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State Of Open Source In 2003 Reviewed
uninet writes "Open for Business' latest Year-in-Review article regarding GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software is up here. Things that made our list of notable occurrences include (not surprisingly) SCO's legal issues, MandrakeSoft's financial problems, our product pick of the year (Shuttle XPC SB62G2) and many more small and large items of note. For an interesting look back, you can find previous Slashdot coverage of OfB Year in Review articles here (2002) and here (2001)."
Linux went 2.6 with a massive scheduling and memory management system, and the SCO case kicked off. Microsoft launched new security 'initiatives' and Mozilla came out with about three or four new major versions. The next 12 months look as if they'll be just as exciting as the previous, and I myself can't wait. I bet there'll be legal, financial and technical issues abound. My personal favourite at the moment is freeciv. I like to hack it.
Slashdot: when news breaks, we give you the pieces.
open for Business' latest Year-in-Review article regarding GNU/Linux
Even in year 2003 its still GNU/Linux. Will Linux gain independence in 2004?
2003 in Review: One Step Backward, Two Steps Forward
By Timothy R. Butler
Editor-in-Chief, Open for Business
December 31, 2003, 19:58:35 EST
This year was a year that wasn't exactly how we might have hoped, but overall, the state of GNU/Linux was overall better at this side of 2003 than it was at the other. In our annual tradition, what follows is a look at the ups - and downs - of GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software in 2003.
The year started hopeful - in our last year-end article, I said, "all indications seem to suggest that 2003 might just be even better [than 2002]." However, our hopes were temporarily dashed. By the end of January, one of the key players in the GNU/Linux desktop market - MandrakeSoft - had entered bankruptcy protection. Nearly a year later, Mandrake appears to be poised to reemerge in much better financial health, but at the time, many thought it might end up being liquidated.
It was about this time that rumors first started to circulate that the SCO Group had hired Boies, Schiller & Flexner. By March, SCO Group had taken away the air of mystery and announced their intent: to sue IBM and argue that the Linux kernel contained code illegally stolen from SCO's UNIX intellectual property. This suit quickly became a large scale "war" between SCO and the Free Software community as SCO broadened its range of attack and even started selling "licenses to use Linux."
Things did improve, nonetheless, once SCO started letting out "violating code." Thus far, Eric Raymond, Bruce Perens, Linus Torvalds and others have been able to confirm non-SCO origins for all of the code in question. The case was further weakened when it was collectively recalled that SCO had released the base UNIX code under the BSD license as part of its "ancient UNIX" program before Ransom Love left the company (does this mean that this one time "foe" of the community might have actually ended up helping it?). Love also made headlines later this year when he joined the board of directors at Debian-centered Progeny Linux Systems.
But all was not bad - by a long shot. All of the major distributions took huge strides towards better usability this year. Red Hat's Fedora Core, release in October, along with Mandrake Linux 9.2 and SuSE Linux 8.2 were major advances over similar distributions even just a year ago concerning ease-of-use and functionality.
Desktop GNU/Linux also made strides in the OEM front this year. In July, Hewlett-Packard announced that a number of its Compaq d-series computers would come bundled with Mandrake Linux 9.1. Wal-Mart also continued to push its Microtel GNU/Linux systems that were one of our highlights of last year. However, the most interesting OEM deal might not have been HP or Microtel, but Shuttle. As I noted in our review of the Shuttle SB62G2 system last week, this is a system that is really appealing for both its functionality and practicality. As an ideal system for home or office and with a low sticker price, it may be one of the first systems that come bundled with GNU/Linux that actually sticks out as something beyond the bare essentials.
The Free Software desktop also got support from a somewhat confused Sun Microsystems. While it was not that long ago that Sun abandoned its plan to have its own GNU/Linux distribution, Sun switched courses yet again and released the Java Desktop System late this year. The system - which has relatively few Java related features - is based on SuSE Linux and uses a modified version of the GNOME 2.4 desktop. Sun also revealed some really exciting future technologies such as the "Looking Glass" 3D desktop, something that could be GNU/Linux's chance to move beyond following Mac OS and Windows and blaze its own revolutionary desktop trail (not that learning from the other OSes isn't a necessary and important part of the Linux desktop's rapid maturation).
Another venerable industry name that has suffered in recent years took to GNU/Linux in a major way
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They mention Fedora Core 1, but I believe that the support and distro changes RH made this year are a VERY significant event for OSS. Regardless of whether you think that it was a good thing, it was definitely a BIG thing.
"Real, whose aging Real Player for UNIX has fallen far behind its Windows and Mac OS X counterparts, announced the Helix Player project that would produce a new, Free Software client for a wide array of media files. While the actual Real codec will remain proprietary, the client will also support many Free Software formats, such as Ogg Vorbis."
