There’s been work going on inside Microsoft for years to try to pare down the Windows system, to tame the beast so to speak. Dubbed “MinWin“, the effort aims to make a successive series of layers, with each layer depending only on the stuff immediately below it. So one layer might handle file system access and network protocols. The Internet Information Server would depend on that layer, but nothing in any of those sub-layers would depend on anything inside IIS. In a similar way, the Explorer shell and Internet Explorer can be more easily separated, so that you don’t need to have MSIE installed on every single server you run.

There are lots of changes associated with the MinWin project, and even though initial efforts are available for public viewing, the long-term payout is still quite a ways away. Some of the elements of that long-term payout include a more customizable installation footprint with an easier-to-update system, since you’d only be updating those components you’re actually using for your server; tighter system security; and enhanced system integrity, since faults in applications ought not be affecting lower level routines.

There’s an excellent write-up of MinWin at Ars Technica. It’s definitely worth a read. This quote, regarding system security, really caught my attention:

Fully two-thirds of the security patches released for Windows Server 2003 offered no actual increase in security for dedicated servers, but still required software to be installed and reboots to be performed on a near-monthly basis.

What’s ironically funny to me is that this entire initiative is, in many ways, a validation of the UNIX mentality that’s been driving Linux development since the very beginning. Microsoft has touted the superiority of it’s GUI, and the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and its snap-ins, as the best and easiest way to manage complex services. I think we can all agree, now, that that’s more than a bit of hyperbole: GUIs and the MMC make some administrative tasks easier, while simultaneously making other tasks much harder. The resurgence of command-line administration in MinWin, and the Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008 (original, and R2 flavors) is clear indication that a GUI is not the end-all-be-all of systems management.

The Linux Foundation Announces New, Exclusive Perks for Individual Members

Members support the organization that promotes and protects Linux while getting new employee purchase pricing from major PC makers

SAN FRANCISCO, October 13, 2009 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced new, exclusive benefits for individual members, including employee purchase pricing from Dell, HP and Lenovo, and the opportunity to secure a Linux.com email address for life.

Beginning today, Linux Foundation individual members can get up to 40 percent off of Lenovo devices and standard employee purchase pricing from Dell and HP. Dell also offers a best price guarantee to Linux Foundation members. These benefits can translate into hundreds or thousands of dollars for those who purchase their devices as part of this program.

Existing members that would like to ensure their Linux.com email address is permanent and not dependent on Linux Foundation membership renewal can elect to secure it with a one-time $150 fee. New members who want the same benefit will pay a total of $249 for the first year’s membership and the lifetime benefit. Linux.com email addresses allow members to publicly represent their support for Linux and to demonstrate their community participation.

Students can also now become members with a student-class membership for $25 annually. Students find value in Linux Foundation events and online resources and help to drive the adoption of Linux among up-and-coming developers and IT managers. The Linux Foundation wants to encourage participation in the Linux community among this important group of future developers.

“Our individual members are the heartbeat of the Linux Foundation and we will continue to find ways to extend special benefits to them,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation. “Perks like the employee purchase discounts from Dell, HP and Lenovo and lifetime Linux.com email addresses are unique things we can offer to sustain support for Linux.”

By becoming a member of the Linux Foundation, developers and users are helping the organization that employs Linus Torvalds and supporting programs that promote and protect Linux. Individual membership helps connect developers, IT administrators, and business executives with unique information, tools and events that help to advance their careers and stay current with the Linux platform.

The annual membership fee for individuals is $99, which pays for itself quickly with just one of the discounts offered exclusively to Linux Foundation members.

Other discounts and benefits available to individual members include:

§      30% discount on the Linux Foundation’s LinuxCon and Japan Linux Symposium events;

§      20% discount on registration fees for Linux Foundation training courses;

§      35% off O’Reilly books and e-Books;

§      35% off No Starch Press Publications;

§      15% off subscriptions to Linux Journal;

§      $10 off every $40 order on ThinkGeek.com;

§      a free Linux Foundation t-shirt for proclaiming support for Linux; and

§      a weekly “Linux Briefing Book” in the form of an exclusive email with highlighted news and analysis to keep users well informed.

To join the Linux Foundation and to see a full list of benefits and discounts, please visit our membership page: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/join/individual

.

About the Linux Foundation.

