Showing headlines posted by dave

There may be one single penguin as the mascot for Linux, but there are countless Linuxes - different versions that aim to fulfil different niches. Some function as printer servers, while others as digital video recorders. And then there are also the large versions, complete with easy-to-use installation routines and large software packages. There are so many choices, in fact, that those interested in making the switch to Linux for the first time will likely be overwhelmed with the choices.

Here’s the down and dirty. Finding that their computers are so filled with spyware, trojans and viruses that they no longer function, more and more people are THROWING AWAY entire computers and buying new ones with Windows pre-installed so they don’t...

Two software releases of note: Mozilla released an upgrade of Firefox, which includes several security fixes. They advise all users to download and install the upgrade. And the Open CD Project popped up on the radar with the release of a CD compilation of open-source programs that run on Windows.

Occasionally I skim a whitepaper. I feel a little bit guilty saying that; I'm not a CIO or CTO -- I think of myself as a developer and author. Still, there are sometimes a few really good pieces of data to extract from even press releases masquerading as tech marketing whitepapers.

The Mozilla Foundation will hold off releasing the next revision of its popular open-source browser Firefox until late September. The announcement, made by developer Ben Goodger on the Mozilla Web site, is likely a stalling tactic to shore up recent security difficulties in the browser. Firefox 1.1 had been scheduled for release this month.

A biometrics company has launched a consumer products division that is shipping its first product -- a 256MB USB Flash drive loaded with Debian Linux. Bionopoly's FingerGear division will follow up next month with a Computer-on-a-Stick (COS) model incorporating a fingerprint scanner and LCD display.

Venture capital (VC) has returned to open source software, writes Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols in an eWEEK editorial published today. However, VCs today are more discriminating than in the go-go 90s, limiting investments to companies with solid fundamentals, especially those in markets such as development and deployment tools, telecom, and embedded.

The next version of the Firefox Web browser, which will be called Firefox 1.5, is slated for release later this summer, and development work continues on new features that include an automatic update service.

Last month, Sun Microsystems released the source code of its Solaris operating system to the general public in an attempt to increase community interest. Now they are at it again, with a far more ambitious plan. Sun COO Jonathan Schwartz has announced that the company plans to offer all of it's software for free.

A San Diego lawyer says California's state government should be forced to dump Microsoft in favor of open-source alternatives. But can free software get into politics without getting dirty?

The third of four days of this year's Ottawa Linux Symposium started before I did in the morning but the remainder of the day offered a great deal of interesting information on Linux virtualisation, women in the community, and an update on the state of Canadian copyright law.

Some technology industry insiders say there seems to be a little bit of Linux just about everywhere in the corporate IT shops of Australia. But it can sometimes be difficult to quantify exactly where and how much.

After writing articles about OpenOffice.org over the last few years, I've noticed that, no matter what the exact subject is, I get the same comments from readers. This situation strikes me as deeply unfortunate. NewsForge readers, I know, are busy people. They don't have time to write long comments, or engage in endless email discussions. To spare them, I have devised a series of generic comments for articles about OpenOffice.org -- not just mine, but anybody's.

Users of open source tools and software looking for a new cache of interesting projects to peruse might find something interesting at swik.net.

Sun Microsystems president and COO Jonathan Schwartz on Thursday cited the company's plans to eventually offer all of its software for free as a way to build communities around its technologies. "The net upside of that is we get more people engaged in our community," Schwartz said of Sun's plans while speaking at the AlwaysOn conference in Stanford, California.

Officially, there's no word yet, but insiders say that the group will be ready to make major announcements by LinuxWorld in early August.

IBM has committed engineering resources to help in the development of Project Harmony, an initiative from the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) to create an open source implementation of the J2SE specification.

Not too long ago, Sun Microsystems proudly sold Linux for its line of x86 processor-based servers. If you had any doubts that this Linux love era has passed, then check out yesterday's press release describing a customer win with Ciena Corp. Love? Not even tolerance.

In an effort to restart, the LinuxFund credit card program, intended to benefit the Linux and open source community, has named a new executive director and announced it will begin funding open source projects again.

A panel of high-profile industry players weighed in Thursday on whether the world will ultimately turn to open source as a means for solving its software needs, with the overriding view being "yes."