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Linux distributions continue to amass on the border of Windows Server's enterprise territory, but top executives at Microsoft Corp. are not blinking. That's because the real battle for software growth this year, they say, will center on low-cost, high-volume x86 hardware and drawing enterprises away from proprietary Unix.

So just how big is the Linux ecosystem today, how fast is it growing, and how big is it going to get? These are the three questions that IT managers, independent software vendors, and IT hardware suppliers are all trying to answer as they map out their plans for the next several years. The answer to those questions, according to a study by IDC is big, fast, and a lot bigger.

PlaySMS, a mobile application platform, was initially released on SourceForge almost a year ago. Since then it has been downloaded more than 11,000 times and built a community of more than 200 developers. Now on version 0.8, it is on track to release version 1.0 by the first quarter of next year.

Linux and open source are at the heart of today's computing technology. Deal with it.

As Windows and Linux carve into their OS turf, Sun and HP trade barbs over HP-UX, Solaris and Linux.

In this week's issue of Linux.Ars, we bring to you a recap of the past year's activity, its successes and failures, in the *nix and open source world.

The success of open-source software is having broad implications outside of open-source companies' own corporate boardrooms and lunchrooms. "They're changing the way the rest of the industry plans to make money off of software," said Forrester Research analyst John Rymer.

Learn how to take screenshots quickly, change window titles and reconfigure a running FVWM instance.

I'll bet there would be a lot of individuals out there who could make killer products if they had access to the Segway technology. Segway could create real, lasting value with their tech by sharing it via licensing, system development, what have you and allowing others to create the myriad ideas necessary to get really good products into the market. Segway should, no MUST help these other radical explorers develop their cool products, products they can't even begin to imagine.

After you get past the beginner stage with Firefox, try this "power-user" trick to make it download pages faster by allowing multiple connections so it can download more than one file at a time. It's only useful for broadband users, so if you're still on dial-up you can just skip this one for now.

The Smart Package Manager project has the ambitious objective of creating smart and portable algorithms for solving adequately the problem of managing software upgrading and installation. This tool works in all major distributions, and will bring notable advantages over native tools currently in use (APT, APT-RPM, YUM, URPMI, etc).

Open source software companies are beginning to augment their presence in database management (DBM) system market. According to industry sources, open source DBM system providers such as Computer Associates (CA), MySQL and PostgreSQL are poised to push aggressive marketing strategies targeting public organizations and Internet service providers, threatening existing closed source DBM solution companies such as Oracle.

Linux Gazette is a volunteer-run monthly web magazine dedicated to two simple ideas: making Linux a little more fun, and sharing ideas and discoveries.

You download a CD or maybe a diskette image, transfer it to the appropriate media, boot your computer with it, and voilà, you're running Linux. It sounds so simple -- but a great deal of work goes into creating that software. Beginning about two years ago, I spent a year and a half building a desktop-oriented GNU/Linux distribution named MfxLinux, designed to be tightly integrated with Crowell Systems' Medformix medical office management system. Along the way, as with any project a lot of design and implementation decisions had to be made -- some of which worked out better than others.

It's that time of year, folks. Industry pundits are out shooting off predictions like so many mortars and who knows where they will land? Paul Ferris can predict with the best of them, but here's some advice: Keep hands and Feet away...

The value and utilization of open-source software have grown immensely in recent years, but in the booming analytics market, open source is strangely not keeping pace. A variety of projects are out there—search open-source nexus SourceForge.net for "OLAP" or "reporting," and you'll find dozens. Unfortunately, many of these attempts seem amateurish, more intentions than anything approaching commercial-grade products. The projects that do appear worth a trial run boast only niche rather than broad-market appeal. Nonetheless, they do suggest far greater future adoption of open source for decision systems.

The value and utilization of open-source software have grown immensely in recent years, but in the booming analytics market, open source is strangely not keeping pace. A variety of projects are out there—search open-source nexus SourceForge.net for "OLAP" or "reporting," and you'll find dozens. Unfortunately, many of these attempts seem amateurish, more intentions than anything approaching commercial-grade products. The projects that do appear worth a trial run boast only niche rather than broad-market appeal. Nonetheless, they do suggest far greater future adoption of open source for decision systems.

When I set out to create open source software on a PocketPC, I figured that was pretty strange, given the thoroughly proprietary nature of the tools, from the OS through the compilers, I'd be using. As it turns out, it's not that strange - lots of people are doing it!

LinuxQuestions.org is proud to announce that voting for the 2004 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards is now open. The Members Choice Awards allow the Linux community to select their favorite products in a variety of categories.

I got to write the year-end review for Enterprise Networking Planet, yay, so I made it all about Linux and F/OSS being the leaders and prime movers of interoperability. Which is something us real-world sysadmins struggle with everyday, with no help from the usual gaggle of closed-source, proprietary vendors. Hurrah for RMS and Linus and every F/OSS developer and advocate on the planet!