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David Berlind writes: "For those looking to alter the technology landscape in a way that affects People With Disabilities (PWDs), Chong's opinion can make or break new initiatives like the one in Massachusetts where that state's Information Technology Division (MA ITD) is trying to establish the OpenDocument Format (ODF) as a standard format for creating and saving public documents. So far, Chong has opposed the Massachusetts plan. But, as you're about to find out, he's actually willing to endorse it and he's putting the ball in the pro-ODFers' court."

[Ed: This is an excellent discussion of getting the Visually-impaired and other people with disabilities (PWDs) on board with OpenDocument - a must read. - dcparris]

What would happen to Linux, Free Software, and Open Source Software if Microsoft reformed itself? What if Microsoft abandoned their evil, customer-hostile, restraint-of-trade ways, and did a complete turnaround? Would FOSS even have a reason to exist?

Bytware, Inc, a global authority on virus and malware vulnerabilities, announced today the beta availability of StandGuard Anti-Virus for Linux running on x86-based PCs, powered by McAfee to detect and clean more than 150,000 threats.

Novell says the study's comparison of Microsoft's Windows Server System and Novell's SLES undervalues Linux and downplays Windows' reliability and security problems.
Diggable

Jeremy Jones recently bought a new laptop and decided to run Linux. Don't shudder--it actually works! Here's how he installed, reinstalled, and configured Ubuntu GNU/Linux on a Dell Inspiron.

One of the great things about being a VC is that I am always meeting new and exciting companies that are focused on changing the landscape of enterprise technology. So how do you actually meet these companies, you might wonder? There are literally thousands of startups, all vying to be the next big thing. Amongst VCs, everyone has a different approach, but we’ve often found our best investments when we do two things: define a trend where innovation creates a disruption in the status quo, and listen intently to what customers (or prospective customers) are saying and doing.

In the enterprise, there is probably no greater disruption than what is going on with open source. The momentum of Linux, Apache, JBoss and MySQL is accelerating, which I am sure you already know. I won’t bore you with the myriad issues around deploying open source related technologies in the enterprise, whether that be about licensing, security, manageability, etc. I’ll leave that to the folks that are paid to write about this stuff. [Editor’s note: the latest blog post by CIO magazine’s Christopher Koch is a good dialogue on open source.] But I will leave you with one thought, which is this: if you can buy something that is at a minimum just as good as the alternatives at half the price (or less), why wouldn’t you? After all, we’re talking about technology, not luxury cars here.

Sun plans to distribute database and optimize it for Solaris. It also plans to include Xen virtualization and Linux compatibilty next year.

In a deal late yesterday at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunisia, the US retained its effective control over the Internet. Instead of wresting control from the US - an issue high on many an attendee's agenda - the forum agreed to set up an international forum in to deal with Net issues, although it will have no binding power.

Opinion: Another day, another lame attempt by Microsoft to show that Windows is better than Linux.
Diggable

This paper from the MPR Fall Processor Forum 2005 explores programming models for the Cell Broadband Engine (CBE) Processor, from the simple to the progressively more advanced. With nine cores on a single die, programming for the CBE is like programming for no processor you've ever met before. Read why.

Sebastopol, CA--Europe has become fertile ground for open source projects and innovators: European governments are beginning to integrate FLOSS (free/libre and open source software) in innovative ways, and open source communities--particularly on the professional level--are multiplying and gaining influence across the continent. To support and further this open source momentum, O'Reilly Media held its first O'Reilly European Open Source Convention (EuroOSCON) at the Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam on October 17-20, 2005.

The Chinese government will purchase more than $20 million worth of computers from IBM, making it Big Blue's largest Unix installation ever in Asia, the company said Wednesday.

What would happen to Linux, Free Software, and Open Source Software if Microsoft reformed itself? What if Microsoft abandoned their evil, customer-hostile, restraint-of-trade ways, and did a complete turnaround? Would FOSS even have a reason to exist?

Diggable

In this second interview with SearchOpenSource.com, Yank, who served as lead technical editor on the book, uncovers more of Firefox tips, shortcuts and plug-ins that users need to know about.

AJAX enables a dynamic, asynchronous Web experience without the need for page refreshes. In this best practice tutorial for building apps using AJAX, you will learn to build AJAX-based Web applications -- complete with real time validation and without page refreshes -- by following the construction of a sample book order application.
[Ed: Registration required to read what sounds like a neat article. - ralph]

It wasn't entirely clear from an 'apt-get source boot-floppies' how to make a custom CD image. I just wanted to make a netinst CD with a kernel that had some new driver that I needed so I could get Debian on the box.

There is a nice screenshot tour with 93 screenshots of the new PCLinuxOS 0.92 at HowtoForge.

I work as a consultant in a Windows-centric work-place and we remotely administer Windows servers. We trouble-shoot Windows clients. We keep spammers out of our Exchange servers. We defrag. We update. We install antivirus programs. We eliminate spyware. I suppose it would be fair to say that Microsoft keeps us in business. One day, while the boss was away, I shoved a spare hard-drive into my computer and installed Ubuntu 5.04. I managed to work for a month and a half before the Boss noticed I was using Linux - and that was only because he happened to glance at my screen. Half a year later, I am still using Ubuntu (now version 5.10) at work and I am more productive than ever.

The site is down because they are under a DOS attack. I can think of several possible ramifications, but I thought you might want to know.

The number of open source deployments by governments across the world has accelerated over the last few years. To date at least 160 international local and national governments have deployed open source software and over $2bn has been spent on the Linux open source operating system, according to figures from Linux vendor Red Hat.