Linux = Money

Ok, after visit several web sites, I got surprised how fast the labor market for Linux is growing. Before this class I knew barely about Linux, I had no idea that the Linux field could be so prominent. According to The Linux Foundation, Linux-related jobs has grown 80 percent over the past five years. Even though, the market is definitely smaller in terms of raw numbers of jobs, but there are also a lot less qualified people available to fill said jobs. For example, there were 675 Linux-related jobs posted at hotjobs.com and 742 results in dice.com (an Internet-based job board for IT professionals) nationwide. In the case of Nevada, using the “dice” search, I could find only one Linux-related job in Las Vegas.

According to my sources, in the United States, in average the lowest income for a Linux job is $72,906, the media $81,565 and the highest is $94,586, not bad ha?

The hottest job market for Linux is by far Silicon Valley, California, with 153 available jobs, with a total of 1,455 openings in whole California, followed by New York with 721 and Virginia, Texas and New Jersey ranging between 300 and 400 apiece. More than 60% of advertised positions are permanent full-time, while 40% are contract jobs. The job title with more demand is System Administrator with 151 available jobs.

There are many different options available in the Linux field, these are some:

Linux System Administrator
Linux Software Engineer
Linux Systems Administrator
Linux Consultant Engineer
Linux Programmer
Linux System Administrator Ii
Linux Systems Administrator Iii
Linux Application Developer
Linux Java Engineer
Linux Kernel Programmer


As said before, the average Linux salary is $72,000 and San Francisco is heading the list at $84,000. And check this out, the highest contract wage is in Trenton, N.J. where they make up to $95 an hour, yes!! $95 an Hour!!! Mmm like $ 7,600 weekly if they work full time. Awesome right, I wonder what I could do with all that money…..

So, if your are planning make your living from Linux, the best starting is get your baggage ready because Nevada does not offers to many opportunities, fortunately California is a few hours from here.



Check this site for more information.

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/print.php/621271
http://www.salarylist.com/all-linux-system-administrator-real-jobs-salary.htm
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/1420/1/
http://www.dice.com/resumepost/index.html?ppc=Google_Search

What is "net neutrality"? What does the FCC and Comcast have to do with it?

Network Neutrality is the principle that stipulates that any user that pays for the internet access should have the right to control the content, applications, software and devices connected to the network without any restriction by the government or the Internet Service Provider. In other words, advocates of Network Neutrality propose give to the user complete, equal and unblocked access and use of the internet with all that that involve. Also they suggest that networks and providers should be compatibles. A good example is P2P (peer to peer) where user could exchange files, music or software.

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in 2005 issued its Broadband Policy Statement to ensure and promote the opened and public internet. It stated 4 major points that ensure that consumers will get access to the internet, free use of legal devises and freedom to run any application that do not harm the network and do not affect others, and obviously they should be permitted by the law.

I agree and I am a supporter of Network Neutrality; if I pay for the service I want it all without any limitations. But I also understand that that level of freedom could bring more problems, and in order to make it work without any kind of limitations, users should be more conscious and have the right training. Unfortunately there is always going to be people with the necessaries skills that will abuse of that freedom to harm or steal to others (institutions and/or people).

Should you get an iPad now?

In response to your question, I would say that you should wait and not buy the iPad right now. Not until you see what the market has to offer in a few months from now. It is predictable that many new products with the same and even better function-ability and flexibility would be competing in the market for a piece of the cake. That competition would eventually drop the prices and everyone would be better off. Furthermore, you have the chance to look for other alternatives different that Apple. For example, we have the Linux-base tables like the OpenPeak’s OpenTable 7, which is even faster that the iPad and has other important features that you cannot find in the iPad such the VoIP telephony and HD camera, just to mention some. But what is really important in any Linux-base tables is that Linux developers would be able to create application and even change and improve the platform according to their necessities, something that obviously you could NEVER do with an iPad.

So, do not let you impress for all this publicity campaigns that Apple has created in order to sell you just a brand and a beautiful wrapper, but not exactly a competitive product. There is going to be more and better options in the market for you to choose, be patient.

SCO vs UNIX

The conflict between SCO and Novell started in 2003 due to a misunderstanding of UNIX ownership. For one side, SCO Group claimed being the only owners of UNIX, for the other side we have Novell arguing that they never sold the copyrights to SCO’s antecessor (Santa Cruz Operations). The problem was taken to jury, and in 2004, SCO filed a Slander of Title lawsuit against Novell. After almost 7 years of fighting on trials, SCO never could prove that UNIX belongs to them, so on March 30, 2010, the final verdict was released; the court ruled that Novell owns the copyright of UNIX and they were awarded with $2.5 million.

This was a very important resolution, since SCO were planning to charge to all Linux users for a license fee, due to, according to them (SCO) Linux Kernel was made based on UNIX, so they thought they could make money out of it. Fortunately the jury ruled in favor of Novell, that was great news for all the Open Source community.

Against Team Frednet project

Team freadnet supported by Google has the ambitious project of sending a robot to the moon, which will go 500 ft and will take some pictures. In order to do that, this project is going to be open-project, so anyone interested could participate. This project promise to be expensive, but Google is offering 20 millions to the winner that can get the job done. Is this not absurd???!!!! Send a robot to the moon just to take pictures is pointless and has no sense at all. Is not this project a waste of money and energy?? Do not get this wrong, I encourage investigation, team work and in general I am a supporter that all that has to do with science, but in this case, I completely disagree with the project. I could make a long list of all the things that would be better off with all that money, energy and talent that the participants in this project would spend. For instance they could invest on bio-engineering, find way to reduce pollution or protect the wild life that is in risk to disappeared, or what about find ways to eradicate poverty. What about bring technology to people that has no access to it, or more support on research for illness such as cancer and SIDA. As I said before, I could keep giving examples of better projects that would be really helpful to people from all countries. So if you are thinking on support this project, I will not say that you should not do it, but think it twice please.

Kernel numbers

How the kernel is numbered talk about the version of it. For instance, on February 24, 2010, Linux 2.6.33 was released. Using this last version as an example, we are going to break it down and explain its parts.(please scroll down)

2	6	33	0
Major number	Minor number	Micro number	Patch level
This number represents the kernel version and it only change when some major changes in the kernel code occur. It started with 1.0 in 1994 and has change only once in its history.	This represents a major revision in the kernel. It is classified either even or odd number. If it is an even #, means stable release. If it is an odd # means that it is in development.	This stands for minor revision in the kernel, such as updates or new features added.	Sometimes there is a fourth number that represents some extra corrections such as security patches and bug fixes.

I could not tie this thing together, for some reasons it let a blank space in the middle, I apologize for that!

Cathedral vs the bazaar

Cathedral and bazaar are two different ways in software development. For one side, developers in Cathedral method keep the source code available but the code itself restricted to a few people. On the other hand, Bazaar method is based on the software development over the internet, so the code is always open for all people interested on work with it.

The biggest advantage of bazaar over the cathedral method is that bazaar can be fixed, developed and tested at a faster rate and more accurately than on cathedral method, since more people would be allow to get involve in the project.

It is important to know the difference between this two methods, we want and we need open source code if we want that software like Linux continue. Furthermore, because it helps to students and developers to learn and gain more knowledge and experience in the software engineer industry.