was involved a rather mind-boggling discussion last night. In a very particular newsgroup, we had a powwow about the issue of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) tactics and how they are used to vandalise GNU/Linux adoption. In essence, it was realised that FUD creates zealots and leads to broad apathy. People are deterred by the very thought of using Linux. Yes, indeed they still believe that “it’s all command-line” or “it’s only for servers”. Moreover, some people are led to hate Linux due to stereotypes that are being spread constantly.

“FUD makes bigots”, one guy said. How correct was he, by all means. Such zeal and disgust makes difficult not only to persuade others to migrate. It also deters manufacturers of software from making it available for Linux. The general perception of Linux is dysphoric among those who do not understand it and behave merely like cattle, propagating the same myths onto others.

So when will Linux become a platform of the majority? Clearly, once more people experiment with it and, over time, judge it for themselves (rather than rely on hearsay), this shall start a domino effect.

The little ‘object’ on the left has the most responsibility. The laptop may act as merely a relic, a host.

The title says it all. It is
Booting Linux on a Mac from an iPod”>yet another story which illustrates the versatility of GNU/Linux.

Think about this scenario for a moment: Using an iPod to boot Linux on a Mac. No, we’re not kidding. This is exactly what writer Dave Taylor describes in a new online article at LinuxJournal.com entitled “Yellow Dog Linux Installs Neatly on an iPod.”

OME numerous weeks ago, a film was released which was created using nothing but Open Source software. Whether its content (graphic objects) and source code were published under the GNU GPL, it is hard to tell, but it could raise intersting questions and lead to ideas. Apparently, it was the Creative Commons Licence. More details can be found in the official site of the film.

Why is it all so intersting and worthy of a mention? Think about downloading the source code, which was used to render the film. One can then tweak it, re-genrate the film, and release what becomes a quickly-built derivate. Open Source films and their high merit can be illustrated by looking at re-use made by Disney. Although this latter site is in Russian, the pictures are self-explanatory.

Season of the playful penguins from Oyonale

HILE absent, I did not have the opportunity to comment on Oracle’s desire to buy a Linux distribution. This started a whole chain reaction, which had people think about the exploitation of Linux by giants. This also resulted in the exchange of some insults.

More latterly, Red Hat, who were rumoured to be in Oracle’s acquisition agenda, have been responding. Below are some among the softer words, which have come out from the months of their executives.

Success May Threaten Open Source Ethic

“His conclusion is contrary to virtually everything I’ve seen in my 17 year history of commercial free/open source solutions,” Michael Tiemann, vice president of Red Hat said about Goulde’s report. “I believe that the effect of open source on the proprietary vendors is a force 1,000 times more powerful than the force of proprietary principles on the open source community.”

Season of the playful penguins from Oyonale

T has been previouly mentioned that Windows Vista will give people many compelling reasons to switch to Linux. This was mentioned in the context of hardware requirements. Owing to plenty of trouble at Microsoft, as well as delays, the Investor’s Business Daily predicts that the very release of Windows Vista will give a boost to Linux.

The looming release of the next major upgrade to Microsoft’s flagship Windows operating system, Windows Vista, is encouraging an unlikely group of users — fans of rival software Linux.

The Eclipse Foundation, a tech consortium pushing open-source software to develop new software programs, is betting that the transition to Vista will boost the appeal of its so-called rich-client platform. The platform is designed to make it easier to write software that runs equally well on Windows, Linux and other operating systems.

RedHat Linux

Among the latest:

Linux seller Red Hat on Tuesday reported net income for its most recent quarter rose 131 percent to $27.3 million, or 13 cents per share, edging a penny ahead of analyst expectations.

So indeed, Linux is the future. While Novell’s Windows income falls, its Linux (SuSE) income rises as well.

UITE recently, Xara Xtreme which is a popular (vector) drawing program, moved from being pricey proprietary software to the GPL. Xara may have been the victim or sufferer of bigger packages and vendors (e.g. CorelDraw, Photoshop). My guess is that, much like Netscape, they had the choice of either letting the code of that product accumulate mold or earn a large(er) audience — a large user base — to which they can then offer paid support and self-tailored extensions. Netscape achieved something similar by putting the code out there. Today we are seeing the impact of Firefox, which enjoys generous streams of revenue as well. Xara Xtreme will directly challenge Inkscape, a screenshot of which can be seen above.

In the near future, more and more companies will be facing a crossroad wherein they can either fall to oblivion or receive exposure by throwing themselves at the Open Source community. It would enough to have just a few ‘residual’ companies that fell victims to giants like Adobe, or Microsoft, or whoever. Sooner or later they can be ‘resurrected’ owing to the GPL, once they release the code and get absorbed by a crowd of Open Source advocates that contributes back. When the user base of Open Source platforms such GNU/Linux expands, this will become more financially viable and there will be an increasing incentive to go down that route.