John Goerzen writes "The Board of Software in the Public Interest, current owner of the Open Source trademark, has announced their position on the issue, including a public comment period, in this article at the SPI website. "

diakka writes "Pacific HiTech believes that there is a large Linux market in China to be tapped. They plan on market their TurboLinux, which already has tools to handle the different character sets. Since Linux can run on low end hardware, and is easy to obtain a little or no cost, It seems likely that Chinese computer users may make up a much larger portion of the Linux community in the near future." What tools are available out there that allow the use of Chinese in Linux or X?

Olivier Debon writes "I'm the one who developed the unofficial Flash Plugin for Linux. I was in touch with Macromedia and they decided to support Linux at last. Check their download page This may be the death of my project. :( " Hopefully Olivier will keep working at it, unless MacroMedia goes open-source... in which case he can improve it ;-)

stumsc writes sent us a link to an article that talks about Linux and the Consumer Market. The author talks about several major areas of debate and it looks like the thing we need most is documentation, but also things like easier installation and interoperability (in both cases, they work, they just need to be easier for the less hardcore)

CMiYC writes "James Lewis, a strong Linux advocate, has posted a response to the (now) popular ABCnews article. I am submitting this because, this email response shows a "correct" response to writers who down Linux. (This is opposed to the "windows sucks, linux rulez, dumba$$--response that I see quite often.) [It is me, or is the sudden negative press signs of fear?]"

Charles Bronson writes "A column by Michael Surkan went up on ZDNet today titled "I come not to praise Linux." Basically, it dismisses Linux as not being a serious threat to Microsoft. He makes the typical point, the one repeated over and over in the media, that Linux is too anarchic for big-time users, apparently ignoring the growing number of big-times users using Linux. As well, he dismissed the importance of The Halloween Document as "being grossly exaggerated in its importance. Just like Linux.""

Chris wrote in to send us a link to a techweb story about Linux 2.2 . As I'm sure many of you know- its right around the corner. Linus plans a Pre 2.2 series of kernels for final squashing, but apparently 2.1.129 is a stones throw away from solid. It ought to be here before christmas if you believe in release dates.

Aharon Chernin writes " This has got to be one of the poorest written FUD articles of our time.. He gets information from an unamed, unproven source. Then writes an article on it. This "source" I bet is a hole in the wall NT admin in a linux shop.. Flame away /.'ers. Aharon "

Well, the folks over at BusinessWeek are currently running a story about Linux. The basic rundown is that Linux is not much of a threat to NT, serving mostly as a threat to other *nixes. As well, the author says that Linux has less then 5% of the server market. I suppose we can't get all good press. Yet.

Fuji Photo Company is to distribute its own Linux according to their website. Apparently it's targeted at server use. Any Japanese readers care to translate it for us?

David McNett, the man with the .plan over at Distributed has brought great news unto the Linux world. Having become convinced some time ago that the NT box that handled stats wasn't making the grade, they will be moving to Linux based solution. That's great-and for all of those you haven't signed up for the Slashdot team for Distributed.net, consider this a written invitation. Click below for instructions on how to join, and read our stats for today.

Linux Magazin has an in in depth review of Infomix SE by a German University Professor, and IX, the professional German IT magzine, has a review of Oracle 8.05 under Linux. Indeed, IX's main theme this month is Linux Multimedia. In related news C'T reviews Caldera OpenLinux, while Caldera announces a new line of servers: the VBS line.

jd was the first to write in to let us know that Linus has graced us with yet another development kernel. We're almost in 2.2 land, folks. I can feel it. Update: scratch wrote in with a link to Linus' comments on the release: "...the only reason I don't call it 2.2 is that I'm chicken."

Robert A. Wagoner writes "There is a news story in "The News & Observer" (Raleigh, NC) today about Red Hat's continued growth and upcoming move to even larger space in RTP. Also, they'll be opening a satellite office somewhere in Silicon Valley next spring."

Toast writes "According to CNET, Linux (and some other alternative OSes) are the #1 trend for 1998. They cite the Gimp and StarOffice as two reasons why alternative OSes are gaining popularity. According to CNET, 'Alternative OS-makers no longer need rely on their "Microsoft sucks, and we're not Microsoft" appeal. This year, the sentiment is "Our OSes stand on their own merits." And this year, they can back it up.' " Ya know, a year ago nobody in the media mentioned Linux. Sure, Slashdot was easier to run because there were fewer articles to pick from, but now, Linux is recognized everywhere. Very cool.

Some people from Down Under had the good idea of making a business breakfast which would introduce Business users to Linux and dispell some of the FUD. It went rather well, with 75 attendees and support from Oracle. It even included a spontaneous comparison of Linux/NT reliability.

The German Linux Organisation Linux Verband is reporting on recent Linux successes: 20 percent of Siemens PC-workstation customers are now buying with Linux pre-installed. The leader of Mercedes' car-electronics prototype development team reports he is very satisfied with the 30 Siemens workstations purchased so far, and that they are buying 10 more. In the previous 7 years they had run Windows workstations, which required constant supervision from a dedicated employee. Moreover the German Police in Stuttgart are using Linux as a server because of its high reliability. On the french side of things, a new Slashdot derivative is up and running. They are still under construction and will be posting article-sources soon. Links courtesy of LWD and LT. Translations can be provided by Babelfish".

Wild Bill writes "Here is a nice article from an unlikely source: U. S. News. It is a very positive and lengthy piece about Linux and Open Source Software. The article is by Russ Mitchell of U. S. News. I like the subtitle: "Create cool software. Give it away on the Internet." This is the first article about Linux and OSS that I have seen in U. S. News. Maybe some more business people will take a good look at Linux as an alternative to Windows 98/NT after seeing this magazine article. There is even a link to a picture of the guys from Red Hat."

ZDNet UK interviewed Mike Cowpland of Corel today, and predicts Linux' ease of use will rival Windows (for non-cli types) in six months time..

David Sifry writes "SuSE and LinuxCare just announced a new Corporate Support and Training Program for Linux. The press release can be found here. SuSE also announced a partnership with Muster Learning Architects to provide corporate training programs. "