Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Officially, Dell hasnt said a word yet about which Linux it will be preloading on its desktops and laptops. Several sources within Dell, however, have told DesktopLinux.com that Dells desktop Linux pick is going to be Ubuntu. While unable to confirm this through official Dell channels, we have heard the same story now from several […]

Novell openSUSE project has had a recent history of trouble with its update programs. Now, to make updating openSUSE more pleasant, the project is dropping its support for ZENworks and opening up YAST to community development. In an openSUSE development list management note, SUSE Project Manager Andreas Jaeger wrote, “OpenSUSE is focusing on native software […]

Trademarks have recently become something of an issue in open-source circles. Debian, for example, recently took exception to Mozillas Firefox trademark rules and called its version of the popular browser, IceWeasel. So, Ubuntu has decided to address possible trademark issues by creating its own trademark policy. Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical Ltd., the company behind […]

It took longer than Linux creator Linus Torvalds would have liked, but the latest Linux kernel, version 2.6.21, has arrived. It brings many minor and major changes in how Linux handles process scheduling and time. In his April 25th release note to the LKML (Linux Kernel Mailing List), Torvalds wrote, “If the goal for 2.6.20 […]

While not as familiar a name in open-source circles as Linus Torvalds or Richard M. Stallman, for those in the know, Eben Moglen ranks near them in his importance to the free software movement. Now, the Columbia University professor of law, general counsel for the FSF (Free Software Foundation) and one of the main authors […]

Red Hat announced on April 24 that it will be acquiring MetaMatrix, a company that specializes in data access software and services, in an effort to make it easier for business customers to move their “siloed legacy applications” to JBoss Enterprise Middleware. According to Red Hat, siloed legacy applications are ones that are hard-wired to […]

Anyone who follows Linux at all knows that Ubuntu is currently the Linux communitys favorite distribution. But can Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, translate that popular success into business success? Certainly, under the leadership of Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical is trying to do just that. While Ubuntu will always be a free distribution, Canonical has been […]

Novell is once again trying to finish off The SCO Groups court cases by proving that Novell is the company that actually owns Unixs intellectual property rights. What makes this latest attempt different, is we finally see an explanation of how SCO ended up owning Unix without owning its copyrights. This is core to any […]

Web hosting company Verio chose a lucky day to introduce its new Linux-based managed private server offering for small businesses. The day before, April 17, Microsoft admitted that it doesnt have a fix for a serious security hole in its server operating systems. Windows 2000 and Server 2003 have both been hit hard by the […]

In Beijing, Bill Gates announced this week that Microsofts “Unlimited Potential” initiative will now include offering a software package, the Student Innovation Suite, to governments and students in emerging countries across the world at a price of just $3. This suite, available in the second half of 2007, will include Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft […]