Jason Brooks

As somebody who enjoys blowing away his notebook computer to install a new operating system every six weeks or so, I have a special appreciation for the way that software as a service lets me leave my key applications and data, accessible and undisturbed, in the cloud. At least, “accessible and undisturbed” describes the way […]

In my previous post, I began making a case for an open-source Windows, and several commenters have weighed in on why such a Windows licensing shift would/could/should never happen. One of the more common points of contention involves a fear of forking–the idea that an open-source Windows would be too fragmented. One of the most […]

With IT budgets contracting under the weight of the recession, the sales pitch for software as a service is sounding more attractive than ever. SAAS can help organizations quickly roll out new applications, avoid large upfront capital investments, and expend fewer application management and maintenance resources moving forward. However, the qualities that make SAAS an […]

Keynote’s Keynote Internet Testing Environment, or KITE, is a desktop application for testing the performance of Web sites. While KITE is aimed primarily at Web application developers, it caught my interest as a tool for measuring the performance of an organization’s current or prospective software-as-a-service-based applications. I tested KITE Version 2.0, which began shipping in […]

In my previous post, I wrote about how Microsoft’s attitude toward open-source software has evolved, encouragingly, from outright hostility to cordial coexistence, and about how the company might maintain and extend its platform leadership position by moving beyond simple tolerance to aggressive adoption of open source. Obviously, Microsoft isn’t getting knocked off its perch any […]

Recently, I met with members of Microsoft’s Platform Strategy Group, including the group’s director, Robert Duffner, to talk about their company’s activities around—and evolving stance toward—open-source software. After assuming an initially hostile position toward open source, Microsoft has adopted sort of an experimental approach—the company developed a pair of bona fide open-source software licenses, maintains […]

It’s roughly mid-December, which means it’s time eWEEK Labs to name our 2008 Stupid Tech Tricks. You can read the list in the pages of eWEEK print on Monday, or head right over to our Stupid Tech Tricks slideshow. Elsewhere this week, Andrew Garcia reviewed the Blackberry Bold, and found the device impressive, but not […]

“Do more with less” has been the official mandate for IT departments every where for some time now, and considering our economic climate, that refrain will ring more loudly than ever in the year to come. However, before we return from the holiday break and set ourselves to work busily doing more of the same, […]

Last week, Jim Rapoza wrote a great columnabout the results of the MySpace bullying trial, which ended in a criminal conviction based on a terms of service violation. As Jim points out, if violations of Web site terms of service equate to hacking crimes, then many of us are clicking our way to the big […]

Fedora 10 is the latest version of the community-supported, Linux-based operating system that serves as the proving ground for future Red Hat software products. As a result, Fedora offers organizations and individuals early access to the state of the art in the Linux and open-source world. For instance, Fedora 10 boasts what may be the […]

Canonical’s Ubuntu 8.10, the latest version of the popular Linux-based operating system for desktops and servers, hit the Internet in early November bearing a modest assortment of updates to the open-source software components that compose it. Based on my tests of Ubuntu 8.10-which is more fancifully known as the Intrepid Ibex-I maintain that Ubuntu is, […]

The past two weeks have been busy ones here at eWEEK Labs, with reviews, analysis and commentary on topics ranging from virtualization to fixed-mobile convergence, with an IT gadget roundup thrown in for good measure. Cameron led the virtualization charge with a review and slideshow of VMware’s Workstation 6.5 (which once again earned an eWEEK […]