Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/48802/index.html

So here we have an entire industry exerting considerable effort to exclude a whole class of customers, because we use a computing platform that they cannot control. Sure, Microsoft will be happy to screw over its end users by including all manner of DRM nastiness. But in the end it won’t matter anyway- customers who choose to view their legally-purchased DVDs on Linux will easily, if illegally, find a way. What sort of madness is this?

The RIAA - Hollywood - DRM - Linux Suicide Pact

Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/lf/view/48506/

Penguin values can turn the Christmas season into something worthwhile, instead of a stressful greed-fest that leaves you broke and exhausted.

Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/48275/index.html

For a small businessperson, whether you’re a lone freelancer, or have a small staff or partners, the key to being happy is to carefully select your customers. That’s right, you don’t go around hat in hand, tugging the forelock, going all suckup to beg for any business you can get. Target the people or businesses you want to be your customers…
How do you do this? In the most natural, easy way possible:

Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/47917/index.html

What would happen to Linux, Free Software, and Open Source Software if Microsoft reformed itself? What if Microsoft abandoned their evil, customer-hostile, restraint-of-trade ways, and did a complete turnaround? Would FOSS even have a reason to exist?

Related link: http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netos/article.php/3561596

There you are all bright-eyed and eager, ready to roll up your sleeves and go to work in the exciting new world of Free/Open Source software. You have rosy visions of getting paid to do enjoyable, challenging work. Maybe even fat stock options…

You can’t count on fat stock options, because they are just as hard to come by as they are in any profession, but getting paid to do enjoyable, challenging work is exciting all by itself, and quite probable in the FOSS world. While the FOSS world is vast and diverse, there are three arenas that I think offer the most opportunities:

Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/47217/index.html

This is the article I should have blogged, rather than shamelessly plugging my own stuff:

“As a Linux community member, I have the right to do charitable work centered around giving my time away for the cause of Free Software.

“From time to time in the press I see attitudes that paint the business of Free Software as some sort of socialist movement. At the other end of the spectrum we find Microsoft seeming to wrap itself in the flag of capitalism, as if their huge stockpile of cash is itself an indicator of their true success…”

Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/47357/index.html

Most women, when they plan their careers, think in terms of having jobs. But why limit yourself? The computing world is a haven for the self-employed, and the FOSS world supplies tools and opportunities you won’t find anywhere else…The whole idea is to do something that you find personally rewarding, get paid for it, and do it your way.

Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/46916/index.html

A system administrator pretty much has to be able to do anything- network voodoo, user education, pull cable, build servers, fix hardware, fend off clueless management, and myriad more tasks. With these in mind, here is my own Essential Bookshelf for the Hardworking, Underappreciated, Overworked, Conscientious Sysadmin.

What are your essential reference books?

Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/46808/index.html

“…you can imagine my interest when I discovered Microsoft’s partner in the Wintel business has “gone over to the other side,” so to speak. I always thought that Intel walked a narrow line with Linux, I just didn’t know that they expected to sell hundreds of millions of computers in rural China. If the document passed to me is authentic, then that’s something about which some people might wonder. Some would consider it admirable.

Personally, I consider it somewhat of a betrayal of the American people. If Intel can sell a Linux computer in rural China, why can’t they do the same thing in the United States? What about the No Child Left Behind Act signed by President Bush in January 2002? What about the poor in the US who, with proper training, could easily fill the supposed skills gap that has led to the overseas outsourcing of so many crucial, even sensitive, IT jobs?

I advocate the use of Linux in emerging countries where the average annual income might run around $150 a year. In the US, we have a large surplus of equipment that could accommodate those people’s needs. Those low-resource computers Microsoft has managed to make obsolete will run perfectly with Linux. But they will also work for people in this country.

Microsoft and its partners in the United States will not let that happen.”

Read the rest of Chinese Halloween with Intel here.

Related link: http://lxer.com/module/newswire/lf/view/46680/

“A recent post on OSNews.com raised questions about the availability of GPL’ed source code from the former Lycoris distribution. Accusations have flown both ways and much confusion has ensued, leaving many concerned about whether the source code will ever be made available.

“There’s a dispute breaking out over the availability of libre source code from the former Lycoris’ Iris, a software delivery service similar to Linspire’s “Click and Run”. The dispute broke out into a war of words on OSNews.com recently, leaving users guessing as to what’s really going on. When developers release programs under a libre software license, such as the GNU GPL, they are required to make the source code available from the outset, something that did not happen in the case of Iris. Since Mandriva now owns Lycoris’ assets, including Iris, it remains to be seen who will take responsibility for making the sources available.”

This story has an amusing variation on “the dog ate it” excuse: “Mr. Cheek has acknowledged the problem, and promised to make the source code available - as soon as his computer equipment arrives in France, where he is currently working for Mandriva. He indicated he expected that to take about three months.”

No backups? No one else has copies? Mmmkay.

The good news is, the ultimate resolution to this will be to bring Mandriva into compliance with the GPL. Unlike the proprietary world, where lawyers would prepare for a years-long battle and sue for large monetary damages.