GPL v3 Released!

The third version of the GPL has been released!

Whichever side you are on with the debate (v.2 vs. v.3), it is certainly a big day for all of the free software. This is the first major update to the license in 16 years. The most talked about feature is the language that blocks Microsoft/(enter name of distro here) deals. The Novell deal has been grandfathered in, from what I have been hearing. Anyways, I am glad that it is out, so now we can continue forth with Linux and stop thinking about all of these different distributions that have signed on with Microsoft, and all the insanity that comes with it.

Linux respects the IP of companies, as it is VERY hard to find someone who does not in the free software community. This brings me back to my last post – in the key comment, “respect the IP.” “Need” is the key word in that comment (which I forgot to mention, I was running out the door…), meaning that we are not respecting IP unless we sign a deal with Microsoft. With this new license, we do not need to think about such deals. So, it’s time to move on, and hopefully there will be nothing else to say about this!

Aside from this, the iPhone was released today. YEAH!

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Ubuntu Box Update

Now that the Ubuntu box has been in place for about three weeks now, I have notices that I did not post on its progress. As of last Sunday, 14 CDs have been taken. The current depletion rate is at an even seven CDs per week. It may not sound like many CDs, but that is 14 more people with Ubuntu.

Now, on to some more interesting stuff.

Linspire’s CEO has written another of his “Linspire Letters”, with the latest outlining his reaction – to the reactions of the Linspire vs. Microsoft. His reaction is somewhat predictable (We give choice, etc.). However, there is one paragraph that caught my eye, with a quote over to the side from within the paragraph:

“For Linux to be taken seriously by the mainstream distribution channels and enterprise customers, it needs to respect the IP of others. I’m quite sure Linspire has done more than just about any other Linux distributor to license patents, copyrights and trademarks so we can bring the best of open source and proprietary offerings to our customers. I believe this practice will mean something as Linux moves beyond the early adopters to mainstream channels. I want our users to have confidence when they use Linspire Linux, knowing that it has crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s, and is a fully legal and supported product. Microsoft is just one of the dozens of companies we have entered into agreements with to deliver on that promise.”

The key part is:

“For Linux to be taken seriously by the mainstream distribution channels and enterprise customers, it needs to respect the IP of others.”

Respect the IP. Where have we heard this before? Why, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, of coarse! Remember, right after the Novell/Microsoft announcement? We all know that Linux respects the IP of all companies. Is there a chance that some patents are crossed with Microsoft? Yes, there is – just as much as Microsoft violates Linux patents.

Here’s the link to the letter:

http://www.linspire.com/linspire_letter_archives.php?id=49

New Ubuntu Computer from Dell

I am very excited to see the latest addition to the Dell Ubuntu line of computers. For a while, I remained somewhat nervous about the success of the project. I felt that it was not yet time for Linux preinstalled on PCs. I didn’t think that Linux was not ready – I thought that the general public wouldn’t be ready. Thankfully, I seem to have been wrong. With the desktop computer change (520 => 530) and the addition of the new laptop, it surely seems as if they are selling well.

The word on the street now is that HP will be releasing PCs with Ubuntu preinstalled. If HP wants to come out ahead of Dell, it would need do more marketing than Dell, and also make a huge press release. They could maybe even try selling the computers in stores.

Mandriva One Spring 2007

There are times that I am amazed at the innovation coming from Open Source. One of these items I have found is in the Mandriva One Spring 2007.

For a little background, Mandriva (originally called Mandrake) was an offshoot of the Slackware distribution. Mandriva is actually a commercial distro, with a free version available, much like Linspire, Novell, and Red Hat. The system comes with either the GNOME or KDE desktop environments, with support for 32 and 64 bit systems.

What really surprised me was what came, by default, with the system. The first is Compiz, a 3-D desktop with transparency, which is what most Linux users are familiar with. However, the program that was the most amazing to me is called Metisse. Metisse has to be one of the most amazing window managers that I have ever seen. Not only is transparency supported, but windows can actually fold, onscreen. They can also flip, rotate on both ways. You can even flip the application around and look at it as if you are looking through the back of it.

Here is a link to the Mandriva Metisse site, where there are links to videos:

http://www.mandriva.com/en/projects/metisse

Fun with Wine

Wine – the WINdows Emulator for Linux. I have been trying it out recently, and have found it to be of very high quality, as I took a trip down memory lane. Wine has progressed some since I last tried Wine. There are really not any mission critical apps that I need to run, but there are several applications that I have hoped to see once again, but I really did not want to reinstall Windows.

Wine comes with a notepad application, file browser, “uninstaller” application, winemine game, and a help application, all available from the menus. A great deal from the “wine” command in the terminal.

