Slashdot Mirror

Most small company IPOs have at least a little disorganization and hype surrounding them, but Red Hat's was over the edge. We're not even going to try to sort out the claims and counter-claims, the complaints and counter-complaints, and all the rest, just point you to a selection of stories on the subject, not all of which agree 100% about exactly what happened, when it happened -- or to whom.

• Late IPO change left many red-faced at C|Net.
• Red Hat charges up 272 percent in debut from ZDNet
• Geeks Tip Their Caps to Red Hat at Wired News
• Share Price More Than Triples in Red Hat's Public Offering from the New York Times (free registration required to read)
• The Tech Investor column in the Aug. 12 Washington Post talks not only about Red Hat, but other recent IPOs. Good perspective piece.
• Red Hot (with a cute "hat" graphic) headlined Salon's take on the subject.

I found a bunch of other stories too, but they all said pretty much the same as the ones I listed above. If you spot any more good ones (or have any good stories of your own to tell), please post them below.

yelvington writes "'Throw Away Windows? When -- and Whether -- to Switch to Linux' is the headline of today's Berst Alert. He's come around to recommending Linux on high-end servers and departmental file/print servers; he's more cautious about desktops. His justification is more industry support, more technical support, and more applications. Cynical take on it: Jesse's back from vacation, and he's looking for a cheap ride from the slashdot effect to get things rolling again."

Anonymous Coward writes "According to ZDNet, Kevin Mitnick has finally been sentenced to 46 months less time served, and $4,125 in restitution. He's also banned from using computers for three years, which will make a total of seven since he was captured. Can't help but wonder if the guy broke a mirror." He's eligible for immediate reassignment to a halfway house, and could be out next January if he meets "good behavior" requirements. Not good, but not nearly as bad as it could have been, especially the restitution.

Quite a number of people have written in with the news that Dell is going to be expanding their Linux support. Beginning in October, they will be offering installation of Linux on their hugely popular Dimension Line of PCs-before this, it had only been offered on servers. Will this mean more competition for the VAs and Penguins?

Since the NDA was lifted early this morning, several sites have released reviews of AMD's new Athlon chip (coming in 500, 550, 600, and 650MHz versions). The first was Bill Henning's CPUReview site. He reviewed the Athlon 600 and has several nice things to say about it. Next up is The Upgrade Center's review, and two more submitted by kimmo, the first at Ace's Hardware, and the second at AGN Hardware. Next, Magnetism submitted a link to Tom's review. Finally, as submitted by pmmay, the ZDNet review. To finish, an article at the SJ Mercury that discusses AMD's strategy for the chip market (thanks to Greg Miller for that one). Update: 08/09 12:31 by J : Thanks to The Evil Dwarf from Hell for links to the AMD Benchmark Page, which even has SPECint and SPECfp scores, and to an anonymous reader for the Ars Technica review.

Several people wrote with the news burst from IBM annoucing a "storage breakthrough". Details are still forthcoming, but the advance will says it will be possible for computers to "store data 1,000 faster then they can now", however the actual usage of the product is some years out.

Cenotaph writes "ZDNet has this article on how Microsoft plans on trying to take AOL's web business away. Any guesses on if it'll work?" MS tried something similar a few years ago and failed. This time, who knows? But whether the current plan succeeds or fails, this is *very* bad news for smaller ISPs. The story says, bluntly, that Microsoft plans to "...help drain profits from the Internet-access business."

Greyleaf writes " Check out this ZDNet story that sheds a bit more light on Microsoft's "security challenge" woes. It appears that Windows 2000 didn't even need any cracker help for its first crash and gives a brief mention is also given of the LinuxPPC challenge." MSNBC also picked up the story.

PowerPC writes "Motorola will be announcing their alliance with Caldera Systems and Lineo according to this article over at ZD-Net. " While I still mantain that "Lineo" is one of the dumbest names I've ever heard, Motorola will be working with both them and Caldera Systems. As would be expected from Motorla, the focus is going to be on embedded devices, and using Linux in that environment.

Several readers have written in with a great rebuttal at ZDNet, adddressing the recent Metcalfe articles attacking Linux. Calling this change the Post-FUD Era, it does a great job of dissecting the new attacks on Linux.

GNUCyberKat writes "This article relates how the US government is now approaching their plan to monitor private sector networks. It presents both sides (mostly through links) but is otherwise a good article. "

Cy Guy writes "ZDNET had an article on CYE, a personal robot that will vacuum, collect dirty dishes and serve cocktails. " This is exactly what Rob needs-and if it can serve Bushmills or Jamison up, I'll be happy as a clam.

