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KDE

Submission + - KDE 4 uses 40% less memory despite 3D eye-candy

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Pro-Linux reports that KDE 4, scheduled to be released in January 2008, consumes almost 40% less memory than KDE 3.5, despite the fact that version 4 of the Free and Open Source desktop system includes a composited window manager and a revamped menu and applet interface. KDE developer Will Stephenson showcased KDE 4's 3D eye-candy on a 256Mb laptop with 1Ghz CPU and run-of-the-mill integrated graphics, pointing out that mini-optimizations haven't even yet been started. Will this combination of resource efficiency and consumer appeal make KDE 4 the leader in the booming Linux-based ultra mobile laptop and energy efficient desktop markets?
Upgrades

Submission + - Will Linux save the planet? (softpedia.com) 6

Submitted by 00_NOP
00_NOP writes: Acoording to a report on Softpedia, citing a UK government study, Linux PCs are likely to be used for 6 — 8 years instead of the typical 3 — 4 years of a Windows-based PC. With the price of copper and other commodities rocketing, seems like it is good news for the bank balance as well as, errr, the penguins. My oldest Linux box is from 2001 — what's yours?
Education

Submission + - First KDE Education Project Meeting a Great Succes (kde.org)

Submitted by
Jure Repinc
Jure Repinc writes: "Last weekend members of the KDE-Edu team met in Paris for a meeting about the KDE Education project . The meeting took place at the Mandriva office, where members got to know each other and started vivid discussions about their free and open source educational applications, life in general, as well as the future and vision of the Educational module, which is part of the KDE desktop project."
Graphics

Submission + - 2007 Linux Graphics Survey Results (phoronix.com)

Submitted by
Michael
Michael writes: "At Phoronix we have finished our 2007 Linux Graphics Survey and the results are now available with over 20,000 submissions. This survey sought to find out the most popular graphics hardware in use, which closed and open-source drivers are being used, and how many are using accelerated desktop effects. The survey found that nearly half of those polled were using NVIDIA hardware, about 60% of Linux desktop users are using Compiz Fusion, Compiz, or Beryl, and that most still end up modifying their xorg.conf manually..."
Oracle

Submission + - Over 1,500 Customers Using Oracle's Linux (prnewswire.com)

Submitted by kripkenstein
kripkenstein writes: Oracle has released a press release stating that in a short 9 months it has signed up over 1,500 paying customers to its Linux offering, Oracle Unbreakable Linux, which is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and has previously been covered on Slashdot.

Oracle's press release stresses Oracle's various contributions to FOSS. Given that Oracle is now the largest corporation selling and and contributing to Linux (in terms of overall revenue at least; not Linux-specific), the FOSS community's reaction to Oracle's Linux moves is becoming increasingly important. Will Oracle be welcomed, or scorned?
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - SCO found guilty of lying about Unix code in Linux (linux-watch.com)

Submitted by
mlauzon
mlauzon writes: "In the United States, SCO's Linux/Unix litigation has been stalled out while the company's bankruptcy trial is being dealt with. In Germany, however, several court cases have found SCO Group GmbH, SCO's Germany branch, guilty of lying about Linux containing stolen Unix code.

In the first case, reported on by Heise Online, the pro-Linux German companies, Tarent GmbH and Univention found that SCO was once more making claims that Linux contained Unix IP (intellectual property). Specifically, SCO GmbH made the familiar claims that "As we have progressed in our discovery related to this action, SCO has found compelling evidence that the Linux operating system contains unauthorized SCO UNIX intellectual property (IP)." This was followed by the usual threat "If a customer refuses to compensate SCO for its UNIX intellectual property found in Linux by purchasing a license, then SCO may consider litigation."

The German Linux companies had already successfully protested against these statements in 2003. Then they were granted an injunction against SCO from making its claims that Linux contains illegally obtained SCO IP, a.k.a. Unix source code. If SCO violated this injunction, SCO would have to pay a fine of 250,000 Euros.

Since Tarent and Univention brought the matter to the attention of the courts, SCO has taken down the offending page with its claims.

Of course, in the U.S. court system, it has already been ruled that SCO has no Unix IP. Novell, not SCO, owns Unix.

Tarent's managing director told Heise Online that he found "It disconcerting, though not surprising, to see SCO trying to do towards the end what it is really being paid for by its supporters: spreading falsities as disparaging as possible about Linux." Unlike 2003, where Linux companies had to nip things in the bud, exercising vigilance is due now where things are coming to an end: "Even though SCO has reached the end of the line in our opinion, one should not let them get away with this."

In a similar case, Andreas Kuckartz, a German Linux advocate, had been publicly stating since 2003 that "SCO IP Licenses for Linux" amounted to little more than "protection money pricelists" and that SCO is "spreading rumors about copyright violations in Linux." Further, Kuckartz claimed that "The SCO Group Inc. is probably is involved in crimes such as stock manipulation and filing a fraudulent complaint against IBM."

SCO took him to court over these claims and SCO has lost (German PDF document). The Higher Regional Court in Munich ruled, Kuckartz said in e-mails to Linux-Watch, "that my statements are allowed because none of the factual statements I made to support those accusations are false. I can now even go to a business partner of The SCO Group GmbH and tell him or her that SCO is probably involved in the named crimes."