The first application I installed was Microsoft Works 2004. It runs at about the speed it normally would on a Windows XP computer. It also installed the Windows Address book during the installation. Both are now in the “Wine” menu item (Wine =>Microsoft Works => Works, Address, ect.) much like in the Windows start menu.

The next applications I installed was iTunes, and at the same time, I installed Quicktime Player. The only application I could get to work was the Quicktime player; iTunes came up with a box that said “not implemented yet”.

I am just getting started with installing applications, and I am already surprised by how many applications I can install.

Update on Security (Vista 6 mo. report)

Jeff Jones has released a new report, called the “Vista 6 Month Security Report.”

Instead of going into detail, I will include the links to the sites:

Here is the corresponding eWeek article:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2149391,00.asp

Here is the blog post (click on the chart image or the link for the .pdf download)

http://blogs.csoonline.com/windows_vista_6_month_vulnerability_report

It is worth noting that in this report, Ubuntu is included, and also has a nice section in the .pdf file, describing it in detail.

2006 Security Report: Days of Risk

As I was glancing over my iGoogle page, when something caught my eye. I saw a story, courtesy of Yahoo! news, which led me to Jeff Jones (MSFT technet) security blog:

http://blogs.technet.com/security/archive/2007/06/15/2006-days-of-risk
-comparison.aspx

His post shows a report by CSO, which details the days-of-risk per several operating systems. The four systems included in the report are Windows XP, Novell’s SUSE, Red Hat, Mac OS X, and Sun’s Solaris.

Interestingly enough, the report shows that Windows had the fewest days of days-of-risk. This I in a way do not find hard to believe, with Microsoft releasing patches almost every Tuesday. Microsoft takes this as Windows being the most secure — do they expect me to believe this!? There is no perfectly secure operating system, but, there are some that are more secure than others. The report details what it calls “days-of-risk”, or days that you are vulnerable to security issues, such as viruses, trojans, et cetera. Here is a chart showing the findings:

There is a piece of this report that can be misleading: The report does not disclose exactly how vulnerable you are to a malicious attack. For instance, you have a much better chance of getting a virus, or any other attack for that matter, on a Windows computer than on Linux. Windows is obviously a much larger target, and therefore the first place hackers look when finding a computer to hit.

However, Linux is also much harder to get into for hackers, thanks to several reasons. Linux has a built in firewall for most distributions. Linux is also a very modular system, since program files often have to work with each other, many of the necessary files are included in the program package. Windows programs, on the other hand, require use of the included library file in Windows, exposing your system. Almost all programs in Linux work separate of the core system, running using their own files. Applications are also not held in a single location (very much unlike Windows c:/programs), making it much harder for hackers and viruses to break into your applications. Thanks to a modular system as well, if one becomes infected, it is very simple remove the application, and then reinstall it, purging the virus.

Viruses can not get around in Linux very easy, while running into files spread across Linux. At the same time, it runs into something called “sudo”, which stands for “super-user do”. Basically, while running Linux, unless you sign into root (which is the base of the system, giving you full access), you are not running as a system administrator. Every time you try to change something in Linux that could affect the system, you must enter an administrator password. This feature blocks unwanted access/changes to your computer. This feature has been a part of Linux since it’s beginning in the early 1990’s. Mac gained this feature after it switched to UNIX for it’s base in 2001. Microsoft’s Vista also has something similar, called “UAC”, which stands for User Access Control, of which they believe every operating system should have, even though it is already (and has been for some time) implemented in Linux, and more recently Apple’s Mac OS X. That’s what I call superiority (sneaky…) marketing, which is a story for another day. It is the first time in that Microsoft has implemented such a feature in Windows.

The best example of Windows vs. Linux security that I have seen was in the June 2007 issue of Smart Computing magazine, pg.38. Smart Computing is a fun magizine for anyone who likes computers. For those of us who like Linux, there is a page devoted to Linux, with an Ubuntu Quick Tip of the Month in every issue! The article is entitled, “The Tethered Goat,” which gives reasons for why Linux is safer, many the same as the ones I have given above. As an experiment, they set up two computers, both on the same network. One was an Ubuntu machine, 7.04, and the other was a Windows XP machine with SP2 installed. After 30 minutes, both had been probed by outsiders. After several days, the Windows computer had a worm installed, and the Ubuntu computer was left clean.

There are many different reasons for the different security levels in operating systems. What I believe is the best security feature for Linux is its Open Source development model, which allows for security problems to be detected and fixes uploaded to the system much more quickly when compared to Windows’ (or even Mac’s) closed development cycle.