Showing all newswire headlines

Alioth, another server of the Debian Project, has been broken into. Script kiddies made use of a hole in PmWiki, which has been known since the beginning of this week, to insert PHP code, thereby installing an IRC proxy.

Ever since the birth of the free software movement, its defenders have struggled to explain just what "free software" is. If it is free, how do coders eat? And how do businesses that support the software – IBM, Hewlett-Packard – make any money from it?

[Like I was saying in a thread about MS, what is the really imporant issue?, corporations making money. Even Lessig knows that. - Scott]

In July 2005, news emerged of Sun Microsystems' first foray into open source identity management with the Open Web Single Sign-On (OpenSSO) project. Now, more than a year later, the project has been formally launched. Sun has kept to its word with OpenSSO and is releasing source code for the significant chunks of its Java System Access Manager required for web-based single sign-on, including session management, policy and federation as well as administration capabilities.

Geotagging is the association of geographic location information with an object. A geotag comprises three pieces of information: a name and longitude and latitude values. Once files are geotagged, they can be indexed and searched based on the geographic information they contain. Here's how you can tag your photos, documents and other files so you can search for place-related information on your PC using Google Earth.

Mozilla Corp. has hired a former Microsoft Corp. security strategist to help lock down its open-source products against online attacks.

[This has to be a first - someone actually hiring a Microsoft executive for, of all things, security. And just when I thought I had seen it all! - dcparris]

Endpoint encryption software for Linux desktops and laptops, Pointsec for Linux 2.0. Pointsec now offers Linux users new features including support for remote help, single sign-on and broader security for all system files starting from a pre-boot authentication.

[Pointsec appears to be non-libre. However, it may be of interest to some of our corporate readers. - dcparris]

Dutch mesh networking specialist Hopling Technologies will develop and support Linux BSPs (board support packages) for Fujitsu's WiMAX SoCs and reference designs, the companies have announced. Hopling's BSPs and commercial support contracts will help network operators and product designers bring WiMAX products and services to market, according to the companies.

MySQL AB, developer of the world's most popular open source database, announced the election of a new independent member to its board of directors: Dana Evan (pictured), CFO and executive vice president of Finance and Administration for VeriSign, Inc.

As automated software development tools have become commonplace, proven proficiencies are increasingly being required by employers. Original Software (http://www.origsoft.com), a leader in software test automation, is providing developers, testers, quality professionals and consultants with hands-on training and certification for their automated software testing platform, TestBench for iSeries systems.

Possibly of interest for iSeries admins. - dcparris]

Banksys Belgium’s electronic payment system leader - is implementing IDX-PKI from OpenTrust to centralize and strengthen a critical application: the management of digital identities. IDEALX, the European provider of security & trust infrastructure (OpenTrust) has been selected to supply an integrated front-line solution. Electronic payment systems are evolving rapidly, and Banksys is constantly offering its customers new innovative services. These services require the highest degree of security, and Banksys has selected IDX-PKI software as a critical infrastructure to enhance the security of its applications.

It's those dratted legal expenses again, I think, although they are down a bit, but still in the millions this quarter. "Because of the unique and unpredictable nature of this litigation, the occurrence and timing of litigation-related expenses is difficult to predict, and will be difficult to predict in the future," they say in their press release.

Sun Microsystems is hoping to leverage the popularity of Red Hat's JBoss, with software making it easier to use NetBeans with the application.

We released etch d-i beta 3[1] a couple of weeks back. So far, things seem to be going generally OK in testing. Daily builds of business card and netinst images and weekly builds of full CD and DVD sets have since restarted, and we plan to continue with those.

AML is shipping two new portable data terminals based on embedded Linux. The basic M5900 and ruggedized M5900i for industrial applications target batch data collection applications, including inventory control, factory floor management, price verification, shipping/receiving, and asset tracking.

Code certification is a lightweight approach for formally demonstrating software quality. Its basic idea is to require code producers to provide formal proofs that their code satisfies certain quality properties. These proofs serve as certificates that can be checked independently. Since code certification uses the same underlying technology as program verification, it requires detailed annotations (e.g., loop invariants) to make the proofs possible. However, manually adding annotations to the code is time-consuming and error-prone.

IBM Real-Time Class Analysis Tool for Java is a tool for Linux and Windows that lets developers deploy their Java applications without manually defining classes that should be preloaded.

In this article, I cast before you another five pearls of wisdom, focusing more on smaller companies without the overhead, or support structures, of a larger organization. For more less commonly states yet invaluable hints check out the previous installment in the Don't let these disasters happen to you series, targeted at embedded engineers in larger corporations.

The Linux VServer Project has completed a new stable version of its kernel patches. The project took the opportunity to combine its announcement of the new Version 2.0.2 -- the first release declared to be stable after some eight months of effort -- with a Wiki-based redesign of its website.

South Korea will try to tackle one of its lingering problems--a chaotic street and address system--through a new open-source project.

Opera Software will resell Adobe's Flash Player 7 SDK (software development kit) to customers of its Opera for Devices SDK. The agreement should simplify the licensing picture for Linux device designers interested in deploying a "full Internet" browser that supports Flash-based browsing, or Flash-based user interfaces, the companies say.