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MySQL is the open source database to beat. But another option — EnterpriseDB — has caught the attention of several investors — including IBM. Here’s the scoop for potential partners.

This guide explains how to set up software RAID1 on an already running LVM system (Debian Etch). The GRUB bootloader will be configured in such a way that the system will still be able to boot if one of the hard drives fails (no matter which one).

By corrupting XML string values in the way that it does, DIS 29500 breaks the ability to have loosely coupled systems. Once the value space is polluted by these aberrant control characters, every application, every process that touches this data must be aware of their non-standard idiosyncrasies lest they crash or return incorrect answers.

The “What’s the difference between UNIX and Linux?” question can be answered similar to the analogy section that many of us had to complete on the SAT test; UNIX is to DOS as Linux is to Windows. That’s a grossly oversimplified answer to a complex question and I’ll no doubt get flamed by some of the more advanced UNIX and/or Linux users out there but in the interest of keeping things simple, let’s go with the above italicized sentence.

Cuba and India are the latest countries to vote against Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) file format being adopted by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Meanwhile Germany and the US confirmed that they won't be backing down on their call for the format to be ISO/IEC-approved. The decisions from national delegates from 33 countries who took part in the DIS29500 ballot resolution meeting in Geneva in late February have been trickling in ahead of this Saturday’s crucial deadline.

Perhaps the greatest single productivity-boosting feature in Linux is the ability to open several virtual desktops at one time. This allows you to create separate work environments for various simultaneous tasks, such as one with a word processor, image editor, and spreadsheet open for creating a report, and another with e-mail and browser windows active for keeping in touch with co-workers. The multiple desktops let you focus on the task at hand without interruption, but switch to your other active workspace with a single click.

Although Mozilla says Firefox 3 beta 4 still isn’t intended for the general public, its performance so far has given them the confidence to announce the final version is nearly ready to be unleashed on the world.

CrossOver Games is a commercial variant of Wine released by CodeWeavers with support for many of today's most popular games.

A friend of mine (actually, he is also the CEO of a partner company of ZaReason EU) got very interested lately in HTPCs, the so-called home theater PCs. Since he’s also a big fan of Linux and free software and also likes high definition, he asked my opinion and help about the topic, so I started to investigate a little for him.

The good folks at SlySoft announced last week that they’d broken the BD+ copy protection scheme:

IBM is putting some of its financial muscle behind the business trying to rival Sun Microsystems' MySQL, pushing PostgreSQL. The systems giant and a trio of VCs have pledged $10m in the latest round of funding for EnterpriseDB. That brings the start-up's total funding to $37.5m.

A major global electronics distributor has announced that its U.S.-based operation has started reselling a software subscription service for embedded Linux developers. Arrow Electronics's North American Components (NAC) division says TimeSys's "LinuxLink" subscriptions can help developers streamline development of their own commercial-grade custom Linux platforms.

India recently rejected Microsoft's document format Office Open XML (OOXML). The Bureau of Indian Standards voted against making Openxml an ISO standard. Microsoft, in a statement released subsequently, expressed deep disappointment at the bureau's rejection of OOXML. There's widespread sentiment that OOXML should not be considered even if supported as a standard. This may seem like taking it a bit too far but a careful analysis of the issue would reveal that this sentiment albeit far-fetched does have some plausible explanation.

To some folks outside of Microsoft, the Open-Source Software Lab has been a sort of mysterious place. A place where we study Linux and open-source software, cursing our enemies while brewing our malevolent plans to combat those nasty FOSS developers. Oh, and we also have a death ray on the roof of building 17. It's Linux-powered, of course, just to add a little irony.

We have some really good stuff this week: a super-thin graphics tablet and a teeny-tiny computer. Let’s kick off with the tiny computer We were charmed by a new miniature computer from Asus. It has a full keyboard (if only we had miniature fingers ), built-in wireless connectivity, an Ethernet port, serial port and three USB ports. It’s 6 inches by 9 inches and weighs just 2 pounds. That’s with the battery, so if you run it off the charger instead, it’s just a little over a pound.

A European standards expert has defended the move to fast-track the ISO approval process for Microsoft's Open XML (OOXML) document standard, dismissing criticisms that the decision to do so is flawed and unfair. He advised governments against mandating just one document standard as it may run foul of polices set by the World Trade Organization (WTO), opening themselves to possible legal challenges. "One of the big concerns of the WTO is that you should not use standards as a barrier to trade," he said. "If a government enforces [the use of one standard], that would mean the whole country is not allowed to use OOXML. They could get into a very difficult legal situation as this could be challenged legally," noted van den Beld.

[Wow. So much FUD and it's only Tuesday morning. These are straight bald-faced lies. Expect a lot more OOXML news and FUD in the coming week. It's the last week until the ISO (re-)vote. - Sander]

I was invited to speak at Sun a few weeks ago. They've started a new program to bring in outside luminaries to offer differing perspectives on topics important to Sun in an effort to avoid inside-the-beltway thinking (or, put more floridly, to avoid breathing their own exhaust). I was their first speaker in the program and something of a guinea pig.

Here are five (bad) reasons to approve OOXML that are often touted my OOXML proponents, and an explanation of why they are bad.

Last spring, marketer and blogger Hugh MacLeod posted a question on his site: If open source is such a phenomenon, where are all the open source billionaires? His audience wasn't amused. Open source software relies on a community of volunteer developers who tinker on, write for, or amend a program, then give it away free. MacLeod's site filled up with complaints that even to look for billionaires violated the spirit of the open source movement. "There have to be rewards," one commenter wrote, "but they don't have to be financial."

A lot has been said of late concerning the way Apple slipped in a brand-new Safari installer into the Apple Software Update used by many hundreds of thousands of iPod-wielding Windows users. Let me offer a new perspective, from the open source point of view - why what Apple did was bad, and why open source developers wouldn’t do it. I'll also cut through the FUD and deliver the truth about what the installer really does!