Archive

Most fans of Linux know that while the open source operating system has proven its might in corporate computer servers, it has languished on the desktop, where Microsoft maintains its monopoly. While companies such as Linspire, Xandros and others try to make Linux more appealing on the desktop, Ubun...

SpikeSource this week announced that it has sealed a deal with Japan's NEC to bundle its certified open source solutions with NEC servers. This is the first time NEC has incorporated open source software into its products, SpikeSource noted. The Tokyo-based firm plans to deliver SpikeSource infrast...

Mozilla's open source software developers quickly jumped on a supposedly critical series of Javascript vulnerabilities in the Firefox browser, only to find that the hack, presented over the weekend at ToorCon in San Diego, was a big joke. "The main purpose of our talk was to be humorous," said Misch...

Yahoo used its recent "Hack Day" to springboard its opening of substantial chunks of code to software developers, highlighted by the application programming interface of Yahoo's widely-used Web e-mail application. Yahoo said the Web application code release -- aimed at spurring new interfaces and ot...

The open source software development process will be going under the microscope as computer science researchers from the University of California Davis use a US$750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to find out how systems such as the Apache Web server, PostgreSQL database and Python sc...

When Oracle bought Berkeley DB provider Sleepycat Software early this year, some feared the open source database maker's product -- and the entire open source database market -- might be at risk. Now, however, Oracle is winning praise for a hands-off approach that has resulted in its first update to...

Black Duck Software got its feet wet during the SCO uproar, when the Unix firm's legal onslaught against IBM and others sharpened concern over intellectual property rights connected to the use of software code. New issues have arisen since then, however, coinciding with the increased adoption of ope...

Like many in the technology industry and legal community, IBM is wondering when the US$5 billion lawsuit the SCO Group has filed against it -- for alleged breach of contract and the incorporation of SCO code in Linux -- is going to end. Big Blue this week filed for summary judgement in the three-and...

In a twist made possible by virtualization, Novell said this week it would support Linux virtualization, including instances of rival Red Hat's Linux Enterprise 4 operating system, using Xen virtualization optimized for Intel hardware. Novell said it will offer enterprise support both for its own Su...

Linux creator Linus Torvalds' objections to GPLv3, the Free Software Foundation's draft of the next version of the popular GNU General Public License, have been reinforced by the rest of the open source operating system's top developers. They share Torvalds' concerns over digital rights management, ...

One of the original leaders of the open source movement, Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media, kicked off a blogosphere firestorm in late May by sending a cease-and-desist letter over the use of the term "Web 2.0," as his technical conference is trademarked by that name. The complaint has since been withd...

IBM has revealed that it is considering a plan to support an open source software distribution known as Red Flag Linux from Beijing-based Red Flag Software as part of its long-term strategy in China. Red Flag would be the third Linux distribution supported by IBM and its approximately 300 software a...

Hoping to monetize its open source software development, Qlusters this week is making available openQRM Pro, a specialized version of its systems management software, for sale. Like its open source openQRM datacenter provisioning and management software -- which works with Solaris, FreeBSD, Windows ...

Novell aired some dirty laundry this week, announcing it had received notification that it is in danger of being delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange for delayed reporting of financial results for its latest fiscal quarter. The results have been held up by the company's own voluntary, internal in...

Open source coders have developed a Firefox variant, Torpark, that allows users to go online without worrying about the government, Internet service providers or others tracking their Internet activity. Released by a self-described group of computer security experts and human rights workers that cal...