Matt Fotter was one of the first to write with the news that Sun has decided to re-nege on their original promise to port Netscape Application Server to Linux, and will be re-leasing the new version next month, sans a Linux port.

Reeses writes "ZDNet has an interview with John Warnock, CEO of Adobe, and has his impressions of Open Source software, and what Adobe plans on doing with it. " Assorted childish jabs at Quark, the laughable proposition that they really should be in the portal business, and assorted comments on the Open Source movement. All in all, a very amusing piece worth a read- it gets better half way in.

RAZ was among several folks who wrote in to tell us about a ZDNet article that talks about Pixar and Tron. No official comment from the studio, but there still are rumors floating about that Pixar may be redoing that classic little piece of disney sci fi. And I just got the DVD of the original ;)

Kodi sent us the first piece of furniture that has caused me to seriously think twice about my beloved Aeron. Its made by these guys (warning, confusing artsy website ;) and it looks pretty sweet.

KevinRemhof writes "National Semiconductor unveiled their Geode family of chips. The SC1400 chip has video and PC functions built in. The memory and other features require separate chips. The target audience is set-top boxes. Expect to see the first ones by next summer. This is a bold move shortly after selling off Cyrix to Via Technologies. " As other articles point out, they are trying to save themselves by moving into a less-competitive area of the market.

Anonymous Cowpie writes "Rival predicts death for SDMI - Bob Kohn, chairman of EMusic, says SDMI's new spec won't dislodge MP3. He also says "In a year's time, the SDMI standard will suffer the same demise as Divx. The standard war is over today."" Fine by me. Wouldn't have had SDMI on Linux for years anyway, and my MP3 collection isn't going anywhere.

chris wrote in to tell us that Registration for the 3^rd Annual Atlanta Linux Showcase is open. First 100 registrations get an OS-Wars T-Shirt (I have one, they rock) brazilian brain sent us an English Translation of an Interview with Alfredo Kojima of WindowMaker fame. Scott wrote in to tell us that the July issue of Daemon News is online and Jim wrote in to tell us that the July issue of The FreeBSD 'zine is out too. geophile wrote in to tell us that Propoganda 10 is out. More excellent background images to consume your free RAM. Very yum. erios23 notified us of a new toy on jwz's webpage. BluBall sent us a Slashdot reference in Salon's Silicon Funnies. Spoofs Linux and Slashdot and even me a bit I guess (well, my name anyway). And finally chrisd (who may be biased on this one) wrote in to say that VA is one of the 10 best companies to work for (According to ZD) ranking amongst Replay, Nokia and Novell. I suspect that Nerf has something to do with it.

Sm@rt Resseler has published an article about what Lotus will port to Linux in the near future. Among their products are Domino 5.0.3 with connectivity to Oracle 8.0x and IBM's DB2, Sametime 2.0 (Realtime collaboration software), and Quick Place 2.0 Collaborative Program (scheduled for the first half of 2000). Unfortunately, Lotus is not planning to port either their Notes client or SmartSuite Millenium edition to Linux, which is a sad thing. (/me thinks that a petition could help us to get those client ports.)

True_Seeker writes "IBM appears to be modifying its open source license (examples with OpenDX and Jikes) to make it more acceptable to the open source community, according to an article at PCWeek. They are even seeking OSI's blessing on it. "

Veck was the first to send us the word that Via Technology (lately of partnership with Intel, as well as being sued by them) has purchased the Cyrix x86 line from National Semiconductor. Despite the huge parity in size, Via Tech seems eager to take on Intel. Update: 06/30 04:10 by S : To clarify: Via Tech will be purchasing the Texas division of Cyrix which makes standalone PC processors fitting into standard sockets (7, 370, and the like). The Colorado division which makes integrated processors (MediaGX) will be absorbed into National Semiconductor to address the Information Appliance market. Interestingly it appears that Via will also offer integrated products, therefore possibly competing with National.

Veck was the first to send us the word that Via Technology (lately of partnership with Intel, as well as being sued by them) has purchased the Cyrix x86 line from National Semiconductor. Despite the huge parity in size, Via Tech seems eager to take on Intel. Update: 06/30 04:10 by S : To clarify: Via Tech will be purchasing the Texas division of Cyrix which makes standalone PC processors fitting into standard sockets (7, 370, and the like). The Colorado division which makes integrated processors (MediaGX) will be absorbed into National Semiconductor to address the Information Appliance market. Interestingly it appears that Via will also offer integrated products, therefore possibly competing with National.

