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Just when it seemed like Microsoft's European anti-trust tangle on browser choice in Windows was over, trouble is stirring again. Opera Software has told The Reg that it has informed the European Union of a possible problem with a fix that was designed to make Internet Explorer in Windows comply with EU antitrust law. Opera has also informed Microsoft.

Most images on the web such as JPG, PNG, and GIF are raster images – grids of pixels that each hold a color value. Raster images are great for photos of real people and events, but they have drawbacks. When you scale a raster image up or down in size, you’re losing data and/or clarity in the image. Color intensity can also be lost in conversions and compression, leaving you with a mangled version of what you once wanted. A great alternative for many situations is to use vector graphics. Inkscape is a powerful free vector drawing program for Windows, Linux, and Mac, and this guide will get you started with using it to create your own smooth, colorful, scalable graphics.

Microsoft has come under heavy criticism for its role in the standardisation process for its Office Open XML (OOXML) standard at the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). In a blog entry on the second anniversary of the specification's adoption as an ISO standard, Alex Brown, convenor of the Office Open XML (OOXML) Ballot Resolution Meeting at the ISO, has stated that Microsoft is failing to implement commitments on transforming OOXML into an open ISO standard. He summarises the situation thus, "It seems to me that without a change of direction the entire OOXML project is now surely heading for failure."

Few weeks ago ubuntu 10.04 beta was released, if you have ubuntu 9.10 karmic koala installed in a virtual machine or in an old computer and you want to test this beta release you can upgrade using these commands.

Microsoft initially started this patent crusade about 3 years ago, and after the initial wave of accusations the Redmond giant seemed to slumber. All was well for a while. Sure, we all felt as though Novell, Xandros, and Linspire had sold their souls to Satan, but we didn't really care. There were no real effects of the deals seen. Microsoft claimed that 235 patents had been violated, but to date they have yet to say who violated those patents and in what way. To me, this seems like a massive FUD campaign. What has not yet been asked of Microsoft is this: who will you hold responsible should the Linux kernel itself contain the IP violations? Are you really going to go to tens of thousands of kernel contributors, take all of them to court, and then proceed to sue all of them? Such an action would completely destroy Microsoft's public image, and I don't think that's the type of blunder from which you could recover.

It was both an honor and a surprise. When I was notified by Mr. Hugh Forrest that I had been nominated for the Dewey Winburne Community Service Award, it was surprising. When I was named as the 2010 Dewey Award winner, I was humbled... And a bit bothered. The Dewey Award is traditionally given to individuals and having come to understand a bit more about the man, Dewey Winburne, I fully appreciate the recognition and the reason behind it. Still...

The important aspect of graphing is that it enables a busy administrator to evaluate a server visually, often making more sense than strings of data. NagiosGrapher is a tool that you can use with Nagios to graph information that you want to evaluate as an administrator. This tutorial will show you how to install NagiosGrapher in preparation for the data to be graphed.

Oracle is now out with Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5 (OEL)- a week after its base, Red Hat's Enterprise Linux 5.5 (RHEL) was released. That's pretty quick and in my view, one of the quickest turnarounds yet from Oracle with their version of RHEL. Oracle has been releasing its own version of Linux with OEL, based on RHEL since 2006 and they've been updating OEL as Red Hat updates RHEL.

If you're a typical PHP developer, it doesn't take a thorough review of past projects to pick out a telling pattern: In most (if not all) cases, you're probably getting PHP to talk to a database back end for all that dynamic data goodness; in 99 percent of those instances, you're using MySQL. Now, there's nothing wrong with using a relational database. If you're working with highly structured data with lots of relationships, it's the way to go. You can happily (or unhappily, depending on your familiarity and comfort with SQL) go through the process of working up schemas, normalizing data relations, setting up tables, and all the rest.

One of the favorite activities of journalists, bloggers, and other putters-of-things-in-print is to declare the impending doom and/or death of this or that. We won't be engaging in the practice today, but we will happily report that the Browser Wars are alive and well, and continuing to take a toll on the market leader.

The two fundamental concepts in a Linux operating system are processes and time slice. A process is an instance of a program that is being executed by the computer’s operating system. When we say that two computers are communicating with each other, we mean that two processes, one running on each computer, are in communication with each other.

IBM is threatening to pursue legal action against TurboHercules, a company that sells services relating to the open source Hercules project, an emulator that allows conventional computers with mainstream operating systems to run software that is designed for IBM System Z mainframe hardware. In a letter that IBM mainframe CTO Mark Anzani recently sent to TurboHercules, Big Blue says that it has "substantial concerns" that the Hercules project infringes on its patents. The letter is a brusque half-page, but was sent with nine additional pages that list a "non-exhaustive" selection of patents that IBM believes are infringed by the open source emulator.

This guide explains how to set up mod_chroot with Apache2 on a Fedora 12 system. With mod_chroot, you can run Apache2 in a secure chroot environment and make your server less vulnerable to break-in attempts that try to exploit vulnerabilities in Apache2 or your installed web applications.

Download videos from various Flash-based video hosting sites, without having to use the Flash player. Handy for saving videos for watching offline, and means you don’t have to keep upgrading Flash for sites that insist on a newer version of the player.

If you manage a number of servers that require a good uptime, you should know how crucial it is to maintain well-organised backups of your data. Kleo Bare Metal Backups is a complete back-up solution for servers and desktops…

There are plenty such tools which are definitely very useful for Linux admins. Here I am just trying to figure out 5 of such useful tools which are used by a normal Linux administrator in day to day operations. A tool which I think is most useful may not fit in your usage and its definitely possible that you know some awesome tool which I forgot to include here, for such case, I am requesting hereby to please mention the tool in comments. One more thing, I am mentioning here tools which are somewhat optional and not absolutely required for everybody and excluding tool which have no viable alternative and every Linux admin have to use them.. such as SSH, SCP etc.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported that worldwide semiconductor sales in February decreased 1.3 percent from January, but were 56.2 percent higher than Feb. 2009, led by sales to emerging economies. On Friday, meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted a slight dip in computer-related jobs in March, after months of steady gains, reports eWEEK.

I have accounts on a number of Linux machines that I ssh into from my MacBook, using Terminal. On some -- but not all -- of them, I've found that if I run screen after connection, the backspace key is interpreted as a delete (giving an error if the cursor is at the end of the line), and I have to use Ctrl-H to backspace. After poking around a little online, I found several possible ways to fix this.

The Linux Foundation, the non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting Linux, has announced that digital office solutions specialist Ricoh has become its newest corporate member. Ricoh, best known for its multi-function printing products and digital cameras, says that it hopes to further advance Linux, while developing "more user-friendly devices and useful services for Linux users." Tetsuya Morita, general manager of GW Development Center at the MFP Business Group in Ricoh, said that, “Our Linux Foundation membership is a natural extension of our support for Linux and demonstrates for our customers our commitment to the platform”.

The Ben NanoNote keyboard has improved sensitivity in comparison to many other netbooks. The keys are not only more sturdy, but also reside under a protective clear plastic surface, which helps avoid wear and tear. Additionally, the lid's rigid hinges resist wobbling and the lid itself (which could be a bit heavy, as the device often tips backward) has a small clasp to store it securely. The mini-USB port has a decent rubber covering and the bottom of the device has some convenient, small rubber pads. The labels for the MicroSD port, mini-USB port and reset button are etched recessed in the case. In fact, the only noticeable flaw in our test model had a second Delete key in place of the Enter key, though the Enter function itself worked as intended.