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In what's become almost a yearly ritual, the big three database suppliers--Oracle, IBM and Microsoft--are prepping major product releases meant to steal away one another's customers. But unlike previous competitive cycles, this time around the entrenched suppliers are eyeing the threat posed by a growing number of open-source alternatives, particularly on the low end.

Oracle Corp has released the second version of its Database 10g product, but the database management system is only initially available for Red Hat Inc's Enterprise Linux operating system.

According to Bhatia, the Intel-Linux combination presents compelling return on investment, combining economics and flexibility. He cited an International Data Corporation study which indicated that companies deploying Linux on Intel servers saw 504 per cent ROI over three years. Another study by the Robert Frances Group showed that the TCO of Gnu/Linux was 40 per cent that of Windows and 14 per cent that of proprietary Unix, he said.

Yes, you really can make money from"free" software; you just need to have a good business plan.

Marten Mickos, the CEO of MySQL AB, "I believe that it is possible to build a fantastically profitable business on free software, but one must realize that open source/free software is not a business model in itself. It is only a production and distribution method."

In the heat of major political campaigns and elections, we hear a lot about electronic voting and the fight over their accuracy and trustworthiness. However, it is now -- between elections -- that the real work gets done. While experts have placed transparency through open source systems and software high on the list of requirements for trustworthy elections, the debate over a verifiable voter paper receipt has recently overshadowed all other issues. Experts indicated while both printed paper backups and open code are key components to reliable and trustworthy electronic voting, openness may be suffering from lack of attention and support.

Editor's Note: Singapore, previously a major holdout on Linux and Open Source Software adoption is an opinion leader in Asia.

Oracle’s LEAP (Linux Enterprise Applications Porting Centre) is based in Singapore and serves independent software vendors and systems integrators across South Asia. It is the first Oracle-Red Hat-HP Linux solution centre in the world, providing porting, tuning and testing services, partner solutions certification and training. According to Oracle, the centre involves a commitment of about $20 million in software, training, servers and networked storage.

Tonight on The Linux Link Tech Show, episode 92 : Dan has fun configuring Asterisk This years ultimate linux box from Linux Journal Update on TLLTS magazine and tv show And much, much more

Linux and open source are moving beyond academic and government institutions, with small and medium enterprises and large corporations embracing and committing their technological future to this technology. Speaking at a CXO Executive Breakfast Seminar held in conjunction with Linuxworld Singapore 2005, Wolfgang Herrmann, chief information officer, Schenker Asia Pacific, shared his experience on the switch to Linux and open source.

Progeny and more than half a dozen other Debian Linux distributors are working toward forming a common Debian Linux distribution for the enterprise based on the next version of Progeny's Componentized Linux. This is not a done deal yet. Two companies previously mentioned as being involved with the project, Mandriva (formerly Mandrakesoft) and Turbolinux Inc., appear to not be participating at this time. Progeny Linux Systems Inc. continues to lead the way.

The next time you give a presentation with your laptop, don't use bullet points, long-running paragraphs, or templates. Oh, and don't be so organized either. Exercise some freedom, as in free and open source, and talk to your audience, as opposed to reading from slides. Let OpenOffice.org Impress, a tool for creating multimedia presentations, add richness to your story.

Firefox 1.0.5 patches 11 security issues, including a spoofing vulnerability and a tenacious frame-injection flaw. Meanwhile, Mozilla gets closer to a new update system for Firefox 1.1.

GNU/Linux distributions and other Unix and Unix-like operating systems already offer a plethora of tools for installing software. Many of them rely on different package formats, and a lot of the GNU/Linux distributions' effort goes into maintaining an updated and comprehensive list of ports or packages. Sometimes this great and respectable effort does not suffice, however, and users must install from the source packages provided by the developers.

Silicon Graphics supplants its proprietary IRIX operating system with Linux in order to enter the supercomputer field. So which bit of news is more surprising: SGI going with Linux, or SGI still being in business?

Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 has been released. This latest update contains several security fixes and improvements to stability. Grab Firefox 1.0.5 from the Firefox product page and check out the Mozilla Firefox 1.0.5 Release Notes for more information. The security advisories page has not been updated at the time of writing this, but should soon be.

There is more to the CLI than a collection of operating system commands. There are many tools - applications written without a thought as to the operating system - available at the CLI to handle a wide range of chores. Like cracking passwords, for example. Not for nefarious purposes, you understand: but for education. If you've ever wondered just how secure your passwords are, John the Ripper is a good way to find out. A much nicer way to find out than having a script-kiddy crack it seconds.

I knew when I mentioned something negative about the GNU Project’s General Public License (GPL), in my column last week, I would inevitably be accused of arguing the GPL was a bad license. I knew this would happen despite my qualification to the argument that I had released code under the GPL myself.

Xandros touts its Desktop OS Version 3 Business Edition as "an alternative to Windows and . . . does not try to hide that fact that it was designed to be a Linux distribution for Windows users," leading to "a focus on ease of use and Windows compatibility but with the unique advantages of Linux," according to a recently published review at XYZComputing.com. The review summarizes the key features of the Xandros Linux OS, and briefly outlines the installation process, providing screenshots of several configuration wizards.

This week’s show is on web browsers for Linux. While there are waaaay to many available to check them all out on one show, Kelly Penguin Girl and I take a look at 4-5 of them

He goes unrecognized in Portland's coffee shops. He rarely shows up at his suburban Beaverton office. And while Linus Torvalds is a cult figure among computer enthusiasts worldwide, he's essentially invisible in his new home state.

We have just released Trustix Secure Linux 3.0TSL's rapidly expanding new user base has identified a wide range of possible improvements which have now been implemented and made available in this release. Foremost amongst these is the new installer"Viper"... Other additions to the system include X.org X11 libraries, FreeRadius support, easy PXE installs, Mini CD and Net CD versions of the OS, enhanced hardware detection, installation on RAID and logical volumes and a range of kernel upgrades including the shift to Linux 2.6 kernel and BASH 3.