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Oracle's predicted buying spree of open source companies kicked off yesterday with the purchase of embedded database open source company Sleepycat. It's rumoured that Zend and JBoss are also on Oracle's shopping list.

Red Hat, Inc.(NASDAQ:RHAT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions to the enterprise, today announced achievements and plans that the company is making to further fortify the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform. Red Hat launched the 'Security in a Networked World' initiative for Linux and open source security in August 2005. Since then Red Hat has been working to increase platform-level security, provide increased security for all applications on the Red Hat platform, and achieve the highest levels of security certifications in the industry.

"End-user security, applications and data remain the core focus of the Red Hat Security in Networked World initiative. With the continued expansion of Red Hat Enterprise Linux powering both server and desktop solutions for customers, protecting all aspects of system resources remains a top priority," said Paul Cormier, executive vice president of engineering at Red Hat.

Microsoft Corp. on Monday unveiled carrier and device support for its mobile messaging technology that the company hopes will attract customers through lower prices and more features than rival Research In Motion Inc.'s popular Blackberry.

The Redmond, Wash., software maker announced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, that its "direct push" technology is available in Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2. The technology also has been integrated into Microsoft Windows Small Business Server, and is offered as a hosted service by mobile operators U.K.-based Orange, Vodafone Group PLC, T-Mobile International AG & Co. and Cingular Wireless, jointly owned by BellSouth Corp and AT&T Inc.

Paula Rooney wrote this article back in April 2005 saying Microsoft's product code-named Magneto, [was] designed to be a BlackBerry killer

Former Hewlett-Packard employee Chris Slater has created Instalinux.com, a site based on HP's Linux Common Operating Environment (LinuxCOE) System Designer. Instalinux lets you build a custom Linux boot image and perform network installs quickly, especially when you have several machines with the same requirements. I tested Instalinux recently, with good results.

He became the first-ever "Afronaut." But the debonair young South African billionaire Mark Shuttleworth has also reached another high by distributing six million CDs of free software. He has posted these software tools to enthusiasts around the globe with the goal of planting new ideas of sharing and creating knowledge.

Shuttleworth started young -- programming on the Free Software platform when he was 11 until he was 14. Then he took a respite and resumed at the age of 19. The high-profile sales of his digital encryption company, just before the dot-com bust, was the source of his wealth, which he is plowing back into the further spread of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS).

SourceLabs extends its certified open-source software stack to Oracle middleware.

Developers on the projects expected to make up the next major version of the K Desktop Environment (KDE) want KDE 4 to offer features and software interaction beyond what is available now, and better, easier access for users to their files and information. Among the ideas are universally available personal information and a desktop that is tailored for and responds to the things users do most.

Australia's Charles Sturt University will next month kick off the world's first certified masters degree in Linux, the open source computer operating system.

Microsoft Corp. launched a last-ditch attempt to stave off the threat of million-dollar-a-day fines on Wednesday when it submitted its formal response to European Commission charges that it is failing to comply with an antitrust ruling.

In a statement accompanying the submission, the company said that it had fully complied with the Commission’s demands to ensure interoperability with its server software and accused the Commission of disregarding “critical evidence” in the case.

SAN DIEGO -- Novell plans to release a beta for its Linux Desktop 10 including new features offering better interoperability with Microsoft Office and Open Office, said Ted Haeger, Novell Inc.'s director of user communities, at the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE). The beta, tentatively scheduled for release next month, will include a new feature, dubbed Xgl. Haeger said Xgl will allow users to jump between screens and multiple desktops. Targeted to CAD software users, Xgl has a practical side that allows users to have better window- and file-sharing capabilities.

Major media and the public seem to have missed one of the biggest plays in the history of Linux and the Open Source Software community with Oracle's purchase of SleepCat software.

Who would have imagined such a strategic move? If Microsoft had thought of this, we'd be starting over from scratch on a new OS. They would own the Internet.

Will Oracle, a proprietary database company, shutdown these major applications, give them to Sun or use them to take control of everyone?

From the reports I'm reading, major media hasn't got it yet. But you should.

New Commercial-Grade Linux-Based Platform Designed for Smartphones and Mobile Devices

As Microsoft continues to thrash it out with the European Commission over what it needs to do to get the antitrust monkey off its back, reader Bill Flanagan points out that its offer to open up some of its Windows Server source code isn't as munificent as it may appear at first.

Free Software Magazine's Tony Mobily talks about how our installation troubles are at an end.

On Monday, SJVN (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, a long time senior journalist) reported about a new study which proves that Linux systems are much more affordable and easier to administer than their Windows counterparts.

CIO provides a simple, on-page overview of the various FOSS-based business models. If you're an entrepreneur, you'll want to keep this handy.

At last week's Demo conference, a showcase of all things edgy, techie and gadgetey, saw the debut of what I am willing to bet is the first Linux-powered automatic ice-cream making machine. The MooBella Ice Cream System is a vending-machine-sized device (kind of a cross between a fridge and a coke machine) that can almost instantly create a scoop of ice cream in a variety of flavors, with or without nuts, crushed cookies or candy.

[Ed: This does sound like the perfect job for a penguin! Can't wait to see one of these gadgets! - dcparris]

In Brief Already engorged, Oracle has stuffed yet another software maker into its belly, gobbling up Sleepycat.

Ex-Veritas man steps in as new master

Next-Generation Sun Crypto Accelerator 6000 Optimizes Security and Performance for UltraSPARC(R)- and AMD Opteron Processor-Based Sun Fire Systems Running Solaris(TM) Operating System (OS) and Linux