Chris wrote in to send us a link to a techweb story about Linux 2.2 . As I'm sure many of you know- its right around the corner. Linus plans a Pre 2.2 series of kernels for final squashing, but apparently 2.1.129 is a stones throw away from solid. It ought to be here before christmas if you believe in release dates.

Aharon Chernin writes " This has got to be one of the poorest written FUD articles of our time.. He gets information from an unamed, unproven source. Then writes an article on it. This "source" I bet is a hole in the wall NT admin in a linux shop.. Flame away /.'ers. Aharon "

Well, the folks over at BusinessWeek are currently running a story about Linux. The basic rundown is that Linux is not much of a threat to NT, serving mostly as a threat to other *nixes. As well, the author says that Linux has less then 5% of the server market. I suppose we can't get all good press. Yet.

Fuji Photo Company is to distribute its own Linux according to their website. Apparently it's targeted at server use. Any Japanese readers care to translate it for us?

David McNett, the man with the .plan over at Distributed has brought great news unto the Linux world. Having become convinced some time ago that the NT box that handled stats wasn't making the grade, they will be moving to Linux based solution. That's great-and for all of those you haven't signed up for the Slashdot team for Distributed.net, consider this a written invitation. Click below for instructions on how to join, and read our stats for today.

Linux Magazin has an in in depth review of Infomix SE by a German University Professor, and IX, the professional German IT magzine, has a review of Oracle 8.05 under Linux. Indeed, IX's main theme this month is Linux Multimedia. In related news C'T reviews Caldera OpenLinux, while Caldera announces a new line of servers: the VBS line.

jd was the first to write in to let us know that Linus has graced us with yet another development kernel. We're almost in 2.2 land, folks. I can feel it. Update: scratch wrote in with a link to Linus' comments on the release: "...the only reason I don't call it 2.2 is that I'm chicken."

Robert A. Wagoner writes "There is a news story in "The News & Observer" (Raleigh, NC) today about Red Hat's continued growth and upcoming move to even larger space in RTP. Also, they'll be opening a satellite office somewhere in Silicon Valley next spring."

Toast writes "According to CNET, Linux (and some other alternative OSes) are the #1 trend for 1998. They cite the Gimp and StarOffice as two reasons why alternative OSes are gaining popularity. According to CNET, 'Alternative OS-makers no longer need rely on their "Microsoft sucks, and we're not Microsoft" appeal. This year, the sentiment is "Our OSes stand on their own merits." And this year, they can back it up.' " Ya know, a year ago nobody in the media mentioned Linux. Sure, Slashdot was easier to run because there were fewer articles to pick from, but now, Linux is recognized everywhere. Very cool.

Some people from Down Under had the good idea of making a business breakfast which would introduce Business users to Linux and dispell some of the FUD. It went rather well, with 75 attendees and support from Oracle. It even included a spontaneous comparison of Linux/NT reliability.

The German Linux Organisation Linux Verband is reporting on recent Linux successes: 20 percent of Siemens PC-workstation customers are now buying with Linux pre-installed. The leader of Mercedes' car-electronics prototype development team reports he is very satisfied with the 30 Siemens workstations purchased so far, and that they are buying 10 more. In the previous 7 years they had run Windows workstations, which required constant supervision from a dedicated employee. Moreover the German Police in Stuttgart are using Linux as a server because of its high reliability. On the french side of things, a new Slashdot derivative is up and running. They are still under construction and will be posting article-sources soon. Links courtesy of LWD and LT. Translations can be provided by Babelfish".

Wild Bill writes "Here is a nice article from an unlikely source: U. S. News. It is a very positive and lengthy piece about Linux and Open Source Software. The article is by Russ Mitchell of U. S. News. I like the subtitle: "Create cool software. Give it away on the Internet." This is the first article about Linux and OSS that I have seen in U. S. News. Maybe some more business people will take a good look at Linux as an alternative to Windows 98/NT after seeing this magazine article. There is even a link to a picture of the guys from Red Hat."

ZDNet UK interviewed Mike Cowpland of Corel today, and predicts Linux' ease of use will rival Windows (for non-cli types) in six months time..

David Sifry writes "SuSE and LinuxCare just announced a new Corporate Support and Training Program for Linux. The press release can be found here. SuSE also announced a partnership with Muster Learning Architects to provide corporate training programs. "

In an update on a previous article, Compaq is still on-track with its Linux support program. Despite claims that it was previously pressured by Microsoft not to invest in software, Intel is now openly investing in software not only for Windows, but also Solaris, Monterey and Linux: they will be funding Linux initiatives.

John A. Turner writes "Haven't seen anything on /. about how much Linux-related stuff there was at Supercomputing '98 so thought I'd mention it. One of the best things was a panel discussion titled "Clusters, Extreme Linux, and NT". There's a nice summary of the Linux-related events at SC '98 at the Extreme Linux site " Note that reactions to Red Hat's support options announcements included One area in which Linux is far ahead of the pack is clustering . Has any participant written up a summary we could post? Update Rahul Dave has written a report for us.

Dave Whitinger writes "Oh Boy did Red Hat make some serious announcements today. Check out the press release here. " Indeed. Check out even more news at Red Hat's page. The enterprise, GNOME, messaging, oh my!

DrDev was the first person of many to write in and inform us that a new stable kernel:2.0.36 is out. LinuxHQ will have details of whats new rsn. If anyone has a list, please post it.

I recently received this submission from Shannon Hollen, asking for the following: "I am an online game designer/producer with a small company. I am also handicapped. So, I ask your help: I am in search of a Linux coder to hire for the purpose of writing me the specialized software that I need. I use the word "hire" because I am ready to, willing to and insistent upon paying my way. Can you point me in a direction?" Sounds like a worthy cause! Click below for more!

Chris DiBona writes "LinuxCare is building a very cool company providing Linux support for large enterprise companies. Dave Sifry (who did the open source vpn) and Art Tyde (pres of BALUG) are the ones who are doing it. They're looking for resumes and asked me to spread it around (resumes@linuxcare.com)"