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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - In a sign that demand is growing for alternatives to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software, Red Hat Inc. will release a version of the Linux operating system and other programs tailored for desktop computers in corporations, universities and government agencies. Red Hat Desktop, announced Tuesday in London, will be targeted at organizations that are looking to upgrade their PCs but don't want or need all the features that ship with the latest version of Windows, said Matthew Szulik, Red Hat's chief executive."These organizations now, for the very first time, have an alternative to the historical Microsoft-desktop...

CHICAGO — Days after an embedded-industry CEO stirred up a firestorm by charging that Linux poses a threat to U.S. security, two prominent computing-security experts said last week that some developers are already inappropriately using Linux in critical security applications where it isn't suitable. Purdue University professor Eugene Spafford and Cynthia Irvine of the Naval Postgraduate School warned that the highest-level, but little-understood, security concerns are sometimes ignored during the development of control systems for tanks, bombs, missiles and defense aircraft. Linux, Windows and Solaris operating systems should not be used in such applications, Spafford said. "An awful lot of...

The SCO(R) Group, Inc. Receives Request From BayStar Capital II, L.P. to Redeem Shares of Series A-1 Convertible Preferred Stock Friday April 16, 1:45 pm ET LINDON, Utah, April 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The SCO Group, Inc. ("SCO") (Nasdaq: SCOX - News), the owner of the UNIX operating system, received a letter on April 15, 2004 from BayStar Capital II, L.P. requesting that SCO immediately redeem BayStar's 20,000 shares of SCO's Series A-1 Convertible Preferred Stock. The letter asserts that BayStar is entitled to the redemption of its shares under Article VII.A(vii) of the Certificate of Designation, Preferences and Rights of...

A recent court filing from IBM Corp. appears to indicate a growing confidence on the part of the Armonk, New York, computing giant that it will prevail in its legal dispute with The SCO Group Inc., according to lawyers following the case.    ADVERTISEMENT    RELATED LINKS [an error occurred while processing this directive] In an amended counterclaim to SCO's lawsuit that was filed Friday, IBM asked the District Court for the District of Utah to enter a declaratory judgement in its favor. IBM asked the court to rule that it has not infringed on SCO's copyright and has not breached...

<p>Once the undisputed leader, America is now under assault from countries worldwide. How did this happen, and will the U.S. be able to fight back?</p> <p>In the history of the U.S. technology industry, 2004 will be remembered as the year that outsourcing hit home. Consultancy Gartner Group figures that U.S. tech companies will send 500,000 jobs overseas this year -- and indeed, hardly a week goes by without a major U.S. tech outfit announcing a new R&D center in Asia. As outsourcing has begun to hit high-salary jobs in programming and tech services, the trend is giving rise to a wider fear -- that U.S. dominance in high tech is starting to wane.</p>

Dear Aiden, I think you remember the conversation we had recently at this software conference in Dublin. You came up to me and told me how the stuff I was talking about was mostly useless, because it is closed-source, people need to pay for it and that companies charging for software are evil anyways - especially Microsoft. Unfortunately I don't have your email, but I am sure this will reach you. First, I would like to thank you for the interesting conversation that developed and to make sure that none of what was said just fades away, I'll tell you...

An Open Letter from the USENIX Association Regarding SCO's Position on Open Source Software The SCO Group, Inc. (SCO), has recently sued IBM and Novell and launched broad attacks on the legality of and the economic justification for so-called open source licensing, including the free licensing of Linux (see SCO's open letter to Congress). As an organization dedicated to advancing the skills and contributions of computer researchers and developers, the USENIX Association is compelled to address and refute the position SCO has taken regarding open source software. USENIX is sending this letter (PDF) to Congress. SCO letter link http://www.osaia.org/letters/sco_hill.pdf Usenix...

I've just gone through the experience of trying to configure CUPS, the Common Unix Printing System. It has proved a textbook lesson in why nontechnical people run screaming from Unix. This is all the more frustrating because the developers of CUPS have obviously tried hard to produce an accessible system --- but the best intentions and effort have led to a system which despite its superficial pseudo-friendliness is so undiscoverable that it might as well have been written in ancient Sanskrit. GUI tools and voluminous manuals are not enough. You have to think about what the actual user experiences when...

The recipe for Coca-Cola is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world. Yet a small Canadian software firm has sold 150,000 cans of a rival fizzy cola, which tastes very like Coke, and has made the recipe public. The firm behind the drink, Opencola, makes software, not drinks. It used the drink (and its open recipe) as a metaphor for the most important trend in software today. Unlike most traditional software firms, Opencola produces open source technologies. Open source is a philosophy for software licensing designed to encourage the improvement and use of software by anyone who...

