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"Interoperability" has become a weasel word. The word is regularly used to insinuate that two (or more) computer systems should work very well, but they usually work well for the wrong reasons.

This is the third in a series of articles that examine why the ODF Foundation closed down. The leaders of the recently shuttered OpenDocument Foundation have moved their attention and efforts away from the Open Document Format and towards the W3C's Compound Document Format, which they believe will be able to neutralize Microsoft Office by repurposing those documents.

No matter what Linux distribution you are using, chances are you'll find more than one graphical FTP client in its repositories, but if you are looking for a powerful command-line FTP tool, your best bet is lftp. Of course, you can always use the good old ftp command, but lftp takes the task of managing files and directories using the FTP protocol to a new level. To see what I mean, let's use lftp to write a script that creates a local backup copy of a Web site.

As a lawyer, law professor and software programmer, Eben Moglen is passionate about technology, software and user freedom. A former board member of the Free Software Foundation and the founder, president and executive director of the Software Freedom Law Center in New York since 2005, Moglen has worked to protect and advance open source and free software. Moglen recently talked with Computerworld about his work, his belief in open source and what he sees as the changing future of software in the world economy.

The NetBeans community has released the latest build of its open source, Java-based integrated development environment (IDE) with, among other new features, a dual-licensing scheme. NetBeans 6.0 Beta 2 is licensed under both the GNU General Public License (GPL) v2 with ClassPath exception and Sun Microsystems' Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL). NetBeans creator and primary corporate sponsor Sun Microsystems proposed adding the GPL license option.

Ubuntu developer Matthew Garrett has succeeded in getting the MPAA to remove their 'University Toolkit' after claims it violated the GNU GPL. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact the MPAA directly, Garrett eventually emailed the group's ISP and the violating software was taken down.

ESET has announced three new products for Linux and FreeBSD users. The new Gateway, File and Mail products provide SMB and enterprise users with the highest level of malware protection throughout their Linux infrastructure, without impacting on network performance. ESET Gateway Security for Linix/FreeBSD provides a first line of defence against evolving threats by protecting an organisation’s HTTP and FTP gateway from known and unknown viruses, worms, trojans, spyware and phishing.

Sorry for the delay, but Xfce 4.4.2 is now available. It's the second maintenance release in the 4.4 stable series, focusing on fixing bugs and updating translations. Downloads are available from the Xfce website. An overview of changes is available in the changelog. Enjoy!

Amadeus this week will unveil the first components of a new next-generation distribution technology platform for the hotel industry. As a first step, Amadeus has completed the migration of the 75,000 hotel properties that participate in its GDS from a system based on TPF (transaction processing facility) to a Linux platform, Jerome Destors, deputy managing director of Amadeus' Hospitality Business Group, said. All hotel GDS operations are now running on the open-systems platform.

Linux's market share has increased significantly in the last year. The rate of increase accelerated after Dell began selling machines with Ubuntu in May of this year.

The new Asus Eee PC has been released to many positive reviews and great consumer interest. A streamlined and customized Xandros and KDE interface combines with other free software applications, a slim form factor and an attractive price point. HotHardware.com was one of the very first sites to review the Asus Eee and report back on this new device. Read on for an interview with Editor-in-Chief Dave Altavilla and his thoughts on the Asus Eee PC and its value proposition.

New Linux based JeOS (Just Enough Operating System) facilitates rapid deployment of enterprise service management and help desk infrastructure.

While there are some Linux users who still insist on running free software exclusively, a growing number are more than happy to mix and match open-source and proprietary software. For these latter users, Ubuntu 7.10-based Mint 4.0 is a distribution made in heaven.

The open source model has taken its toll on a number of EnterpiseDB staff. The company recently laid off some sales workers and under performers, as it realigns its business. According to CEO Andy Astor, EnterpriseDB has enjoyed a strong recent run. “We are in the middle of our best quarter ever,” Astor said. “We are in extremely good shape right now.”

These three installments of Linux on board show you how to get started building applications by way of a working example: using the camera feature to create a Webcam. In this installment, walk through the start of building a camera application using gstreamer to access the Nokia N800 device's Webcam.

Firefox 3 should be welcome both for its many small usability improvements and for its under-the-covers Web rendering engine and security enhancements. When you first install and launch the beta of Firefox 3, the initial impression (especially for those who remember some of the earlier promises of a revamped user interface and increased Web 2.0 integration) can be a little disappointing, since it doesn't look much different from the current version of Firefox.

A handful of Red Hat engineers are excited about a new tool they've developed called Func, short for Fedora Unified Network Controller. They're pretty sure that once the rest of the community catches on to just how useful Func is, they'll be singing its praises too. Red Hat Community Development Manager Greg DeKoenigsberg says, "This is the kind of idea where everyone kind of nods and says, 'I meant to write that.'"

If you're looking to understand Microsoft's position on open standards and open source then the Cape Information Technology Initiative's Foss Forum is where you will want to be on Wednesday.

Jeff Jones, security strategy director in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group, is at it again, comparing three years of vulnerability data for the two main Web browsers — Internet Explorer and Firefox — to reach a conclusion that IE is arguably much safer than the open-source rival.

How many people are using Firefox? It's hard to say because the latest official figures cannot count Linux users who fall into a dark matter phenomena when it comes to the measurement methodology.