ubiquity. Good timing, I was in the mood for a new toy.

Ubiquity is really brand new: its release from Mozilla Labs is 0.1, this baby is right out of the delivery room. Despite that, it's a pretty solid piece of software, as prototypes go.

LSB Transparency

bproffitt — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:15:12 -0700

A lot of folks have been asking me what's going on with me on LDN, since they haven't seen me writing very much online. The truth is, I have veen writing, a lot. It's been mostly e-mails, telling people what's going on with LDN, getting things organized, plotting the next phase of my plans to rule the-- er, provide a high-quality resource for Linux developers.

Linux Foundation End User Collaboration Summit, Oct 13-14, NYC

jimzemlin — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:18:41 -0700

The Linux Foundation will be hosting our first ever End User Collaboration Summit this October in New York.

This forum is designed for sophisticated users of Linux who will be able share best practices about how they are using Linux and speak directly with the core developers of the Linux platform.

This is the Year of the Linux Desktop Breakout

jimzemlin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:13:11 -0700

Declaring victory for the Linux desktop at the end of the day will based upon looking at market penetration of Linux based clients vs. Windows and other operating systems. I believe this is still the best measure but we may finally be able to declare this year the breakout of the Linux desktop.

Planting a Tree

bproffitt — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:53:27 -0700

This morning I was rolling through my blog feeds, catching up the latest news in the world o' Linux, when I noted an interesting piece of artwork in Celeste Lyn Paul's obso1337.org blog.

iPhone – the Device I love to hate

jimzemlin — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:09:53 -0700

When Apple launched the 3G iPhone, I must confess, I went out and purchased one. I need a smart phone for work, I need one that works both in the United States and Japan, and the consumer electronic design from Apple floored me. The screen is exquisite. The video playback is outstanding. The mobile web experience is second to none. I realize I am in a walled garden, but what a pretty walled garden it is.

Standards and Conversations, Part 2

licquia — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:10:35 -0700

Picking up where we left off last time…

The LSB spec invents things without consulting distros. Like the whole init scripts thing. But that’s not as bad as depending on RPM or requiring a specific layout.
read more

Swedish Television Rumored to Expose Microsoft’s Mojave Campaign

jimzemlin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:21:33 -0700

While everyone is talking about the fact that Jerry Sienfled has signed up to pitch Microsoft Vista it is worth noting another ad campaign that Microsoft launched last week entitled the “Mojave Experiment.” This type of advertising goes back ages and is generally used to show people that they will actually like something that they thought they disliked. In other words Microsoft feels that Vista has a bad rap due to a lot of “FUD” in the market about Vista’s poor performance, lack of security, difficulty to use, etc.

Why does Apple Always Seem to Get a Break???

jimzemlin — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:43:56 -0700

Walking around Linuxworld this year it was interesting to see the number of Apple notebooks in the halls and various sessions. It wasn’t necessarily that there were more Apple notebooks than Linux machines, but it was a good number and begs the question: why do open source people seem to cut Apple some slack when it comes to their very closed proprietary platform?

Binary Compatibility Issue between Linux Distributions and Versions

ddavis — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:22:26 -0700

I was recently working with a Third-Party ISV that had run into an issue of binary compatibility with their application they built on RHEL 5 while running it on SUSE Linux Enterprise 10. I wanted to point this out for any other developers that may run into this issue. When they built their C and C++ applications on RHEL 5 and ran it on SLES 10, they would get a "Floating Point Exception". This problem also exists between RHEL 4 and RHEL 5. It turned out that there was a change in the hash style of the ELF format generated with newer versions of GCC.

Masters of No Domain

bproffitt — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:57:03 -0700

So there, on the front page of the Wall Street Journal Thursday morning, I read that Jerry Seinfeld will be participating in a $300 million PR blitz-o-rama to promote Vista. (A PC Pro article reports the same thing.)

Really? Has it come to this?

The Age of the Linux Netbook is Upon Us...

ddavis — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:22:40 -0700

This summer has seen a flurry of activity in the Linux Netbook market. These are machines that are small form factor, low cost, typically have solid state storage (though some have hard disks), and offer the traveler or student a light-weight machine for quick email and web. The idea started with the One Laptop Per Child project using Fedora with it's ambitious goal of putting a laptop in the hands of children the world over. The ASUS Eee PC kicked off the main stream consumer use with their Xandros Linux based system. HP has their Mini-Note, and MSI announced the Wi

Standards and Conversations, Part 1

licquia — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:53:21 -0700

So it looks like the project I’ve been laboring on has been getting some attention:

Ever thought it was difficult to write software for Linux? For multiple distros? InternetNews reports that the LSB is making a push for their next release (due out later this year) that should help make all that much easier.
read more

The End Of the OS As We Know It

Amanda McPherson — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:45:22 -0700

So the bloggers over at ZDNet have once again proclaimed the end of the operating system. Larry Dignan says:

The operating system may be losing its luster. In fact, you could argue that the operating system–Linux, OS X and Windows–will become an application that just happens to boot first. And hardware vendors are on to the OS’s diminishing importance.

