Showing headlines posted by dave

Linux and other open source software are a major disruptive force in IT. Big industry players such as IBM and Novell have aligned their businesses behind open source, while Microsoft views it as a threat to its hegemony. New business models are being invented and reinvented daily as companies new and old try to figure out how they make money when core elements of the software stack are free.

Over a million copies of the open source browser Firefox have been downloaded in a little over four days after the 1.0 preview release was put up on the web, according to information at the SpreadFirefox blog.

Version 2.0 supports 32, 64 bits; gains industry support.

Another classroom success story, thanks to the affordability and flexibility of Linux.

A small Philadelphia-based company may be about to revolutionize the world of Windows application development, not by creating a new proprietary technology, but by bringing proprietary Windows features to Linux. Working with Qt, Trolltech's cross-platform toolkit, MinGW, a minimalist set of GNU utilities for Windows, and Wine, a free implementation of the Windows API, SourceXtreme, Inc. has developed the ability to write Windows programs without ever using Windows. Its goal is to make porting applications to Qt trivial, and to move Windows developers onto a free software platform.

In an effort to promote a new processor feature, Via Technologies has released open-source software for thoroughly erasing deleted files.

A few days ago we read about the Deli Linux, which aims to fill-in the gap of Linux distros in the 486/586 machine range by running lightweight/older applications. The disto comes with Dillo and Links as its browsers, but I bet there aren't many people who know that there is yet another very lightweight browser for GTK+ 1.2.x and it is more powerful and more memory-optimized than Dillo: Access' NetFront. Check for info and screenshots inside.

A small company is threatening legal action against some users of the open-source Mambo software for publishing content on Web sites, arguing that the package includes proprietary code.

The broadness of Microsoft's recently revealed e-mail authenication patent confirms open-source concerns with the company's anti-spam efforts using Sender ID.

it's time that we take a look at all these new features from both Intel and AMD and crown the king of processors until the next ones are released. We'll be going over the tech of these new features and showing you the latest platforms that we've chosen for our testing. Of course, we'll tell you how all of it works with Linux and where to get the latest drivers for all of these new components.

An Indian Institute of Technology professor--and open-source evangelist--discusses the role of Linux and open source in India.

Today a man named Brian Connolly posted an open letter to users of the Mambo content management system, threatening them with civil and criminal action if they continue to use Mambo. He claims that the Mambo project contains proprietary, copyrighted code that belongs to him and is currently in use in his customized Furthermore CMS. Is this the little brother of the SCO debacle, or a legitimate copyright infringement claim?

Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said that is looking for ways to work more closely with developers of the Open Office open source project, while at the same time, apparently reserving the right to sue them, according to a legal agreement between Microsoft and Open Office's major sponsor, Sun Microsystems Inc., made public this week.

Jonathan Schwartz looks to Wall Street as one of the few industries with the means—money and will—to regularly redefine the computer industry. So Sun's president and chief operating officer is making it a goal to get to know Wall Street a lot better, including a visit to New York next week trying to drum up some attention to this effort. Wall Street & Technology did a quick E-mail question-and-answer with Schwartz in which he, among other things, predicts a growing disillusionment with Linux. Sun has had to battle a cost-cutting mentality that prompted many financial companies in recent years to migrate off Solaris to Linux running on cheaper boxes. "I would say about one customer a month is telling me that the honeymoon is over because for all practical purposes, the Linux market has tipped to a single vendor—Red Hat," says Schwartz. Here's the full exchange:

OSDL said it is working with the nonprofit Free Standards Group on a Linux Standard Base to support software vendors developing applications for the Linux operating system. The San Francisco-based FSG is dedicated to accelerating the use and acceptance of free and open source software by developing and promoting standards.

Martin Taylor recently marked his one-year anniversary as Microsoft Corp.'s chief Linux strategist. Taylor, whose official title is general manager of platform strategy, recently spoke with Computerworld about his first year in that job. This is Part 1 of that interview.

Open source and free software licensing is generally associated with software development, and for good reason. The ideas underlying open source licensing were all developed in the context of software creation. The very name "open source" refers to the opening of the source code in which software is written.

Novell Inc announced a plethora of partner agreements at its BrainShare Europe conference in Barcelona, as it looks to apply its partnership muscle to the Linux products and services it acquired last year.

Some weeks ago, I heard of a new german distribution of Linux especially for older hardware, which is called 'DeLi Linux'. I own an rather old Notebook with a Pentium 90, so I ordered a CD of DeLi for use on my old Notebook. After some days, I hold the CD in my hands.

The last newsletter featured comments from readers on what their favorite Linux desktops are, and why. But if you want some hard numbers (or, as hard as numbers can be on a Web poll), Linuxdesktop.com has an extensive online survey running that shows the preferences of a large group of Linux users.