Showing all newswire headlines

Word about Goobuntu, Google's supposed version of Linux based on Ubuntu, surfaced in February when a Web site claimed the search company is testing its operating system (OS) on Dell computers. This followed a recent announcement that Dell and Google are working together to test existing Google software.

When it comes to politics and technology, there are always (at least) two opinions. Today, I provide the full interview with Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records Alan Cote, whose views on ODF differ substantially from those usually expressed in the Standards Blog

One of the most vocal opponents of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) in Massachusetts has been Supervisor of Public Records Alan Cote. Cote has testified in open hearings, spoken to reporters, and communicated the views of Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin. In this extensive interview, I ask Alan for his side of the ODF story, what his concerns are, and what he thinks should happen next. Along the way, he says some surprising things, like this: " I am not opposed to ODF and I think it does show promise as one of the formats our government should use to accomplish our goals of preserving records and serving the public."

[ED: Another must read article on the nitty gritty fight for ODF with a must read interview - HC]

It is not an impact on the epic scale of an asteroid smashing into the Earth and killing off the dinosaurs, but the collision of technology and media is having profound effects on a more modern ecosystem. Diplodocus The traditional media? Media are becoming democratised, and a global conversation is emerging.

Xandros on Thursday launched what it claims is the first Linux distribution with third-generation wireless support, at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. Xandros Desktop OS 3.1 Deutsche Version Business Edition supports the high-speed universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) and authentication against Windows Primary Domain Controllers (PDC) and Active Directory servers, according to the company.

ntop (Bandwidth Monitor) Configuration

A test has revealed that a Linux server is far less likely to be compromised. In fact, unpatched Red Hat and SuSE servers were not breached at all during a six-week trial, while the equivalent Windows systems were compromised within hours.

[ED: Read this elsewhere, but worth repeating. Nonetheless, do not become over confident, stay current on security. - HC]

SAP’s love-hate relationship with Microsoft took another turn Thursday after the German business software giant said it will make it easier and cheaper to run business software like human resources management on Microsoft’s operating systems.

SAP is extending its “adaptive computing” capabilities, which allow customers to run applications as services and distribute them across various pieces of hardware and software, to Microsoft databases and operating systems. For example, instead of running software on a large mainframe computer, companies can do the same on a few smaller servers that cost less than one large mainframe.

[ED: This is absolutely terrible news for all those mainframe manufactures that are now going to go bankrupt with this important, strategic moves by all those Saps. End of the line IBM. Your next Oracle. And F/OSS - worthless, as Sapians pointed out when it didn't rise to saving their business. Wait ... is this just a move propelled by bitterness? Who knows, better yet: who cares. - HC]

Ubuntu is a well-maintained, well-organized Linux distribution. Kubuntu adds the popular and powerful KDE desktop environment. As nice as Kubuntu is, the default installation doesn't fit every user. Carla Schroder shows how to get help, get access to more software packages, set up a firewall, and review and get rid of unnecessary services.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Itanium Solutions Alliance still won't say much about its plans to spend a $10 billion kitty announced in January, but it did identify one project it's spending a tiny fraction of that money on.

Novell is determined to see the renamed and rebranded SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 surpass Windows Vista on many fronts.

The results of the LinuxQuestions.org 2005 awards were published earlier this week and KDE once again won the Desktop Environment of the Year award.

Linux Networx last week announced several storage offerings for its high-performance Linux clusters.

Guardian Technology today launches a campaign - Free Our Data. The aim is simple: to persuade the UK government to abandon copyright on essential national data, making it freely available to anyone to mesh with information created elsewhere.

[ED: Be certain to read how this theft has become endemic in his "Defending Openness". - HC]

While preparing a market study for a technical book publisher, we discovered that the majority of Linux users prefer non-commercial Linux distributions. The most popular include two projects from Red Hat and SUSE while users prefer Debian and consider it enterprise ready. You might find some surprises as we did.

An upcoming version of Firefox will include protection against phishing scams, using technology that might come from Google.

The phishing shield is a key new security feature planned for Firefox 2, slated for release in the third quarter of this year, Mozilla's Mike Shaver said in an interview Tuesday.

[ED: Odd: "... already in Netscape 8 and Opera 8, both released last year." and will be in IE later in 2006. I wonder if Firefox will at least beat out MS on this needed feature. - HC]

Donderdag 9 maart 2006, 10:19 - In an interview with IDG News Service, Adam Jollans, Linux strategy manager for IBM Corp., discusses how he sees Linux adoption evolving across vertical industries and in businesses both small and large, and how IBM is adapting its own Linux strategy to mesh with those trends.

Boston - Fans of open source software have been buzzing since Linus Torvalds, creator of the popular Linux operating system, indicated he wouldn't adopt a new version of the license under which Linux is distributed. Torvalds' opinion matters because his program is by far the most popular open source program in the world.

Massachusetts legislators on Beacon Hill today will see a demonstration of accessibility features for Office 7, but they won't see the complete picture.

Today, interested Massachusetts legislators are being offered a pre-release demonstration of the accessibility features of Microsoft's Office 2007. What I understand they will see will be a subset of Windows features used in conjunction with a subset of third party accessibility tools, configured by experts, and demonstrated by sighted technicians. What they won't see is what it would be like for someone with disabilities trying to learn how to use a new system, using new accessibility tools (assuming that the old tools in fact are ported to the new platform). Not to mention the big bills that tax payers will need to pay to purchase those tools.

[ED: The continuing, important story of OpenDocument Format - this time a MS effort to block it by demostrating its innovative technologies. Tastes good ... something like fudge. - HC]

IBM employees using Linux desktops are switching to Red Hat Inc.'s version of the open-source operating system, but the company denied reports that it's planning to dump Microsoft Corp.'s Windows, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.