Choosing the best of the best in different sectors of GNU/Linux products and services is not an easy task. In many cases, there was more than one contender that was worthy of an award in any given category. However, we attempted to select the easiest to use, most robust, most promising, and - when possible - most free (as in freedom) products for the Open Choice Awards 2003.
Here
is a brief list of some useful suggestions for any user
interested in getting a better use of a Mandrake installation.
These are derived mainly from my own personal experience, so
use at your own risk.
Our last consideration of Mandrake Linux was early this year when my colleague Eduardo Sanchez thoroughly reviewed Mandrake 9.0. In that review, Sanchez noted the numerous advances made in 9.0, but also reported some serious flaws that somewhat limited his enthusiasm. With that considered, we were anxious to find out if 9.1 could again return Mandrake to the amazing quality achieved in release 8.2.
Publishing an interview with the Free Software Foundation's Richard M. Stallman like we recently did, or discussing the FSF's philosophy in general, is usually a polarizing event. Anyone who has participated in discussions on such topics probably also knows that few things can cause a more heated discussion than considering whether the operating system that runs the Linux kernel is simply “Linux” or should be known as “GNU/Linux.” As an ardent supporter of the latter name, I thought it was long overdue for me to explain why I support the FSF on this matter.
Oracle is aggressively adopting Linux both internally and for its products, despite SCO Group's threats earlier this week that it may sue those who don't pay licensing fees to the company. Chuck Rozwat, an Oracle executive VP, says the company has moved its IT infrastructure to Linux, a year after CEO Larry Ellis issued the mandate.
Apple is pleased to announce the 2.0 version of the Apple Public Source License. It improves upon the OSI-approved APSL 1.2 by conforming to the definition of Free Software Licenses, as certified by the Free Software Foundation. We are grateful to Richard Stallman for his many helpful comments in this process. APSL 2.0 is also being submitted to the Open Source Initiative to certify its continued compliance with the Open Source Definition.
Real Networks, the developer of the Real ONE player and popular Real Audio and Real Media formats, announced today plans to create a “comprehensive” Free Software media player. The player will help to end GNU/Linux's long time lagging behind Windows and Macintosh streaming media players.