2004.01_Choosing a Future.pdf

Welcome

COMMENT

Choosing a future

Dear Linux Magazine Reader,

We pride ourselves on the origins

of our publication, which come

from the early days of the Linux

revolution.

Our sister publication in Germany,

founded in 1994, was the first

Linux magazine in Europe. Since

then, our network and expertise

has grown and expanded with the

Linux community around the

world.

As a reader of Linux Magazine,

you are joining an information

network that is dedicated to

distributing knowledge and

technical expertise. We’re not

simply reporting on the Linux

and Open Source movement,

we’re part of it.

New distributions

turn up on my

desk. I get to try

them before send-

ing them into the

labs. New toys,

new features, new

ways of thinking.

The world is happy. I turn up at a com-

pany and I am met by the usual

predictable anti-Linux response. This is

partly due to SCO, who are betting the

whole farm on their lawsuit against IBM

over Linux, and constantly trying to

make the press comment.

Just in case you guys from SCO are

reading – No! I do not want to attend

your press tour. No! I do not want to join

your cause. I want you to go away for a

very, very long time.

Along with the Microsoft FUD

bonanza that is constantly pumped out

by PR agencies, it is easy for people to be

misinformed. My good mood soon turns

a little sour as I flip into defending Linux

mode. I cannot help it. It is MS bashing

time again.

Microsoft has issued a bounty on virus

writers. The company’s operating sys-

tems have been hit once too often and it

is now time they did something proac-

tive about it. Or that is at least what a

colleague was telling me over coffee one

morning. With a smug smile he went on

to explain how the kiddie-script virus

writers would now have to turn all their

attentions onto Linux. Windows was

going to get “Securiotics”.

I stopped laughing eventually. Kiddie-

script writers are a plague to everyone. A

bounty is now just a mark of pride to

them. Unfortunately, they will not be

stopped and we have to try to limit their

actions.

I had not heard of Securiotics. This

proved to be a new word coined by MS

to indicate tools used to check security

vulnerabilities in code while in develop-

ment. That explains it. Microsoft saves

the world again. Can’t you just feel that

warm tingly feeling inside?

It is always cruel to quote someone.

Still… Bill Gates while talking about the

next Windows – project Longhorn – said

“Well, you don’t need a perfect code to

avoid security problems.”

Still with the ability to time limit those

offensive emails we should be happy.

You don’t use Windows? What type of

misfit are you?

I am used to being told Linux is “only

a toy”, “too small”, “never used in busi-

ness”, “not for real servers”, “only for

techies”, “never on the desktop”. Each

year, well every six months really,

Microsoft exponents bring out new rea-

sons why they should not change to

Linux. Slowly we chip away at every

argument, and they move the reasoning.

With the big companies such as IBM,

Sun, HP and Novell all seeming to follow

Linux for their server markets, the secu-

rity issue is becoming a proverbial thorn

in proprietary operating systems’ sides.

With each new virus, the downtime that

companies and the heartache that people

suffer make them change to other sys-

tems. At the end of the day, virus writers

are hurting Microsoft’s profit line.

Not that Linux is completely free from

security issues. The advantage of freely

available source code is that we have the

opportunity to search and possibly cor-

rect it. The freedom to chose our own

destiny is what counts.

DVD Upgrade

In response to questions from sub-

scribers, we wanted to make sure that

all readers understand that it is possi-

ble to upgrade to a DVD subscription

at any time.

When you upgrade, your current

subscription will be cancelled, and a

new, 12-month DVD subscription will

be started for you. The remaining

value of your old subscription will be

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difference when you upgrade.

Use our secure online form to

upgrade today:

www.linux-magazine.com/Upgrade

Happy crusading,

John Southern

Editor

www.linux-magazine.com

January 2004

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