Veck was the first to send us the word that Via Technology (lately of partnership with Intel, as well as being sued by them) has purchased the Cyrix x86 line from National Semiconductor. Despite the huge parity in size, Via Tech seems eager to take on Intel. Update: 06/30 04:10 by S : To clarify: Via Tech will be purchasing the Texas division of Cyrix which makes standalone PC processors fitting into standard sockets (7, 370, and the like). The Colorado division which makes integrated processors (MediaGX) will be absorbed into National Semiconductor to address the Information Appliance market. Interestingly it appears that Via will also offer integrated products, therefore possibly competing with National.

strat writes "PC Week ran it's own benchmarks, with Mindcraft, Microsoft and Red Hat. The margins were tighter this time, but NT still fared better. They specifically mentioned the lack of multithreading in the Linux IP stack as the main bottleneck. I wonder how 4.4lite would have fared? "

Jeff Molloy writes "The results are here link " It's a shame Linux didn't win, but it looks like the tests show where Linux might have some deficiencies. Overall, it looks better than the original test, though.

mykey2k writes "This story tells that Diamond is going to spin off Rio as a new company and the new Rio will have anti-piracy built-in. "

al-bob writes "Sony introduced at PC Expo a set of goggles that simulate a 52-inch monitor viewed from 6 feet away, including surround sound. Each color LCD display has a resolution of 180K pixels and they can be switched to see-thru and are AC/DC. Quite a cool bit of technology, but it costs $899! " Of course, $899 is a bargain for a 52 inch screen. The resolution isn't quite up to snuff for hi-res computing, but hopefully it isn't far off. I'm stoked to try a pair- but they won't be available until september. Update: 06/24 12:47 by CT : Sam Livingston mentioned that an 800x600 version will be available for $2600 too. Still cheaper than a 52" monitor...

quonsar writes "According to ZDNet, Phoenix today announced plans to embed bootup ads in BIOS by 4Q 1999. Take a look at the story: Phoenix to sell Windows launch ads. Phoenix has formed a subsidiary, ebetween,to sell the ads. "

Rahul Mehra writes "ZDNet has an interesting article about how eBay and other e-commerce sites collapse under heavy loads. It talks about how massive growth, incomplete planning, rising expectations (24x7 uptimes) and immature technology all contribute. " This train of thought, for me at least, leads to neo-Luddite question - what do you folks think?

Skeezix writes "Linus says that he aims to make kernel upgrades more incremental instead of cramming tons of features into each major upgrade. The net result? The next major kernel upgrade might be out by Fall." I still haven't worked out all my kinks with 2.2 yet, at this rate 2.4 will be out before I sort it out!

Mike_Miller writes "According to a ZDNet Article, the term "Open Source" is not, and never has been, trademarked. Quote: "The term has never been a registered trademark, and it's no longer even pending registration." " Oh dear. Update: 06/15 02:30 by CT : ESR wrote in to say "Hey, chill, everybody. OSI was planning to issue a statement about this matter after our Wednesday board meeting (despite some of the rumors going around, we do operate by consensus; this slows us down a bit sometimes). So if you'll wait a bit, all will be made clear. In the mean time: don't panic!"

Gryphon writes "PC Magazine has published a pretty level-headed 8-page review of the Linux 2.2 kernel. Mostly a features review, compared to Windows NT. I think this is pretty significant, considering a lot of Windows users (including me in years now past) read that magazine! "

Cygnus v1 writes "This story on ZDNN gives some hope to those of us waiting for our local cable companies to get on the Internet-access bandwagon now or let third parties do the work. A Portland judge ruled that AT&T, who owns a local cable network, must allow third-party ISPs to do business over their network for a fee. Some argue that AT&T's rights are being violated, but I believe that since most of the cable infrastructure was installed in cooperation with local authorities they have some right to determine how the utility will be best able to serve the public. "

About 30 million of you wrote in to say "This article at ZDnet describes the problems IBM went through when it kept selling OS/2 even after Microsoft asked them to stop " Essentially, MS quintuplied royalty fees to IBM, when IBM refused to stop selling competing products. This came out in a deposition from IBM execs.

Xanadu Inc wrote in to send us a story over at ZD Net about Crackers taking down the FBIs Web Site. The article refers to them as Hackers (Bad ZD! No Cookie!) and says that it was the result of search warrants being filed against Global Hell (gH) that apparently got some PCs confiscated.

fremen writes "Spencer F. Katt has a few lines in his weekly column about Microsoft vs. Linux, including a comment about Microsoft forming a team to write a version of Internet Explorer for Linux. He indicates that Redmond is afraid, very afraid. "

ZDNet is reporting that IBM is forming a "$29M research institute". The assigned scientists will focus on using supercomputers to model real-life scenarios. Apparently, they plan to release some software for visual data representation in the near future under an open source license. Update: 05/25 09:40 by J : IBM is forming an alliance with Pacific HiTech where PHT will support IBM's DB2 under Linux. It also seems DB2 will ship with a special version of PHT in the future.