The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by hosting important workgroups, events and online resources such as Linux.com. For more information, please visit the Linux Foundation website.

Leaked memos are making their way around the Internets today, revealing what claim to be Microsoft propaganda attempting to “educate” Best Buy employees on all the problems with Linux. For each problem, Microsoft suggests that their products are vastly superior!

Here’s an idea: instead of spending so much money on advertising, why not make a better mousetrap, rather than re-introducing ancient bugs?

Do you need to run Linux on it? No, you don’t. What you really need to do, however, is get it to run Doom. That would be epic.

The premise is simple enough: the four fakes will tweet on Twitter and … uh … micro-blog on identi.ca, pretending to be Linus Torvalds. You, the Linux using community, will follow along at home, presumably while you all recompile your kernels, and vote for which fake Linus you like the best. All I know right now is that the four fakes are “well-known community and media leaders”. Who could they be?!

To make this competition even more compelling, it even has its own rap song and video! Hooray!

All snark aside, the song and video are pretty funny (and well done!) and this looks to be a pretty fun way for the Linux community to interact.

Taking a page from the popular FakeSteveJobs blog (http://www.fakesteve.net/), we’ve invited four well-known industry and community leaders to guest tweet as if they were the real Linus Torvalds during the weeks leading up to LinuxCon (http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon).

These FakeLinusTorvalds (FLTs) will be tweeting live from our Identi.ca (linuxfoundation) and Twitter feeds (www.twitter.com/linuxfoundation) beginning today, and their identities will be revealed at LinuxCon, directly after the Kernel Panel (http://linuxcon.linuxfoundation.org/meetings/1564), featuring the real Linus Torvalds, on September 21, 2009.

During the final two weeks prior to LinuxCon, we’re inviting you to vote for your favorite FLT here at Linux.com. The winner will be chosen based on community vote and will be presented with the “coveted” “Silver Penguin” award on stage at the conference.

Visit this page often to get updates on the best tweets of the week and to participate in the ongoing speculation about who is behind these FLTs. Who knows? Maybe even the real Linus will weigh in.

It bears noting that an analysis like this is only available because Linux is open source software. You can look through the changelogs and project history to see who has done what, who’s been attributed with doing what, etc etc.

ComputerWorld has done a nice job of summarizing the top contributing corporations. Lumped in with the expected participants (Red Hat, IBM, Novell) are some less likely companies (SGI, Parallels, Renesas Technology):

1. Red Hat: 12.3%
2. IBM: 7.6%
3. Novell: 7.6%
4. Intel: 5.3%
5. Independent consultant: 2.5%
6. Oracle: 2.4%
7. Linux Foundation: 1.6%
8. SGI 1.6%
9. Parallels 1.3%
10. Renesas Technology: 1.3%
11. Academia: 1.2%
12. Fujitsu: 1.1%
13. MontaVista: 1.1%
14. MIPS Technologies: 1.1%
15. Analog Devices: 1.0%
16. HP: 1.0%

As Vaughan-Nichols notes:

You see, Linux isn’t just some hobby, nor is it just being used by some businesses that specialize in it. No, Linux is made by big business for big business, and it has been for some time.

Businesses can use Linux because it’s such a robust, viable operating system: it frees them from having to develop and maintain their own operating systems for specialized (usually embedded) systems, and instead focus on applications develop for those systems. A lot people like to pooh-pooh Linux because they may have had some trouble using it on their crazy home-brew desktop system, but it’s clear that Linux is a very successful part of the computer industry today.

The Linux Foundation report itself is chock full of easy-to-read tables with interesting data (changes per hour, lines modified per day, etc). If you’re curious about Linux development, this is a pretty good glimpse at it. From a purely academic perspective, it would be fun to compare this data with similar data from Apple and Microsoft regarding OSX and Windows development, respectively. Good luck getting that data from them, though.

“Unix was created to solve a few problems,” said Dr [Peter] Salus, “the most important of which was to have something that was much more compact than the operating systems that were current at that time which ran on the dinosaurs of the computer age.” The UNIX philosophy is “Do one thing, and do it well.” Rather than have one monolithic kernel with lots and lots of functionality built in, UNIX had a very small kernel with a strong complement of little helper utilities. Things like ‘ls’ and ‘cat’ aren’t core parts of the kernel, but rather discrete binary programs.

