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Last year, survivors of the many hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast of the United States suffered from scarce resources and limited communication avenues. With families separated and desperate to find one another, ContactLovedOnes.org launched a free call-in service, based on open source software, that helped them to reconnect. Now, with hurricane season approaching once again, ContactLovedOnes.org is ready for the deluge.

NASHVILLE -- While some just talk about the quality of open source software, Red Hat said it's actually doing something about it.

Many people prefer working with laptops instead of desktops for the flexibility they offer. Some of them would also like to switch to a free and open source operating system like GNU/Linux and have their laptop do all the things that proprietary OSes offer, such as suspending their laptops. Several distributions try to make this work out of the box, but knowing what's under the hood always comes in handy, particularly when something goes wrong and needs fixing. Let's take a look at how to suspend and hibernate your laptop under Linux.

OSVids.com responds to the Linux community, converts video library to Ogg-Theora.

With the latest GNU Telephony releases of GNU Bayonne, I have experimented with and introduced a new lightweight kind of XML based web service that I call serverResponse. This was meant to offer something functionally capable of supporting automated remote procedure callable services, but that is far simpler to operate and requires far less code to support than SOAP or even XMLRPC. This is built around a new XML dialect called serverResponse, which suggests it is related to XMLRPC methodResponse in nature.

Cybersource has released a free toolkit which offers system builders and whitebox hardware resellers a method for differentiating their PCs and laptops from those of top-tier hardware vendors.

Bacula Network Backup Implementation

Open Source VoIP vendor Digium is releasing the latest version of the Asterisk Business Edition this week, which includes new security and voice features, as well as a new Linux distribution base.

In a response to mail, one tech writer offers advice to a user having problems with saving MS Word 2003 files to USB Flash drives. Apparently, the manufacturer's tech support suggested "deleting everything and using a recovery disk". From the article:
"A: Once again, readers, beware of ''support'' people when they tell you to delete everything from your computer. It means they don't know what to do, but it doesn't mean it is the RIGHT thing to do."

[For those of our readers who still have a copy MS Office lying around, or who still have to support it. There is also a response involving Firefox's disappearing bookmarks. - dcparris]

Every discussion of software patents ends with commenters roundly condemning the greedy sleazebags who filed them. But when pressed, one software patenter told Email Battles why he seeks patents for his software, in succinct terms that will strike home with every programmer and business manager. For an attorney, this guy sure can simplify.

It's not all about the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP when it comes to portable gaming, other machines are on the market with their own unique selling points, like the GP2X, a Linux-based handheld console that can boast more than 500 games titles - all of them free to download.

Portable legal document format

Microsoft is digging in for legal action from Adobe after the two fell out over the inclusion of a "save as pdf" feature in next year's Office suite.

[Microsoft Monitor has an interesting perspective on this story. Betchya can't guess who's blowing smoke. - dcparris]

It's only Rational

Developer silos: who needs 'em? IBM says they are a Bad Thing and here is why:

The reports of the demise of Linux on IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads was vastly overrated. Some quick back-peddling from the black suit, red tie brigade.

If you had doubts of enterprise support for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, rest easy. Thanks to HP's support, The community-based distribution is now certified compliant with the OSDL Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) 2.0.2 specification.

Immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., the federal government cracked down on port security and passed new regulations on the import/export industry. Companies turned to Linux and hardware virtualization as means to tighten security and adhere to changing regulations.

The Debian Linux distribution has certified under the Open Source Development Labs' (OSDL) Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) specifications.

The NetEqualizer is a plug-and-play bandwidth control appliance that is flexible and scalable. NetEqualizer's unique technology differs significantly from other appliances. It uses "behavior shaping" which dynamically and automatically controls network flow for the best WAN Optimization. It is built on Linux and works with all operating systems.

The Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email application contain several vulnerabilities. By taking advantage of one or more of these vulnerabilities, an attacker may be able to take control of your computer.

KOffice is working on its future, one based on KDE4. KOffice is starting new initiatives with libraries like Flake and Pigment that are going to be used for all KOffice applications. For the users of KOffice those changes are invisible until the 2.0 previews actually start to appear some months from now. Therefore the KOffice crew wants to show you their goals of what KOffice 2 is going to look like. Read more for the whole story.