[4754] in linux-announce channel archive
Linux-Announce Digest #47
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Digestifier)
Thu Feb 17 12:13:08 2005
From: Digestifier <Linux-Announce-Request@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu>
To: Linux-Announce@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
Reply-To: Linux-Announce@senator-bedfellow.mit.edu
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 12:13:05 EST
Linux-Announce Digest #47, Volume #5 Thu, 17 Feb 2005 12:13:05 EST
Contents:
ISVs, smartphones, Skype etc... ("Frederick Noronha (FN)")
Interview: Tony Mobily, Free Software Magazine ("Frederick Noronha (FN)")
GNU Archimedes 0.0.1 released (fwd) ("Frederick Noronha (FN)")
Lineox Releases Lineox Enterprise Linux 4.0 RC1 (Raimo Koski)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 13:08:16 CST
From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: ISVs, smartphones, Skype etc...
========== Forwarded message ==========
LinuxWorld: IBM program aims to cultivate Linux independent ...
ComputerWorld - USA
... a number of new marketing programs that it hopes will encourage another
6,000 independent
software vendors to port their software to the Linux operating system ...
See all stories on this topic
Linux paves way for cheaper smartphones
ZDNet UK - UK
Several leading mobile technology players have cooperated on a project to
explore Linux's
potential as the major software component in future smartphones. ...
See all stories on this topic
OSDL Tackles Desktop Linux
InternetNews.com - USA
The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) wants to find out what's needed to make
desktop Linux
successful, so it launched an initiative on Monday to find out ...
See all stories on this topic
Skype lands on Linux distribution
ZDNet UK - UK
Linux distributor Xandros on Monday released a non-commercial version of its
distribution
that includes the free Internet telephony application Skype. ...
See all stories on this topic
PalmSource's sideways shuffle to Linux
Register - London,England,UK
3GSM Wave goodbye PalmSource the PalmOS company, say hello to Palm the Chinese
Linux company.
That judgment may be a little premature ...
See all stories on this topic
Novell boosts its Linux security credentials
VNUNet.com - UK
Novell has unveiled a SuSE Linux-based soft appliance designed to protect
businesses against
security threats from hackers, viruses, worms and spam. ...
See all stories on this topic
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------------------------------
From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: Interview: Tony Mobily, Free Software Magazine
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 15:57:50 CST
Download this magazine from freesoftwaremagazine.com
http://entertainment.newsforge.com/entertainment/05/01/27/1829208.shtml?tid=150&tid=5
Interview: Tony Mobily, Free Software Magazine
Tuesday February 15, 2005 (08:00 AM GMT)
By: Aaron Klemm
Free Software Magazine launched last month in electronic format, with a print
version due in April. Free Software has no central office, and is not funded by
any venture capitalists with deep pockets. Article topics range from an
analysis of XML to a discussion about intellectual freedom. Segments of Richard
Stallman's blog are promised as a regular feature. A section of
technically-oriented articles covers password management, LiveCDs, and
programming free software on Mac OS X. The final section deals with economic,
social, and political issues of free software. We spoke with editor-in-chief
Tony Mobily about creating FSM and his goals for the magazine.
Congratulations on the launch of Free Software Magazine. Who do you see as your
target audience?
Identifying FSM's audience is a little bit tricky. Free software is not a
specific product; for example, both Apache and Firefox are free software, but
they are very different in many respects. The common ground for FSM's readers
is their love of free software and of freedom in general. The magazine is a
good way of reinforcing our movement's beliefs, and of creating awareness that
the freedom we have at the moment might be taken away if we don't fight for it.
It is also a way of discovering what you can do with free software from a
technical point of view.
The magazine also targets all those people who confuse free software with
"shareware" or "freeware." Sadly, that still happens a lot.
FSM is a "free software" magazine. Does the "open source" ideology have a place
at FSM?
Using Richard Stallman's own words, "The Free Software movement and the Open
Source movement are like two political camps within the free software
community". In general, FSM leans towards the Free Software movement, which, I
feel, gives more recognition to GNU (which, let's remember, started it all) and
emphasize the importance of freedom. This is why the magazine is not just about
free software, but also about freedom. The Open Source ideology does have a
place in FSM, for sure: we are fighting the same war, but in different camps,
and in different ways!
