Showing all newswire headlines

Lawrence Lessig and Richard Stallman here give their reasoning behind opposing DRM, and Lessig explains his previous comments

Open source advocate Bruce Perens has launched an initiative to discourage owners of undeveloped Web domains hosting them on servers running proprietary software. Perens wants domain owners and resellers to redirect unused Web domains — which have been registered but not yet developed — to OpenSourceParking.com. Perens says this site will always run on Apache, the popular open source Web server software.

Andrey Savochkin leads the development of the kernel portion of OpenVZ, an operating system-level server virtualization solution. In this interview, Andrey offers a thorough explanation of what virtualization is and how it works. He also discusses the differences between hardware-level and operating system-level virtualization, going on to compare OpenVZ to VServer, Xen and User Mode Linux.

Andrey is now working to get OpenVZ merged into the mainline Linux kernel explaining, "virtualization makes the next step in the direction of better utilization of hardware and better management, the step that is comparable with the step between single-user and multi-user systems." The complete OpenVZ patchset weighs in at around 70,000 lines, approximately 2MB, but has been broken into smaller logical pieces to aid in discussion and to help with merging.

To enable channel partners in the usage of open source software and promote it aggressively, Red Hat has joined hands with Intel to form a global program to help customers plan for, accelerate and optimize their deployments of Linux solutions.

Why is it so much harder to secure a Windows installation than a Linux installation? Well take a look a the pictures posted by Richard Stiennon on his ZD Net Blog.

The OpenDocument Format Alliance's membership has more than tripled since its launch; it cites a"groundswell of support" as the reason for its rapid growth.

Far from the finished product, Elive still captures the essence of Linux and the user's imagination. The "tweak-ability" of Elive seems endless, and the surprises it holds in store for the new Elive User are unique.

The tar backup program is an archiving program designed to store and extract files from an archive file known as a tarfile. A tarfile may be made on a tape drive; however, it is also common to write a tarfile to a normal file.

If Oracle were to get into the operating system business with Linux, would this be a good thing for the database giant? Industry watchers are all over the map with their thoughts on the matter.

A business- and university-led public policy group has issued a downloadable 72-page report examining open standards, open source software, and "open innovation." The report concludes that openness should be promoted as a matter of public policy, in order to foster innovation and economic growth in the U.S. and world economies.

I recently bought a U3 compliant USB key, the hype and packaging was amazing and for the most part the U3 drive lived up to the expectations. Thunderbird was included on the key, and I was excited about being able to make any computer “my computer”, do my work, and then go without leaving a trace.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said that Oracle may be considering buying a Linux company in the future. After considering open-source and Linux's pluses and minuses, Ellison has concluded that for Oracle, "We don't have to fight open source, we have to exploit open source," Ellison reportedly said.

When SONY applied for a patent for attaching scripts to messages that force email recipients to respond, it seemed like a capital idea. But by the time a patent number was churned out five years later, many email recipients were safely ensconced behind network filters designed to strip or mangle most attached scripts, which have become well-known carriers of malware. What's SONY's hot patent factory to do with a patent that's gone cold?

[First a rootkit, now this. Maybe they should quit while they're behind. - dcparris]

In an attempt to increase their market share with open-source enterprise database solutions, EnterpriseDB, the world's leading enterprise-class, open source database company, announced that it has entered into a partnership with JBoss, the global leader in open source middleware.

Genesi has quietly announced a new line of tiny PowerPC- and OpenFirmware-based boards and systems. The Efika 2 line will ship in mid-May, and comprise three models that mix and match Altera FPGAs, onboard graphics chips, and PCI slots. The systems will run Linux, standard Java, and "Polaris," a PowerPC port of OpenSolaris. [I want to get one and run DSL on it! - Scott]

BILLERICA, Mass., April 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CSP Inc. (Nasdaq: CSPI), a provider of IT solutions, systems integration services and dense cluster computing systems, today reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2006 ended December 31, 2005.

For those of you living on the bleeding edge, I discovered a document describing features recently added to amaroK "Fast Forward" 1.4 in SVN. Although this document is a work in progress, it should give you a good idea of what to expect in the next major amaroK release.

Learn how to build an Asterisk@Home test lab.This series is also a good howto for setting up a small production Asterisk iPBX on the cheap. This three-part series is aimed at both telephony and Linux noobs. If you understand computer networking basics, this is just the Asterisk howto you need to get up and running. Not only for a test lab, but also a small production system. The series covers installation, what hardware to use, how to set up local extensions and automatic call routing, how to connect to the outside world, and how to replace the Asterisk@Home logo with your own custom logo.

VoIPowering your Office with Asterisk - Building a Test Lab, Part 1
VoIPowering your Office with Asterisk-Building a Test Lab, Part 2
VoIPowering your Office with Asterisk-Building a Test Lab, Part 3

A cloud is rising over Mac OS X and its future unless Apple makes its boldest move ever: turning OS X into an open-source project. That would make the battle between OS X and Linux the most interesting one on the computer scene. With all attention turned in that direction, there would be nothing Microsoft could do to stem a reversal of its fortunes.

Last November, Linspire issued a press release announcing that Micro Center would be devoting floor space and staff to desktop Linux. I decided to take a trip to my local Micro Center this week to see how that initiative was going. Unfortunately, the answer is not so well.

[That seems to be the approach many retailers, including a number of smaller custom PC shops take. Then they wonder why there's no interest in GNU/Linux. Hmmm... - dcparris]