Showing all newswire headlines

Aside from the general unwillingness of VC's to invest in startups, Linux is a no go. Many factors come into play with the primary lack of an exit strategy topping the list. When will Linux companies see the light at the end of the tunel? Or will they?

Sun Microsystems is starting a new grid utility service that unlocks the data stored in Microsoft Word documents and converts it into Open Document Format files that can be used by the StarOffice and OpenOffice desktop suites.

At least one open source software project is still using the proprietary BitKeeper source code management system, after it went commercial and stopped producing a free version.

Hovsepian becomes president, but beleaguered Jack Messman stays on as CEO.

Elmer 5.0 is a finite element based computational tool for multiphysics problems containing physical models for fluid dynamics, structural mechanics, electromagnetics, and heat transfer, etc. The program has been developed at CSC, the Finnish IT center for science over the past 10 years and has now been released as open source software under the GNU General Public License.

Two vulnerabilities have been reported in the Linux Kernel, with an unknown impact.

1) A boundary error due to missing parameter validation in the "map_to_seg7()" function in "drivers/usb/input/map_to_7segment.h" of the Yealink driver may cause out-of-bound memory references.

2) A boundary error in "/drivers/i2c/i2c-core.c" when handling SMBus Block Write transactions may cause a buffer overflow.

Solution:
The vulnerabilities have been fixed in version 2.6.14-git4.

Commenting on the report of Firefox increasing its market share, TxtEdMacs wrote:"Don't believe it!".

Related to the Article Firefox Jumps In Browser Market Share.

D-Link India used Linux to build a multi-service access router aimed at providing remote offices with network fault-tolerant access to corporate headquarters. The DRO-200i is based on an Intel XScale network processor, and uses V.35 as its primary WAN interface, with ISDN and dial-up backup.

Emeryville, CA-based Continuent, formerly Emic Networks, is readying the release of database virtualization middleware for the most widely used commercial and open-source databases for business. Although the tech firm has undergone a name change, but its mission to boost business database availability remains the same.

Fresh off a new round of series B funding that netted the company $5.75 million, and a name change, the company announced that the coming months will see the release of its database virtualization product tailored to all of the major providers.

I don't.

I long ago lost interest in SCO's claim it "owns" Unix and can force everyone to "license" Linux for its benefit.

At this point I believe SCO is basically a law firm, specifically the law firm of Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP of New York. Four of its partners signed the latest filing, along with SCO's local Salt Lake City counsel, Brent Hatch and Mark James of James, Hatch & Dodge.

To me the most interesting aspect of the latest filing, the cover letter of which was sent to me by SCO's PR officer, Blake Stowell, is the listing of partners who worked on the sealed enclosure, which claims to detail which specific pieces of Linux IBM allegedly "stole" from SCO's Unix. There are two partners who work in Armonk, which is IBM's headquarters, one from Ft. Lauderdale and one from Miami. Missing is the "name" partner, David Boies, he of U.S. vs. Microsoft fame. (The BS&F partners are, for the record, Robert Silver, Edward Normand, Stuart Singer, and Stephen Zack. Good lawyers no doubt, but none with their name on the door.)

Welcome to our issue number 20 of Fedora Weekly News.

Version 3.0 of Black Duck's protexIP/development software is aimed at organizations just getting started with software compliance management.

With the Open Source desktop getting larger and more complex, the world need a special type of hacker. Bow down to the speed demon and their abilities to make the world start-up quicker...

As a Publicly Available Specification, the LSB will remain freely available from the Free Standards Group, as well as being obtainable through the ISO Catalog and any national body who copies it.

NEWTON, Mass.—The ecology and diversity of open source licensing models was a good thing that helped drive the diverse business models in the free and open source software community, Hal Stern, the CTO for software at Sun Microsystems Inc., told the several hundred attendees at the Open Source Business Conference here on Tuesday morning in the opening keynote. Stern's comments come as a debate is raging around the proliferation of Open Source Initiative-approved licenses. The OSI is working to stem the tide of endless new open-source licenses by refusing to approve new ones that essentially duplicate the ones that have come before.

In this series, we will consider key aspects that impact the future of OSS in the business and consumer markets. In view of the history of OSS, it is most unlikely that development will cease at any time in the foreseeable future. That is not an issue. What is of concern is the commercial outlook for goods and services that are based on OSS. Put another way: will OSS re-shape the entire IT industry, or will it never be more than a passing fad for niche players?

Trying to take a more active role in open-source programming, Red Hat has created a team of 34 programmers to work on nothing but next-generation software, the company plans to announce Tuesday.

A senate committee debates the practices of the Massachusetts IT office on its required move in 2007 of using software in the OpenDocument Format. Microsoft's influence on the debate is put to task by the CIO's office.