What are the key features of your business plan? Is FSM a completely
bootstrapped venture?
Yes -- in fact, we are pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps as we speak. :-)
The business plan is based on an assumption that would probably only work in
the free software world: that subscribers are willing to pay a higher
subscription for a magazine that is:
# Of a very high standard.
# Central to our community.
# Aimed at paying authors good money for free contents (we are not at this
point yet).
# Willing to donate ads to free software companies.
Other magazines cost much less than ours -- we charge $6.95. But our aim is
different. We are not here to make millions. We simply want to give free
software an authoritative voice people can refer to and quote.
You have offered reduced-price and even free advertising to companies that
support free software. Are you concerned that will place too high a burden on
subscribers?
No, because we will hopefully have plenty of paying advertisers. As soon as
that happens, we will reduce the price of the magazine.
Since delivering a free-as-in-beer printed magazine to subscribers isn't
feasible, do you see a lesson in the FSM sales model for software developers?
To be honest the short answer is no. I think writing software and writing
magazines (and documentation in general) are very different things. FSM's model
is basically "subscribers get the newest magazine, non-subscribers get
six-week-old issues." This works because the delay is not great. Applying this
principle to software doesn't really work. There are security bugs to be fixed,
patches to be accepted, and so on.
What I do think, though, is that this model should be followed by other
magazines and publications. I worked in the magazine industry in Europe for
five years. The amount of wonderful articles locked away forever is just not
acceptable. Making articles accessible on a Web site for free (as in beer) is
not enough. Contents need to be free -- under the GNU Free Documentation
License, a Creative Commons license, or simply a verbatim-copying-only license.
That's the only way to ensure that contents will stay alive forever -- or at
least as long as at least one person wants them published.
In Issue 1 of FSM, you describe the technical work involved in creating the
magazine. Were there unique technical problems using completely Free Software
to create the first issue?
First of all, a disclaimer: our system is based nearly entirely on free
software. Unfortunately, there is still one critical component [a VBA script
for manipulating RTF files] which needs non-free software to run. We are
planning to fix that soon.
As far as unique technical problems, I must say that, if anything, thanks to
free software we managed to save phenomenal amounts of time (and therefore
money). I am not talking about license fees here. I am talking about the fact
that we generate the magazine's PDF automatically. There is no composition
involved!
We achieved this thanks to LaTeX and Gianluca Pignalberi, a LaTeX guru and
university lecturer who decided to invest vast amounts of his time in this
project. With FSM, the PDF is generated directly from the tex file, which is
generated from the XML. Gianluca has to check that nothing went wrong with the
conversion, but mistakes are getting less and less frequent -- and once they
are fixed, they won't show up ever again!
You use GIF files on the FSM website and JPEG files in the print version of
FSM. Are there plans to use the W3C-endorsed PNG file format, which has no
history of patent problems?
GIF was a choice that happened nearly by accident. In fact, it was
thoughtlessness on my side. Now, many automatic scripts are based on the
assumption that we have GIF files there. JPEG was used for a similar reason. We
are looking into converting all the images to PNG, but it will take time.
It's a typical example of the mistakes you can make when you start fresh, even
if you are a freedom advocate. There are a million things to do, and by the end
of the month you've made one or two mistakes which you really shouldn't have
made, and that will take quite some time to fix.
Is it difficult to find authors who want to write about free software and
related issues?
Finding good authors in any field is not easy. Finding reliable authors is very
hard. Finding good, reliable authors who are willing to write for free (even as
a temporary arrangement) can be really quite tricky!
Again, I was amazed by the number of amazing authors I found right at the
beginning of this adventure. I am talking about people who write articles which
make a difference, change people's minds, or explain something in the most
brilliant way.
How will you ensure the quality of the articles remains high?
Some authors will hand in an article, and you think, "If every author were like
this, I wouldn't need editors." But they are the exceptions. Several authors
need [three or four] steps in the editing cycle.
Some of the published articles have been edited really heavily, changed,
improved, discussed. I believe that's what makes the difference. A magazine is
not a blog: each article needs to be sharp, well-edited, aimed at a specific
audience. That's a lot of work and we are willing to do it.
What are your plans for compensating authors?