Kuckartz claim that he believes is the most important one is that in the four years the case has dragged out, SCO never objected "to my statement that SCO has not presented any proof of copyright violations in the lawsuit SCO vs. IBM."

In the United States, however, SCO, even now, continues to drag out its unsubstantiated claims that IBM has stolen SCO's Unix IP. In the SCO bankruptcy hearing, SCO attorney Arthur Spector once more claims, "Our litigation is a tremendous asset" and "Our litigation with IBM could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.""
Communications

Submission + - Skype with video support for Linux in Beta! (skype.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Skype 2.0 Beta brings the most requested feature to Skype for Linux: video calling. In the past, we have struggled in a world of glass panes and fruits. Forbidden from seeing the world around us. Denied the possibility of showing who we are. But today, our eyes open. We're not afraid to see, and we're not afraid to show ourselves. This is a time of excitement. And a time to share our happiness, our sadness, our anger and our love. For video has arrived to Skype for Linux.
Graphics

Submission + - GIMPShop Review: GIMP Made Friendly (osweekly.com)

Submitted by
LNXPHreak
LNXPHreak writes: "OSWeekly.com has reviewed GIMPShop, an add-on to GIMP, the ever popular Photoshop replacement for Linux. The review concludes, "What's really cool is that the author of this GIMP variation also seems to have removed usability errors from the Adobe way of doing things as well. Same features as before, yet with an improved naming scheme, I can honestly say that this would have a much better chance of turning a Photoshop user than GIMP ever had. To reiterate as clearly as possible, the 'fixes' seen with GIMPShop are cosmetic and relate to the application's layout, not GIMP's fantastic feature set."
Patents

Submission + - Redhat sued for Patent Infringement

Submitted by
tqft
tqft writes: "http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071011205044141
"The first ever patent infringement litigation regarding Linux. Here's the patent, for those who can look at it without risk. If in doubt, don't. "
For those who can without fear read a patent:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=3tUkAAAAEBAJ&dq=5,072,412

http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/202417-recent-copyrightpatent-infringement-cases-filed-in-u.s.-district-courts

"Plaintiffs IP Innovation and Technology Licensing Corp. claim to have the rights to U.S. Patent No. 5,072,412 for a User Interface with Multiple Workspaces for Sharing Display System Objects issued Dec. 10, 1991 along with two other similar patents.
"

Get your game faces on. Party Time."
Novell

Submission + - Good-bye NetWare, hello Linux: Novell OES 2.0

Submitted by
apokryphos
apokryphos writes: "Novell's long journey from NetWare to Linux is finally complete, with Open Enterprise Server 2.0. Linux-Watch takes a look at the newly-released OES 2.0: "Now, with OES 2.0, the NetWare operating system kernel, NetWare 6.5 SP7, is still there if you run it, but it runs on top of the Xen hypervisor. You can also run the NetWare services, or a para-virtualized instance of NetWare, on top of Xen with the SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) 10 SP 1 kernel. So, if you're wedded to NetWare and its way of doing things, you don't have to wave good-bye to it.""
Patents

Submission + - Ballmer won't stop FUDding about Linux... (vnunet.com)

Submitted by eviljames
eviljames writes: "People who use Red Hat, at least with respect to our intellectual property, in a sense have an obligation to compensate us," — a direct quote from Steve Ballmer, as reported by vnunet.com. Reporting that Ballmer aimed his patent gun at Linux at a company event about online services.

Users of the Red Hat Linux distribution will have to pay Microsoft for its intellectual property, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has cautioned.
With all the FUD they spread, isn't Linux closing in on some sort of deadline where we can force MS to either put up some evidence or STFU?
Software

Submission + - OpenOffice.org 2.3 review (techtarget.com)

Submitted by Peace Frog
Peace Frog writes: Unlike previous 2.x releases, OpenOffice.org 2.3 is a new and enhanced feature release rather than a bug fix. There are several smart changes, a whole new approach to adding new features and of course the much anticipated new charting tool.
SuSE

Submission + - openSUSE 10.3 Has Been Released 1

Submitted by
apokryphos
apokryphos writes: "The openSUSE team have officially announced the release of openSUSE 10.3. Notable changes include the new package management, MP3 support out-of-the-box, a 1-click-install technology, a greatly improved boot time, and the new 1-CD media selection."
Operating Systems

Submission + - openSUSE 10.3 released (opensuse.org)

Submitted by Benjamin Weber
Benjamin Weber writes: The openSUSE team have just officially announced the availability of openSUSE 10.3 "Gold Master" (GM). The new version boasts a range of advances, including: beautiful green artwork, parts of KDE 4, SUSE-polished GNOME 2.20, a 1-click-install technology, a new package management stack, MP3 support out-of-the-box, a GTK version of YaST and a greatly improved boot time. While they now offer 1-CD Installation media — with a KDE CD, or the GNOME CD — the DVD with both desktop environments and extra software is still available.
Download from mirrors or torrent now.
Get in touch with other openSUSE users and developers for help or to celebrate the release.
Operating Systems

Submission + - openSUSE 10.3 is out!

Submitted by traveller604
traveller604 writes: openSUSE 10.3 is now available for download. I'm my opinion Novell's openSUSE is the leading KDE-centric distro and 10.3 does not leave KDE fans cold for it comes with optional KDE 4 beta. Enjoy!

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