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Takes Active Role in Test and Performance Tools Platform Project

The KDE Accessibility team is in the process of integrating speech synthesis into KDE. Not only does this mean better support for visually-impaired and speech-impaired users, but the new features should also prove for a fun desktop experience overall. An important milestone has been reached with the recent release of the KDE Text-to-Speech System (ktts). If you wish to learn more about speech synthesis support in KDE, you can also read an extensive interview with four developers at the KDE Accessibility Website.

Looking back on technology news from 2004 reveals a very distinct pattern. Specific words -- supported, viable, migration, economical and mainstream -- crop up with increasing regularity in reference to open source -- once relocated and restricted to the fringes of computing.

Global Consultant and Solution Developer Targets Compiere Customers Switching to MySQL and Companies Seeking Affordable, Flexible ERP and CRM

Firefox is a classic overnight success, many years in the making.

New low-cost computer features complete operating system and Microsoft file-compatible office suite

Whether companies sell or provide their databases with fully available source code, through a new open source project, or with their very own open source license, there is definitely open source fever in the database business these days. Older, established database makers such as IBM, Sybase, and CA are releasing the code for what were previously proprietary products. But these players are coming late to the party thrown by MySQL, PostgreSQL, BerkelyDB maker Sleepycat, and Firebird. How much open source beer are these newcomers bringing to the database bash, or are they simply coming in and asking where the cups are?

Since the introduction of the FreeBSD-5 branch, FreeBSD enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting the day when the new codebase would stabilize. After much development and four previous releases, FreeBSD-5 has finally gone stable with version 5.3. But don't mistake a stable codebase with stable software. while the development team will no longer accept major changes to the base system, FreeBSD 5.3 still has bugs and problems.

The latest upload of the Debian hurd package features a patch by Ognyan Kulev which has support for ext2 partitions larger than 2 GB on 32bit systems. Over the last years, this limit had become an annoying issue of the GNU/Hurd system, so this change represents an important milestone for the Debian GNU/Hurd port with respect to user expectations. Although the patch has not yet been integrated by the upstream GNU Hurd maintainers, the Debian package maintainers consider it (after thorough testing) stable enough to warrant its inclusion into the Debian hurd package.

TheKompany.com today formally launched Mindawn, a music download service that, unlike iTunes and Napster, targets Linux desktops. Mindawn is claimed to provide CD-quality song files and "virtually no" digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, offer full previews of the entire songs, and provide downloads in "lossless" Ogg Vorbis and FLAC formats, as well as in other common "lossy" formats.

Is it because Internet Explorer and Outlook are inferior? Not really. It's because Microsoft's operating systems and programs are used by more than 90 percent of computer users - especially in the largest of businesses. "It's not that Microsoft dropped the ball in some way," said David Perry, global director of education for the anti-virus company, Trend Micro. "It's just that they've been seen as the biggest targets."

Red Hat and IBM have launched a joint Linux ISV Certification Support Program in Europe to accelerate the migration of applications to Linux.

An extensive review using a source-code analysis tool finds that the Linux 2.6 kernel has 0.17 bugs per 1,000 lines of code, compared with the 10 to 20 bugs per 1,000 lines generally found in commercial software packages.

These release notes describe system requirements, installation instructions, and known issues for Mozilla 1.7.5. These notes are updated when we receive feedback, so please check back for new information. Consult our releases page to download the source and the latest version of Mozilla for your platform.

The Linux and open source software movement has an ambitious retail store, and it is offering a low-cost, lightweight laptop that is devoid of Microsoft software.

The application server market can be divided into two camps: Java (or J2EE) and Microsoft. The leaders on the Java side are IBM and BEA, while other players include Oracle and SAP, as well as open- source vendor JBoss. The Jave 2 Enterprise Edition, or J2EE, platforms support Java as a programming language and are available on multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux and Unix. Microsoft, on the other hand, has its own version that uses proprietary architecture and programming languages.

Its new report says corporate Linux or open-source users lacking indemnification will have to expend their own time, money and resources fighting legal action. But other analysts beg to differ.

The Open Source Development Labs has gone into the soothsayer business and - based on research that it had IDC run up - says that the global Linux market will be worth $35.7 billion in 2008. It's the first time a major market researchers has taken Linux' auspices and the number includes desktops, servers and packaged software. That means a compound annual growth rate of 25.9% worldwide.

Ultralite Linspire Laptop Computer Revolutionizes the Industry for Well Under $1000

Advent Consulting's David Lee says small outfits aren't aware the technology is "available to them affordably" and "easily customized"