linux

Linux: Strong and getting stronger

At the Linux Foundation's annual collaboration summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, Executive Director Jim Zemlin kicked off the event with some interesting perspectives on the state of the Linux marketplace today.

The short version: Linux is going strong and getting stronger.

According to Zemlin, the macro-economic trends have played to the strengths of Linux and open source. Few can dispute that Linux is cheaper to procure and run in comparison to proprietary platforms. This applies not only to end users but also to device manufacturers and development shops building platforms.

Would Google be the company it is today … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1202: Multitasking, iAds ... and Folders! (podcast)

In today's episode, we follow the Apple live-stream for earthshattering iPhone OS additions like multitasking (woo!), an interactive ad platform (woo!), and an innovative new app organization structure called ... Folders (WTF?). Also, the UK rushes through a big online piracy law, so that's going to end well, and Google Voice may be coming to the desktop. --Molly

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1202

Purported hack brings Linux back to the PS3

Sony PlayStation 3 owners who held off on updating their systems in order to keep from losing the option to install alternate operating systems have a new glimmer of hope. Hacker George Hotz (a.k.a Geohot) has released a video of a new hack that promises to keep the alternate OS install feature, even with the 3.21 firmware update that was released last week.

Hotz says the hack is nothing more than a custom system software update that can be installed without having to do any hardware modifications, but users need to be on version 3.15 of … Read more

IBM patent claims show open source has arrived

At least no one can accuse IBM of playing favorites when it comes to open source.

IBM, a longtime defender and advocate of open-source software, took a shot over the bow of the open-source community in March when it sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company behind the OpenHercules open-source project.

Has Dr. Jekyll IBM just met its Mr. Hyde?

On March 11, 2010, Mark Anzani, vice president and chief technology officer within IBM's System z business unit, sent TurboHercules a letter asserting its patents against the OpenHercules open-source project. In it Anzani expresses surprise that TurboHercules wouldn't … Read more

Novell wins in court; SCO eyes new fights

SCO's seemingly endless legal campaign over the copyrights to Unix may finally be over.

On Tuesday afternoon, a federal jury found that Novell owns the rights to the operating system, foiling SCO's plan to seek millions of dollars in licensing fees from companies it accused of illegally distributing its proprietary Unix code with the Linux OS.

Great news for the open-source community and for the long-suffering Novell, which has been battling SCO for quite some time now.

"Novell is very pleased with the jury's decision confirming Novell's ownership of the Unix copyrights, which SCO had … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1194: Pee2Pee (Podcast)

The show's a pretty well-controlled train wreck right up until we start talking about the underwear that texts when it's, um, moist. No, you're not listening to the 404 (or Gadgettes), it's actually Buzz Out Loud. In real news (if you will), the first week's worth of iPads have apparently sold out and actual competition is coming to the wireless space ... around 2011. Also, cosmic rays are making your car go fast. No, really.

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Apple runs out … Read more

Bad economy is a gift that keeps giving to Red Hat

Someone should tell Red Hat that the world has been muddling through a global recession for the past few years. While others' earnings went into a deep freeze throughout the recession, Red Hat has consistently posted strong numbers.

Red Hat's fiscal fourth-quarter 2010 earnings, announced on Wednesday, are no different. Does the company ever get bored of reporting double-digit growth and record billings?

Apparently not.

Red Hat notched its fourth consecutive quarter of exceeding analyst expectations for profits. Highlights from Red Hat's earnings include:

$195.9 million in total revenue, up 18 percent from the year ago quarter. … Read more

Tim O'Reilly: 'Whole Web' is the OS of the future

SAN FRANCISCO--Open-source developers and businesses are focused on the wrong opportunity, according to industry luminary Tim O'Reilly. The future isn't programming for Linux or MySQL. The future is programming for the "whole Web."

And it threatens to be controlled by open-source savvy, data-rich companies like Google.

On Wednesday in San Francisco, O'Reilly closed the first day of the Open Source Business Conference by shaking up some comfortable assumptions of the open-source commercial ecosystem, which has tended to focus on commoditizing established markets with low-cost, high-value distribution, all driven by open-source licensing.

This is nice, according … Read more

Meet Ubuntu Linux's new CEO (Q&A)

LONDON--Jane Silber has been chief executive of Canonical for 11 days.

But she's no outsider swooping in to take over Ubuntu Linux's corporate sponsor. She joined Canonical in June 2004, two months after previous CEO Mark Shuttleworth founded the company with a few programmers he recruited from the Debian Linux project on which Ubuntu is based.

Since then Canonical has grown to about 320 employees and has made Ubuntu a major presence in the world of Linux--version 10.04, one of the important "long-term support" versions that arrives every two years, is due in April. It'… Read more

If Novell gets bought, will Red Hat follow?

Elliott's proposed acquisition of Novell promises to shake up the software industry, which has grown a bit staid in the past year or two. But what will it mean for Red Hat, and for the broader open-source software industry?

In particular, Novell's acquisition might well spur a mergers and acquisitions revival, as Barron's notes. But will it create overwhelming pressure for Red Hat to sell, too?

Red Hat has been the subject of buyout rumors for well over a decade, but has never been particularly close to indulging the temptation, according to sources close to the company. … Read more