U.N. report says open source produces better software The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has made available an Internet edition of its E-Commerce and Development Report 2003, which features Free and open-source software: Implications for ICT policy and development as a chapter. The report, like many open source advocates, proposes that the open source process produces better software. It argues that open source development's division of labor is more efficient than that of proprietary coders. The report says that OSS software is better for four primary reasons: More people looking for defects means more defects are found and...

Today Linux, Tomorrow the World? By James V. DeLong The term "open source" is linked with software, and most particularly with Linux, the operating system which, it is hoped or feared, can challenge both Microsoft's position on the desktop and its ambitions to extend its empire into server space. The theory is that Linux and other open source programs are written by hordes of volunteers, each contributing his/her widow's mite of code, communicating at zero cost over the Internet, and self-organizing their efforts without need for either the incentives of markets or the commands of organizational hierarchies. The proof that...

SCO is expanding its campaign to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about open source software to Congress. The excessive hyperbole and “the sky is falling rhetoric” underlines the failure SCO has had in advancing its apparently frivolous claims against other companies which still create technology products and innovate. The company has been spreading FUD through past letters and lawsuits, and now SCO executives are telling Congress that Linux, open source software in general, and specifically, the General Public License (GPL), which protects most open source software is: a threat to the U.S. information technology industry; a threat to U.S.’ competitive...

SCO is continuing to press its unfounded vendetta against open source software to Congress. Repeating the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt that the company has spread through past letters and lawsuits, SCO executives are telling Congress that open source software in general, and specifically, the General Public License (GPL), which protects most open source software is a threat to the U.S. information technology industry; a threat to U.S.' competitive position; and a threat to national security. All of these assertions are false. SCO, which long ago decided to abandon a business model of creating innovative and exciting software, has placed its...

When my sister and I were growing up, we were almost always about the same size. We still are, actually. So we shared clothes. It was a way to double our wardrobe. But, from my point of view, I shared mine freely and she never wanted to share back. If I'd say, "I'd like to wear your blue sweater today," her answer would often be, "No, I'm wearing it." This happened so often, I eventually began to suspect that it was deliberate, her (perhaps unconscious) strategy to keep me away from her things. I'd complain to my mother and long...

Israel has joined what has increasingly become a worldwide crusade to break free of the Microsoft Corporation and their perceived monopolistic constraints. The Ministry of Finance announced Sunday it will begin distributing Open Office, which is a package of basic software programs similar to Microsoft Office, for free starting this coming week. The ministry plans to distribute thousands of Open Office programs on CD-ROM at public computer centers and eventually community centers across the country throughout the coming year. Open Office suite includes all the functions supplied by Microsoft Office – a word processing program, a spreadsheet program, and a...

An open source and freeware software development web site has released a patch to fix the URL spoofing vulnerability in Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by scammers who try to trick people into revealing details of online banking accounts or other private information.Openwares.org, a Vaunatian company, with branches in Israel, the US and France, released the patch and the source code for the same a couple of days back. The company has also set up two pages where users can test to see if they are vulnerable to the exploit, one a fake Microsoft Update example and the other...

Open source firm releases patch for IE spoofing flaw By Sam Varghese December 18, 2003 An open source and freeware software development web site has released a patch to fix the URL spoofing vulnerability in Internet Explorer, which can be exploited by scammers who try to trick people into revealing details of online banking accounts or other private information. Openwares.org, a Vaunatian company, with branches in Israel, the US and France, released the patch and the source code for the same a couple of days back. The company has also set up two pages where users can test to see...

The City of Austin recently completed a group of pilot studies on the use of open source software in its day-to-day business. According to a message posted this morning on the Austin LUG mailing list by Scott Brown, the results are in, and as a result, as many as 80% of the city's desktops will be migrating from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org. Brown noted in his email message that his department (Communications and Technology Management) will be the first to convert by uninstalling MS Office and putting OpenOffice.org in its place on about 300 desktops. The city has more than...

The mysterious people designing open-source software are the same people who are working for you right now Worried about trusting your infrastructure to a bunch of shaggy college kids who might bolt at any moment for a yearlong backpacking trip to Switzerland? Don't worry. Even if every one of them left for the Alps tomorrow, 90 percent of the open-source community would still be checking in to one of the community's Internet hangouts (SourceForge.net and Freshmeat.net are the most popular) to see what's new. Turns out these people have real jobs—58 percent of the open-source community is made up of...

Analysts and industry experts comment on Novell's $210m acquisition of SuSE Linux Novell's agreement to acquire SuSE Linux for $210m is good news for the Linux community and shows that the firm is unconcerned about the fear, uncertainty and doubt surrounding Linux following SCO Group's legal action against IBM. And IBM's investment of $50m in Novell as part of the deal has meant that the distribution and support gap which SCO left in the United Linux consortium has been plugged. "This really is very, very good news for Linux," Gary Barnett, principal analyst at Ovum, told vnunet.com. "It's a very...