Archive

In a move applauded by legal experts in the free software movement, the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) yesterday announced its support for enhancements to the Linux kernel submission process that it hopes will improve accurate tracking of contributions to the kernel and ensure developers receiv...

In the United Kingdom today, HP unveiled a new round of desktop PCs, offering customers a choice between Mandrake Linux 9.2 and Microsoft Windows XP as default operating systems. The company described the new HP Compaq Business Desktop dx2000 as a simple, inexpensive business computer designed to me...

New research once again confirms that Linux and open-source acquisition costs are a "fraction" of the cost of comparable proprietary options -- but the research adds a new caveat, noting that costs will be driven lower in coming years. Today, savings from Linux are often "offset by high integration,...

In going through a stack of resumes last week, I came across one from a person, certified as expert by both Microsoft and Cisco, who claimed to have "architected secure network solutions" at a previous employer. When I recovered from the consequent daydream about flying lead balloons, I decided to s...

Major vendors, like HP and IBM, are embracing Linux. Does that mean that Linux is no longer, practically speaking, free? Some technology experts -- even those keen on Linux -- have widely differing opinions. In an interview with the Australian IT press, Steve Vamos, the managing director for Microso...

A week after announcing it was putting Linux on more of its desktop machines for the Asian market, HP made bigger waves this week, disclosing a deal with Novell to put SuSE Linux on the entire HP portfolio of business desktops and notebooks in North America, to be followed by other markets later. An...

Recent acquisitions have helped Novell rise to higher prominence as a vendor of Linux and nonproprietary software, but the company now is touting a wholehearted move toward a total, open platform. Novell's end-to-end, desktop-server Linux play and integration with its NetWare server technology was e...

Xandros this week began shipping its Linux-based Xandros Business Desktop and Operating System, an enterprise Windows desktop replacement that the company says is completely compatible with Microsoft Windows servers. The software -- priced at $129 per copy or $500 for a five-license pack -- aims to ...

I've been puzzled by Sun's Linux strategy for a long time. On the software side, things make sense: Linux is Unix, so supporting Linux in the short term brings new value to Solaris in the long term. On the hardware side, however, I couldn't see any logical reason for Sun to sell x86 boxes until just...

In stark contrast to the long waits typical for Windows users wanting to patch software vulnerabilities, recently discovered security weaknesses in the core of the Linux operating system were addressed by major vendors in a matter of just a few days this week. Two security vulnerabilities in the Lin...

Looking to head off bugs and to allay fears that its software is not as robust as its competition, MandrakeSoft announced a new development process this week that the company hopes will broaden the appeal of its software. According to the company, which is known for its Linux distributions targeted ...

IBM and SuSE Linux -- now owned by Novell -- announced they have reached new heights in Linux security with a standards certification that the companies claim will boost Linux adoption in government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense. The newly earned Common Criteria for Information ...

In a somewhat uncharacteristic announcement about Linux, Hewlett-Packard said its revenue from the open-source operating system and connected products and services hit record levels in 2003, earning the Palo Alto, California-based company $2.5 billion, an increase of about a half-billion dollars fro...

Novell has announced it will indemnify users of its newly acquired SuSE Linux software systems. Following the lead of Hewlett-Packard, which was praised for its savvy in being the first Linux vendor to indemnify customers in the face of SCO's source-code claims last September, Novell said enterprise...

Promising marked performance and reliability improvements and further demonstrating that Linux is ready for prime-time enterprise use, open-source developers led by Linux creator Linus Torvalds and production kernel maintainer Andrew Morton have released version 2.6 of the operating system kernel. T...