Showing headlines posted by dave

One of the classic indicators of the maturity of any software platform is the existence of enterprise-caliber administrative software. Companies such as Tivoli, now an IBM subsidiary, Computer Associates, and many others have made this space their bread and butter. Xandros, purveyors of fine Xandros Linux distributions for home and business use, recently introduced their Xandros Desktop Management Server (xDMS) software to fill exactly this need for Xandros Linux users and administrators.

The race is on at sqlite.org where they conduct a series of speed tests for Linux databses using SQLite 2.7.6, PostgreSQL 7.1.3, and MySQL 3.23.41. SQLite finish[es] first, MySQL is the runner up, with PostgreSQL trailing the pack.

Attorney Paul Arne writes the Open Source Law Blog, designed to make visitors aware of developments in the law and business of open source software. Arne is a rare bird: an attorney who can actually string together a few sentences that don't induce sound sleep in the reader. In fact, Arne has taken some issues regarding the GPL, copyright, and software patents, and made these sometimes complex topics engaging, fun, and easier to understand, all while bringing out important nuances.

Norway's Opera Software has released the beta for its next-generation Web browser to Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD.

The embedded-systems specialist Wind River has published the embedded Linux distribution Wind River Platform for Network Equipment, which among other areas of application is designed for use in telephone exchanges or with network equipment. It implements the Carrier-Grade-Linux specifications of the OSDL and is based on a Linux Kernel of the 2.6 series. Whilst taking the Enterprise Linux of Wind-River's partner Red Hat as its foundation the development platform comes with the Eclipse-based Wind-River IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

You might think of Gentoo as a bleeding-edge distribution for development workstations, but the simple packaging system can make it a good choice for any production system that needs to stay up to date.

Makau Releases Linux Professional Institute Certification Training

Cost-of-ownership studies show that software licensing fees are only the tip of the iceberg. "Hardware and software, when taken together, typically make up less than 30 percent of a five-year cost structure," says IDC's Dan Kusnetzky.

RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser to Keynote at San Diego Desktop Summit in February

Managed desktops aren't only for big companies. Time you spend babysitting a misconfigured computer is time you aren't pursuing a real business goal.

The registration date for the planned mass certification of Linux professionals has been extended to accommodate more users. Already more than 200 people have signed up for the event.

Hewlett-Packard plans to start selling a home media hub based on the open-source Linux operating system later this year. The company hopes that the product will replace consumer electronics devices such as VCRs and DVD players in living rooms.

Adobe Systems has released version 7 of its Acrobat software for creating PDF files, with upgraded collaboration features and a beta version of its free Adobe Reader 7 for Linux.

When Sun's Scott McNealy told us that Red Hat had the Linux market, we decided it might be a good idea to find out what Novell and Mandrakesoft had to say about that. We exchanged email with Mandrakesoft CEO François Bancilhon and Novell's director of product management and marketing, Charlie Ungashick, on the subject of Solaris 10, Red Hat, and how they compete in a consolidating market.

Should KDE should port its applications to Windows? A debate has flared up in parts of the KDE community, filling inboxes and blogs with arguments long and short. The question is really whether the KDE community should encourage this, since it is already happening. In the tradition of dialectic, I present the key arguments for and against this venture in style of a Platonic dialogue.

Mandrakesoft, the popular French Linux distributor, is making its most serious effort yet to become a business Linux distributor.

George Tang Industrial Corporation introduces the GDV-08, its latest 8-channel DVR with built-in LAN and CD-RW. The Linux-embedded unit is bundled with Software Watchdog and realtime MPEG-4 compression.

O'Reilly's OpenOffice.org Writer, by Australian technical writer and active OpenOffice.org community contributer Jean H. Weber, is an enhanced and updated version of her earlier book, Taming OpenOffice.org Writer, which was the first book ever published about OOo. This book skips basic OpenOffice.org functionality and focuses on one OOo component: Writer. It includes a copy of OpenOffice.org, and has many useful tips for technical writers and advanced OOo users.

Rajesh Rege, director of sales, Sun Microsystems, said the biggest blow will be for commercial vendors of Linux. Why would anyone buy a paid version, when an operating system tested in mission critical situations is available for use free of cost, he asked.

Linux starts off the new year looking better than ever, but not without its challenges. Today, we're dusting off the crystal ball and taking a look at what users of the open-source operating system might expect this year.