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Run a real partition as a VMWare session

By on November 19, 2006 in Linux, OpenSource, Technology

There was an great session at the Merrimack Valley Linux User Group meeting on Thursday night. Shawn K. Shea presented VMWare and he had a lot of great pointers — hope to have a link to his slides soon. One that really caught my attention was a trick to run a dual-boot partition as a VMWare session, a great feature if you just need to run a transient app, so you can avoid the overhead of rebooting. The howto is here, but it's not for the faint of heart:

http://news.u32.net/articles/2006/07/18/running-vmware-on-a-physical-partition

Read the instructions carefully. There are several “this could destroy your parition if you're not careful” cautions along the way — I'd make a good Ghost / partimage backup before trying this.

Sun CEO confirms Java is free

By on November 13, 2006 in Technology

On his blog, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz confirms it's true:

“Few folks, at least outside of Sun, understand how pervasively successful the Java platform, and the community supporting it, have been over the past decade. But Java runs on more devices than Microsoft Windows, Linux, Solaris, Symbian and the Mac combined…”

“And in closing, I want to put one nagging item to rest… By admitting that one of the strongest motivations to select the GPL was the announcement made last week by Novell and Microsoft, suggesting that free and open source software wasn't safe unless a royalty was being paid. As an executive from one of those companies said, “free has to have a price.” … That's nonsense.”

Read the entire post here

The war is over and Linux won?

By on November 11, 2006 in Linux, Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

Dana Blankenhorn opines, “The war is over and Linux won.” Ah, if it were only that simple. I think we've seen a turning point, but unlike wars with surrenders and treaties and armistices, commercial and non-commercial software will always live with some dynamic tension, and plots by one to eradicate the other will continue. There has been a sea-change though: vendors are learning to accomodate Linux as an alternative choice of their customers.

No, they're not! Yes, they are!

By on November 8, 2006 in Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols responds, Novell is not SCO. Novell is accepting around $350 million dollars from Microsoft to allow Microsoft to indemnify Novell customers from patent infringement claims, which Novell insists is not a problem. Steven, who admins he is not a lawyer, believes he understands the way they thread that needle without violating the GPL. SJV-N notes, “In the long run, Microsoft will shaft Novell. Just ask Stac, Lotus, WordPerfect… oh, wait. Novell is still suing Microsoft for that last one! Could it be that Novell already knows that they're supping with the devil? Why, yes I think they do.”

So, they're taking money for desparate short-term gain, despite knowing long-term liabilities? Aiding Microsoft in spreading the chilling effects of bogeyman legal threats that will damage its Linux business as well as everyone elses? A dangerous game they are playing.

Red Hat responds to Microsoft-Novell "protection" deal

By on November 4, 2006 in Linux, Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

InfoWorld reports “ Update: Red Hat spins Novell-Microsoft deal in its favor” with the killer quote “Linux has won.” Linux Watch reports “Red Hat spits on Microsoft/Novell patent assurances” where the Red Hat spokesman points to the several levels of “protection” and “assurance” Red Hat already provides. Over at TechTarget, Jack Loftus is reporting “ Red Hat: We will be here in one year, Novell will not” Haven't we been here before: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt vs. The Facts? It'll be fun watching this play out.

Novell-Microsoft tumult begins

By on November 3, 2006 in LAMP, Linux, Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

Anticipate every press outlet will have a lot to say about this:

GrokLaw: “I've collected for you a representative sampling of reactions to the unfortunate Novell-MS alliance. First, my own: this is apparently some kind of a covenant not to sue, not a true cross licensing deal. I think that's how they plan to step over and around the GPL.”

Novell FAQ: “Because open source software is developed in a cooperative environment, some have expressed concerns that intellectual property protections could be compromised more easily in open source. Today's agreement between Novell and Microsoft provides confidence on intellectual property for Novell and Microsoft customers.”

InfoWorld

MaryJo Foley: “Reality check: Microsoft isn't waving the white flag”

Bruce Perens: “The timing of this agreement is significant. Microsoft and Novell are said to have been working on this agreement for some time, and sped up its announcement to take attention away from Oracle's recent announcement and to further depress Red Hat in the stock market… This entire agreement hinges around software patenting – monopolies on ideas that are burying the software industry in litigation – rather than innovation. If we've learned one thing from the rapid rise of Open Source, it's that intellectual property protection – the thing that Open Source dispenses with – actually impedes innovation. And the Novell-Microsoft agremeent stands as an additional impediment.”

Paul McNett's Samba-as-a-PDC recipe

By on October 31, 2006 in Linux, OpenSource

In response to recent question on the ProLinux list, Paul McNett pointed to his blog entry outlining how to configure Samba to act as a PDC, ideal for a small group of Windows workstations that need roaming profiles, personal and shared storage and centralized applications. Great post, Paul!

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