ru.linux

 
 - RU.LINUX ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 From : Sergey Lentsov                       2:4615/71.10   19 Apr 2001  17:11:09
 To : All
 Subject : URL: http://lwn.net/2001/0419
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 

    [1][LWN Logo] 
    
                                [2]Click Here 
    [LWN.net]
    
              Bringing you the latest news from the Linux World.
    Dedicated to keeping Linux users up-to-date, with concise news for all
                                  interests
    
    Sections:
     Main page
     [3]Security
     [4]Kernel
     [5]Distributions
     [6]On the Desktop
     [7]Development
     [8]Commerce
     [9]Linux in the news
     [10]Announcements
     [11]Linux History
     [12]Letters
    [13]All in one big page
    
    Other LWN stuff:
     [14]Daily Updates
     [15]Calendar
     [16]Linux Stocks Page
     [17]Book reviews
     [18]Penguin Gallery
    
     [19]Archives/search
     [20]Use LWN headlines
     [21]Contact us
    
    TUCOWS.com:
     [22]linux.tucows.com
     [23]Ext2
     [24]Themes
    
    Recent features:
    - [25]Kernel Summit
    - [26]Singapore Linux Conference
    - [27]djbdns
    - [28]LinuxWorld NY
    - [29]Jason Haas
    - [30]Larry Wall
    - [31]Bruce Momjian
    - [32]2000 Timeline
    - [33]Eric Raymond
    - [34]LWN coverage of Comdex 2000
    - [35]Ransom Love
    - [36]Guido van Rossum
    - [37]Paul Everitt
    - [38]Embedded Systems Conference
    - [39]Embedded Linux Consortium
    - [40]OLS Coverage
    - [41]Cary Bunks interview
    - [42]Making circuits with PCB
    - [43]Linux-powered Camera
    - [44]The FSL Cluster
    
    Here is the [45]permanent site for this page.
    
    See also: [46]last week's LWN.
    
 Leading items and editorials
 
    Loki cuts staff, but remains for the long haul  [lokicoin.gif] Rumors
    have flourished recently regarding the demise of popular Linux games
    maker [47]Loki Entertainment Software. The problem seems to have
    started with [48]posts to the LinuxGames web site from an ex-employee
    of Loki, who was just out looking for other work and out to let people
    know he was moving on. Discussion ran rampant on why so many
    developers were leaving Loki. Was the company in trouble? Is Tribes 2
    the last gasp for the premiere Linux gaming company and all around
    favorite of the hacker crowd?
    
    Not hardly. Like many companies in the high tech arena, Loki has to
    deal with the realities of a tight economy and, on top of that, a
    small market niche. While games on Linux seem to thrive and be one
    area the public is not overly concerned with paying cash for software,
    there really isn't a large enough market to support a large
    development team at Loki. The desktop world needs to evolve further to
    expand Loki's penetration.
    
    "The Linux market is still very small--much smaller than the Mac
    market," said Loki co-founder and President Scott Draeker in an email
    interview with LWN.net. While the community as a whole has been very
    good to the company, and the press has offered high praise for their
    products and support, no one is making a fortune at the small
    California based company. "Some [people] have assumed that all the
    good news and good work we were doing meant that we had all become
    instant millionaires. Not a chance."
    
    In fact, Draeker says they aren't even making money yet. Then again,
    that doesn't mean they're ready just yet to shut the doors to the
    business. "We're in this for the long haul. We want to build a Linux
    gaming industry. That takes time and plenty of sweat and cash. And no,
    we are not profitable. But we aren't going anywhere either."
    
    Finding cash has been a high priority for Draeker since last year. He
    says the company knew back in December that funding wasn't becoming
    available and that employees were told about the situation. "We told
    them they were welcome to stay," noted Draeker, "or start to look for
    other jobs. A number of people left over a period of 3 months. At that
    point most had gone about as far they could with the ups and downs
    associated with being a start up in a down market." Now the company is
    running at break even levels. Says Draeker, "We've cut back to a size
    where we can sustain our operations exclusively from sales revenue.
    That said, we are still looking for funding partners."
    
    Loki is in the midst of a releasing two new games for the Linux
    platform: [49]Tribes 2 and [50]Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Tribes 2 is
    a first person shooter based on team tactics, where players work
    within teams to do battle with human and AI opponents. Alpha Centauri
    is a simulation and strategy game where players conquer entire planets
    or build their own utopian society on earth. They've also started a
    bonus program to offer discounts on multiple purchases from their Web
    site, as well as [51]a program for LUGs (Linux User Groups) that can
    purchase products in quantity at a discount with Loki picking up the
    shipping charges.
    
    While the release of two new games can likely help maintain revenue to
    keep the company going, Loki's software plans are not designed for
    porting games alone. "A great deal of the work we've done on projects
    like SDL and OpenAL lays the foundation for us to access larger
    markets for our products. Our open source projects aren't really
    designed for porting games, but for creating them."
    
