Showing all newswire headlines

Like all computer users other than a few free software zealots and Mac addicts, I secretly prefer Windows to all other desktop operating systems. I run Linux only out of cheapness and a old-hippie desire to "stick it to The Man." But lately Microsoft has started to embrace open source so lovingly that in a gesture of support for their new open-mindedness I was ready to dump Linux on my two daily-use computers and install Windows instead. Then another Windows security hole popped up. Darn! Once again, it looks like I'm stuck with free, reliable, secure Linux, at least for the next year or two.

The open source community is up in arms after the publication of a 'misleading and confusing' report that said more vulnerabilities were found in Linux/Unix operating systems than in Windows last year

[ED: Pretty good write up with a nice ending - HC]

"You should look at the number of critical vulnerabilities. It's a better comparison to look at the critical vulnerabilities that affect customers due to the platform they use. There are fewer critical vulnerabilities, and they are fixed faster in Red Hat Linux," said Cox.

"There is also the issue of timing. With Linux products, critical updates are available within a day. If you look at Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, the average patch time is under a day. With the recent critical WMF (Windows Meta File) vulnerability, it took Microsoft seven days."

Microsoft was not available for comment at the time of writing.

At LinClips.com a new screencast is now available featureing Edubuntu 5.10.

Massachusetts has appointed an acting CIO to fill in for Peter Quinn, who's walking away from the job after bringing OpenDocument and a concomitant fire of controversy to the Commonwealth.

[ED: This is an evolving story where some ID* is really needed - HC]

[* ID == "Intelligent Decisions"]

This is a guide to create or restore images of your partitions using the great open source tool Partimage. It provides information on how to do this locally or across the network, by setting up a Partimaged Server.
Diggable

[ED: Admission only scanned, but this appears to be a nice HOW-TO for Linux command line users - HC]

The rumour that Google is to release its own Windows-less personal computer has been quashed by the rulers of the Internet search engine market. According to the Los Angeles Times, Google boss Larry Page was planning on announcing its low-cost 'Google Cube' running a Google operating system on Friday at the LA Consumer Electronics Show.

FOSDEM, the sixth Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting will be held on 25 and 26 February 2006 in Brussels. KDE will be present there to socialise, hack and take part in the wider Free Software community

MID-WAY through last year Mandrake, the French Linux organisation, bought Conectiva, a Brazilian Linux outfit ... and so was born Mandriva. Check the unofficial Linux league table on http://www.distrowatch.comman - you'll see Mandriva sitting proudly in second place behind Ubuntu.

[Ed: Nice Job in a major newspaper. This could have been published in any major Linux newswire. -tadelste]

The world swooned at the Consumer Electronics Show unveiling of Google Pack, an easily installed almost-all-in-one Internet experience. Too bad it suffers from the same maladies as the rest of the One Size Fits All packages:

Californian applications and database management firm Quest Software Inc is adding more flexible messaging capabilities to its email archiving system after buying-in technology New Zealand-based AfterMail Ltd.

[ED: Here is the key phrase that perhaps make this item have some significance - HC]

" ... archiving email data to make it more accessible to knowledge workers and adhere to corporate compliance regulations."

Massachusetts appoints an acting successor to Peter Quinn (the ITD's current COO), and says more concretely than ever "full speed ahead with ODF"

Significant Event - Please Take Notice

Governor Jim Doyle signed into law a bill that requires all voting machines used in elections in the state of Wisconsin to be coded with open-source software.

The EuroBSDCon Conference is the largest BSD event in Europe, attracting more than 220 attendees from 27 different countries. November's 2005 conference, the fourth EuroBSDCon, took place in the University of Basel, Switzerland. Here are some highlights.

After several months of delay, the first beta version 2.0 of the popular Gaim open source instant messaging client is now available.

The standard QWERTY keyboard dates from 1874. The computer mouse is a little more recent, but still comparatively ancient. Nowadays a number of alternative input devices are available for a wide variety of specialized needs. How well do they function under Linux? I put a few to the test in order to find out.

Redirection of output, input and errors form an integral part of Linux. But many people find it difficult to understand this topic. This guide throws light on this very confusing subject.

In a series of interviews, the founder of the Free Software Foundation discusses some of the thinking behind his crusades and achievements in promoting free and open software.

Opera Software has added support for AJAX (asynchronous javascript and XML) to its flagship Opera browser and SDK (software development kit). The company hopes AJAX will help Opera succeed as a user interface and application framework for embedded devices, an increasing marketing focus for the company.

Twenty three predictions for the upcoming year and none will be wrong. "... Each prediction is supported by at least one of us, except the predictions that turn out to be wrong, which must have slipped in by mistake."

And they are fearless: "A name-brand database vendor will go bust, unable to compete against open source."

Unless it was one of the mistakes. What's your guess Oracle or Microsoft? Not too likely.

With the initiative, Google is setting out to prove that it is better positioned to help people get the most out of their computers than more-established software makers, particularly Microsoft -- the maker of the pervasive Windows operating system.