Business

Fresh off its deal with PC manufacturer Lenovo for Suse Linux-based ThinkPad mobile workstations, Novell trumpeted deals with four, smaller "whitebox" PC makers to pre-install Suse Linux on their desktop and notebook computers. The Linux vendor has inked agreements with European vendors ETegro Techn...

Linux leader Red Hat has unveiled an aggressive effort to expand its reach in the telecommunications industry, leveraging its acquired JBoss middleware and open source technology in the space and joining a European community project aimed at fostering an open service telecom infrastructure. Red Hat ...

Novell is bundling more and more software with its Suse Linux distribution, this week announcing a partnership with IBM that puts Big Blue's proprietary WebSphere and DB2-Express C database technologies alongside open source Suse Linux. The Integrated Stack for Suse Linux Enterprise will combine Lin...

Massachusetts' embrace of open technology, open standards and open source software was simply routine strategic planning, the way Tim Vaverchack tells it. However, the state's stance to strongly consider alternatives to proprietary solutions -- such as the Open Document Format -- has fueled one of t...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Sun Microsystems last week open sourced another chunk of Java development code, but some are criticizing the company for not declaring all of Java open source at once and under the same open source license. Sun released source code for Java Mobile Edition development tools under the Common Developme...

A legal test used to assess the validity of patents threatens the development of free and open source software, according to a civil liberties group. The test can be used to create legal obstacles to free and open source collaborations, according to a "friends of the court" brief filed Wednesday by ...

Microsoft is extending an olive branch of sorts to rival Mozilla. Sam Ramji, director of Microsoft's Open Source Software Lab, has offered to help Mozilla make sure its Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail client run smoothly on Windows Vista. Ramji posted the invitation to the Mozilla development...

On the heels of its recent Suse Linux Enterprise 10 platform release, Novell said it would put its marketing money where its mouth is with a multimedia ad campaign for Linux. The campaign, dubbed "Your Linux is Ready," will be backed by the company's entire fourth quarter advertising budget, will co...

The Free Software Foundation and Software Freedom Law Center released a second working draft for the next iteration of the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 3, which updates digital rights management, patent and other provisions included in the most popular free and open source software lice...

As part of its appeal against a decision by a district court judge, SCO has filed a claim purporting that IBM destroyed certain software code, thus making it impossible for the Utah-based company to detail how IBM had infringed its Unix code. Last year IBM asked the court to limit the scope of SCO'...