Free Republic

James Bottomley is really on top of things (sorry -- we had to say it) when it comes to Linux. The CTO of SteelEye Technology is also on the board of the Linux Foundation. In that capacity, he helps smooth the transition of disparate Linux organizations into the still fairly new Foundation. As such, Bottomley's obviously got some insight into Microsoft's continued patent deals with Linux distributors. Those patent deals took another turn this week as Redmond claimed that its deal with Linspire didn't cover software developed under the latest version of the license that governs Linux use, the now...

In a February report from Web site tracking and analysis firm Netcraft, the Apache Web server dipped below 60% market share for the first time since September 2002. Subsequent monthly reports indicated that the downward trend had continued unabated. Now, five months later, Netcraft's July Web Server Survey confirmed this decline: Apache again lost ground to Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS).In July, Microsoft added 2.4 million sites, bringing the total number of Windows Server sites above the 40 million mark, Netcraft found. Microsoft's market share also received a boost, increasing 1% since June to reach 32.8% overall. Apache saw an...

Microsoft Windows is emerging as an acceptable operating system for high-performance computing (HPC) clusters in place of Linux, lowering the bar for entry into that space, according to some analysts and major vendors. In 2006, Microsoft announced the release of Windows Compute Cluster Server (CCS) 2003, marking the company's first attempt at an operating system for HPC applications. Industry observers say that Windows CCS has been well accepted, particularly for small computing clusters. Vendors have jumped on the Windows CCS bandwagon, including HP, which recently extended a multimillion-dollar investment agreement with Microsoft to drive high-performance computing into the mass market...

Today HP execs wrote to tell us that their company has been awarded a top international Linux security certification. The certification, called the Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (EAL4+) Common Criteria security certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, applies to HP servers, workstations and notebooks. In June, if you’ll remember, IBM was awarded the same EAL4+ certification for RHEL5 running on IBM System x, System p, System z, and BladeCenter servers. This cert is part of the Common Criteria Evaluation and Validation Scheme (CCEVS), an internationally recognized standard used by governments and businesses worldwide to determine the level of security...

When Dell first announced that it would be releasing Ubuntu Linux-powered consumer desktops and laptops, some people saw it as more of a stunt than a serious business move. They were wrong. Dell has already expanded its consumer Linux line, and now it has announced that it will soon be offering Ubuntu Linux systems outside of the United States and for new businesses. On Dell’s Direct2Dell site, Lionel Menchaca, Dell’s digital media manager, said, "Wanted to be clear that Dell does have plans to offer Linux to more consumers in additional locations outside the United States. More details to come...

Sun Microsystems is working on releasing an easy-to-install binary version of its OpenSolaris open source operating system Manage remotely with one interface -- the HP ProLiant DL360 G5 server. with delivery planned for early 2008, the company told the press Thursday in a meeting in San Francisco. The idea is to deliver OpenSolaris in a packaged distribution method modeled after the ease of distribution used with Linux. The initiative is called "Project Indiana," and it's a key component of Sun's open source efforts. It, along with Sun's OpenSolaris.org community, is facing a mixed bag of challenge and opportunity.

It's tough to challenge conventional wisdom, especially when that challenge raises doubts about the wildly popular version of Linux called Ubuntu. But doubts are exactly what I had after finishing my Ubuntu "safari", in which I worked through numerous glitches to get laptop and desktop installs up and running. I'm now mystified as to why Ubuntu has become so widely accepted as the version of Linux for newbies to try. Anyone who doesn't want to become their own one-person support shop would be far better off spending $50 for a commercially supported release like Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10,...

Excerpt - Big UNIX news this morning. Apple has bought out CUPS, the common UNIX printing system. The name may not sound familiar, but it's part of every Mac OS X installation. CUPS implements a cross-platform printing system based on the Internet Printing Protocol and is, according to its web page, the defacto standard printing system for Linux. Until now, CUPS has been distributed by Easy Software Products under the GNU general public license. Although the purchase was announced today, it seems the actual deal went down this past February. In addition to acquiring the CUPS source code ownership, Apple...

When Dell first announced that it would be releasing Ubuntu Linux-powered consumer desktops and laptops, some people saw it as more of a stunt than a serious business move. They were wrong. Dell has already expanded its consumer Linux line, and now it has announced that it will soon be offering Ubuntu Linux systems outside of the United States and for new businesses.

Today I tried to help a Mac user save some pictures to a DVD. There were more than 1GB of photos, so it made more sense to use a DVD than two CDs. Unfortunately, Mac OS X thinks that you need to make movies when you insert a blank DVD disc -- it has no idea that you want to save data to it. What you, the user, want to do does not matter. All that matters is that you do what Apple says a computer should do. This is "the Apple way," and some people find it enjoyable.

