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Linux Business

Submission + - Aussie prisoners escape lock-in with Ubuntu PCs (itnews.com.au) 1

Submitted by bfire
bfire writes: Prisoners at two jails in Australia have implemented a centrally managed and distributed desktop environment that runs on the Ubuntu OS. Desktops boot from a central server but everything executes in local resources. The desktops are assigned to 'realms', such as a cell block wing, and each realm has a system image (with the Ubuntu OS and all necessary applications) that loads onto the PC at boot and can't be modified. The makers hope the Prison PC could eventually provide a single, centrally-managed device to replace a PC, TV, DVD player and stereo in individual cells. They also hope prison authorities will elect to stream online radio, IP and free-to-air TV, on-demand video such as for education, and even minority religious content using the system in the future. The system is already gaining international interest because it also means that custodians could deny or revoke rights to use parts of it, without having to go to the cell and forcibly remove the kit as punishment.
NASA

Submission + - Space Shuttle Atlantis Home After Hubble Repairs (go.com) 1

Submitted by
viyh
viyh writes: "Space Shuttle Atlantis came in for a safe landing today at Edwards Air Force Base in California, delayed for two days by bad weather in Florida but little the worse for wear.

"Welcome home, Atlantis," called mission control in Houston. "Congratulations on a very successful mission."

Shuttle commander Scott Altman answered, "Thank you, Houston. That was a thrill from start to finish."

It was the end of perhaps the highest-profile shuttle mission since NASA resumed flying after the 2003 Columbia disaster. It included five complicated spacewalks — lasting more than 36 hours, all told — to replace or repair nine critical Hubble telescope components."
Software

Submission + - World's "fastest" LISP-based web server re 2

Submitted by
Cougem
Cougem writes: "John Fremlin has released what he believes to be the worlds fastest webserver for small dynamic content, teepeedee2. It is written entirely in LISP, the world's second oldest high-level programming language. He recently gave a talk at the Tokyo Linux Users Group, with benchmarks, which he says demonstrate that "functional programming languages can beat C". Imagine a small alternative to Ruby on rails, supporting the development of any web application, but much faster."
Google

Submission + - Google Earth Raises Discrimination Issue in Japan 3

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The Times reports that by allowing old maps to be overlaid on satellite images of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, Google has unwittingly created a visual tool that has prolonged an ancient discrimination says a lobbying group established to protect the human rights of three million burakumin, members of the sub-class condemned by the old feudal system in Japan to unclean jobs associated with death and dirt. "We tend to think of maps as factual, like a satellite picture, but maps are never neutral, they always have a certain point of view," says David Rumsey, a US map collector. Throughout the recent history of the burakumin, the central issue has been identification and some Japanese companies actively screen out burakumin-linked job seekers. Because there is nothing physical to differentiate burakumin from other Japanese and because there are no clues in their names or accent, the only way of establishing whether or not they are burakumin is by tracing their family. By publishing the locations of burakumin ghettos with the modern street map, the illegal quest to trace ancestry is made easier, says Toru Matsuoka, an opposition MP and member of the Buraku Liberation League. Under pressure to diffuse criticism, Google has asked the owners of the woodblock print maps to remove the legend that identifies the ghetto with an old term that translates loosely as "scum town". "We had not acknowledged the seriousness of the map, but we do take this matter seriously," says Yoshito Funabashi, a Google spokesman."

Comment 2005 != 2009 (Score 5, Insightful) 311

by firejump (#27964951) Attached to: Secret EU Open Source Migration Study Leaked
I'm in no way trying to defend Gartner and his study, but I believe there is a huge difference between Linux adoption in 2005 and now. Some slides from the pdf linked in the article suggest that major portions of the study were made even earlier, in 2003. Of course basing any technology-related decisions on such a outdated study is another matter...

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