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Speaking at a forum in Silicon Valley, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said that the delay while European Union regulators consider whether to approve Oracle's acquisition of Sun is costing the latter company US$100 million a month. He also insisted that the Oracle would maintain MySQL and outlined an ambitious future for the combined companies.

The father of the open-source OS calls his baby "scary" and "bloated," Sony gets down with the indie (distribution) kids, and we learn how the Netflix Prize was won in today's odds-and-ends roundup.

The KDE project's Sebastian Kügler dreams of a desktop that melts, like silk, into the Web. In a writeup to KDE developers he promotes Project Silk for better Web integration.

For years Microsoft has been spreading lies and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about Linux in the hopes that they can keep Linux from being widely adopted. Their latest round of lies is the anti-linux propaganda used in training some Best Buy and Staples employees. My opinion is that the reason Microsoft uses these tactics is because their software is so bad that it cannot stand on its own merits.

Backed by Microsoft, IBM, and three other outfits beckoning developers into the sky, Zend Technologies has unleashed an open source API for fashioning PHP apps that float on multiple clouds. Zend calls it the Simple API for Cloud Application Services. The idea is to offer a single programming interface for file storage, document database, simple queue, and other application services offered by the likes of Amazon, Rackspace, and, yes, Microsoft.

Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, has made it clear that he is not prepared to spin off Sun's MySQL business in an attempt to placate the European Commission investigation of competition issues with Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun. The deal has already been approved by US authorities and Ellison thinks that the European Commission will follow saying "I think once they do their job, they're going to come to the same conclusion".

A few developers have tried to discern the goal behind Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation established just a week ago. A legal advisor for the Linux Foundation has made some recommendations to what he considers the foundation's faulty organizational structure.

Sure, programmers (especially operating systems programmers) love their specifications. Clean, well-defined interfaces are a key element of scalable software development. But what is it about file systems, POSIX, and when file data is guaranteed to hit permanent storage that brings out the POSIX fundamentalist in all of us? The recent fsync()/rename()/O_PONIES controversy was the most heated in recent memory but not out of character for fsync()-related discussions. In this article, we'll explore the relationship between file systems developers, the POSIX file I/O standard, and people who just want to store their data.

Here we are on Day Two of the Linux Foundation's Linuxcon, and it sure looks like the face of Linux is still a bearded one, despite the Linux Foundation's grand claims of Community. Perhaps they have a more limited definition of "community."

If you need a quick web server running and you don't want to mess with setting up apache or something similar, then Python can help. Python comes with a simple builtin HTTP server. With the help of this little HTTP server you can turn any directory in your system into your web server directory. The only thing you need to have installed is Python.

A better way of identifying exceptional individuals in our communities using the methods of Linux and other free software projects, harnessing the collaborative intelligence of many.

Lots of people comment but I have a solution for the ever-growing Linux kernel waistline.

“The Gutsy Geeks” radio show (www.gutsygeeks.com) landed an exclusive interview with Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, Ltd., founder of the Ubuntu Project.

There ain't no such thing as a free Windows 7 upgrade. At least that's what it is starting to look like for the majority of people, despite the 'free upgrade' vouchers that are being handed out with new computers as part of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option scheme.

Ubuntu Linux is now available on Panasonic Toughbooks — those rugged devices typically found in harsh environments and vertical markets like health care, transportation, real estate and insurance. But this blog entry comes with a twist — care of EmperorLinux, a system reseller in Atlanta, Georgia. Here’s the scoop.

Does the troll-blocking organization that recently secured a set of supposedly Linux-related patents from Microsoft need sizing for a penguin-shaped tinfoil hat? Or was the IP sale really Redmond's secret scheme to "create fear, uncertainty, and doubt" in the open-source community?

Cherokee is a very fast, flexible and easy to configure Web Server. It supports the widespread technologies nowadays: FastCGI, SCGI, PHP, CGI, TLS and SSL encrypted connections, virtual hosts, authentication, on the fly encoding, load balancing, Apache compatible log files, and much more. This tutorial shows how you can install Cherokee on a Debian Lenny server with PHP5 support (through FastCGI) and MySQL support.

The Bordeaux Technology Group released Bordeaux 1.8.6 for Linux today. Bordeaux 1.8.6 fixes a install bug. If you have had problems with Bordeaux 1.8.x not installing a application we recommend you update to 1.8.6 and the problem should now be resolved.

Larry Ellison claims the European Commission investigation into his proposed takeover of Sun Microsystems is costing him $100m a month. Coincidentally that is exactly how much Ellison spends on scented candles to keep his fleet of fighter aircraft smelling fragrant. The Oracle boss accepted that European regulators have a job to do but said the longer it takes the more money Sun was losing. Competition Commissioner 'Steelie' Neelie Kroes announced a phase-two investigation into the $7.4bn deal earlier this month. She is particularly concerned by the fate of open source database MySQL which is seen as a future competitor to Oracle's core business

Just about a week after X Server 1.7 RC1 made it out, a second release candidate for this next X.Org Server is available. This second release candidate brings bug fixes and other improvements, but the code is currently within a feature freeze...