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The world of open source development could be divided if the European Commission (EC) succeeds in passing a law extending consumer protection rules to software, according to experts. The EC proposes software companies be held liable in the European Union (EU) for the security and efficacy of their products. David Mitchell, senior vice president of IT Research at Ovum, thinks this may lead to a situation boosting current open source vendors' business models, but making it more difficult for independent developers to thrive.

For an outfit that calls itself “the world's largest business software company”, the German software giant SAP is relatively little-known in the open source world. With 51,500 employees, a turnover of 11.5 billion euros ($16 billion) last year, and operating profits of 2.7 billion euros ($3.8 billion), SAP is clearly one of the heavyweights in the computer world. Given that huge clout, SAP's attitude to open source is important; and yet it is hard to tell whether it is really free software's friend or its foe.

This article explains how you can install and configure apache2-mpm-itk on an Ubuntu 9.04 server. apache2-mpm-itk is an MPM (Multi-Processing Module) for the Apache 2 web server. mpm-itk allows you to run each of your vhost under a separate UID and GID - in short, the scripts and configuration files for one vhost no longer have to be readable for all the other vhosts. mpm-itk works with mod_php because mpm-itk is based on the traditional prefork MPM, which means it's non-threaded. This means you don't need to use suExec or suPHP anymore to run a website's PHP scripts as a separate user.

The KDE release train continues to roll, delivering another beta release of KDE 4.3 to you today. The effort has shifted towards increasing stability and adding polish to the codebase so our users will find a well-working KDE 4.3.0 on their desktops when it is released in late July.

Last year Intel had launched the GMA X4500HD integrated graphics processor as a nice upgrade to their G3x series. Our Linux results found these chipsets with Intel integrated graphics to perform better than past Intel IGPs, but still was limited in what games and tests could run on the G43/45 hardware with the open-source Intel Linux driver stack. Now, however, Intel is preparing to refresh their IGP line-up.

Alongside the new operating system release, Fedora is showing off its new community portal. The hope is that the new site will help to grow both the Fedora Linux distribution as well as the number of people that contribute. "It's all Web-based, so it will cut down on the number of software applications that a contributor will have to learn in order to communicate with the Fedora Project," Frields said. The Community will be able to connect people live in a way where we can connect people that will encourage more mentorship."

Who knew that compression could be so useful in file systems? SquashFS, typically used for embedded systems, can be a great fit for laptops, desktops and, yes, even servers.

Good publicity for desktop linux. Red Hat has taken heat over the past few years for allegedly neglecting the personal computer in favor of more profitable enterprise servers. It's a fair critique: Red Hat is an enterprise software company, a decision it made years ago, and to good effect. But anyone thinking that Red Hat has somehow forgotten consumer markets in its rush to win the enterprise need only try the final release of Fedora 11, its community-focused operating system for desktops and laptops. I've been evaluating Fedora 11 for the past week and find it polished and professional while meeting or beating Windows in key performance areas.

In this new weekly column, longtime Linux guru Matt Frye gives readers the full monty, the real trials and triumphs of a system administrator. This week: The care and feeding of software developers.

Novell is considering making a one-click "open-source app store" for its upcoming Moblin-based OS for netbooks. The scheme is intended as a selling point for average users largely unfamiliar with free software alternatives outside a Microsoft platform. According to PC Pro, Novell believes baking an open-source software repository into the SUSE edition of Moblin will help sway more netbook users to uncheck the Windows option when buying their small, cheap computer.

Do you remember Cisco Developer Contest started on October 14, 2009? (you mean 2008 right? - Scott) During this period, nearly 900 registrants from 75 countries have take part to the challange, but only 10 finalist teams are enjoying with the second (last) phase.

Is Apple finally feeling enough pressure to do some guerilla marketing?

The free Android phone was a splash at the 2009 Google I/O Conference, but the company’s introduction of six novel technologies was something more like a tidal wave. Here’s Linux Magazine’s report. The future starts now.

Although it wasn't explicitly planned this way, a whole lot of the changes made in the new kernel version have an impact on file systems and data storage. There are, however, also plenty of changes elsewhere, for example faster booting, more efficient compression algorithms and hundreds of new and improved drivers.

I used to want something like a Toshiba Libretto because it was close to the perfect size. But it had three drawbacks: too expensive, an uncomfortable keyboard, and no integrated mobile phone. Now in this excellent new netbook era, I think my dream machine is finally at hand.

This new weekly column, entitled “Open Sorcerers”, provides guidance and tips to help you land a job and build a career in open source.

There is an interesting disinformation campaign being waged against ODF. You won't see this FUD splattered across the front pages of blogs or press releases. It is the kind of stuff that is spread by email and whispers, and you or I rarely will see it. But occasionally some of this does cross my desk, and I'd like to share with you some recent examples.

A zero-day hacker today has the death of one man and one hundred thousand websites on his or her conscience.

Many open source projects start with a single developer trying to scratch an itch by making a new tool for their own use. But what if the need to be addressed is bigger, and affects more people? How can the creation of open source software involve a whole community?

What is the most frequently used piece of software on your computer? Here’s one program that holds one of the highest place in my list of most frequently used programs. I am talking about… bash. In case you don’t know, this is the program behind large portion of the Linux command line. It is the program that actually makes majority of work turning Linux command line into such a magnificent tool it is.