Openmail's Linux support means that any company adopting it has the option of deploying Linux as the server platform, replacing the NT 4 or Win2k servers that are required by MS Outlook.

"I wonder whether Linux as we know it today is really suited for widespread desktop use. Sure, I think Linux is great, and the X Window System does much to make

Linux more attractive, especially when running with a desktop environment such as GNOME or KDE. But in its current state, Linux is just too much."

Version 7 (Guinness) certainly has been one of the most anticipated and

hyped releases of Red Hat. It's been out for a while now and it's time

to see whether all that hype was justified. We'll be reviewing the Red

Hat 7 ftp release here.

The first thing new about the distribution is that there are now two

installation CD's. Red Hat has added a lot of new stuff here namely

OpenSSH and Tripwire for security, Kernel 2.4, Abiword, Xfree86 4.0

and USB support. Is the added software worth it? System administrators

It is now possible to take a test drive version of the OpenNMS open source management solution. The new version is a single-server solution with features appropriate for Internet service providers to small and medium-sized companies.

The lack of right-sized, right-priced systems management solutions for Linux has been a problem for many IT managers. Here is a look at new systems management solutions being offered by Caldera Systems, Red Hat, and Acrylis.

Sendmail, a company that sells a proprietary version of open-source software for email servers has acquired Nascent Technologies, makers of software for accessing email via cell phones or the Web. The acquisition is one in a series of moves designed to add features to Sendmail software.

Caldera has contracted with Richard Sharpe of the Samba team to create a client library that will make Linux and Microsoft integration easier for developers. The Caldera-funded project includes the development of library source code, associated reorganization and reuse of Samba code and documentation of the library API.

Big companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard have a very simple business motivation for backing open-source software: lower total cost of ownership for their hardware platforms.

Red Hat has announced the availability of the Beta version of Red Hat Linux for Itanium-based systems. This is the first publicly available beta from Red Hat for the Itanium architecture and is available for public download at Red Hat's ftp site.

Even as Big Blue pushes Linux into the mainstream, some executives from major Linux companies are grumbling behind the scenes."Linux helps IBM sell things, but IBM doesn't really help the Linux companies," says a senior executive at one Linux firm.