Along came Doug McIlroy, who introduced the concept of “pipes”. You could take the output of one program and feed it as input to another program. In this way, many small utilities could be chained together to create amazingly functional processes. Another upshot of this design mentality is that fixing bugs is easier: rather than working through a complex monolithic kernel and worrying about complex regression testing, one could focus on a single, small binary application. New features could be added to such binaries, and whole new binary applications could be rolled out quickly and without much direct coordination from any central body.

It’s easy for us UNIX and Linux users to lob potshots at Microsoft for it’s monolithic DOS and Windows design models; but the Redmond products are good examples of some of the problems with monolithic software design. Do you think there’s anyone at Microsoft who knows, on his or her own, how all of the pieces of Windows work together? It’s nigh impossible for any one person to have the breadth and depth of experience to know how all the UI, networking, storage, scheduling and security systems work on their own, let alone in conjunction with one another. Instead you have teams of people working on various aspects of the system, and inter-team communication and coordination can become a real impediment to success.

Contrast that to the UNIX design model, where the kernel is pretty small, and people really can know most of what goes on in the kernel. Guys like Linus Torvalds and Andrew Morton can know the nitty gritty of the core kernel, without having to know — or even care, much — about the nitty gritty of the X Window system, or how the GNOME environment works: other people are responsible for those things because they are, literally, separate things. If you don’t like GNOME, you can use KDE, or XFCE, or Oroboros, or Blackbox, or any number of other window manager solutions. Not so with Windows, where the GUI they make is the only GUI you get, and making changes to it may have substantial effect on other, non-GUI aspects of the system. The same holds true for filesystems, and networking protocols, and all manner of other things that get added on to the kernel by way of modules: the kernel developers need only present a consistent and stable API and ABI to allow other folks to extend the kernel functionality with new modules.

If you haven’t used UNIX (Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, what-have-you), you owe it to yourself to give it an honest examination. Dr. Salus has a great quote in this BBC story:

Unix is the best screwdriver ever built

And, if you live anywhere near Columbus, OH, you can see Peter Salus and Doug McIlroy on Saturday, September 25 at The Ohio LinuxFest: both men will be presenting at the event. Registration is free! I’ve been involved with OLF for several years now, and it really is a great opportunity to learn more about Linux, and Free Software generally. Jon ‘maddog’ Hall wrote a pretty good overview of what OLF is, and why it’s worth attending. If you want to learn more about UNIX, Free Software, Linux, or just network with computer luminaries like McIlroy and Salus, come celebrate 40 years of UNIX with Ohio LinuxFest.

I don’t think I’m taking a lot for granted here or overestimating the community. Hackers and Linux lovers do this for fun. They do this on Sunday afternoons to relax. The first hack will rely on cracking the thing open. They’ll piggy-back off that with a savefile hack or something, and after that it’ll be something you can put on a USB stick, the way it is now.

Seriously, Sony removing that option will have about the preventative strength of putting up a sign that says “keep off the grass.” Am I right?

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for PS2 games. I was hoping there’d be a Slim Plus or something version that did PS2, but no. Tarnation!

[Penguin from here]

The announcement details a number of enhancements to the game, but the most important piece is that it now works on Linux and Mac. Yes! I’ve always appreciated id’s cross-platform support in most of their games. I hope they keep it up.

Don’t expect any more posts from me today. :)

Hat tip Pocket Lint.

I’ve been using Linux exclusively on my computers for about a decade. I’ve been advocating and recommending free software solutions to friends, families, and business partners for a couple years. I know I’m an early adopter, but the landscape for desktop operating systems has changed pretty dramatically in the last couple years, and all signs suggest that it’ll continue to evolve. Web-based computing, netbooks, Google Android, the convergence of smartphone functionality — all of this and more is working against the traditional fat desktop OS maintained by Microsoft. No, the need for Windows on a full-blown desktop PC will likely never go away, but its place as the de facto way in which we compute is slowly disappearing.

Via PC World.

I’m a big believer in “technology over politics”. I don’t care who it comes from, as long as there are solid reasons for the code, and as long as we don’t have to worry about licensing etc issues.

Allah knows there’s plenty of politics in Linux-land. From the raging battle over whether to say “GNU/Linux”, to recognize the GNU project’s involvement, to the subtle differences between “open source” and “free software”, there’s plenty of room for people to lose sight of the technical objectives, and get mired in never-ending semantic arguments.

