Showing all newswire headlines

By open-sourcing its next-generation Linux desktop technology, Sun Microsystems Inc. is turning over some of its most innovative work to date to the open-source community, sources said.

gLabels, a GNOME program that makes and prints all sorts of labels and business cards, seems to be capable of handling just about any task you throw at it. It's at release 1.93.3, a developer release on the way to a stable 2.0 version, but it's in very good shape.

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates has labeled bootlegged software a greater threat to his company than open-source programs.

Use of Linux by nonprofit organizations is nothing new. For one thing, the lower costs of Linux fit in well with limited budgets. Now, though, some end users at nonprofit organizations are choosing Linux for a completely different reason--namely, a better desktop experience than they've been getting from Windows.

In fact, one wonders whether there's been a skirmish at all. For more than two years, open-source advocates have been furiously throwing alternatives into the market to compete against the Windows/Office combo, with little or nothing to show for their efforts.

Nokia has updated a broad array of its tools and software developer's kits (SDKs) to support Eclipse, the popular Java-based open source Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Support for the Eclipse platform is included in new versions of the Nokia Developer's Suite for J2ME, version 2.2, and the Nokia Mobile Server Services SDK. In addition, users can now integrate any MIDP Nokia platform SDK into the Eclipse environment. All of these Nokia tools and SDKs are now available free of charge to members of Forum Nokia PRO, the advanced developer program offered by Nokia's developer relations group, Forum Nokia. They will be made available to the general Forum Nokia community next month.

Linux and Unix vendors are releasing fixes for a critical bug in the popular Web server Apache that could allow attackers to crash the system or execute malicious code. The bug affects Apache 1.3.x installations configured to act as proxy servers, which relay requests between a Web browser and the Internet. When a vulnerable server connects to a malicious site, a specially-crafted packet can be used to exploit the vulnerability, according to security researcher Georgi Guninski, who has publicly released exploit code.

Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, seeking to stem the spread of Linux software, will meet with prime ministers in Australia and Malaysia and officials in China to promote its Windows operating system in Asia, the world's fastest-growing personal-computer market.

SlickEdit Inc. today announced the release of the SlickEdit(TM) Plug-in v9, the powerful editor plug-in that supports Eclipse 3.0. For over 15 years, power programmers from Fortune 500 companies to individuals have chosen SlickEdit products for their development tool of choice. SlickEdit Plug-in now allows Eclipse developers to write more code faster and more accurately.

Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, Bill Gates, has labelled pirated software as a "tougher competitor" to his company than open-source software.

Geeks tend to eschew computer eye candy -- all those cutesy animations and bouncy icons that litter so many programs and operating systems -- opting for enhanced computer performance over memory-using and processor-draining amusement. But Sun Microsystems is betting that a lot of Linux coders will soon have dazzling 3-D desktops even snazzier than the ones currently sported by Mac users.

Should a company that sells software with licenses that restrict what can be done with the code use "open" in its name? Ned Lilly doesn't see why not. The founder and president of OpenMFG says his company's approach of combining open source development with licensed selling is the right way to handle the complex and changing world of business applications.

Open source has expanded into the political world, with open software powering the online operations of the Democratic National Committee and Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign. The DNC has embraced open source to run its online operation, including outreach and fund raising, and has been working on this front since 2001 with New York-based consultant Plus Three LP.

The Eclipse Foundation, along with Instantiations, Inc., and BEA Systems, today announced the creation of "Pollinate," a new open-source incubator project focused on creating an Eclipse-based development environment and toolset to be named Eclipse Pollinate. Eclipse Pollinate, which will be designed to integrate with Apache Beehive, the industry's first easy-to-use, cross-container, open-source application framework for building service-oriented architectures (SOAs) and enterprise Java applications is being developed to help enable developers to more easily develop and deploy service-based and J2EE-based applications.

RealNetworks announced that Red Hat and Novell would ship Real's software; GPLs Helix player.

Used to be that nobody got fired for buying IBM. Big Blue's Linux general manager Jim Stallings, whose job it is to champion Linux use in the enterprise, seems to think times are changing. In this interview, he explains that IT departments worldwide are having to defend the presence of proprietary technology and explain why Linux and open source aren't being used in-house.

When a National Security directive became effective, this DoD team took the initiative with open-source software.

In a move that reflects the growing power of the open-source programming movement, Sun Microsystems plans Monday to share a modest chunk of Java source code, an experimental user interface for desktop computers called Project Looking Glass.

Computer giants IBM and Microsoft are both strengthening their relationship and cooperation with Taiwanese software developers, which suggests a strong competition for leadership in the Taiwanese market, according to today's Economic News.