The new GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 is not a fit for Linux because switching would require permission from the kernel's thousands of de facto owners, a maintainer of the SCSI portion of the kernel said on Thursday. Also, Microsoft released a statement that the company has no GPLv3 obligations. Although the earlier GPLv2 has been used with Linux, GPLv3, released by the Free Software Foundation June 29, presents problems, according to James Bottomley, gatekeeper of the Linux Kernel SCSI Maintainership, which governs disk storage access in the kernel. The Linux kernel is not owned by any one...

Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth has declared more publicity would be generated for open source software if the three large desktop projects of KDE, GNOME, and OpenOffice.org agreed on a common and regular release cycle. During his keynote address at this year's aKademy KDE conference in Glasgow, Scotland, Shuttleworth suggested that KDE move to a more predictable, preferably six-month, release schedule. The rhythm and beat of publicity, according to Shuttleworth, would be a frightening prospect for proprietary competition. KDE's blog editors said the comments "certainly prompted heated discussion, which is still going on". With a significant release coming in the...

Microsoft's Windows platform is losing traction with application developers in North America, according to a survey by Evans Data. A survey this spring of more than 400 developers and IT managers in North America found that the number of developers targeting Windows for their applications declined 12 percent from a year ago. Just 64.8 percent targeted the platform as opposed to 74 percent in 2006. "We attribute [the decline] largely to the increase in developers beginning to target Linux and different Linux [distributions]. Both Novell and Red Hat are the two dominant ones right now," said John Andrews, the CEO...

Google Inc. launched a Linux version of Google Desktop on Wednesday, almost three years after the product's launch for the Windows operating system. The application, designed for indexing and finding data in PCs, as well as for searching the Web, also comes in a Mac OS X version, introduced in April of this year. Like the Mac OS X version, Google Desktop for Linux is a beta, or test, product. The Windows version shed its beta tag already, meaning Google considers it a more stable and mature product. At this point, Google Desktop for Linux does not feature the Sidebar...

When you hear the name EPSON, what images come to your mind? Mine, like many of you I’m sure goes to inkjet printers, or even scanners. But Linux-powered PCs? That one never crossed my mind. EPSON is looking to release both a desktop and laptop running the open-source OS. The Endeavor LX7800 desktop will feature processors ranging from Celeron to Core 2 Duos, (sorry, no AMD here) though little else is known about these.

Jun. 22, 2007 A start-up located in the French Alps near Grenoble is readying a tiny ARM-based Linux single-board computer (SBC) in a USB key form-factor. Calao, based in Sant Martin le Vinoux, is also readying a tiny Linux SBC designed to plug into QIL (quad in-line) IC sockets. Spread the word:digg this story Calao's USB-9260 USB key-sized SBC measures 3.3 x 1.4 inches (85 x 36 mm). It is based on an Atmel AT91SAM9260 processor, an SoC (system-on-chip) powered by an ARM926EJ-S core clocked at 190MHz. The SoC targets "advanced applications such as GPS application processors," according to Atmel....

Intel and Microsoft remain the closest of partners. But a sibling rivalry is brewing. In fact, Intel's growing investments in the open source community reveal five key trends that should worry Microsoft investors over the long haul. In its latest move, Intel Capital has invested an undisclosed sum in Centric CRM, a small open source application developer. Of course, this isn't the first time Intel has pumped money into open source. The chip giant's venture capital team has also invested in MySQL and JBoss (now owned by Red Hat), among others.

There's a very interesting paper published by Goldman Sachs and posted by Hewlett Packard, Fear the Penguin [PDF]. You will recall that both companies sent representatives to join Steve Ballmer and Ron Hovsepian on the stage and to speak about how wonderful it all was on the day Microsoft and Novell announced their deal. According to the paper, Linux is going to take over the corporate data center. Here's the first paragraph: Linux-on-Intel appears likely to emerge as the dominant platform in corporate data centers. This paradigm shift should have significant implications for a broad range of enterprise IT vendors....

The trade press reported a lot of rumors this past week about the chances for a patent protection pact between Red Hat and Microsoft similar to the agreements Microsoft negotiated with Novell, Xandros, and Linspire. Red Hat doesn't appear to be interested in the least. Here's why. First, Red Hat disagrees with Microsoft's assertion that Linux infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property. Spokesperson Leigh Day pointed to a page outlining Red Hat's position on IP infringement, and said, "We continue to believe that open source and the innovation it represents should not be subject to an unsubstantiated tax that lacks transparency."...

-- Red Hat Linux has received a new level of security certification, one that should make the software more appealing to some government agencies. Last week IBM Corp. was able to achieve EAL4 Augmented with ALC_FLR.3 certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, putting it on a par with Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Trusted Solaris operating system, said Dan Frye, vice president of open systems with IBM.