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In this second in a series of interviews with the major open source and proprietary implementations of ODF, I learn from OpenOffice.org's Louis Suarez-Potts and John McNeesh how OO compares to the competition, wherein lie its strengths, and where it will head in the future.

The number two digital certificate vendor, Comodo, expected their new, free, anti-virus engine's release to be greeted with accolades. Instead, they're drawing fire from critics who claim that the software sneakily installed more than they bargained for. Another case of Sony-style corporate deceit, or a few spoiled endusers looking a gift horse in the mouth? Email Battles ruminates.

Avangate sponsors ISDEF 2006

The OSDL (Open Source Development Labs) has promoted board-member Takashi Kunai to "director of Japan." Kunai led Unix and mainframe operating system development at Fujitsu for 30 years, and has been active in the Japan OSS Promotion Forum.

Sometimes you have to get it done and if you do not have complete access to a system then you must find a way. How to do a sandbox even in the simplest terms can be overlooked but if there is time - it can be done.

Software freedom vs. software utility is an ongoing battle, and I've ended up in the middle of it since I started producing training videos. I strongly prefer free software and GNU/Linux over the alternatives, and for the years when my main computer tasks (besides email and Web viewing) were writing, editing, and lightweight photo editing, I happily used nothing but Linux and free software. Now I use a proprietary operating system and proprietary software for some of my work. This galls me, but I feel I have no choice.

I get a lot of grief for using so called old window managers. I get a lot of grief for writing shell scripts as close to posix as I can (especially from lame sysadmins). I get a lot of grief for writing utils in anythng but bash. Well, for most of you - I do not think my personal answer to why I use C, Perl or sh-posix should be posted here. How about a look at minimalism from a pragmatic and practical point of view.

Coming right on out and gettin' with it, Redmond's "Bulldog" Ballmer laid it down for real to an audience of several hundred in Santa Clara, CA, according to eWEEK:

The Wine project has released version 0.9.13 of its free implementation of a Windows application platform for Linux systems, project manager Alexandre Julliard announced May 12. Wine is an open-source translation layer that allows users to run many Windows applications on Linux and Unix operating systems.

OpenLogic has created an OpenLogic Expert Community that taps into 50 leading open source projects like the Apache HTTP Server, ANT, Hibernate, MyFaces, Spring, Struts and Tomcat and is proposing to pay developers for Tier 3 and Tier 4 enterprise support. OpenLogic will continue to do Tier 1 and 2 support.

PITTSBURGH, May 12, 2006 (The Pitt News, U-WIRE via COMTEX) --Two hundred sixty dollars goes a long way. The University of Pittsburgh charges each student a fee every year to fund computing services for the campus community. In other words, that chunk of dough gives you access to seven computer labs, 110 e-mail kiosks, 900 sheets of paper and, if you live on campus, a supreme Gigabit Ethernet connection. But that's not all. There are computer classes, software and 24-hour technical support tied into the deal as well.

One analyst compared Hewlett-Packard to Switzerland, because you can play in the Unix, Linux and Windows areas simultaneously without offending any of your partners, such as Microsoft. Meanwhile, your services group cleans up. I like being called the Switzerland of the high-tech industry. It applies in operating systems but also up the stack, as well. Our story is one of choice. Our goal is to have a level playing field across platforms, from HP-UX to Windows to Linux. I know very, very few customers that have a homogenous environment. They have legacy systems to deal with, new applications going up. You can pick the OS that works for you. It's truly open choice, because we don't have a proprietary software stack that we have an ulterior motive to try and steer you to.

Trying to litigate Linux is like attempting to juggle warm jello. Just as soon as you think you have a feel for it, it changes form and you have to devise a new plan of action....and then you have to hire someone to mop up the Jello. There is no “International Linux Corporate Headquarters”, nor is there a Board of Directors or any number of steely-eyed shareholders to contend with. Fighting Linux must be like trying to battle Ghost Warriors. I am here to offer you a solution and a tangible target...a solid plan that you can actually organize, project and execute.

Java father

I've said it before (four years ago, to be precise), and I'll say it again. Software is in the ascendant at Sun Microsystems. Last time I said it, the then up-and-coming Jonathan Schwartz had been appointed software executive vice president.

Will Novell's SUSE Linux Desktop 10.1 bring the Linux desktop to the mainstream? SGI goes Chapter 11; FreeBSD 6.1 goes gold; and Sun gets a new CTO.

"Microsoft recognizes that its best opportunity to become a strong growth company again lies with what it can do in the online advertising space," Gartner analyst David Smith told the E-Commerce Times. "It represents a major shift for a company that had more than 20 years of experience in doing things largely the same way -- making money from software licenses."

[Careful there, Ballmer's lips are moving... - dcparris]

In this week's InfraSpectrum podcast: Peter Coffee examines a plug-compatible alternative to Microsoft Exchange, hosted on Linux and working with standards-based management and collaboration tools, is the proposition offered by PostPath, which emerged on May 9 from stealth mode after two years of development.