Scott Ainsworth writes "ZDNet has a new story on a company patenting distributed processing. This time it is about distributing the generation of Dynamic Web pages accross multiple servers. The story is here. " The company apparently says that they hold the patent on many of the load-balancing technqiues that companies use on the Web. *sigh*

Erbo writes "Is it "Linux," or "GNU/Linux"? For years, that question has been bitterly contended. Now, Jon "Maddog" Hall and others want to resolve this conflict, by creating a "GNU Inside" logo that distros could use on their packaging, Web sites, etc. Will a truce finally be called in this long-running flame war? ZDNet has the details. (Spotted in Linux Today) "

webslacker writes "According to ZDNet, Linux Systems will open up the much-coveted Linux.com website on Tuesday. Pretty good timing too... I can give it a visit before I get in line for you-know-what. " Hmm. I thought they were going to wait until Expotime, but I guess not. OctobrX, Linux.com webmaster and former themes.org head, will be in the Slashdot booth during the Expo. CmdrTaco is also one of the linux.com board members. I can't wait to see the site. Update: 05/17 11:39 by J : A news.com article about it.

!ErrorBookmarkNotDefined writes "Another study has appeared validating the Mindcraft comparison of Linux and NT. This time, PC week benchmarked Solaris, Linux and NT. Using a monster machine, NT handily defeated Linux. The study found fault with Apache, mostly. (For low-end machines, Linux would easily beat all comers; but how far along is Linux in the highend market?) "

Quite a number of people have written over the last few days, alerting us to the fact that it appears that presidential candidate George W. Bush, has bought up over 200 Internet Domain Names. The article on Zdnet says that people wanted to put a website up at www.bushsucks.com, but Bush bought that, and more such as bushsucks.net, bushsucks.org, and even bushblows.com Huh-I guess it's a way of having a clue. Sort of.

CuriousGeorge113 writes "IBM and Nintendo recently anounced a partnership worth $1Billion where IBM will design a new 400MHZ processor for Nintendo's new Dolphin system acheduled for release by X-Mas 2000. Read more here. " What's really cool is the Dolphin system-they want to make this thing the center of your entertainment unit-DVD, CD, as well as hooking up to the Internet.

TitanII writes "ZDNet News has an article about SGI switching to Linux. " The article itself talks about the switchover going on in many of the major tech firms-SGI isn't actually replacing Irix, but is making Linux a major offering across their platforms.

TitanII writes "ZDNet News has an article about SGI switching to Linux. " The article itself talks about the switchover going on in many of the major tech firms-SGI isn't actually replacing Irix, but is making Linux a major offering across their platforms.

Taliesin writes "From this ZDNN article: The new technology, dubbed Unified, will allow games written to run on 3dfx graphics accelerators to also run on competing boards made by Creative Technology Ltd. ... Creative's new technology basically acts as a phrase book, allowing Microsoft's DirectX programming interface to understand Glide commands. DirectX, in turn, accesses the accelerated features of Nvidia's TNT family of chips. "

We break the week barrier, and tons of people email to gloat that they've seen screenings. The rest of us will have to settle for massive media hype including mantid's note from harper's that proclaims that Reagan's Star Wars project costed $4.166 billion, but Star Wars merchandise costed $4.5 billion. mattdm noted that Moviefone blew up under the ticket demand yesterday. ZD-Net has a report. DH1 sent us a really top notch interview at Salon with Empire Director Irvin Kershner- kinda nice to read something cool about the original movies after all this gas over the new one. Lastly Jethro73 sent us a George Lucas's take on piracy of Star Wars. Basically, he will be very angry and fight very hard (big surprise) against pirates. Update: 05/14 01:59 by CT : My ticket plans haven't happened, so if anyone has bright ideas on getting tickets for the Slashdot crew while we're at LinuxExpo, lemme know...

Mark Wright sent us a link to some benchmarks over at ZD Net that examines assorted NOS Options. NT is benched, as is Solaris, Netware and Linux. Linux holds up quite poorly in this review.

An anonymous reader sent in a pair of articles about KDE. The first is over at VAR Business (which has a nice quote from Chris) and the second is over at ZD Net's Smart Reseller. Both articles are about KDE 1.1.1 and neither says anything that will surprise us, but its interesting to note that a bug fix release is capable of generating that real press.