cgh4be asks: "I work for an IBM business partner and each year we host a technology seminar for our customers, most of which have AS/400 backgrounds. I am the 'Linux guy' at work and have been chosen to give a 1 hour presentation to these IBMers about linux. So, my question to the Slashdot community is, what points and information should I touch on in this presentation to make it effective? I'd like to give some history about it of course, but the goal is to get them to start using it in their businesses."

Khalid writes "People are still looking for good open source business models. Here is a very interesting one I found in the JBoss site. You can become a certified JBoss Group Authorized Consultant in exchange of $5000. Which comprise training and tests, in return, you can use the JBoss brand, which is quite recognized now. While this may not apply to all open source projects, I think this is a best of both worlds deal. The source is open for everybody (JBoss is LGPL). JBoss get a very solid network of consultants which make the JBoss brand even more solid (human networks never die). Users can get support and service and the people at JBoss Group can get some money to pay the bill and keep improving JBoss to make it an even better product, a very virtuous cycle." $5000 is a lot of money, though, and that cost is per-year, not a lifetime membership.

SmilingMonk writes "The company I work for is looking to train engineers fresh out of school on embedded software development. It seems to be specialized enough field of interest that it might be helpful for some people to 'get their feet wet' developing embedded solutions on in-expensive SBC ^? s before they are handed off to the product lines. A low cost ($400) full featured solution we recently stumbled across is the eCOG1 Development Environment. Yes, we've been to LinuxDevices, but feel compelled to ask which similarly featured low priced SBCs others have used that we could have our trainees develop embedded Linux applications on?"

yalla writes: "After being in Pottenstein, Coniston and Bouillon, the Linuxbierwanderung is taking Place in Doolin, Ireland. As every year, we're holding lectures, take a lot of hikes and obvisiously enjoy the local beer. This time we even got our own beer: The 'Black Tux' (Stout), 'Reddish Brown Beer' (Red Ale) and the 'Holy Penguin Pee' (which is a Lager). The beer was sponsored by the Irish Linux User Group. Our network setup is sort of weird, like last year; we connected the camping-site via wireless LAN and directional antennas with 'The Hall,' the local community center, which is the central gathering place for all activities."

RadioheadKid writes "This article featured on eWeek asks the question 'Red Hat: Next Redmond?' It quotes an IBM VP who says, 'There is a backlash against Red Hat from many consumers and government agencies, who fear it is increasingly becoming the Microsoft of the Linux world with respect to its dominance and attitude,' while Red Hat states: 'Our commitment to open source remains absolute, no matter what our competitors are saying.' Is this just some pro-UnitedLinux spin, or a valid concern? What do you think?" Such characterizations are nothing new, but a response on NewsForge from Red Hat's Jeremy Hogan supplies a counterpoint to make the eWeek article worth reading. (Has anyone really seen a Red Hat backlash?)

standards writes "Reuters is reporting that pony-tailed Linux Users have been seen mingling with executives in short-sleeved golf shirts. The article suggests that real technology guys don't wear shorts, T-shirts or baseball caps." the article is mostly about the business focus of Linux these days, although I think the writer is a couple years late since I think this was really the case about 4 LinuxWorld's ago ;)

minkwe writes "Tension is currently rising between the KDE and GNOME followers, following the release of the new beta to Red Hat's upcoming distribution. Neither group appears to be satisfied with the fact that Red Hat has null-ified the difference between the two desktop environments."

Squidgee writes "This is the site for "LIAP: Linux In A Pillbox". It is an interesting recovery distro made in the vein of pharmaceuticals; each floppy based 'minidistro' cures one specific Linux ailment. Or, as Luke Komasta (The creator of LIAP) puts it: "My Linux project contains "pills". Each of them is good for one disease, but it doesn't work good enough for another. When you know what you need a Linux for, you may choose a good pill. And of course, as you know, there is no drug which is good for treating all diseases." It's an extremely interesting approach to Linux recovery, and one that appears to be more effective than the other varieties of floppy/mini-cd based recovery systems. Worth downloading in case you ever need it!"

bhsx asks: "With all the innovations going into open source software these days, why do I still need to run Exchange to meet my clients' needs? Even when demonstrating technology like LTSP mixed with any combination of OpenOffice, Star Office, even Codeweaver's Crossover Office running the latest Microsoft suite, the clincher is always over Exchange functionality. I'm aware of Bynari's InsightServer(Coincidentally, I noticed on that page, that their code is for sale) and have started using that as a possible closer, and the cost is much less prohibitive than eXchange+w2k server+CALs; but why isn't there an open source solution to this problem yet?"

batsman writes "The Linux VM system programmers are discussing the software patents that could block further development of important features. Alan Cox brings up several SGI patents covering the techniques they were considering, and Daniel Phillips has found some patents that affect features already present in Linux. Linus Torvalds thinks they should ignore these patents and pretend they don't exist until they cause troubles. How long before kernel developers are sued for patent infringement?"

