Open Source News
April 8, 2004
Release 2.3 of DbForms is available
Bug fix release 2.3 of DbForms has been announced. "Tired of writing same code again and again? Try DbForms! DbForms is a Java (Servlet,JSP/Taglib) - based Rapid Application Development environment which enables developers to build web based database applications in _very_ short time."
Mozilla 1.7 to Become New Long-Lived Stable Branch
MozillaZine reports that the stable Mozilla 1.4 branch will be replaced by the new stable Mozilla 1.7 branch. Mozilla Firefox 1.0, a new milestone of Mozilla Thunderbird, a new Camino release and several third party Mozilla based products will be based on Mozilla 1.7.
Replacing DHTML Menus with XUL
MozillaZine mentions a new article on XUL by Nigel McFarlane. "I've written another article highlighting the features of Mozilla. To the best of my knowledge this is the first 'dirty XUL trick' that might appeal to web developers. It's nice to see that the Mozilla styling and layout systems are robust enough to support this kind of fiddling. It would be wonderful to see a full Web toolkit of XBL objects spring up to replace the junk we do in Dynamic HTML."
Mozilla and the potential for interaction
Jono Bacon discusses web programming and XUL on O'Reilly. "I have been playing with XUL recently and I have been really motivated with the potential for building truly interactive system type web applications. You only need to take a look at the Amazon application that is bandied around by pro-XUL hackers to see an example of what is possible with it."
'Dive into Python' versions 4.8 and 4.9
Mark Pilgrim has published versions 4.8 and 4.9 of his online book Dive into Python. "Version 4.8 finished the chapter on dynamic functions and fixed some broken links. Version 4.9 splits the chapter introducing unit testing into two, finishes the chapter on regression testing, and fixes some typos in the chapter on dynamic functions."
Sitting for the RHCE
Here's a NewsForge article recounting one person's experience taking the Red Hat Certified Engineer exam. "To my knowledge, there are only two IT industry certifications that require a candidate to set up and repair an actual running system. Red Hat's is one of them; the other is a Cisco exam. There are no multiple-choice questions to answer; you spend the entire session repairing a broken system and then building a new one from scratch. At the end of the day, the things you've been asked to do either work, or they do not -- and you pass or fail on that basis alone. It's not as easy as it sounds. The failure rate hovers around 40%."
Tadpole makes leap to Opteron
The market for Linux on laptop systems is, perhaps, finally beginning to develop. Tadpole has announced a forthcoming notebook based on the AMD Opteron processor and Sun's "Java Desktop" system. Availability is later in this quarter.
Linux on desktop gaining in OS race
Dan Gillmor is rethinking his position on desktop Linux in this Mercury News column. "It looks like I'm going to have to reconsider something I'd been taking for granted -- that Linux on the desktop, and especially the laptop, was a non-starter in the operating systems race. While I wasn't paying sufficient attention, the proverbial tortoise has been playing some serious catch-up."
Desktop Guerrilla Tactics: a Portable Thin Client Approach
Linux Journal looks at the process of rolling out a desktop Linux pilot project. "So, here was the challenge: how could we bring Linux quickly onto the desktop to penetrate the users' defenses? Just as importantly, how could we take Linux out of the environment in case the opposition proved overwhelming? We would have to take a guerrilla approach to conquering the desktop."
Open Source Software: What Is It and How Does It Work? - By Dr. Ben Kremer
Groklaw republishes an essay by Dr. Ben Kremer on open source and the GPL. "The hardest conceptual problem about open source software is how to ensure people play by the rules. There are many models, but the most common is to require any person who redistributes an open source program (whether in its original form, or with any changes they have made) to also redistribute the accompanying source code."
Photo Galleries with Mason and Imager
Perl.com has an article on writing a web-based photo gallery. "Creating a photo gallery is usually considered a daunting task. Lots of people have tried it, not many have succeeded. One of the reasons for so many similar projects is that they don't often integrate well into an existing web site. In this article we're going to build a photo gallery using two important components, Mason and Imager. Writing our gallery in Mason will make it much easier to integrate into an existing web site."