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MSDN announced last week that it had tweaked its subscriber download site in order to make it compatible with both Firefox and Opera. There are some issues, such as extra work needed in installing the File Transfer Manager, however developers are working on a new version of the FTM that should correct final problems.

Businesses should switch from Windows to Linux desktops because Linux's technology is superior, according to Jon Walker, CTO of Versora. There are plenty of other reasons to make the switch, said Walker. Linux is a more secure operating system, extends the life of personal computers, erases vendor lock-in and carries lower license and support fees. In this tip, based on Walker's migration workshops, we present his reasons why businesses should move to Linux desktop and good practices for planning that migration.

What really scares Microsoft is innovation, not copy-cat desktops. If you want to see the kind of visceral hatred fear inspires, check out Ballmer's antics over Google. Or, for a more subdued example, read Doug Barney's put down of the Unix business architecture (big servers, smart display desktops) in a recent RedmondMag Editorial.

rPath’s focus is customized Linux applications based on an open -source project known as Conary. According to Information Week, rPath will offer “a new way to build and maintain Linux without the overhead” required with other solutions such as Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux.

Andrew Johnston, senior technology architect at the AIB Group told Electric News.Net that the bank was utilising the replacement of aging branch systems based on Windows 3.1 and IBM OS/2 to implement new functionality offered by a Linux setup.

Passguard (http://www.passguard.com), an advanced Login Manager toolbar for Firefox, Mozilla and Netscape browsers. Passguard is a bookmark, password management and login assistant that offers enhanced security, bookmark search, speedy site retrieval and automatic logins.

Ultima can be described very simply: it is Slackware pre-configured into a very useable desktop. So, DO expect Slackware's stability, performance and simplicity, as well as low hardware requirements. DO NOT expect cutting edge technologies and latest versions of packages - Slackware, and therefore Ultima, stick to what works for them. In particular, they still use 2.4.x kernels, though 2.6.x kernel is supposed to be available somewhere (but if it appeared anywhere as an option during the installation, I missed it).

Microsoft has been especially critical of a legal framework that causes it to spend $100 million a year defending itself against 35 to 40 lawsuits at any one time. But what spurred the company to team up with Smith was a jury that awarded one-man software company Eolas Technologies $565 million in damages--a decision that has been partially reversed--in a patent dispute over Microsoft's Internet Explorer. "We really feel that there's a litigation lottery," said David Kaefer, Microsoft's director of intellectual-property licensing. "People roll the die and hope that their number comes up big."

Gartner Senior Program Director Pascal Winckel, the man responsible for the Gartner Application Development Summit being held this week in Grapevine, Texas, is taking a hands-on approach at the event. He was greeting attendees at the registration desk Sunday afternoon in the Gaylord Texas Convention Center with a handshake and introduction. Monday he made a few brief welcoming remarks to the audience, some 700 strong, before introducing the two speakers who really got the ball rolling.

The recently announced openSUSE project is already attracting a lot of interest from the open source community and Novell says it is boosting the numbers of SUSE installations globally.

Despite the Oracle/Siebel news that had the potential to swamp its recent Dreamforce user conference in San Francisco, Salesforce.com had enough up its sleeve to keep the attention of its 3,000 plus attendees with the introduction of AppExchange, an application exchange platform that combines the principles of the open source distribution model with the dot com trading exchange concept.

Learn how to use mod_jk to forward requests to specific hosts when more than one Tomcat instance is running.

Hans Reiser formed Namesys and began the development of Reiserfs ten years ago. The first release of the filesystem, Reiser3, is part of the mainline 2.4 and 2.6 Linux kernels. The more recent Reiser4 is a complete redesign and reimplementation of Reiserfs, aiming to soon be merged into the mainline 2.6 Linux kernel. In this interview, Hans discusses his background and how he came to create Namesys and Reiserfs. He looks back at Reiser3, describing the advantages it had over other filesystems when it was released and its current state. He then explores the many improvements currently in Reiser4, describing the plugin architecture and its exciting potential for future semantic enhancements.

Novell is launching the beta version of what it calls the most rigorous training and examination program for Linux certification to meet data center requirements.

Phil Zimmerman, the inventor of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the application often credited with the introduction of cryptography to the masses, recently announced his intent to provide PGP-like software to ensure the privacy of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications. VoIP, or Internet telephony, enables the routing of voice conversations over IP networks (e.g. the Internet) and is currently offered for use through newer companies, such as Vonage and Lingo (and some not-so-new companies, like Verizon and Comcast). You'd be well within your rights to ask, "If VoIP isn't currently secure, how can it be offered to companies and individuals as a legitimate service? And if it is secure, why all the fuss?"

Recently, a colleague and I decided to create a Web site that would serve as an online community and resource for young musicians. Though I had some Web design experience, neither of us had the experience or knowledge to create all of the features that we wanted in our site. Luckily, we were able to turn to WordPress. With its tools we could combine static pages with dynamically updated pages, categorize site content, automate formatting of site data, manage site membership accounts, incorporate RSS feeds and podcasts, and allow for community discussion of the site's content. Best of all, we could accomplish all of this with relatively little setup effort, and once the site was up and running, we could focus almost exclusively on content and let WordPress do the rest.

TIBCO is releasing the latest version of its Ajax-based rich Internet application (RIA) development solution, General Interface 3.0. The new version includes the TIBCO General Interface Framework and the General Interface Builder, which is designed to allow developers to deliver highly interactive, feature-rich, Web-based applications that run in a standard Web browser. This thin-client approach is meant to eliminate the need for client-side software installation

A pair of potential security vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel has been patched with a new point release. The two issues may affect all Linux Kernel versions prior to the patched 2.6.13.1, which was released late last week. The 2.6.13 kernel was released just two weeks ago.

Ultima can be described very simply: it is Slackware pre-configured into a very useable desktop. So, DO expect Slackware's stability, performance and simplicity, as well as low hardware requirements. DO NOT expect cutting edge technologies and latest versions of packages

The Firefox web browser rebounded in August from a small decline in market share the previous month, but the biggest gain was recorded by Netscape, a web-site analysis company said Monday.