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2003.02.04 Meeting Notes
News
- Feb. 5th SVLUG will be on OpenMosix - Kernel-level Linux clusters.
- Feb. 10th CVBIG will be on the Composite Genome Project at UC Davis.
- Feb. 24th RoseLUG will be on either Qt or MySQL.
- The Linux Desktop Consortium is being formed by groups and companies
including CodeWeavers (CrossOver products), NeTraverse (Win4Lin),
Debian, Mandrake, Lycoris, SuSE, DesktopLinux.com, KDE, Ximina,
OpenOffice.org, SAMBA, theKompany, Transgaming, and more...
- KDE and Gnome are cooporating on Interface Guidelines.
- KDE 3.1 has been released!
- Microsoft stated they may need to lower software prices due to
competition from Open Source software! (This was cautioned in their
latest SEC filing.)
- MS Xbox losses doubled in the last quarter. (Now $384 million)
- Microsoft's "trusted computing" platform, Palladium, changes its name
to NGSCB (Next-Generation Secure Computing Base).
- The recent Slammer (aka Sapphire) worm that attacked Microsoft SQL
servers apparently took only 10 minutes to spread across the globe.
At its peak, it was scanning 55 million IP address per SECOND.
It infected at least 75,000 victims.
- Remote Root Exploit in CVS version 1.11.4 and older. 1.11.5 corrects.
- IE users beware: "Xupiter" is a self-installing toolbar for IE.
(Standard security settings on IE may allow it to install without asking!)
It can reset your homepage, redirect your search engine queries,
install and launch other software, and blocks attempts to change things
back. It's also hard to fight - it downloads auto-updates, to try to
get around the latest anti-spyware programs (like "AdWare").
- SBC (aka PacBell) apparently discovered they own the patent to
static content that appears on different pages (like sidebars,
tab-like navigation, perhaps even standard copyright info. and links!)
Fortunately, "I, Cringley" of PBS made this problem apparent, and people
have been showing many examples of prior art.
- Obelix vs. Mobilix decision appealed! Mobilix (a website about
Unix and Linux on mobile devices) is being forced to withdraw their
domain name and pay damages. (Obelix is a French cartoon character.
They claim the name Mobilix causes confusion!)
- IBM considers Linux to be the successor of their AIX Un*x.
- The 3D space shooter Parsec is to be released as Open Source.
- Wikipedia (online, Free (as in freedom), user-contributed encyclopedia)
has reached its 100,000th article!
- Linux is now running on the iPod. (It's not far yet...)
- The Linux Game Tome announced their readers'-choice-style
'Happy Penguin Awards.' Winners include Frozen Bubble, BZFlag,
Flight Gear, Quake 3, SDL, and many other free and commerical titles.
- "America's Army," a first-person 3D game developed by the US Army,
is now available for Linux.
- Chris DiBona does a monthly segment on Linux on 'TechTV,' and is
interested in suggestions on cool topics to discuss. E-mail him at
chris@dibona.com.
- Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act - Copyrights have now been
retroactively extended 20 more years! Things from 1923 are still
copyrighted!
- Happy Birthday to the term 'Open Source', coined 5 years ago.
Project Reports
- Demo - We're hoping to have a demo on Saturday, February 15th
(the day before the next installfest; two days before the next meeting).
- Installfests - The next Installfest is February 16th.
- LERT - No activity.
- Library - We placed the copy of "Linux Music and Sound" that
No Starch Press sent us in our library.
Other Business
- Public Kiosk and Newsbeat - KDE 3.1 has been released!
Bill will be upgrading the kiosk box to use it, and continuing to
tweak the kiosk framework settings.
- PC Super Show expo - We had 4 computers and a PDA across two
eight-foot tables, a table of flyers and handouts, and 7 volunteers
(Richard Burkhart, Nicole Carlson, Ryan Castelluci, Bill Kendrick,
Paul Miller, Rusty Minden and Mike Simons). Paul Miller was there
representing OpenOffice.org, and did a presentation on it.
Nicole Carlson and Bill Kendrick did a presentation on the benefits of
Open Source. Unfortunately, it was just announced that there will be no
more PC Super Shows. (This first show didn't draw a very large crowd.)
- Raffle - Some additional books which didn't make it to us for our
last (anniversary party) meeting were raffled away:
From No Starch Press:
- Linux Cookbook (Mike Simons)
- Linux Problem Solver (Mike)
- Overclocking (Doug Barbieri)
- Steal This Computer Book 2 (Emily Stumpf)
- Linux in the Workplace (Cordell Newmiller)
From O'Reilly and Associates:
- The Linux Web Server CD Bookshelf
- Designing Embedded Hardware (Richard Harke)
- Creating Applications with Mozilla
Winners included Rob, Dmitriy Ivanov, Jeff Rousch, Mike Simons,
Emily Stumpf, Richard Harke, Mike, Chris, Doug Barbieri and
Cordell Newmiller.
- Financial Report - $27.89
in voluntary dues were collected. $15.00 was spent on the
room at the library.
Presentation
- Don Marti, Editor in Chief of Linux Journal magazine did a talk on
the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA
(Digital Millenium Copyright Act).
Presentation notes
Attendance
- Bill Kendrick
- Mike Simons
- Henry House
- Doug Barbieri
- Cordell Newmiller
- Jeff Rousch
- Dave Nelson
- Richard Harke
- Chris DiBona
- Don Marti
- Stephen Helms
- Dmitriy Ivanov
- Nicole Carlson
- Mike
- Rob
- Ray
- Corey
- Troy Arnold
- David King
- Rhonda Bailey
- Chris
- Ryan Castelluci
- Allan Hollander
- ...and at least two others
Quote of the Meeting:
- "I use Linux because I have to at work" - Don Marti,
Editor in Chief, Linux Journal magazine
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