He goes on to say:

ISO/IEC Reject OOXML Appeals, paving way to publication

aupdegrove — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:57:44 -0700

ISO and IEC have announced the rejection of the four appeals submitted by the National Bodies of Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela, as earlier recommended by the Secretaries General of each of the two standards organizations. to their respective management boards not to give the appeals further consideration.

With Great Power...

bproffitt — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:22:13 -0700

One of the things that still challenges me as a long-time Linux user is dealing with source tarballs. While I have no problems with simple make and make install commands, there are times when dependency he--er, heck still drives me nuts (though, admittedly, that's not a far drive).

Such was the problem when I was faced with a new Linux computer, a couple of long trips, and a need for some mental junk food.

A Big Day in Court for the FOSS Community

aupdegrove — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:06:11 -0700

Today those who believe in free content and free and open source software won a major victory in court. The underlying facts, and counsel, were hardly major figures on the commercial landscape: the open source software at issue had been developed for model train buffs under an infrequently used free and open source license, and the attorney was young and inexperienced. But as often happens, a small case between small parties can have huge implications.

Kernel Etiquette: A Guide on How to Participate

Amanda McPherson — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:04:59 -0700

At the last Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, the late Joe Barr wrote up this exchange on day one of the conference:

Uncovering the Mysteries of the Linux Kernel

bproffitt — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:32:30 -0700

A couple of weeks ago, I was on the MAX in Portland, heading back to my hotel after an... interesting post-OSCON party hosted by Sun. (Sumo wrestler suits? Really?) I was riding the train with a friend who lives downtown and I was explaining to her just exactly what my new job with the Linux Foundation was and what we wanted to do with the Linux Developer Network.

Fast ext4 fsck times

tytso — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:33:43 -0700

This wasn’t one of the things we were explicitly engineering for when were designing the features that would go into ext4, but one of the things which we’ve found as a pleasant surprise is how much more quickly ext4 filesystems can be checked. Ric Wheeler reported some really good fsck times that were over ten times better than ext3 using filesystems generated using what was admittedly a very artificial/synthetic benchmark.

Digging Into the LDN

bproffitt — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:43:38 -0700

So, having made it through the launch of LDN yesterday, I thought it would be nice to take a step back and point out what is the coolest functionality of the new site: the Linux Application Checker. This thing, I have to say, is one sweet application.

Linux World 2008/Streets of San Francisco

aupdegrove — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:26:50 -0700

The latest edition of Linux World ground to a halt in San Francisco today. I made it into town just last night for a VIP party hosted by the Linux Foundation where I caught up with lots of the true believer friends (developers, journalists and corporate supporters), and for the Board meeting today. The LF board meeting today was productive, though (a highlight was a walk around the Linux Developers Network Site we brought live today, as well as the new Linux Application Checker that Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols immediately pronounced to be a “killer development tool.”

The Start of Something

bproffitt — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:49:55 -0700

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be there at the beginning of something big. Like when three guys from Seattle decided to open up a new coffee store in 1971. Or when some kid decided to build a new operating system for his PC to do a university project.

It's easy to look at things that are huge now and remember that once upon a time, all of the hubbub was just an idea.

If you're lucky, though, you might just have a chance to be there at the beginning. When something huge begins as somethng small. Today I feel pretty lucky.

The New Linux Developer Network

licquia — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:46:24 -0700

Let’s take a trip down Memory Lane, shall we?

Back when we were still the Free Standards Group and OSDL, the FSG side of the house was hard at work on a developer portal that would help new Linux developers learn what they needed to write applications for Linux. We eventually did a release, but it didn’t have many of the features we wanted, and integration with the tools we provide in the LSB was spotty and hard to use. One thing led to another; the merger happened, and for a while, we were busy with lots of other important things, and the LDN fell by the wayside.

Could Linux Change Democracy?

Amanda McPherson — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:22:44 -0700

Deb Gage at the San Francisco Chronicle recently profiled a voting machine that will be given a tryout at a mock election at Linux World, opening today. Attendees of the conference will have the ability to cast their vote for one of the two candidates on the US presidential ticket. Besides obvious political fervor of many open source devotees, what’s the connection between this machine and Linux?