Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Installing a new application on Linux can be challenging, even for experts. Now, the LSB (Linux Standard Base) project and its parent organization, the FSG (Free Standards Group), have a plan for how to make it easier for both users and developers. Last month, key people in the Linux software packaging world and ISVs got […]

To open-source or not to open-source was never in question as far as Steve Shreeve, founding CEO and largest shareholder of Medsphere Systems Corp., was concerned. So, this summer, Steve, self-proclaimed open-source software leader, and his twin-brother Scott, released the companys matured code on SourceForge under the GPL. Their reward? They were then sued for […]

Microsofts latest attempt to curry public favor began on its community-site The Hive. Microsoft is doing it this time by giving bloggers free, expensive laptops. The Hive was launched by Microsoft in the summer of 2005. At the time, Microsoft said the Hive was aimed at online leaders who specialize in consumer-oriented applications of Windows […]

Want to know why Microsoft has so many people saying good things about it, despite endless security problems, high prices, product lock-in and a big brother attitude toward using their products? Microsoft bribes people. Microsoft blogger Long Zheng tells us that he, and many other bloggers, from the “A list to Z list” received an […]

I recently read a story that asked, “Has the Desktop Linux Bubble Burst?” Burst!? No, I dont think so. Actually, it still isnt even half as big as it will be when its full. The author goes on to explain that he feels this way because GNOME “lacks any form of a vision,” while KDE4 […]

Red Hat on Dec. 21 announced better-than-expected financial results for its fiscal year 2007 third quarter. The total revenue for the quarter was $105.8 million, an increase of 45 percent from the year-ago quarter and 6 percent from the prior quarter. Subscription revenue was $88.9 million, up 48 percent year-over-year and 5 percent sequentially. Net […]

Jeremy Allison, a leading Samba developer and well-known open-source speaker, has decided to leave Novell because of his objections to the Microsoft/Novell patent agreement. In his public letter of resignation, Allison said, “This has been a very difficult decision, but one I feel I have no choice but to make.” “As many of you will […]

SUSE co-founder Hubert Mantel is back in the saddle at Novell. Back in November of 2005 when the well-respected chief maintainer of the SUSE Linux kernel left Novell, he said in an e-mail announcing his resignation that “This is no longer the company I founded 13 years ago.” One of the reasons some believed Mantel […]

Ive been saying for years that Linux was well along on its way from being the tech fanboy operating system of choice, to becoming one of big business favorite operating systems. Well, I was right all along, but in 2006, that progress smacked many Linux fans in the face. This is my list of the […]

The Web sites name tells it all. BadVista.org, a Web site run by the Free Software Foundation, is devoted to the mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by Microsofts Windows Vista operating system and promoting free software alternatives that respect users security and privacy rights. BadVista.org, launched by the FSF Dec. 18, […]

Debian GNU/Linux 4.0, code-named Etch, had been due to arrive by Dec. 4, 2006, but its been delayed because some developers have deliberately slowed down their work. According to a blog note by Andreas Barth, Debian developer and release manager, the delay has resulted because “Some people who used to do good work reduced their […]

I was tinkering with my Vista system the other day, when I found it wouldnt connect with a pair of NAS (network-attached storage) drives. I was not a happy camper. The drives, a pair of Seagate 400GB USB 2.0 External Hard Drives, were connected to my Fast Ethernet network by a Linksys NSLU2, aka Slug, […]