We can pay authors when we have at least 1,300 subscribers and a few paying
advertisers. We are working on both these things. I believe we will be able to
pay authors from issue 5 onwards, but it could be a little later (if no ads are
sold, and subscriptions are slow), as it could be a little earlier (if people
buy ads, and subscriptions are going OK).
Not paying authors really, really bothers me. I will never, ever say "your
payment is the honour of writing for us and be published." I don't think that's
the way you run a business. I will pay authors before I pay myself -- that's a
promise.
How does the future look for FSM? What are your long-term goals for the
magazine?
Right now, the future of Free Software magazine depends on its subscribers, and
subscriptions are coming. We need about 300 subscribers by March 12 not to lose
money, and we are slowly but steadily getting there.
The long-term goal? Well, I have several. The primary goal is to turn Free
Software Magazine into the most important magazine in the free software world.
I want it to become the authoritative voice of our movement, a publication that
everybody in the IT world knows and respects.
I would also love to be able to drop the subscription prices, which at the
moment are far too high. We will be able to do that as soon as we get more
subscribers and advertising.
How can people subscribe and what is the subscription price?
There are several options. You can pay by credit card (monthly, six monthly or
yearly) or by (American) cheque. The magazine costs US$6.95 per issue; at the
moment, that just covers the printing costs and the postage. When we print more
magazines, the printing costs will go down and we will be able to charge less
for FSM. In the meantime, we ask the members of our community to subscribe,
support us and join us in this adventure.
============================================================================
Frederick Noronha (FN) Nr Convent Saligao 403511 GoaIndia
Freelance Journalist P: 832-2409490 M: 9822122436
http://fn.swiki.net http://fn-floss.notlong.com
============================================================================
Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your
vocation. --Aristotle
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:34:08 CST
From: "Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred@bytesforall.org>
Subject: GNU Archimedes 0.0.1 released (fwd)
========== Forwarded message ==========
Archimedes is a new GNU package to help in designing and simulating submicron
semiconductor devices.
It is a 2D Monte Carlo simulator which can take into account all the relevant
quantum effects by means of Bohm effective potential. The description of the
device is very general and made by means of a simple script language, which
makes GNU/Archimedes a powerful tool for the simulation of quite general 2D
semiconductor devices. Some very interesting results have been obtained and
they will be put, as soon as possible, on the web page (you can find some
results in the documentation).
It's available from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/archimedes/ [via http] and
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/archimedes/ [via FTP], and from the GNU mirrors
(list at http://www.gnu.org/prep/ftp.html).
The web page is http://www.gnu.org/software/archimedes.
Bien Amicalement
Jean Michel
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 10:42:45 CST
From: Raimo Koski <rk@raimokoski.com>
Subject: Lineox Releases Lineox Enterprise Linux 4.0 RC1
Lineox Releases Lineox Enterprise Linux 4.0 RC1
17. Feb. 2005
Lineox has released today the first release candidate of Lineox
Enterprise Linux 4.0 which is built from the source packages
available from
ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/enterprise/4/en/os/i386/SRPMS
Lineox has replaced some graphics files and changed or replaced some
other files mainly because of trademark issues while retaining full
compatibility. This release includes also updated packages which were
built from 27 source packages available from
ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/updates/enterprise/4AS/en/os/SRPMS
Lineox expects to release the final version of Lineox Enterprise Linux
4.0 within one week and x86_64 RC1 version later this week.
Because Fedora Core 3 and Beta 2 of the product on which Lineox
Enterprise Linux 4.0 is based were released almost simultaneously and
1216 of the 1398 packages in Beta 2 are exactly the same, Lineox
encourages Fedora Core 3 users to upgrade their "beta quality" Linux
to the stable version offered by Lineox.
A bittorent for CD binary iso files is available from Lineox download
page at http://www.lineox.net/download.php
The only way to download ISO's is currently via bittorrent. Please
leave your download client running after the download is complete (with
ports 6881-6889 open) as your client will become part of the peer to
peer bittorrent network and reduce the load on our network mirrors.
NOTE: This is a Release Candidate distribution build and may not be
suitable for use in production environments. We encourage you to
provide feedback on this build via the Mailing Lists at
http://www.raimokoski.com/mailman/listinfo
--
Raimo Koski http://www.lineox.com/ http://www.raimokoski.com/
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