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You can easily surf the Web and run a spreadsheet on a Linux-powered PC, but good luck if you want to balance your checkbook.

Controversy may be giving way to simple heads-down hard work when it comes to BPEL4WS, the proposed orchestration standard for Web services supported by both Java and .NET vendors. The leading J2EE app server vendors, BEA Systems and IBM, have jointly proposed extensions to BPEL (Business Processing Execution Language) to make it more easily implementable within Java/J2EE environments.

Microsoft's No. 1 job for Longhorn is to make money, but killing off the Linux desktop isn't far behind.

Leaders from two open source desktop and internet initiatives are formulating a browser and desktop challenger against Microsoft Corp's Longhorn operating system.

IBM on Tuesday dropped the price of Red Hat Linux on its Power processor-based servers by more than 30 percent, Big Blue has confirmed.

E-government in Ireland will be built using open standards technology, which may not be open source software such as Linux.

This so-called open-source movement is widely distributed and diverse, but Washington County, near Portland, has become one of its more prominent nodes. Not only are Kroah-Hartman and many of his colleagues at IBM's Linux Technology Center based there, but so, too, is the Open Source Development Lab, the nonprofit development site that nominally employs Linux's inventor and chief influencer, Linus Torvalds. Other Linux developers work at Intel and elsewhere in the area.

After performing more security assessments than he can count, Gijo Mathew has seen every worst practice imaginable. He's even seen an IT shop replace virus-violated data with an unpatched backup that succumbed to the same virus. A security strategist for Computer Associates International Inc., Mathew has 10 years of experience in software development, computer technology, networks and security.

Sam's Club, the members-only branch of retail giant Wal-Mart, added two new Linux PCs to its lineup on Thursday. The machines, made by CPUBuilders, a division of Wichita, Kan.-based hardware maker Stratitec, are high-end models targeting cost-conscious small businesses and carry street price tags of $472 and $597.

Red Hat's newest version of Linux has been granted a significant security certification, bringing the company a step closer to competitors. Version 3 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux has been certified to meet Evaluation Assurance Level 2 (EAL2) of the Common Criteria certification...

How can potential buyers judge the differences in performance among applications running on various Linux distributions? Linux kernel stability and reliability testing is quite sophisticated, thanks mainly to efforts such as the Linux Test Project, but measuring application performance on Linux is more difficult. The Open Source Development Labs is calling for application vendors to put their products to the test for scalability, security and clustering. In keeping with the open source approach, the lab is also calling on vendors to share their testing and results.

How exactly do you stop a much awaited, overly hyped software release from the billion dollar Redmond giant Microsoft? The Open Source front has no definite strategy on how to catch the raging bull by its ‘Longhorn’, but is closely following the “If you cant beat ‘em, join ‘em” mantra.

We've talked a lot lately (well, in the last year) about Linux on your servers - but what about on your users' desktops? The biggest prize in Novell's acquisition of Ximian last year is thought to be the GNOME user interface for Linux. This graphical user interface (GUI) makes a Linux desktop seem friendlier and easier to use for a person reared on Windows than the traditional command-line that gearheads and geeks say they prefer.

IBM has increased the volume in its campaign to encourage Sun to loosen its grip on Java. Not only Steve Mills, head of its $13 billion Software Group, but also John Swainson, IBM's "Mr WebSphere," have both in the last week come out with matching statements that it is time Sun let others play a greater part in advancing Java in the marketplace.