Gentu writes "OSNews features an interview with Shawn Gordon, president of TheKompany. Shawn talks about version 1.0 of Aethera and Kapital coming out in September, porting a lot of their Qt apps to MacOSX, the future of Linux on the desktop, how the embedded Linux market was surprisingly successful financially for them, as well as selling well their desktop apps. It is really encouraging to read that a desktop-oriented company actually made real money from Linux this year!"

Silas asks: "I've been working for a website development firm in Indiana, but will soon be moving from Indiana to Ohio. From Ohio, I'll continue to work for that Indiana-based firm via phone, e-mail, and the occasional commute. I'm wondering what the implications are for income taxes - namely, am I living and working in Ohio, or am I living in Ohio and working in Indiana, or some weird mutation of those? Any advice from others working in similar 'virtual office' situations?"

An Anonymous Coward asks: "The Seattle Community Technology Alliance is a non profit, federally funded, public/private project that supports community technology centers in the Seattle area. We are interested in moving our public workstations from Win 2000 to Linux. In order to do this, we need good multi-lingual options and the abiltiy to create 'guest accounts' that prevent users from changing settings (to provide a consistent environment for users). What are the best tools for multi-user Linux labs? Should we use KDE? Gnome? How do we keep users from changing settings? We are eager to start experimenting, but would appreciate expert advice on starting points!"

stressky writes: "Looks like major Aussie telco Telstra are looking at deploying Linux as the new Standard Operating Environment across their 45,000 desktop LAN workstations." An anonymous reader offers evidence that Telstra isn't alone; apparently, many other Australian businesses are considering a similar switch.

bachoom writes "Today, NIKKEI(Japanese story) announced that Turbolinux Inc. sold worldwide Linux business to SRA, Japanese SI company. Turbolinux has burned through at least $100 million raised across three rounds from a dazzling collection of companies including Intel, IBM, and many Japanese companies. Currently, They were sold by $1 million."

dazdaz asks: "I have spent the last 12 months applying for IT positions abroad (Europe and Asia) from the UK and out of it, have had 1 offer and 3 free trips! The offer I had unfortunately was not enough to live on and only came through because a friend had recommended me. For the other 3 positions, I had seriously under-estimated the cultural differences along with the tight competition I ended up as choice number 2 several times. Just briefly: my background is web/internet/unix/sysadmin with contract experience. I am looking at permanent work abroad for the stability and long term career path. I speak basic French, and realise that not 'speaking da lingo' does cut down my chances and will start learning a language when I reach my destination. My question is, do I continue to apply from remote, both directly to companies and through Agency's or should I take the big gamble and goto a country. This is a last resort due to the global economic situation and one that scares me in that it may not pay off and with limited financial resources the risk factor is higher."

inquisitive points to this CNET story on how George Wash Univ. may help Linux gain certification under the Common Criteria, certification required for software to be used in some sensitive government roles. In the same story, though, is an interesting quote from another effort at bringing GPL'd software to the public sector: "'We didn't fully understand the consequences of releasing software under the GPL (General Public License),' said Dick Schafer, deputy director of the NSA. 'We received a lot of loud complaints regarding our efforts with SE Linux.'" Sources familiar with events said that aggressive Microsoft lobbying efforts have contributed to a halt on any further work. 'Microsoft was worried that the NSA's releasing open-source software would compete with American proprietary software,' said a source familiar with the complaints against the NSA who asked not to be identified."

eyez writes "Apparently, the recent decision of OPN(now freenode) to ask for donations has ruffled the feathers of a few debian people. This article on DebianPlanet talks about the current discussion on the debian mailing lists which talks about the possibility of moving #debian (and #debian*) off of OPN altogether."

KevinDumpsCore writes "RedHat, Mandrake, and SuSE are now certified LSB compliant!" Here's the announcement on the Free Standards Group's site. The Linux Standards Base (check out these related Slashdot posts) has been working for years to perhaps tame the what-lives-where cross-distro craziness. (Of course, distro makers are under no obligation to comply with the LSB's choices.)

ducker writes: "Finally Xbox is ready for some real fun! Linux can be booted now ... just check out http://www.xbox-scene.com - Linux boots into a network-enabled state, running a web server and telnet, which allows you to log into the box from another machine. It can be booted either from flash memory, or (more easily) from a CD inserted into the machine. (The Xbox still needs to have a modchip fitted to allow it to run unsigned code)."