    At the recent Colorado Linux Info Quest conference, Draeker compared
    the gaming industry to Hollywood. "Lots of movies get made but just a
    few blockbusters make the profits. Loki is looking for a blockbuster."
    Although he alluded to the possibility of Loki working on games for
    console systems in the future, he said the recently canceled
    Linux-based game console Indrema was never more than vaporware. Loki
    hadn't been working on games for that system.
    
    In the short term Loki remains focused on building revenue streams. In
    a tough economy that often requires cutting back, even for a Linux
    favorite like Loki. But it's not the end. Just a speedbump. World
    domination, at least for Loki, may still just be a point and click
    away.
    
    Fun laws in Europe. The United States has taken a lot of grief in
    recent years for a number of laws that, shall we say, were not
    particularly well thought out. Every now and then, however, the world
    makes it clear that the U.S. has no monopoly on legal silliness. This
    has been one of those weeks.
    
    Consider, for example, the new copyright directive issued by the
    European Council of Ministers. As good a summary of any, perhaps, can
    be found in [52]this congratulatory message from the European
    Commission. The purpose of the directive is to "harmonize" European
    laws on copyright, and, incidentally, "bring European copyright rules
    into the digital age." That, of course, is code for adopting something
    that looks much like the American Digital Millennium Copyright Act
    (DMCA), which has already caused more than its share of problems.
    
    Consider, for example, the following:
    
      Firstly, rightholders have complete control over the manufacture,
      distribution etc. of devices designed to circumvent anti-copying
      devices. A more flexible solution in this regard would have carried
      a greater risk of abuse and piracy.
      
    This language is described as "a balanced compromise." This is exactly
    the sort of provision that got the DeCSS code in trouble in the U.S.;
    expect similar problems in Europe.
    
    The directive has little interest in fair use in any form. Even time
    shifting of television programs is regarded as an actionable use for
    which compensation should be expected.
    
    In general, the directive is fearful of digital copying:
    
      However, as far as private copying is concerned, the quality and
      quantity of private copying and the growth of electronic commerce
      all mean that there should be greater protection for rightholders
      in digital recording media (whereby unlimited numbers of perfect
      copies may be made rapidly).
      
    When a government is trying to restrict rights, it always helps to
    have an enemy. Copying is now that enemy, and any sort of means is
    justified in attacking it. But the free software world thrives on
    copying and freedom of information. The new European copyright
    directive reduces that freedom; it is only a matter of time until the
    free software community runs afoul of it.
    
    Web site registration in Italy. Italy, it seems, has a new law which
    defines web sites, especially those which are periodically updated, as
    "editorial content," and makes them subject to the laws covering
    newspapers. What that means, essentially, is that Italian web sites
    must:
      * Present the name and address of the publisher, as well as the
        location of the site's server.
      * Be registered with the locality in which they are published, and
        pay all the associated fees.
      * Register a "managing editor," who bears responsibility for what
        the site publishes. This editor must be a member of the "Order of
        Journalists," which is not a particularly easy thing to do: one
        must pass a state examination, and one must have completed
        eighteen months of study in the presence of at least four
        registered journalists.
        
    Those interested in the details can see [53]Come mettersi in regola
    con le norme sulla stampa ("How to comply with the press regulations")
    on the InterLex site. (The text, strangely enough, is in Italian).
    
    The attitude behind this whole thing, perhaps, is best summarized by
    this quote from Paolo Serventi Longhi, the secretary of the
    Federazione nazionale della Stampa (the national journalists' union),
    as found in [54]Punto Informatico:
    
      Thus ends, at least in Italy, the absurd anarchy which allows
      anybody to put information online without regulation, controls, or
      guarantees of a minimal quality or standards to the user of
      information products...
      
    (Translation by the editor).
    
    The law places responsibility on Internet service providers as well;
    ISPs can find themselves responsible for the operation of a
    "clandestine press." It also applies to servers that are hosted
    outside of Italy - as long as the content originates in Italy or is
    transmitted into Italy. Violators are subject to fines and up to two
    years in jail.
    
    We talked briefly with Michel Morelli, producer of the Italian Linux
    news site [55]ZioBudda, who sees this law as "a threat to 3/4 of the
    Italian Internet," and who pointed out [56]this online petition
    calling for the repeal of the law. The petition had almost 34,000
    signatures as of this writing; certainly it could use more.
    
    This sort of law is scary, even in Italy, which is full of weird laws
    that are widely ignored. Regularly-updated web sites are not uncommon
    - the other variety is generally called "dead." In particular, any
    site hosting free software certainly needs regular updates, or it is
    useless. Any kernel.org mirror could find itself in trouble. Even if
    it is not widely applied, this kind of law can be used to shut down
    sites that somebody in power finds inconvenient.
    
    It also does not take a whole lot of paranoia to imagine this sort of
    reasoning leading to the conclusion that distribution of software,
    too, needs more "regulation, controls, and guarantees." Consider that
    Italy is about to elect a Prime Minister who controls half the
    television channels in the country (to a post that controls the other
    half), and who has stated his intent to create a new "ministry of
    information" under the control of an industry leader. And consider
    that these sorts of bad ideas have an unpleasant habit of spreading
    across borders.
    
