Hi,
I thought you might like this:
Linux Pipeline Newsletter
www.LinuxPipeline.com
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
In This Issue:
* Editor's Note: What's Buggin' Me?
* Top Linux News
- Open-Xchange Delivers Red Hat Linux Support
- Intel Backs Pro-Muni Wi-Fi Legislation
- Mozilla Unleashes Firefox 1.0.5
- More News...
* Editor's Picks
- Antivirus Tools: Clam AV Is The Best -- But Where Are The Rest?
- Opinion: Is Coveting Thy Neighbor's Wi-Fi Such A Sin?
- Review: Xandros A Viable Linux Option For White-Box Desktops
- More Picks...
* Voting Booth: Is Privacy A Priority?
* Get More Out Of Linux Pipeline
* Manage Your Newsletter Subscription
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-----------------------------------------
Editor's Note: What's Buggin' Me?
As the editor of a CMP Media site, I'm in excellent company -- and a
whole lot of it. Sometimes, one of us comes up with a true gem: a story
that deserves as much attention as those of us who find it relevant can
give it.
One of my Editor's Picks this week, a feature that appears here courtesy
of Messaging Pipeline Editor John Dickinson, deserves even higher
praise: If you're reading this, then you also need to read this article,
no matter what you do for a living or for whom you do it.
Seriously.
And now, having said that, I'll selfishly spoil the article's biggest
surprise.
ClamAV is a popular, open-source anti-virus tool -- a server-side app
that sits alongside who knows how many thousands of Sendmail, Procmail,
and other open-source messaging servers all over the world. Combined
with a product such as SpamAssassin, ClamAV plays a vital and grossly
under-appreciated part in the war against malware, spyware, spam, and
other network-borne threats.
All of this, of course, is common knowledge. When Adam Hyde, a manager
at e-mail application service provider Electric Mail, launched a routine
re-evaluation of the company's anti-virus software options, he assumed
ClamAV would do a respectable job alongside its much better-funded
corporate competitors. He also assumed that those competitors would
still hold the edge over ClamAV, if only because we're talking about
enterprise security products that benefit from enormous investments of
cash and full-time development talent.
I don't think I have to give away all of the gory details for you to see
where this is going. Suffice it to say: After I read Hyde's tale, I was
incredibly proud of the open-source developers responsible for ClamAV.
In fact, the next time some FUDster trots out a tired argument about how
commercial software ensures better security, be sure you have a copy of
this article handy. (Maybe they can even read it when you're done
hitting them on the head with it.)
On the other hand -- even though I spend 90 percent of my time working
on either a Mac OS or a (PowerPC-based) Linux system, and I couldn't
tell you the first thing about malware because I've never seen any, I
found this story profoundly disturbing. What, exactly, are the
mega-security vendors selling? If a company supposedly devotes so much
money, talent, and research firepower to such a critical technology
niche, and it still gets to eat big ol' clouds of open-source dust --
well, what should one make of that?
I won't connect too many dots here, because I honestly can't say that I
know just what it is we're looking at when we read this story. But I am
fairly sure that the right people, asking the right questions of these
anti-virus vendors -- many of whom sell hearty servings of fear and
uncertainty alongside their featured security dishes -- could track down
that faint but noticeable rotten smell.
Vote! It's Good Fer Ya
What do political dissidents and video pirates have in common? Both
groups are among those turning to a growing number of anonymous P2P
solutions. The technology, packaged under names such as FreeNet, I2P,
ANts P2P, and at last ten other variants, all combine strong encryption,
anonymity, and distributed network resources. While many of these
open-souce tools are rudimentary at best -- some are guaranteed to
frustrate non-programmers -- some are relatively user-friendly and are
gradually attracting wider notice. If you want to publish dissenting
opinions in a country where such behavior could land you in prison or
even in an unmarked grave, your life may depend on this sort of
technology and on the open-source developers who created it. And if you
wanted to distribute first-run films or pirated software? Let's just say
that "John Doe" is likely to become a very familiar and frustrating name
in certain quarters of the music and movie industries. Enough already.
Have a good week.
Matt McKenzie
Editor, Linux Pipeline
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.LinuxPipeline.com
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