Showing all newswire headlines

PRESS RELEASE - Tuesday 8th November 2005 The Open University builds student online environment with Moodle and more The OU’s expertise in supported distance learning has always meant it being a leader in developing the best technology to support its students. Now, The Open University’s Learning and Teaching Office has started a new programme worth nearly £5 million to build a comprehensive online student learning environment for the 21st century.

The development, which will first appear in May of 2006, and be fully operational for February 2007 courses, will see the largest use of Moodle in the world. Moodle is a free, Open Source software package course management system used by educators to create effective online learning communities.

[It's only fitting that an 'open' educational institution would choose one of the leading libre software learning management systems. - Ed]

Moodle is a free, open source course management system, based on sound educational principles. Many institutions across the world (around 6500 in 128 countries, as registered on the Moodle site) are taking advantage of the low cost, scalability, and extensive feature set of Moodle to deliver their e-learning.

[Moodle is an excellent tool, matching Docent almost feature for feature. - Ed]

Ubuntu is moving into Enterprise computing with IBM's certification of Ubuntu as “Ready for IBM DB2 Software for Linux.”

(PRWEB) November 9, 2005 -- Ubuntu has successfully gone through the stringent process whereby IBM ensures that DB2 Universal Database for Linux operates in the Ubuntu environment. By working closely together, IBM and Ubuntu have shown that DB2 UDB and Ubuntu deliver a stable environment in which to run business applications using DB2 as the chosen database.

The appeal of Linux for manufacturers of mobile phones is growing rapidly. Motorola, the second biggest manufacturer in the world, first experimented with the OS in 2001 and has since sold more than 3 million Linux phones in Asia. They are now shipping three Linux phones globally, with another coming next year. They plan to move all of their phones to Linux over time.

I'm in the market for a new desktop machine. Performance isn't the goal -- low noise and lower power consumption are. Aside from too-little memory, running Ubuntu on a Mac Mini seems like a good option, especially for the price. Am I missing anything?

Ingrid Marson writes: " "Think small, start small, scale up." The strategy ex-Wal-Mart executive Michael Bergdahl claims was responsible for creating one of the most successful businesses ever, is good advice for organisations looking to adopt open source."

Norfolk and Banks watch Microsoft's attack on the Enterprise from the safety of London.

They write: "At which point Martin Banks adds, "Never one to miss a blindingly obvious `cheap shot’ when it's presented on a plate, I did note that, although billed as a database ideal for user migration, all the users brought out for the launch were existing SQL Server users, so it was hardly a stunning demo of migration in action."

Hubert Mantel resigns, saying this is no longer the company he founded 13 years ago.

Years of working with schools and communities across Africa has clearly paid off for Linux distribution OpenLab which has incorporated many of the lessons learned into the latest version of its operating system. The work makes for an easier to use, simpler Linux desktop with very impressive thin client capabilities.

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates advocated major changes for his company to take on new competitors in this leaked memo from October 30. Before you place your bets, here are three things you should understand about Microsoft, and its battle with the increasingly threatening world of online services like Google, Yahoo, Ebay, Amazon and Salesforce.

[Hmmm... so now even the mainstream press is questioning whether Microsoft can survive this paradigm shift, as Ferris mentioned in his earlier article. - Ed]

"In many implementations, reality came after Linux was put in place," said Gartner analyst Andrea Di Maio. "But now we're seeing more focus on TCO, and companies are more aware of the way that Linux impacts their operations, not just their budgets."

We have some RC2 candidate builds for you to take a look at. Here are the links to the builds

The Gentoo Weekly News Letter provides readers with interesting information and a professional look and feel. One of the articles this week relates to Jacob Lindberg, a Linux Specialist for Brenntag Nordic.

The publishers have translated the Newsletter to 14 other languages. Highly recommended reading.

'I don't think there will be a big party, as we are all very busy putting the finishing touches to Firefox 1.5,' says the president of Mozilla Europe

This is the (long awaited) report from the DevJam (Debian Java Meeting) from Oldenburg (September 23 2005)[0].

A debate goes on at the wikipedia site about keeping a page up for the popular website digg.com. Only a few of our team had knowledge of digg, but we do recognize it as a serious entry to the interactive journalism world. In fact, we like it.

Oh you don't know about Digg.com? Well, it's definitely time you did.

[Ed: Take a look a the Alexa graphic showing the difference betwen Digg and Slashdot. It should surpise you. ]

While the recent release of OpenOffice.org 2.0 (OOo) was eagerly anticipated by the open source community, it has been received with some chagrin. The OOo group released 2.0 in rpm format only. Needless to say, this has some non-rpm GNU/Linux users up in arms. What if you're a poor user like me who needs a non-rpm install? Will I ever get to run OOo 2.0?

Yes! Take heart, for what follows is a tale of how I installed OOo 2.0 on my Kanotix Debian box.

I have been fairly negative on technology lately, partially because I am fed up with marketing hype (even my own) and partially because I am back as an end-user and consumer of IT products and services. I've also been languishing with the notion that many open source startups are grossly overestimating their potential market size. Then, as I was reading Matt's Finally a real database market, I realized that I was looking at it all wrong--limiting the market opportunity by the relative size that exists now.

Most PC users are familiar with Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Money, two popular Windows-based applications for personal financial management. But Linux.com's Jem Matzan reminds us that Linux users have some highly capable open-source alternatives to these, and they're just a few clicks away.

Two themes are dominant in the lengthy emails from Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman, and Ray Ozzie, chief technology officer. One is the advertising-supported business model for software distribution - for example, Google’s search and email products, which are free to use but earn money for Google by providing contextial advertising links alongside search results or emails.

The second is “grassroots”, a word which appears numerous times throughout the emails. It’s used to refer to the way in which many of the new web technologies - such as blogging, RSS feeds and tagging - are rapidly taken up by internet users with little or no marketing. It also touches on the kind of credibility afforded to open source technologies - software that is developed as a community effort for free use and distribution - which Microsoft has long seen as its nemesis.

[Ed. People have started making these memos "an event". Earlier memo, I can see that. But Gates seems like he's trying to create something that would leak out and get Microsoft attention. So, he did it. But, today's Microsoft is as buggy as their code. You might say, nothing here, move on. But, we'll point to the anyway. - tadelste]