*sigh* Who thinks the Helix Player will be just as bloated as Real Player?
Ah am not a crook! (\(-__-)/)
I think 2004 is going to be a bumper year for open source (and Linux, in particular) thanks to the advances made in 2003. Linux is finally a term that is recognized by many businesses, and the concept of 'open source' is invading even the most stoic of companies. More developers than ever are joining the ranks (although many only because they're out of work, unfortunately), and there are lots of cool projects.
;-) And perhaps he'll stop using Welsh only on his diary. And as discussed over at KernelTrap, Reiser4 may also be merged into 2.6, although this is not certain, and may be merged into 2.7 first for further testing.
Mike Home, who works on Wine, posted a great summary of planned open source developments in 2004, mentioning Wine's continuing development (0.9 should be out in 2004), and planned leaps in KDE and GNOME. GNOME will finally get a full and stable version of Epiphany, too.
Development continues on Perl 6 and the Parrot virtual machine, and I am particularly interested in the development of Dashboard, a GNOME 'just in time' information manager project created by Nat Friedman, of Ximian fame.
Alan Cox should have his MBE this year, er, MBA, rather
So, what do YOU see happening in open source in 2004? Fill us in on what you plan to do, and why 2004 is going to be a bumper year for open source, Linux, and all. What technologies are going to spring up this time around?
My new years resolution: 1280x1024
Dennis Hopper was fucking great in that movie.
Cheers!
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
Ok, redhat linux became fecesdora. Every other unix became SCO property. It's a shitty year for OSS in 2003.
RIght when I decided to run redhat 9 permanently, the best damn linux version ever, everything else goes down the drain. Whoopie dooo.... can't wait till 2004. When SCO partners up with M$ to destroy sun and ibm remains the same. And 8 million startups create linux distributions, and united linux goes no where because SCO is a part of it.
This is the first YOU FAIL IT post of 2004. Ass.
FLAMEBAIT?! I just wanted to know who this eh0d person is, you stinking piece of rotting iraqi dog shit moderator!
By the way: See ya in metamod, asshole!
16 bit, 24 bit or 32 bit.
Or maybe you will go all retro with 256 colors.
2003 marked the year that I switched to Linux for my main desktop.
Un-important in the grand scheme of things, but still: go take a gander at the gentoo forums. Hundreds on thousands of new Linux users asking questions and getting answers (answers beyond RTFM, no less).
Well-engineered distros, along with killer apps like Karamba, along with government after government adopting to Free/Open Source, along with the phenominal 2.6 kernel all combine to spell the best year for Linux yet.
Off for more beer...
BillG
Sheesh come on guys...who is posting and commenting at this hour!
/. article of 2004...honest...
Oh.. this is slashdot
Double oh...I'm one of them.
And no, I haven't been waiting up all night for the first
pheWWW.
.asp (Score:mynuts won, won-eyed girl didn't show up for gnu year's eve 'date'?)
fuddles, malcom, bullowing smoke up yOUR
by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 01, @08:34AM (#7852260)
no harm there, until they start forcing the payper liesense softwar gangster stock markup FraUD execrable 'mirrors' on US? tell 'em robbIE?
they exist in some kind of illusionarIE megalomaniacs' ?pr? ?firm? vacuum constructed before the 'net, during the daze when there was only tv, & print, with NO instant 'feedback'/other opinions. they're won trick ponIEs, so that's all they can do, besides the immoral illegal stock markup FraUD/gangster stuff, which isn't working very well due to decreasing momeNTdumb.
consult with/trust in yOUR creators.... the kode has been showed.
The Shuttle article made a note about the low noise of the SB62G2. Can anyone verify the noise issue on other Shuttle models? I'm trying to decide between an EPIA system and an older Shuttle model, and I'd be interested in any experiences (with Linux, of course).
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
I think alot of people don't understand that free software is more accountable to market forces than closed software. If the government microregulated the supply and demand of stocks, commodities, services, or most other items - most people could easially see how this government intervention is less efficient and effective than open markets. But when they microregulate the supply and demand of certain types of information by imposing copyright laws - then all of a sudden people don't even question it.
If the government gave a farmer a monopoly on growing oranges, and then called it free market because other farmers could buy and sell shares of that monopoly - i think most people would see it as a lie and a farce. But this is exactly what they do with companies like Microsoft, who are the only ones legally allowed to copy Microsoft software. Asserting the right to restrict what others copy that is freely at their disposal is bullshit morality and bullshit markets.
just a test of somethign