So complaining about the fact that Microsoft picked a selfish area to work on is just silly. Of course they picked an area that helps them. That’s the point of open source – the ability to make the code better for your particular needs, whoever the ‘your’ in question happens to be.

And there, my friends, is what I think is one of the best aspects of free and open source software: you can use it for purely ideological reasons, or you can use it for strategic business reasons.

A lot of people just getting started with free software are often overwhelmed with and dismayed by the amount of duplication of open source code. Why are there eleventy billion different text editors? Why are there six different web browsers? Why are there so many mail clients? One of the overarching principles of open source software is “There’s more than one way to do it.” Microsoft is slowly learning this, and they’re taking baby steps toward some of those other ways.

It’ll be really interesting to see how Microsoft responds to patches submitted against their newly released GPL code!

Via OSNews.

The kernel modules allow Linux to operate fully in a Microsoft Hyper-V virtualized environment. This is big news because it demonstrates that Microsoft finally realizes that its customers do, in fact, run Linux. There’s no doubt that this is not a charitable move from Microsoft to ingratiate itself into the free software community: this is purely a business move to make Hyper-V a more attractive virtualization solution than VMWare, or Xen, or KVM. For predominantly Microsoft shops, Hyper-V is probably the preferred virtualization solution, and the previous lack of Linux support might have been a real bummer. I actually don’t know, myself. I run and support VMWare because they’ve support Linux for much longer.

Don’t expect to see GPL releases for any other Microsoft products any time soon, though.

Via CNet.

Finally, this attack isn’t really a kernel vulnerability, in the normal sense of the word. The compiler helpfully optimizes away a specific null pointer check, which leads to an exploitable situation. Linux’s benevolent dictator, Linus Torvalds, doesn’t think this is a valid kernel exploit:

He’s running a setuid program that allows the user to specify its own modules. And then you people are surprised he gets local root?

I have to agree with Torvalds on this one: with a setuid binary like that it’s not very surprising that privilege escalation can occur. It requires a lot of hoop-jumping to pull this specific exploit off, too. The cost of the attack probably doesn’t match the benefits from a successful compromise in most situations.

Somewhat ironically, this exploit is opened if you’ve enabled SELinux, the enhanced security component of modern Linux distributions. I haven’t taken the time to learn how to write SELinux policies correctly, so I always disable it when I install a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system. The vulnerability is also opened if you’re using PulseAudio, which Ubuntu is using these days.

Via El Reg.

Granted, this was accomplished using Linux specifically tailored for particular embedded hardware, so it’s not something you’ll be able to do on your home PC or laptop (yet!). MontaVista Linux booted on Freescale Semiconductor MPC5121e hardware, which presented a specific controlled environment, so the Linux kernel could be tweaked to load only the drives necessary for the platform. Also, as sensational as this story is, it doesn’t make clear whether the one second boot loaded an entirely usable interface, or just for the kernel fully loaded into memory so that additional user space stuff could then kick off.

Regardless, fast boots from a cold start are really, really important for embedded systems. While I don’t mind waiting for a desktop or laptop to finish its boot sequence, I hate waiting for my handheld computing devices to come to life. I expect instant-on functionality from handheld computing devices, dammit!

Hat tip Internet News.

What makes Hanna Montana Linux so great, you ask? Here’s three compelling reasons, straight from the Hanna Montana Linux about page:

one : Hannah Montana Linux can`t get viruses so you could say its virus proof

two : Hannah Montana Linux is Free as in you do not have to pay for it and that you can change anything you don`t like the code is all open so its called open source

three : don`t you hate looking around the internet to find software like on Windows and Mac OS X not on Hannah Montana Linux well you can do it like that if you wanted to but on Hannah Montana Linux you have a Package manager so you can type in what you want or just browse then just check mark and click apply now is`t that nice also you have about 50,000 pieces of free software and a lot more software that cost money plus you can use Windows software if you install wine .

What are you waiting for? Hanna Montana Linux is available for download today! Hanna Montana and Linux, it’s the best of both worlds!

