Open Source News
February 25, 2004
SQL-Ledger 2.2.4
Version 2.2.4 of SQL-Ledger, a Perl-based accounting system, has been announced. Changes include updated translations, a new customer and vendor history report, a patchlevel check for Apache 2.0, and more.
KimDaBa version 1.1 released. Version 1.1 of KimDaBa, the KDE Image Database, is out. "KimDaBa version 1.0 was announce early December last year. Lots of users started using KimDaBa back then, and lots of feature requested came in. This version tries to honor the most wanted features, and thus makes it an even more attractive application."The KBarcode Project
KBarcode is a barcode and label printing application for Linux and KDE 3. It can be used to print everything from simple business cards up to complex labels with several barcodes (e.g. article descriptions). KBarcode comes with an easy to use WYSIWYG label designer, a setup wizard, batch import of labels (directly from the delivery note), thousands of predefined labels, database managment tools and translations in many languages.
Digikam 0.6 Released
Version 0.6 of Digikam has been announced. "After nearly one and half years of development Digikam 0.6 and its plugin package have been released. Digikam is a simple digital photo management application which makes importing and organizing digital photos a "snap". The photos can be organized in albums which are automatically sorted chronologically. An easy to use interface is provided to connect to your camera and preview images and download and/or delete them."
GRAMPS 1.0.0 ''Stable as a Tombstone'' released
Version 1.0.0 of GRAMPS, the Genealogical Research And Management Programming System, has been announced. "The GRAMPS project is pleased to announce the 1.0.0 ("Stable as a Tombstone") release of GRAMPS, the Genealogical Research And Management Programming System. After more that 2 1/2 years of development, GRAMPS is leaving the "beta" stage with its first "stable" release."
BloGTK 0.9 Released
Version 0.9 of the BloGTK web logging client is out. "This version has been thoroughly injected with Botox so that unnecessary lines no longer uglify the interface. Also character handling has been improved so that Unicode characters can be properly escaped for non-Unicode blogs."
Pandora's box for open source
News.com examines the increasing acceptance of open-source software by large companies. "Open source has become something like the invisible hand of the software economy, driving prices down and pinpointing those areas ripe for commodity status. While Microsoft continues to fight it, other companies have no choice but to embrace the technology, even though its long-term profitability remains largely unproven."
Survey: More data centers will use Linux in '04
SearchEnterpriseLinux reports on a survey that indicates substantial growth of Linux in the data center market. "In an online spending survey of 130 IT managers and decision makers, 30% said that, among Linux-related projects planned for 2004, a data center migration to Linux would receive the greatest monetary commitment. Of that percentage, 52.7% indicated they'd be spending up to $99,000 on the migration, and 13% expect to spend between $100,000 and $499,000."
Paris eyes open-source switch
News.com reports on a study concerning Linux deployment in Paris, France. "Systems integrator Unilog is set to carry out a feasibility study on the installation of open-source software systems for the city of Paris, the company has said. On the strength of an earlier Unilog study, Munich agreed to migrate thousands of desktops from Windows to the open-source operating system Linux."
Linux Finishes Second Among Oracle Developers
CXOtoday reports on the rising popularity among India's Oracle developers. "Oracle India announced that Linux has emerged the second most popular OS platform among its developers in India, and that seven of its new customers have recently chosen to run its technology and applications software on the OS."
SpamAssassin Quickstart
Linux Productivity Magazine is running a set of articles on SpamAssassin in their latest edition. "This issue of Linux Productivity Magazine details Spamassassin: how to install it, how to configure it, and how to use it. No two SpamAssassin installations are alike because of how differently email is handled in different situations. But this issue will guide you through a few of the most common scenarios."
OSS in Space
Linux Journal takes a look at how OSS might have benefited the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission. "At first glance, this dialogue is merely interesting; I think every hardware and software engineer/tinkerer should read them. On deeper reflection, however, I was struck by something more. Although I assume it was not their intention, the authors quite clearly demonstrate how open-source software (OSS) and the OSS development model would have helped this project enormously, not only in finding the bug but, in all probability, preventing the bug in the first place. The extracts from these e-mails and my comments below should make more sense to you after you've read the original postings."
Finnish Government supports Open Source in South Africa
The Finnish government will fund the use of Midgard in South Africa. "The Finnish government has funded Ungana-Afrika to support Southern African NGOs, which will include the recommendation of appropriate web-site and content management solutions using the Open Source Midgard Content Management System (CMS)."
IBM releases free Q104 Software Evaluation Kit
IBM has released a new Q104 Software Evaluation Kit on two DVDs. "Get the latest DB2, Lotus, Rational, Tivoli, and WebSphere Linux code from IBM on DVD. This is the fastest way to get access to all of IBM middleware that has been ported to Linux."