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NewsVac: News from around the Web
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So much for that idea: Tech stocks have fallen from 1999 to 2008
9 hours, 1 minute ago
It's true that stocks generally ascend in the long run. But last week's stock market crash is a potent reminder of the corollary to that rule: the long run can be a long way off. -
Micron to buy $400 million stake in memory maker
11 hours, 1 minute ago
Micron Technology announced Sunday that it is buying Qimonda AG's $400 million stake in Inotera Memories. -
New Pitch For Microsoft to Buy Yahoo
2 days, 9 hours ago
A small Yahoo investor proposed a new deal on Thursday to sell the company to Microsoft for $22 a share, a 74 percent premium to the Web pioneer's current stock price. -
AMD to spin off manufacturing
6 days, 13 hours ago
AMD has made the official announcement of the manufacturing spin-off. On Tuesday, Advanced Micro Devices will announce a long-expected restructuring, according to sources familiar with the deal. -
Will Western Digital Land Fujitsu's Drive Unit?
1 week, 3 days ago
Japan's Fujitsu is in talks with U.S. hard disk drive maker Western Digital on the sale of its money-losing hard drive business, a company official said, in a deal one newspaper estimated could be worth $945 million. -
YUI 2.6 Improves Widgets, Accessibility
1 week, 3 days ago
Yahoo announced yesterday that it was releasing version 2.6 of its popular Yahoo User Interface (YUI) library, a collection of JavaScript objects and functions for client-side Web programming. YUI, distributed under the BSD license, is similar to such open-source JavaScript libraries as jQuery (see related story), Dojo, and Prototype/Scriptaculous. Note that this release is not the same as YUI 3.0, a preview of which was released earlier this year, and which will not be backward compatible with version 2.x. -
Ballmer: No One Is Immune to Global Crisis
1 week, 6 days ago
Microsoft's chief executive said he expects the global financial crisis to sap both consumer and business spending. -
Oracle's Rivals Dismiss Hardware Foray
1 week, 6 days ago
Oracle's competition is rejoicing over the company's announcement of the HP Oracle Database Machine, unveiled with much fanfare at Oracle OpenWorld 2008 in San Francisco earlier this week. -
Transmeta, Chip Patents Up for Sale
2 weeks ago
Low-power chip vendor looking for a buyer for what's left: a very popular portfolio of chip patents. -
Yahoo joins Google in defending ad deal
2 weeks ago
Google has launched a fusillade of blog posts and other commentary to defend its search-ad deal with Yahoo. Now Yahoo has followed suit. -
A brief history of computers and free software: where is the money?
2 weeks, 2 days ago
The software market is shifting completely towards online applications aimed at managing and sharing information. The business model may vary (revenues are generated by online advertising or by paying users), but the main concept is always the same: it needs to be online, it needs to be accessible, it needs to give something to the user, and it needs to look good. -
Ballmer to Chat Up Silicon Valley
2 weeks, 3 days ago
Microsoft CEO will be quizzed tonight on the considerable challenges facing the software giant. -
Key Figure Dismisses 'Third Google Founder' Claim
2 weeks, 3 days ago
Hubert Chang is sticking with his story, but an early adviser to Brin and Page throws cold water on it. -
Dell: We'll Grow Faster Than The Industry
2 weeks, 3 days ago
Dell, the world's second biggest computer maker, expects to grow faster than other companies in the business, Chief Executive Michael Dell told a news conference on Thursday. -
ISPs Vow Self-Regulation to Curb Data Misuse
2 weeks, 3 days ago
In the wake of the NebuAd uproar, Verizon, AT&T and Time Warner act before the government steps in, while pointing fingers at privacy abuses elsewhere. - More News
Linux.com : Business
Selling GNU/Linux in a box
Eight years ago, computer stores stocked a choice of GNU/Linux distributions -- established ones like Caldera, Red Hat, and SUSE, and newcomers like Corel, Progeny, and Stormix. Now, only Ubuntu and openSUSE offer box sets, and both face challenges that other distributions found unsolvable, ranging from reasonable prices and features sets through to getting into distribution channels and finding the right marketing approach -- all for an effort that may be only moderately profitable at best, and perhaps best undertaken for non-financial reasons.
Voiceroute execs talk about going (mostly) open source (video)
Voiceroute, a software PBX vendor, originally started as a proprietary software company but went (at least partly) open source earlier this year. In this video, CEO Ming Guang Yong says the company should have moved toward open source "a lot sooner," and explains why. He and CTO Navin Kumar also talk about some of the specific differences between their open source and proprietary versions, including how and where they draw the line between the two, and share their thoughts about dealing with open source developers and building a successful open source development community.
Cisco buys PostPath, targets Microsoft Exchange
No one saw this coming. Cisco, the networking giant, announced today it was buying PostPath, maker of the Linux-based Exchange server replacement PostPath Server.
