Peter Galli

Irelands government is the latest in Europe to consider embracing Linux and open-source software, with initiatives under way to create nationwide Open Source Centers of Excellence. The centers would provide expertise to examine the use of open-source software going forward, government officials said last week. Momentum, a trade association representing some 170 of Northern Irelands […]

Standards body Ecma International accepted on Thursday Microsoft Corp.s application to produce a standard for office productivity applications that is compatible with Microsofts Office Open XML Formats. “At the General Assembly meeting held in Nice on December 8, 2005, Ecma International has created Technical Committee 45 (TC45) to produce a formal standard for office productivity […]

BELFAST, Northern Ireland—Initiatives are under way to create an Open Source Center of Excellence across Ireland that will provide the expertise to examine and discuss the use and potential of open source going forward. Momentum NI, a trade association representing some 170 of Northern Irelands ICT (Information Communications and Technology) companies, is spearheading the initiative […]

Sun Microsystems Inc. last week again challenged the industry-standard proprietary software development model, announcing that it will make its Java Enterprise System, N1 management software and developer tools available to all for development and deployment at no cost. Officials at the Santa Clara, Calif., company also reaffirmed their commitment to open-sourcing this software over time. […]

Software vendor Autodesk Inc. last week decided that its business model would be better served by open-sourcing its MapGuide product and shifting the companys focus to developing applications that run on top of it. Autodesk, of San Rafael, Calif., has contributed the code for what would have been the next version of MapGuide, code-named Tux, […]

Microsoft Corp. is working on a significant new feature for Windows Vista, known as Restart Manager, which is designed to update parts of the operating system or applications without having to reboot the entire machine. Microsoft officials have not talked much publicly about this new feature, but Jim Allchin, the co-president of Microsofts platform products […]

Sun Microsystems Inc. has decided to make its Java Enterprise System, Sun N1 management software, and Sun developer tools available for development and deployment at no cost, while reaffirming its commitment to open-sourcing all this software over time. The Santa Clara, Calif., company is also integrating all of this software and the Solaris operating system […]

Microsoft Corp. has decided to move away from its policy of issuing monthly Community Technology Previews for Windows Vista, and will now release these based instead on the achievement of quality milestones. “We will use a quality-based schedule rather than a calendar one going forward, since artificially setting dates for CTP releases is not helpful, […]

Microsoft Corp., continuing its anti-Linux campaign, recently released the results of a study the company commissioned in an effort to show that Windows is more reliable than Linux. The study, conducted by Herbert Thompson, chief security strategist at Security Innovation Inc., of Wilmington, Mass., and titled “Reliability: Analyzing Solution Uptime as Business Needs Change,” compared […]

Microsoft Corp. will finally make its Office file formats open to all. The Redmond, Wash., software company next month will submit the Microsoft Office Open XML Format technology for consideration as a formal standard by Ecma International, which will develop the documentation and make it available to the industry. Once the standard is approved by […]