Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Sometimes you dont want the hassle of the big upgrade. For example, there is no good reason to “upgrade” Windows to Vista. On the other hand, there are upgrades like Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL) that give you some darn good reasons to make the jump. Here are my four top reasons to change […]

While the U.S. courts recently reaffirmed Microsofts FAT (File Allocation Table) patents, the German Patent Federal Court has just dismissed the patent for use in Germany. According to a report in the German news publication Heise Online, the court has denied the protection that the European Patent Office granted to Microsoft under EP 0618540 for […]

The good news, according to an HP executive, is that the company sees “the Linux desktop nearing critical mass.” The bad news, for would be off-the-shelf Linux desktop buyers, is that its still not there yet. Doug Small, HPs worldwide director of open source and Linux marketing, explained that while “the number of indicators we […]

Do you want to keep track of whos really doing what on your Linux and Unix servers? Then check out Centrify Corp.s new DirectAudit. DirectAudit improves upon earlier products that provide comprehensive auditing, logging, and real-time monitoring tools for Unix/Linux servers, according to the company. Centrify Is best known for its AD (Active Directory)-based DirectControl […]

NetXen, a maker of hardware-accelerated 10GbE (10-Gigabit Ethernet) LAN cards, has just introduced a set of software drivers for Linux systems. The company claims that with this hardware/software combo users should see great network performance without incurring increased host CPU overhead. NetXen says its network acceleration technology requires no modifications to the Linux kernel or […]

In a new survey launched yesterday, Dell is asking its customers exactly what they want from a Linux desktop. Why? Because, it appears, theyre going to make one. Dell knows that the public does want Linux desktops. To date, however, Dell has made only small moves to deliver the goods. The new survey might mean […]

Mandriva on March 8 announced the launch of the beta version of Corporate Desktop 4.0, its enterprise-dedicated Linux desktop. While best known for its home user Linux desktops, Mandriva (formerly Mandrakesoft) has long been angling for the business market with both its server and desktop offerings. This new desktop is meant to offer corporate users […]

Have an open-source project that you need some help with? Well, Google is kicking off its third Summer of Code, an innovative program that pays college students to write open-source software over their summer vacation, and the folks at the searh giant want to talk to you. For the next few months, the company will […]

Unless something goes badly wrong, Red Hat will be releasing the next version of its flagship operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, on March 14. RHEL 5 implements a fully integrated Xen-based server and storage virtualization solution, by coupling server virtualization with Red Hats clustering support. In addition, RHEL 5 comes with a virtualization […]

In Samuel Becketts masterpiece, “Waiting for Godot,” Godot never arrives, and the play ends with our characters still waiting. I sometimes think Linux users are also stuck in a barren landscape endlessly waiting for Dell, HP, Lenovo, or another major vendor to finally deliver a mass-market Linux desktop. The major desktop players keep flirting with […]