Archive

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...

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...

Mozilla named the winners of its Firefox Flicks video contest at the San Francisco International Film Festival last week. Nearly 300 Firefox fans submitted entries in the competition to promote the open source browser through short film. The grand prize went to "Daredevil," which will be short-liste...

In a move to extend the growth of its Linux-based products, IBM on Thursday announced a new initiative designed to help customers migrate from Microsoft Exchange to IBM Lotus Notes and Domino on Linux. Big Blue will sink US$300 million into an ad campaign to woo customers away from its industry riva...

The Mozilla Foundation is preparing to launch yet another version of its open-source Web browser -- ahead of Internet Explorer 7. The Mozilla development team freezed the code for Firefox 2.0a1 last Thursday, according to the minutes of a March 14 Firefox 3 status meeting at the foundation's headqua...

Open-source license compliance is a sensitive topic. Lawyers and technicians have devoted endless hours, lengthy blog postings and much mental energy to questions like, "What is a derivative work?" and "What is distribution?" Very interesting stuff indeed, and grist for meaty discussions. However,...

Mozilla is calling on independent filmmakers looking for their first big break. The open-source software maker yesterday launched the Firefox Flicks Ad Contest, which calls for submissions of 30-second ads from anyone and everyone. Mozilla has seen over 10 million Web users adopt Firefox 1.5 in less...

Mozilla is doing something that no open-source Web browsing project has ever done before -- using independent filmmakers to spread the word about its next release. Call it open-source marketing. Mozilla is reportedly preparing to tap into the large community of amateur filmmakers to produce 30-secon...

In a move to speed up the outcome of an ongoing legal dispute, IBM on Friday agreed to drop its patent infringement claims against the SCO Group. Big Blue initially filed the claims in August 2003. The countersuit was a response to SCO's lawsuit that alleged IBM has infringed its Linux patents. IBM ...

Much the same as any other open-source debate, opinions about the future of Linux on the desktop are about as varied as they come. On one side you've got the Desktop Linux Consortium with its mission to advance the open-source operating system on desktops everywhere. On the other side you've got sof...

Sun Microsystems is embarking on a new US$50 million marketing campaign, it was revealed today. The company is pointing to success stories with clients like online auctioneer eBay, General Motors, and Major League Baseball in an effort to show the world how its products and services help connect peo...

Anonymizer, a leading provider of Internet privacy and security products, plans tomorrow to release Anonymizer Total Privacy Suite, the first comprehensive identity protection product that works with Firefox, Mozilla's popular open-source Web browser. The new software, available for online purchase ...

Reports that Nokia has replaced 55,000 desktops running Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser in favor of Mozilla's Firefox at its Swedish operations are bogus, according to the company. Nokia spokesperson Chantal Boeckman told LinuxInsider that "the IDG reporter got the information wrong. We ha...

Holiday shopping sure has changed. This year, my shopping list includes all things digital -- a TiVo box, some DVDs, perhaps even a digital camera. A generation ago, consumer goods did not come with microprocessors. Back then, once you bought something, you owned it. You could use it however you ...

Microsoft announced today that it would extend its indemnification program to all end-users of its software products. According to analysts, however, the move is more a way to ease customers' fears than a real value-add. The software giant's policy protects end users of software from the legal cost...