Despite the fact that Linux-related companies such as VA Linux Systems and Red Hat have recently taken Wall Street by storm, Forrester says it sees no sign of CIOs abandoning existing platforms for Linux any time soon. However, the firm does predict that Linux will continue to grow by dominating new application segments.

Around 30 engineers, consultants, Linux enthusiasts, open-source believers -- and at least one self-described troublemaker -- turned out to express solidarity with the hackers who are being sued by the DVD industry for distributing allegedly proprietary source code over the Web.

Linux Sucks, NT Rocks," the headline blared. "No, no, no, no, no!", the old white-bearded fellow shouted at the new kid. "That's supposed to be 'Use Linux, NT Sucks Rocks'." The diaper-clad cherub chomped down on his cigar. "Look Pops, you gotta get with the times. Your year in the sun is just about over. Linux is old news, yesterday's buzz. Don't you get it, man? 2000 is the year of 2000, Windows 2000, that is.

Inprise Corp. soon plans to outline the future of its InterBase database division, and the possibility of opening the database's source code is squarely on the table.

LinuxOne is expected to launch its initial public offering as early as next month. But the upstart company faces a host of issues that were absent in the highly successful IPOs of Linux companies Red Hat, VA Linux, Cobalt Networks and Andover.Net.

So you might say, "What's wrong with plain telnet?". Well with regular telnet, your password is sent to the other machine in plain text form allowing the sniffing of passwords. With SSH strong cryptography is used for protecting all transmitted confidential data, including passwords, binary files, and administrative commands.

Progress Software began shipping Linux versions of its database and application server products Tuesday.

FOR almost the first time in its history, Microsoft is to face a competitive challenge when it launches the next version of its Windows operating system. Called Windows 2000, the new OS (which controls the way personal computers work) is scheduled to launch on February 17 the same date when a rival OS, Linux, might steal its thunder by releasing an upgraded version.

A Linux user is taking credit for restoring service to Microsoft's Hotmail free email service, saying he paid a delinquent domain name registration fee that blocked access to some users over much of the Christmas weekend.

"Mr. Hall, I have only one question...". It happened to be a question posed to me by the Director of the computer center of Sao Paulo University. He had just finished telling me about the way they used the Linux Operating System.