Things we Crave
Molly's new favorite watch phone
Quick Tip
Ryan wrote to cnetlive@cnet.com,"I have a very new computer and I downloaded CCleaner to clean the registry. It found over 100 errors and I told it to fix … Read more
If the suspect $150 Swedish laptop I ordered last month fails to materialize, I'm putting those moneys toward another cheap Linux laptop, the Asus Eee PC 701. That's three E's, for easy to learn, easy to work, easy to play. If the Eee is easy to obtain, I'm game.
Take it for what it's worth, but according to a forum post on the Web site EeeUser.com, two Eee PC 701 models will make their way to the U.S. at the end of September priced at $269 and $369. Both models will feature a … Read more
As I told Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, my understanding of Eclipse is several years old. I called him today to get an update on Eclipse, and learn what all the fuss is about.
As it turns out, quite a bit.
Eclipse may be the most important open-source "project" that people outside the industry, and even some within it, have never heard of. Here's why.… Read more
Wow! Now there's a revelation. I'm not sure how this is news, but LinuxWorld has an article that suggests that, go figure, Novell isn't interested in going down the SCO road. That would be wise. SCO is an also-ran law firm that just ran out of capital to launch its next salvo, whatever it may be telling its customers and shareholders.
My friend and Novell spokesman, Bruce Lowry, declared:
We're not interested in suing people over Unix. We're not even in the Unix business anymore....[Lowry then goes on to suggest that] the cloud has lifted over Linux.Actually, few of us have spent many sleepless nights thinking about SCO and its spurious claims. Rather, we're more concerned about Novell (and others) saddling up on the Microsoft patent horse.… Read more
The answer appears to be a qualified 'Yes.' As reported by VentureCake (discovered via Slashdot), VMware's ESX appears to be derived from Linux in a material way, and has been notified of such over a year ago (and repeatedly since then). Yet it has not disabused the accuser (Christopher Helwig, the Linux SCSI storage maintainer and one of the top 10 contributors to the Linux kernel) of the notion.
If true, VMware has a problem on its hands. But the problem is easily solved by simply abiding by the GPL, and may not involve giving away the crown jewels, as it were. What seems to be at issue is a driver that ESX requires:… Read more
I normally wouldn't cover a Red Hat customer acquisition--after all, the company earns more than 10,000 new customers every quarter. It's just not news when it adds a new one, even a big one like Swisscom IT Services, as announced today.
But the Swisscom deal is significant, and not because of Linux. In fact, Swisscom IT Services already had a comprehensive Linux solution in place. Indeed, buying Linux is now such a no-brainer decision that reporting on Linux adoption is like reporting on someone buying furniture. You might decide to change the store from which you buy it, but you're not going to stop buying it. Everyone needs furniture.
No, the Swisscom decision points to Red Hat's success in selling operating system-to-middleware ecosystem value, and that, I believe, is very significant.… Read more
VMware is in the news these days for two related reasons.
First, VMware Fusion for Mac OS X recently went on sale. Fusion enables Mac users to run Windows and other operating systems simultaneously with their regular Mac applications, which pretty much solves the old problem of… Read more
I used to work for a large Japanese company. I know how particular Japanese customers can be. That's why it's impressive to see a US software vendor topping the list of Japan's preferred IT vendors. Even better that the company is an open-source vendor: Red Hat.
Nikkei did a survey of 800 IT buyers in Japan and Red Hat came out on top. Only Apple came close:… Read more
Linuxworld has a thought-provoking interview with Linus Torvalds that is a must-read. Linus is always interesting, but this one is particularly valuable because he addresses the role of commercial interests in making Linux better. He also talks about his personal motivations - financial and otherwise - and suggests:
The thing is, being a good programmer actually pays pretty well; being acknowledged as being world-class pays even better....So I think I would have missed the opportunity of my lifetime if I had not made Linux widely available [rather than made it proprietary and built a company around it].So, if you marry the wide adoption of open source with the talents of a Linus Torvalds and the commercial interests of a Red Hat or MySQL you get...a fantastic community, and one that is good for developers, customers, and vendors.
Linus gives particular praise to commercial interests that have made Linux better:… Read more
Ron Hovsepian, the CEO of Linux distributor Novell, called on the industry to establish more robust standards certification for Linux, ZDNet reports.
Writing for CNET sister site ZDNet, Paula Rooney reported that Hovsepian warned LinuxWorld conference attendees that Linux could suffer the same fragmentation that Unix did, which benefited competitor Microsoft.
Read the entire report here.
Technically Incorrect
1kFacebook Likes
541Tweets
239Google Plus Shares
Christina Milian and the gadgets she loves
Manage updates with the Download App