The Peek is already a solid email device. It’s dead simple and works well, so we’re curious about the long-term goal of loading Linux onto these handhelds. We’ve already heard a rumor that placed Google Maps on the device. Perhaps Peek would offer a model with more data capabilities but that would certainly require a more expensive monthly free. Or maybe the company is looking to add an MS Office-type suite to the Peek.

Hopefully we’ll eventually find out, but that’s only if a developer gets Linux up and running on one first.

Geeky Peek via SlashGear

Have thing for Linux? Need a Wireless-N router that happens to work as a media server, too? Then Linksys has what you’re looking for, nerd. Say hello to the WRT160NL.

With two external R-SMA antenna connectors, the WRT160NL is a rather beefy router with a plethora of goodies. What could those other goodies be? How about support for read and write modes FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS? Perhaps the 400Mhz processor, 8GB of memory and 32MB of DDRAM will entice the media buff in you. There’s also a USB port and ability to stream content to UPnP AV digital media streamers. The WRT160NL is shipping now for $120.

Product Page

Irvine, CA – June 23, 2009 – Cisco® today announced a new Linux powered router, the Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link (WRT160NL). The new model complements the existing Linksys by Cisco consumer router line-up and is essentially the next generation of the popular WRT54GL. The design of the product is similar to other Linksys by Cisco N-routers, but has integrated connectors for external antennae. Consumers that prefer external aerials can now enjoy the new Linksys by Cisco router design because of the integrated R-SMA antenna connectors. The integrated Storage Link functionality lets consumers connect their USB storage device to the router to create a powerful media sharing solution that enables video, photo and music sharing through the integrated media server.

Facts/Highlights:
- The Storage Link port lets users connect USB storage devices to the router. Music, video, or data files can be made available in the network through the built-in media server. The media server can stream to PCs or UPnP AV digital media adapters. The integrated Storage Link port supports FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS file systems in both read and write mode.
- Although most Linksys by Cisco router feature internal antennae the WRT160NL has external antennae. The two R-SMA antenna connectors are designed to allow tech savvy users to be more flexible in their antennae choice and placement.
- The new Linksys by Cisco product packaging provides more than 40% reduction in waste materials compared to the previously offered packaging. The size of the boxes is reduced, internal packaging is transitioning to more recyclable material, the use of plastic bags is being eliminated where possible and all packaging and internal documents are printed on paper that is made from 80% recycled content and vegetable and soy inks are being used.
- The Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link is shipped with Linksys EasyLink Advisor (LELA). LELA helps consumers to get their network up and running and helps keep their network updated and secure. The included set-up CD is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows computers.

System specifications:
- Linux powered
- 802.11n draft 2.0 certified
- 400Mhz processor
- 8 Megabytes Flash memory
- 32 Megabytes DDRAM
- Storage Link port (USB 2.0)
- UPnP AV media server
- Wi-Fi protected Setup pushbutton security
- 2 x R-SMA antennae connectors

Supporting Quote:
“In the past we have had many successful Linux powered devices with the WRT54GL and NSLU2 being great examples. The WRT160NL is the logical next step combining Linux, 802.11n technology and USB storage functionality. We see the WRT160NL as a possible successor of our WRT54GL as the market transitions to 802.11n – but then with storage functionality on top of that,” said Aaron Marinari, senior product manager, Cisco Consumer Business Group.

Pricing
The Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link is available from authorized Linksys by Cisco retailers, resellers, and VAR partners. MSRP: $119.99.

The slow-but-steady introduction of ARM-based netbooks is going to be interesting to watch. The above video from NetbookNews.com shows a Pegatron-brand netbook running Xandros Linux on a Freescale platform with an 800MHz ARM CPU, all in a fanless, super slim body that the guy in the video, Sascha, estimates to weigh around 1.75 pounds (800 grams).

It’s somewhat more stripped down than most currently-available netbooks with just a 4GB solid state drive, the aforementioned 800MHz CPU, and two USB ports, but you do get a 3G connection and VGA output. And what you trade in features, you make up for in portability and battery life. The battery is estimated at about eight hours and the system is completely fanless.

The keyboard is apparently quite nice to type on, although one look at the misplaced, tiny right-hand Shift key would send me running. The whole setup is a preproduction unit so no word on pricing or availability yet, although these ARM-based netbooks all seem to be gunning for sub-$200 price points.

Pegatron Netbook Hands On [Netbook News via SlashGear]

[via reddit]