The primary goals of this release are to provide a preview of KOffice 1.1 and to involve users and developers who wish to request/implement missing features or identify problems. Code development is currently focused on stabilizing KOffice 1.1, scheduled for final release late next quarter. Though this release is a beta, it is substantially more stable and feature-complete than KOffice 1.0, which was released together with KDE 2.0 in October 2000.

The new open source consulting services target areas where open source technologies can greatly improve the strategic use of IT infrastructure through more effective delivery of business requirements. Services include: Linux migration and integration services, Open source Web infrastructure services and Open source strategic opportunities services that enable IT executives to review and evaluate the benefits of open source technologies, and to explore opportunities to pilot open source solutions within their organization.

When running a local area network, one of the goals is usually to provide an environment to the users that make the network transparent. An important step for this is to keep vital data such as user account information (e.g. /etc/hosts, /etc/passwd and /etc/group files) synchronized between all hosts. For host name resolution, a powerful and sophisticated service - DNS exists. For other tasks, there is no such specialized service. Moreover, if you manage only a small closed intranet without Internet connectivity, setting up DNS may not seem worth the trouble for many administrators.

Trolltech has created a brand-new noncommercial License that will allow Windows developers to use Qt, the cross-platform C++ GUI application development framework, at no charge. The Non-Commercial License lets developers download Qt to either evaluate the framework before purchase, or to create software for personal use on the Microsoft Windows platform. Qt currently supports: Windows 9X, NT, 2000, ME; Linux; all major versions of Unix; embedded Linux; and later this fall, Mac OS X.

In a significant win for open source desktop productivity suites, Sun Microsystems Inc. has announced that the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) would implement up to 25,000 units of its StarOffice 5.2 software. StarOffice, Sun's open source productivity application suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and database applications for the Solaris, Windows and Linux platforms, would replace Applix on more than 10,000 of DISA's Unix workstations at 600 client organizations worldwide.

Komodo 1.1 is available as a general release on the Windows platform, and as a Release Candidate on Linux. This Release Candidate for Linux fixes numerous issues regarding running Komodo on Linux. New features include XML autocomplete, expanded Find and Replace dialog, partial Unicode support, Syntax checking and debugging PHP programs, XSLT "intellisense" for faster and easier transformations, XSLT debugging support, to name a few. All of Komodo's editing features are available for Tcl, including syntax coloring, code folding, autocomplete, and calltips.

In this article, there are some rather thought-provoking quotes from Japanese business executives who say that IBM is trying to hijaak Linux for its own ends, and in the process take control of Linux from the core Linux developers and the greater Linux community. The article also blames the "casual" attitude of Linus Torvalds as one reason why investors and corporate customers are losing interest in Linux.

As Linux matures, it's likely that more companies will consider it for business-wide applications. Linux has always been a highly reliable operating system -- an important attribute for enterprise-class applications -- but until recently, it has lacked key features for enterprise computing.

Intel Corp. scored a coup of sorts when Compaq Computer Corp. signed a multi-year deal that accelerates the availability of next-generation enterprise servers based on Intel's Itanium processor family. The move marks the death knell for the Alpha chip technology that Compaq acquired through its 1998 purchase of Digital Equipment. Compaq will deliver an additional generation of Alpha-based servers through 2003, with a new system based on the Alpha EV7 microprocessor scheduled for introduction late in 2002.

The Red Hat Database package will include Red Hat Installer, and enhanced documentation for PostgreSQL 7.1 and Red Hat Linux 7.1. The company said the target market for the product is mid-sized organizations and corporate workgroups and departments.