    Free software will not get very far without freedom, and threats to
    freedom come in many forms. We have a lot of battles to fight, still.
    
    Inside this week's Linux Weekly News:
      * [57]Security: Red Hat mkpasswd password generator, new
        vulnerabilities in IPTables, Samba, cfingerd, bubblemon and more.
      * [58]Kernel: Zero-copy networking goes in; letting the child go
        first on fork().
      * [59]Distributions: Slackware faces hard times, but will continue,
        Red Hat Linux 7.1 is released, Ratatosk closes down.
      * [60]On the Desktop: Taxing software, KParts is not MICO, and more
        GUADEC summaries.
      * [61]Development: PostgreSQL 7.1.
      * [62]Commerce: Open source software in EU public administrations,
        ActiveState launches ASPN Initiative.
      * [63]History: Two years ago Caldera released OpenLinux 2.2, one
        year ago - backdoors.
      * [64]Letters: Paying for downloads; Wind River and the GPL; we are
        corrected on the topic of bonobos.
        
    ...plus the usual array of reports, updates, and announcements.
    
    This Week's LWN was brought to you by:
      * [65]Jonathan Corbet, Executive Editor
      * [66]Elizabeth O. Coolbaugh, Managing Editor
      * [67]Michael J. Hammel, Senior Editor
        
    April 19, 2001
    
                               [68]Click Here 
    
                               [69]Click Here 
    
    
                                                        [70]Next: Security
    
    [71]Eklektix, Inc. Linux powered! Copyright Л 2001 [72]Eklektix, Inc.,
    all rights reserved
    Linux (R) is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds
 
 References
 
    1. http://lwn.net/
    2. http://ads.tucows.com/click.ng/pageid=001-012-132-000-000-001-000-000-012
    3. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/security.php3
    4. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/kernel.php3
    5. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/dists.php3
    6. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/desktop.php3
    7. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/devel.php3
    8. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/commerce.php3
    9. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/press.php3
   10. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/announce.php3
   11. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/history.php3
   12. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/letters.php3
   13. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/bigpage.php3
   14. http://lwn.net/daily/
   15. http://lwn.net/cgi-bin/webcal.pl
   16. http://lwn.net/stocks/
   17. http://lwn.net/Reviews/
   18. http://lwn.net/Gallery/
   19. http://lwn.net/archives/
   20. http://lwn.net/op/headlines.phtml
   21. http://lwn.net/op/Contact.html
   22. http://linux.tucows.com/
   23. http://news.tucows.com/ext2/
   24. http://unixthemes.tucows.com/
   25. http://lwn.net/2001/features/KernelSummit/
   26. http://lwn.net/2001/features/Singapore
   27. http://lwn.net/2001/features/djbdns.php3
   28. http://lwn.net/2001/features/linuxworldny/
   29. http://lwn.net/2001/features/JHaas/
   30. http://lwn.net/2001/features/LarryWall/
   31. http://lwn.net/2001/features/Momjian/
   32. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Timeline/
   33. http://lwn.net/2000/features/ESR/
   34. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Comdex/index.php3
   35. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Comdex/RansomLove.php3
   36. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Guido.php3
   37. http://lwn.net/2000/features/PaulEveritt.php3
   38. http://lwn.net/2000/features/ESC/
   39. http://lwn.net/2000/features/ESC/ELC.php3
   40. http://lwn.net/2000/features/OLS/
   41. http://lwn.net/2000/features/CBunks/
   42. http://lwn.net/2000/features/pcb/
   43. http://lwn.net/2000/features/Axis/
   44. http://lwn.net/2000/features/FSLCluster/
   45. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/
   46. http://lwn.net/2001/0412/
   47. http://www.lokigames.com/
   48. http://www.linuxgames.com/news/index.php3/4287
   49. http://www.lokigames.com/products/tribes2/
   50. http://www.lokigames.com/products/smac/
   51. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/a/loki-lugs.php3
   52.
 http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/intprop/news/copyright.htm
   53. http://www.interlex.it/tlc/0162_1.htm
   54. http://punto-informatico.it/p.asp?i=35705
   55. http://www.ziobudda.net/
   56. http://www.punto-informatico.it/petizione.asp
   57. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/security.php3
   58. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/kernel.php3
   59. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/dists.php3
   60. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/desktop.php3
   61. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/devel.php3
   62. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/commerce.php3
   63. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/history.php3
   64. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/letters.php3
   65. mailto:lwn@lwn.net
   66. mailto:lwn@lwn.net
   67. mailto:lwn@lwn.net
   68. http://ads.tucows.com/click.ng/buttonpos=lwnbutton125top
   69. http://ads.tucows.com/click.ng/buttonpos=125-001-016
   70. http://lwn.net/2001/0419/security.php3
   71. http://www.eklektix.com/
   72. http://www.eklektix.com/
 
 --- ifmail v.2.14.os7-aks1
  * Origin: Unknown (2:4615/71.10@fidonet)
 
 

Вернуться к списку тем, сортированных по: возрастание даты  уменьшение даты  тема  автор