To:mswier@YAHOO.COM
Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 14:33:57 -0400 (EDT)
From:"Linux Pipeline Newsletter" <linuxed@techwire.com>
Subject: [LXP] Linux Pipeline - 05.03.2006 - Flying Air Linux Linux Pipeline Newsletter | Flying Air Linux | 05.03.2006
Linux Pipeline Newsletter
www.LinuxPipeline.com
WEDNESDAY, May 03, 2006


In This Issue:
  • Editor's Note: Flying Air Linux
  • Top Linux News
        - Mozilla Pulls Major Firefox 2.0 Feature
        - U.S. Wants AT&T Lawsuit Dismissed On Security Grounds
        - VMware Leads Desktop Virtualization Push
        - More News...
  • Editor's Picks
        - Internet Explorer 7: Has Firefox Met Its Match?
        - New Sun CEO's Plan: Cut Costs, Stay The Course
        - Sourcefire Still On a Roll With 'Snort'
        - More Picks...
  • Voting Booth: Does Enterprise Linux Have A Future?
  • Get More Out Of Linux Pipeline

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    Editor's Note: Flying Air Linux

    Would Bill Gates bet his life on a Linux PC? Actually, he'll have to entrust his safety to hundreds of them, every time he steps onto an airplane.

    Here's the story, from the current issue of FCW (which presumably stood for "Federal Computing Weekly," back in the good ol' days):
    The Federal Aviation Administration has saved $15 million by migrating computers that manage air traffic flow to Linux, according to an announcement issued last week. The upgrade is part of a broader service-oriented architecture initiative that will replace proprietary traffic management systems with applications using Java, Web services, open-source software and Oracle products.
    Traffic management sounds important -- the "people die like flies when we screw up" kind of important. That seems to be the case here:
    The air traffic flow system, called the Enhanced Traffic Management System, predicts traffic surges, gaps and volume across the national airspace. The FAA tracks about 8,000 airplanes at any given time. The agency uses the real-time analysis system to keep the skies running smoothly. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is on all traffic management systems at the traffic flow central processing facility, located at the Transportation Department's Volpe Center in Cambridge, Mass. More than 100 sites rely on the system for air traffic management, including military facilities and international sites.
    There's another interesting angle to this story: Unlike most government IT projects, this one won't end with anyone's head on a platter. After switching from a proprietary Unix system to Red Hat Linux, the cost of upgrading the traffic flow system dropped from $25 million to $10 million. The FAA also cut the time required to complete the project from 18 months to just six months.

    I know what you're thinking -- but there's no reason to go there. The article doesn't say a word about Microsoft or Windows, and without knowing a lot more about the project, it's unfair to read anything between the lines. More than anything else, I wanted to share this story because it shows just how far Linus Torvald's crazy science project has come over the past decade: Lives depend on Linux, and that idea is not even close to controversial anymore.

    In any case, it's hard to imagine Microsoft vilifying Linux the way it did not so long ago, while its employees log millions of miles traveling air routes where Linux plays the traffic cop. Or are Greyhound tickets about to become a very hot commodity?

    Have a good week, and stay in touch!

    Matt McKenzie
    Editor, Linux Pipeline
    mattcmp@sonic.net
    www.LinuxPipeline.com


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    Top Linux News

    Mozilla Pulls Major Firefox 2.0 Feature
    Mozilla Corp. developers yank one of the most prominent features from a planned Firefox 2.0 release -- a decision Mozilla staff members immediately played down, although some users are questioning whether the next Firefox release still deserves its "version 2.0" label.

    U.S. Wants AT&T Lawsuit Dismissed On Security Grounds
    The U.S. government has asked a federal judge to dismiss the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against AT&T Corp., invoking its authority to halt civil litigation that officials consider a threat to military or state secrets.

    VMware Leads Desktop Virtualization Push
    The virtualization market leader rallies its key technology partners to fine-tune the technology for use with desktop PCs -- and as a result, to turn millions of enterprise desktops into potential revenue sources.

    Google Places Firefox Ad On Home Page
    Mozilla's open-source Web browser gets an advertising opportunity most companies will only dream about: a promotional shot on the search giant's mega-popular home page.

    IBM Acquires BuildForge, Expands Rational Toolset
    IBM will purchase BuildForge, a maker of build management software for developers and a long-time software partner; Big Blue says it plans to fold BuildForge's tools into its existing, largely open-source, Rational app-dev product line.

    Sun Rolls Out New Storage Products, Solaris Focus
    Sun Microsystems Inc. Monday announced new data storage hardware and software offerings -- with an emphasis on leveraging its $4.1 billion acquisition of Storage Technology Corp. as well as promoting tighter integration with its open-source Solaris platform.

    Group Seeks To Begin AT&T Depositions In Spy Case
    Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyers filed a motion Monday seeking to question AT&T Corp. officials this week, seeking to uncover the phone company's role in a National Security Agency program that may have spied illegally on millions of U.S. citizens.

    Google Knocks Microsoft Over IE 7 Search Box
    Google says Microsoft is unfairly using new the Web browser to steer users to its struggling MSN search site. Microsoft says it's easy enough for users to select a different search engine -- and nobody cares about the issue, anyway.

    RIM Gets Sued--Again--As Mobile E-Mail Wars Rage On
    Visto wins a patent infringement suit against Seven Networks Friday and promptly sues BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, keeping the mobile email market in chaos and leaving customers stuck in the middle of the fight.

    MySQL Launches Community Development Site
    MySQL AB unveils a community site for users and developers to exchange ideas, collaborate on projects, and share code and applications involving the company's namesake open-source database.

    Yahoo Implicated In Jailing Of Fourth Chinese Advocate
    A human rights group says a Chinese dissident was sentenced to 10 years in prison, after authorities identified him as the source of political writings distributed using Yahoo's online services. The incident is the fourth time Yahoo has been implicated in the jailing of a government critic.


    Editor's Picks

    Internet Explorer 7: Has Firefox Met Its Match?
    The new public release of Internet Explorer Beta 2 is, according to Microsoft, more stable and ready for the general public to use. But is it ready to go up against Firefox?

    New Sun CEO's Plan: Cut Costs, Stay The Course
    As Jonathan Schwartz takes the reins from Scot McNealy, radical changes -- and drastic job cuts -- are unlikely to figure in the new CEO's plans to steer the company back onto a profitable course.

    Sourcefire Still On a Roll With 'Snort'
    The U.S. government may have derailed Sourcefire Inc.'s plans to merge with CheckPoint, but that hasn't changed Sourcefire's ambitious plans to refine its open-source network security technology -- nor, apparently, is it hurting the firm's long-term business prospects.

    Sun's ZFS: Size Matters, But So Does Accuracy
    Adding a 128-bit file system to Solaris 10 will create "billions and billions" of unique addresses -- but the system's cutting-edge data protection and recovery tools will be the real selling point for many Solaris users.

    JBoss: Red Hat's $350 Million Ticket To Ride
    Whether or not Red Hat's $350 million purchase of JBoss last month contributes directly to the company's bottom line, it was a deal the enterprise Linux vendor needed to make in order to establish itself as a credible force in the greater business-software market.


    Voting Booth: Does Enterprise Linux Have A Future?

    Cast Your Vote Now!
    Red Hat and Novell aren't the only two enterprise Linux vendors -- but they are the only two that most people can name. That market dominance, however, may not be enough to allow either company to survive on its own.

    Can Novell and Red Hat survive the enterprise software jungle? Will Oracle turn either of them --or both of them -- into open-source roadkill? Let us know, cast your vote!


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