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| Linux Magazine / DEPARTMENTS / |
Though Linux has received a lot of attention as a server operating system, people are now beginning to think of it as a strong choice for inexpensive desktop systems and Internet appliances as well. In this spirit, longtime Linux vendor VA Linux Systems recently threw its hat in the sub-$1,000 ring with its StartX SP desktop machine.
Probably the easiest shot the rest of the computing world can take at Linux is to cite all the thousands of GUI-based applications that just don't have a Linux equivalent. Well, thanks to a small Austin, TX company there's one less arrow for the naysayer's quiver: file managers.
While some of us in the Linux community have sworn off the use of Microsoft Windows applications, the reality is there are a number of Win32 applications that don't yet have stellar Linux equivalents. And even when there is a strong Linux option -- with word processing for example -- trying to work with Windows' varied and evolving data formats can be a bit of a headache.
Who cares if IBM, Dell, Compaq and Acme want to ship 16 processor Linux servers with terabyte Oracle databases? The rest of us would just like a pleasant diversion on our humble Linux workstations. A ripping good game, for example -- one that's a tad fresher than xgalaga, would be very much appreciated.
Caldera Systems likes to market OpenLinux as "Linux for Business." While that might be accurate, a more fitting description for their 2.2 release is "Linux for Dummies" (I mean that in the most complimentary way).
With Apache being the most popular Web server platform in use today, O'Reilly decided that it was time for a new edition of Apache: The Definitive Guide, by the father and son team of Ben and Peter Laurie. The book detailsApache's implementation under both UNIX and Win32 environments (Win32 systems refer to Windows95, Windows98, and WindowsNT systems).
Experienced webmasters understand well the sorts of problems that can come up as a Web site grows. A consistent look becomes hard to maintain as the number of pages increases. Users must have different types of access to the site. Some of them will likely need to modify parts of the site but cannot necessarily be trusted with access to other parts. Content needs to be increasingly dynamic, perhaps involving access to databases hosted elsewhere in the organization. And all of this needs to remain coherent and maintainable while being changed on a daily basis.
Recently, Corel announced that it was making Corel WordPerfect 8 available for free (monetarily, not source, unfortunately) over the Internet for personal use. They announced this at last year's Atlanta Linux Showcase. While the version they make available is not fully featured, this is the version many people are downloading, so I decided to review it here.