As you may have heard, more than a few people have become quite wealthy by selling free Linux software (or more specifically, selling Linux stock), and more than a few people caught on. And money is having its strange effect, hence the recent explosion of Linux distributions.

Secure Computing Corporation, announced that it has been awarded a sole source contract by the National Security Agency (NSA) to develop a Secure Linux Operating System. This contract calls for Secure Computing to apply its patented Type Enforcement technology, to develop a robust and secure Linux platform.

Matrox Graphics Inc. has contracted Precision Insight Inc. to develop the Matrox G400 XFree86 4.0 Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI) driver.

It is now government policy in China to use the Linux operating system across all government ministries, according to Jon "Maddog" Hall, the executive director of Linux International.

SCO announced that at LinuxWorld Expo it will introduce a portfolio of server products for the Linux market. LinuxWorld Expo will be held at Jacob Javits Convention Center on February 1-4.

Ottawa, Canada-based Corel said it plans to acquire a 30 percent stake in privately held Linux start-up Newlix. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Corel has been on a Linux tear in the past few months. Last month it acquired a one-third stake in Philadelphia-based LinuxForce.

Dave Whitinger is a co-founder of Linux Today, a continuously updated sourceof Linux news for the community. He recently started Linsight, a site providing information for Linux users.

CNET, Inc., the source for computers and technology, announced today the launch of CNET Linux Center, the site for Linux professionals interested in leveraging the power of Linux for their businesses.

1999 was the year Linux catapulted from obscure hacker obsession to mainstream phenomenon, up there with e-commerce, dot-com anything and Pokémon. Witness VA Linux Systems? record-breaking IPO stock performance and Linux's star billing at the Las Vegas Comdex convention. But Linux has achieved fame mainly for its stellar performance on servers. Can it seriously challenge Windows on the desktop in the year 2000?

Linux is hampered by a lack of drivers for some pc devices, notably printers. In an effort to help correct this, Libranet is collecting signatures to a petition which will be submitted to the major producers of PC devices.