"Be careful what you say about Linux. Say the wrong thing, truth or otherwise, and you risk agitating an underworld of zealots. It was never clear if theirs was a true passion for the free operating system or simply a dislike for Microsoft, which they felt Linux would destroy"

The cute-looking Tux had a problem. Everyone thought Tux disliked Windows and

therefore wouldn't talk with anything that had 'Win' in it. This thought spread

around quite a bit, and therefore most Windows users would have no truck with

tux.

But getting Windows to recognise a Linux machine or for that matter getting

Linux to recognise Windows-based computers in a network is as simple as configuring

A specification unveiled recently may hasten the day IT managers can buy a Linux application and be confident it will run on any vendor's version of the open source operating system.

"Compilation and configuration of a custom Linux kernel involves a number of complicated steps. Fortunately, the user is abstracted from all these by the shell. But, when the Compilation and configuration steps have not been carried out in a perfect manner, one is bound to get error messages on the screen. Though these can vary from as simple as "typos in /etc/lilo.conf", but can be as complicated as "bad cache memory" and others."

"Caldera is obviously trying to get the best of both worlds by claiming to be an open source company and still introducing a per-seat licensing model. We have no plans to introduce per-seat licensing," says Colin Tennick, the European VP of Red Hat.

MontaVista Software, a company selling Linux for non-PC computing products, signed up Toshiba and Ericsson as major new business partners but laid off 20 percent of its staff.

"A modestly performing 32-bit RISC processor with a pedigree dating back to the early 1990s is quietly gaining momentum in the marketplace, having hitched its star to the Linux platform."

PPP (Point to Point Protocol) is used to connect the Red hat Linux system to

the ISP through the modem. PPP is faster and more efficient. It uses the TCP/IP

network protocol. SLIP(Serial Line Interface Protocol) is also used as the replacement

but it is not as successful as PPP. Most of the ISP's prefer PPP.

People in developing nations could soon be using modified Linux game consoles equipped with satellite links to help them learn about vital health issues. The project, sponsored by Western and Asian business leaders working through the World Economic Forum, aims to narrow the so-called digital divide.

"Caldera must prove that its new approach offers value and stability to corporate users trying Linux for the first time, and it needs to support its extensive reseller channel at least as well as SCO did. If the company can adequately tackle these two significant challenges, the insults won't matter. Caldera will have carved out a nice little piece of the Linux-in-business market."