UpFront

by Various
on November 1, 2002
Mandrake Number One in Desktop Survey

DesktopLinux.com has a page where readers are polled about their choice of desktop Linux distributions. So far 3,466 votes have been tallied. The poll question was “Which Linux distribution(s) do you use (or plan to use) on your desktop computer system?” Here's how the answers sort out:

1. Mandrake: 29.3%

2. SuSE: 14%

3. Red Hat: 12%

4. Debian: 10.2%

5. Elx: 9.1%

6. Lycoris: 6.8%

7. Gentoo: 6.4%

8. Slackware: 4.1%

9. Lindows: 1.8%

10. Libranet: 1.7%

11. Peanut: 1.3%

12. Xandros: 1.1%

13. Other: 1.6%

—Doc Searls

LJ Index—November 2002

  1. Multiple by which the new RealNetworks Helix Universal Server running on Linux exceeds the speed of Microsoft's streaming server: 4

  2. Number of Linux Users' Groups (LUGs): 500

  3. Number of countries with LUGs: 80

  4. Millions of dollars in Linux sales in 2001: 80

  5. Projected millions of dollars in Linux sales by 2006: 280

  6. Billions of dollars in Microsoft Windows sales in 2001: 10

  7. Linux annual growth rate percentage according to Tower Group: 30

  8. Linux annual growth rate percentage according to IDC: 37

  9. Linux percentage of corporate IT budgets: 9

  10. Percentage of retail sector CIOs “looking at open-source software”: 32

  11. Number of IBM telecom customers who use Linux: 50

  12. Number of IBM ISVs with Linux-enabled apps: 3,800

  13. Number of Linux support personnel at IBM: 5,000

  14. Thousands of Zaurus PDAs Sharp reportedly brought to LinuxWorld Expo in August 2002 expecting all would sell: 3

  15. Number of New Zealand's Compaq servers replaced by one IBM Z Series mainframe: 150

  16. Minimum number of IBM telecom customers using Linux: 50

  17. Number of Linux instances on a Z Series mainframe at Solomon Smith Barney in New York: 62

  18. Number of Linux instances on Korean Airlines IBM Z series mainframe: 10

  19. Number of Korean Airlines personnel using the flight schedule system now consolidated on the mainframe: 4,000

Sources

  1. 1: RealNetworks

  2. 2, 3: Linux Counter

  3. 4-6: quoted in CNET

  4. 7-9: cited by IBM

  5. 10: Tower Group, cited by Open Forum Europe

  6. 11-13, 15-18: IBM

  7. 14: Source at LinuxWorld Expo

“Radio” over IP over Radio

Here's another good reason why the Sharp Zaurus deserved the Editors' Choice we gave it two months ago. It's a WiFi radio: a wireless internet radio receiver. The first of the breed, in fact.

All you need is your Zaurus, a WiFi (802.11b) wireless card and a $10 shareware application called Zradio. Add headphones, and you've got a WiFi Walkman. Add a pair of portable powered speakers, and you've got your very own Linux boom box.

For more information, visit myZaurus.com.

—Doc Searls

They Said It

Labels 263 and larger are currently reserved for future extensions. Under many cosmological theories, the labels under 263 are adequate to cover the entire expected life span of the universe; in this case no extensions will be necessary.

—D. J. Bernstein, in a proposal for a new 64-bit time format intended to solve the year 2038 problem (cr.yp.to/proto/tai64.txt)

The National Security Agency remains committed to operating system security research in general and specifically in continuing our research using the security-enhanced Linux prototype. Our relationships with open-source researchers have been very beneficial, and we hope to continue and expand such relationships in the future.

—Grant M. Wagner, Technical Director of the US NSA's Secure Systems Research Office

It's perfectly fine to use the name of your pet or child as a password. However, for the sake of security, make sure the names of all your pets and children contain several non-alphanumeric characters.

—Lore Sjöberg, Brunching.com

Load Disqus comments