Showing all newswire headlines

I'm continually astounded by the depth and variety of the tools available for Linux, particularly for system administrators or even those who run just a regular Linux workstation. While other administrators in my Windows shop struggle with costly Windows GUI-based programs to get their data, I just smile and go back to my toolbox. What follows are some useful programs that I use on a daily basis.

Microsoft [seems] on Capitol Hill to push their perspective on nearly every piece of legislation.

According to Senate records analyzed using CRP’s new Lobbying Database, Abramoff represented at least 41 clients from 1998 through 2004. The largest, by far, was Microsoft, which employed the firm of Preston, Gates & Ellis as a lobbyist—a law firm where Microsoft chairman Bill Gates’ father is a principal. During the time that Abramoff worked for Preston, Gates as a Microsoft lobbyist, political contributions associated with the software giant totaled more than $13.3 million, accounting for 60% of contributions from all of Abramoff’s clients.

[ed: Now why is the US Government asking Europe to be kind to Microsoft? - tadelste]

BRUSSELS, March 30 — The United States government has intervened in Microsoft's antitrust dispute with the European Commission, urging it and the 25 national governments in the European Union to be fair to the company, American diplomats and European officials said on Thursday.

Microsoft has complained frequently in recent months that it has been denied the right to a fair defense in the continuing antitrust case with the European Commission. It has also accused the commission of collaborating with its rivals in the software industry and denying it access to what it contends are vital documents it needs to prepare its defense.

The University Of Southern Mississippi has a Linux Install Fest - Get the Worms out, a C.S. student sees the light.

[Must be a date error: Published 30th of March for an event on the 25th of the same month. I know things are slow down there, but one needs a time machine to attend.]

The Massachusetts decision to implement OpenDocument Format (ODF) has attracted so much attention that little has been directed at other end users (governmental and otherwise) that have decided to adopt ODF. But there are others.

With support from IBM, Binghamton University in New York is launching a Linux Technology Center where students and faculty are expected to do cutting-edge research on Linux-based systems and open source computing.

JBoss CEO Marc Fleury speaks about the future of the open-source company and whether he thinks an IPO, a merger or staying the course is the best road to take.

The chief operating officer of Novell’s Suse Linux group is the latest senior manager set to leave the company. Amnon Harman, COO of the German-headquartered division, is believed to be planning to leave the company this August, according to reports. Novell has refused to confirm or deny his departure

Tradeware Global is a financial services company that allows securities brokers to provide direct market access to their clients. It currently handles 5% of all transactions in the New York and American stock exchanges. Tradeware is about halfway through with an infrastructure migration that is moving the company's 100+ servers off of Solaris and onto Red Hat Linux.

The first full GPLv3 event since the launch of the draft was held recently in Turin, Italy. The whole thing was recorded and a transcript has been put online as well as the video and audio. Topics covered in the presentation included software patents, DRM, and licence compatibility. The transcript also includes the Q&A session, which covered "What about Linux?", "Can we really win against DRM?", "Why are you making the decisions this time, will a team do it next time?", and "What issues were considered but then not addressed?".

Refusing to annoy the EC, rejection comes as Microsoft squares off in Brussels over a potential 2-million-euro-a-day fine for failing to comply with the terms of a 2004 anti-trust ruling by the Commission on Microsoft's bundling of Media Player with Windows.

Big Blue says partners can earn up to $20,000 by getting Microsoft Exchange customers to switch to Lotus Domino on Linux.L

Dubbed "Migrate to the Penguin," the latest IBM incentive plan, to be announced later on Thursday, is an expansion of its Move2Lotus program, which is aimed at winning over third-party consultants and software resellers that work with Microsoft's Exchange.

Over 500 million people use the Internet, and over a billion computers are deployed around the world. It has become impossible to ignore the issue of content management and access. Call it Digital Rights Management if you will, or call it working out how to manage copying in the digital realm. We need to solve the problem of how digital information will be shared.

As predicted by <i>Tectonic</i> early in February, HP South Africa has officially announced the release of a range of notebooks that will run the Linspire Linux operating system.

Lately, there seem to have been more high-profile "standards wars" than ever before.

Middleware statement: JBoss is ramping up its challenge to closed-source web servers and messaging middleware with updated editions of its software for enterprise IT infrastructures.

DistroWatch reports - includes all official updates released until 25-Mar-2006; OpenOffice.org 2.0 (Hebrew version from official project with hspell and Culmus); removed KOffice; the full range of desktop applications are now installed as default; Ehad desktop, boot and LILO theme; local packages: ehad-media (define software repositories with ease) , ehad-guide (a guide for Israeli Internet Connectivity), ehad-radio (Hebrew Internet Radio launcher), hocr (Hebrew OCR), hdate (Hebrew calendar), Anka (new type-1 font from 'culmus fancy' series).

OSDir had a look at the latest Ehad in their Ehad 2006 Screenshot Tour.

Today I upgraded all Debian machines in the company. The reason for doing so was mostly because of dsa-1017, which describes vulnerabilities in the actual 2.6.8 kernels (of Debian “Sarge” aka stable). We are using an apt-proxy, so all in all it took me less than an hour.

DistroWatch reports - We are pleased to announce that DesktopBSD 1.0 is now available from our download mirrors and via BitTorrent. Changes include: upgrade to KDE 3.5.1; update to FreeBSD 5.5-PRERELEASE; user-friendlier package manager; printing fixes; hardware event notifications; many smaller improvements.

OSDir took a peek at the first stable version of DesktopBSD in their DesktopBSD 1.0 Screenshot Tour.

A renewed bid to register the word "Linux" as an Australian trademark must meet an early April deadline or face defeat.