Archive

Longtime Linux distribution vendor Xandros is not touting the latest Linux kernel functionality, KDE 3.42 user interface, or other cutting edge open source gems of the new version of its desktop operating system. Instead, Xandros has dubbed version 4.0 of its OS the "Digital Lifestyle Linux Desktop,...

Sun Microsystems is touting the growth of its one-year-old open source project OpenSolaris, indicating the open code effort for its formerly closed Solaris operating system has drawn thousands of developers, hundreds of contributions, and millions in revenue. Celebrating the OpenSolaris anniversary ...

Japanese Linux vendor Turbolinux last week announced a couple of big deals in China, as the company looks to take advantage of China's pro-open source government backing and the replacement of SCO-Unix servers in a Turbolinux bid for market expansion. Turbolinux said Qinzang Railway, part of China's...

Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics, and Vodafone announced on Thursday plans to establish the world's first global, open Linux-based software platform for mobile devices. The companies are developing a Linux-based platform that it hopes will lower develop...

Novell this week unveiled an open source identity management project called "Bandit," aimed at interoperability among disparate identity systems and consistency in securing and managing identities, which can number in the thousands for enterprises. There have been numerous attempts at a uniform iden...

Google on Wednesday released a Firefox extension to keep browser settings in sync across multiple computers. Google Browser Sync is a free plug-in for the popular open source browser that continuously synchronizes bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, tabs and saved passwords across different PCs....

A new device called the Pepper Pad 3 is aimed at the convergence of digital media and the Internet, offering Web browsing, media playing, photo and other capabilities in a two-pound device that runs on an AMD Geode processor and Linux operating system. The device, created by Pepper Computer and Hanb...

The best software developers in the world know you can't create code without bugs -- it's just not possible. However, new open source software being put to use by open source projects including Evolution, Gaim, theGimp, Gnome, Rhythmbox and others can more quickly find the worst bugs, including thos...

Given recent maneuvers by proprietary database vendors, it is apparent that open source is having an impact on the database software market. Two recent reports from major IT analysis firms -- IDC and Gartner, which actually adjusted its market measurement in part because of open source -- highlight ...

Mozilla late last week released 12 patches for its popular open source browser. Five of the patches issued in Firefox 1.5.0.4 were labeled "critical." Mozilla has issued four security updates to the 1.5 edition of the browser since it was made available last November. The last round of security fixe...

Up-and-coming European security software player BitDefender has updated both its Linux-based perimeter protection security suite and its Linux Edition solution for antivirus scanning on Linux and FreeBSD platforms. The company's new products highlight the latest filtering protection for Windows and ...

Red Hat is reaching beyond Linux geeks and system administrators with its latest effort to provide open source tools and community networks not around enterprise computing, but centered on digital media including music and television. Dubbed "Mugshot," the new Red Hat initiative consists of a Web si...

Sun Microsystems partnered with a somewhat unlikely ally as it announced Tuesday that the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system would run on its latest Sparc servers, the 'Niagara'-based Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 enterprise servers. The two may combine for a powerful server punch, as Sun's Ultra-Spar...

Mobile phone giant Nokia released its S60 mobile browser source code under the open source BSD license this week, claiming the move will promote handset platform consistency and avoid the fragmentation that has held back mobile browsing. Nokia is choosing to open the mobile browser engine code becau...

A network of companies collecting patents and pledging them to defend the Linux operating system and environment recently acquired more patents, but doubts linger as to the effectiveness of the effort and corporate support for it. The Open Invention Network, an entity formed last year with support f...