Tux Watch

How can you make money off of FOSS?
The easiest is selling FOSS. Be sure to explain to customers that it’s a matter of freedom, not price. Distributing this book with the software might be a good idea. Remember that if the software’s under the GGPL and you distribute binaries, you must include the source with the binaries and/or offer the source separate. You could also write free documentation and sell that. The same things in the above paragraph apply here.

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An interesting article from the IBM Website [here] that a lack of physical memory can severely hamper Linux performance. In this article, learn how to accurately measure the amount of memory your Linux system uses. You also get practical advice on reducing your memory requirements using an Ubuntu system as an example. A much-touted benefit of Linux is that it is more efficient than Microsoft® Windows®, and will therefore perform better on less than cutting-edge hardware. This performance makes Linux a very attractive upgrade for the many people who have old Windows 98-era boxes still sitting around that are no longer being treated to the latest and greatest software (particularly security patches).

The article walks readers through the basics of memory, choosing the right desktop environment with appropriate applications, removing unwanted services and settings, appropriate planning and then how to optimize your system.

The news of the month is that the Linux kernel community is offering end users and in particular companies free Linux driver development services says Greg on the Linux Kernel Monkey Blog [here]. The objective is to reduce the issues and sufferings of searching for a suitable device driver for Linux thus no need to search Linux Device Driver Kits and browse through tens of example drivers in the Linux kernel source tree.

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According to the Guardian Digital-EnGarde Secure Linux website [here], the EnGarde Secure Community is a secure distribution of Linux engineered from the ground-up to provide organizations with security required for creating a corporate Web presence and conducting e-business online. EnGarde can be used as a Web, DNS, E-mail, Database, E-commerce and general Internet Server platform with security as a primary concern. I call it “Linux Truly Secure By Design” since it complies to SELinux security audit measures as well as follows the principle of Linux application design, that is, “Secure By Design” though many may disagree.

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FreedomHEC is the hardware conference [here] where you’ll learn how easy it is to make your hardware compatible with free, open source operating systems such as Linux, and available to new markets such as servers, next-generation entertainment devices, and more.

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Thanks to TuxMachine [here], I came accross some very interesting links showing Microsoft’s attempts to interfere with the FOSS and Linux movement and possibly conquer it by:

1. Microsoft’s CodePlex [here] is an attempt to become FSF’s Savannah or SourceForge.net but if you go through their terms and conditions, you will be amazed how they treat Intellectual Property Rights. I hope the developers joing this site have a good eyesight vision, hey how many fingers are these?

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“FOSS A General Introduction” serves as an introduction to various aspects and dimensions of FOSS issues, including, FOSS in education, FOSS and government policy, localization, open standards and licensing. This book has been donated to Wikibooks by the International Open Source Network (IOSN) [here] and the UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) [here].

The Wikibook gives a detailed introduction to FOSS, presents various FOSS Success Stories, discusses Linux, Intellectual Property Rights and Licensing, covers Localization and Internationalization of software and has a Glossary and list of various FOSS Licenses in its annextures. Wikibooks [here] is an open-content textbooks collection initiative and contains information and knowledge on a number of other areas of great importance.

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One thing that has been constantly pinching me is the perception found in the industry that maybe Linux and Windows are at war or members of both camps are in competition with each other. This is one area where I would like to make a clarification that there is no war nor competition and there never was unless Microsoft camp perceives that on its own which is a very usual anticipation from that camp.

Linux was founded out of hobby by Linus Torvalds and Windows by a company for commercial purposes. Yes, when the Linux Kernel or GNU/Linux was picked up by various commercial vendors and corporations, a competition clearly emerged in the corporate world of business and industry globally between today’s giants like Red Hat, Novell, Microsoft etc.

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The Linux Professional Institute has launched [here] the LPIC-3 Certification Program representing the culmination of LPI’s Certification Program. LPIC-3 is designed for the “enterprise-level” Linux professional and represents the highest level of professional, distribution-neutral Linux certification within the industry. The LPIC-3 program consists of a single exam for LPIC-3 “Core” designation. A number of “specialty” exams are proposed as additional designations on top of the LPIC-3 “Core” certification. Proposed specialties include the following: Mixed Environment, Security, High Availability and Virtualization, Web and Intranet, and Mail and Messaging. The first such “specialty” designation, “Mixed Environment” has been made available in January 2007.

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Do we really have to explain every time something that is very open and proven worldwide. The context of this question is actually Linux in the enterprise and the best examples we already have are enterprises of the Internet era including giants like Google and Yahoo. These organizations have long reaped the benefits improved efficiency, reliability and cost savings for years with their online. I believe “YES” we will have to continuously advocate the benefits of FOSS and Linux continuously as more and more people turn towards exploring the FOSS option.

Being biased to the fact that people should now know it because its all out there is not an appropriate perception. If this would have always been the case then why do we have to educate people to become Doctors, Engineers, Computer Scientists, Astronauts, Policemen etc.

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The Microsoft launch of its new operating system Vista could possibly loose its previously held Window’s market share due to the fact that Vista carries a whole new set of Graphical User Interface features and enhancements that will require the new end-users of Vista to first receive a significant amount of training to manage the new interfaces. Secondly, Vista may be trying to copy a number of features from products developed by the FOSS community including the Firefox browser.

Third, Vista will not be living up to its promise of including new ground breaking enhancements such as a new file system so people will be getting more of a resource hungry eater than a full of new features operating system. Fourth Vista is going to be one of the most resource hungry Operating Systems ever and you can say goodbye to all your old low-performing hardware equipment like Pentium-4 and below whereas Linux has the capability to even make such low-performance hardware become effectively useful.

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An evergreen article from Sci-Tech World that I wanted to share with my readers so that you can always select the right software.

Quite a few of us want to opt for open source software, but we don’t know where to begin. Sci-tech World presents a few basic tips for selecting the right software, thus making the switch a tad easier. Here is what you should look out for:

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Part- 4. India Plays “IT” Big

Further adding to local FOSS Ecosystem development initiatives in India, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu has been making headlines [here ] the world over as the state goes for FOSS due to concerns over security and the high costs that Microsoft offers for Windows. The Indian state is not new to FOSS as the local government been running Red Hat Linux on various backend servers coupled with JBoss application server and PostgreSQL databases.

Mr. C.Umashankar the Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot is a state-owned IT supplier) has clearly announced that

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Part- 3. India Plays “IT” Open

India has been very prominent on the FOSS world news bulletins due to the fact that with one of the largest populations in the world, the country has been on preference list for Information Technology and Software Business Process Outsourcing for the western or developed world. Adding to this, almost every major FOSS development corporation has either Research and Development center in India as well as country operations including giant brand names like Red Hat, Novell, IBM etc. In India, the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) [here ] has been leading FOSS initiatives in the country.

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Part- 2. Pakistan Brings Nation Closer To Realization

To take FOSS efforts to the next level in Pakistan, the Government initiated a project worth Rs29 million titled “Open Source Resource Center” (OSRC) [here] was established at the through the Ministry of IT’s [here] implementation arm the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) [here] in January 2004 in Islamabad to facilitates stake holders and investors in the software industry, should they decide to shift their businesses from vendor-dependent proprietary software to open source software technology. It aims to create a culture of open source software use in Pakistan through media awareness and training workshops, and act as a virtual community for experts in this field.

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