A business built on open source, virtualization, and clouds
ReadyTechs provides network support services for companies that don't want the expense of hiring and caring for their own employees. Now CEO Gerry Libertelli says the company is using Linux virtualization to open a new income stream based on cloud computing.
Bradley Kuhn discusses software innovation, freedom, and the law (video)
Bradley Kuhn is not a lawyer, but he works at the Software Freedom Law Center and heads the Software Freedom Conservancy. He is fun to watch and listen to because he walks the tightrope between creative, carefree developers and cautious, legally-minded lawyers. Linux.com talked with Kuhn a few months ago, but he says lots more in this 30-minute video than in that interview -- including plenty of thoughts on how businesses based on free software can (and often do) turn a profit, plus some comments on how and why open source is helping the next generation of programmers develop and improve their skills.
Learn about the Open Source Census (video)
The Open Source Census goes way beyond the traditional, too rarely used Linux Counter. It claims to be "the first collaborative, global project to count the number of installations for each open source software package." A lofty (and possibly unobtainable) goal, perhaps, but in this video, shot at LinuxWorld 2008, OpenLogic's Kim Wein explains why OpenLogic, along with more than a dozen other companies and groups, is sponsoring the Open Source Census.
Fluendo walks the line between free and proprietary codecs
Despite all its advances, GNU/Linux remains weak in its support for proprietary audio and video codecs. Because these codecs are often encumbered by patents, distributions must choose either to include support of questionable legality or else exclude it altogether. In the middle of this controversy sits Fluendo, a Catalan company of about 50 employees that is a main contributor to projects like GStreamer, and supports open formats, but also offers licensed, proprietary codecs such as Windows Media Video and MPEG4. While many would argue that this dual position is necessary, it's one that sometimes creates an unasy balance for the company, says Muriel Moscardini, Fluendo's sale director.
Business combats network management woes with open source GroundWork
When Sam Lamonica stepped into the CIO role at Rudolph and Sletten five years ago, he set out to tame an ungainly network by using an orderly open source network monitoring solution.
Coverity's open source code audit efforts are funded by the US government (video)
Coverity famously helps open source projects audit their code and eliminate security holes and other bugs, and earns its corporate income by selling software that does the same thing to proprietary software companies. Few seem to realize, though, that Coverity started doing free open source code audits because it got a grant from the US Department of Homeland Security. Coverity's David Maxwell explains.
Open source technology is hungry for new college grads
Many college graduates are finding it difficult to enter the information technology world with little or no work experience. There is no such thing as an entry-level position anymore, and more and more graduates are finding themselves in a catch-22 situation because of this.
RipCode builds video transcoding device on Linux base
When RipCode decided to build a video transcoding device three years ago, it used MontaVista Linux Professional Edition, a platform designed for developers who want all the benefits of an open source development environment.
MindTouch CEO Aaron Fulkerson talks about open source company leadership (video)
In this video interview, Aaron Fulkerson talks about MindTouch, the company he founded, and its DekiWiki product, which he helped create. In the first half of the conversation, Aaron says Deki is downloaded by about 3,000 people every day, that the open source project has "thousands" of developers, and that his company is profitable after only two years in business. In the second half, Fulkerson talks about the need for a strong personality at the head of an open source project, and has other advice for both charitable and commercial open source project leaders. If you either lead or hope to lead an open source project, or you plan to build a company based on open source software, this video is full of valuable advice for you.
FSF works with Los Alamos Computers to provide free computers
Finding hardware that works with GNU/Linux is hard enough. But if you also want a completely free system -- one that requires no proprietary drivers or firmware to run -- then the task is almost impossible. While resources like OpenPrinting and the SANE database for scanners offer guides to simple functionality, advice on free systems is almost non-existent. To fill this gap, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has been developing its own hardware list, and, as the next logical step, has been working with Los Alamos Computers (LAC) to develop a line of free (as in speech) computers pre-installed with GNU/Linux.
Silber runs Canonical while Shuttleworth runs around (video)
Mark Shuttleworth is one of our favorite open source celebrities. He does great things for the community, he's affable, and he promotes not only Ubuntu but GNU/Linux and FOSS in general. And it seems that he's always on the go -- from this conference to that conference to this meeting to that one, anywhere from California to Korea to Spain. While Canonical's CEO tours the world, Chief Operating Officer Jane Silber makes sure the company runs smoothly, that all the servers stay up, and that releases stay on schedule. She's hiring, too, so you may want to watch this video extra carefully; it's entirely possible that Jane Silber could be your boss one day....
Proprietary software? Counsel objects
Nathan Zale Dowlen objects to proprietary software, so when he opened his new law office, he outfitted it with Ubuntu Linux and open source software. Cost was the main factor in his decision at first, but he has since come to appreciate the security found in FOSS and the ease of use found with Ubuntu.
OpenLogic pushes partnerships on open source support
OpenLogic Inc., a provider of enterprise open source software, wants other open source software developers to shake hands over a partnership program that will give it control over an alliance of support services for other vendors' products.
Alfresco founder says open source makes software better
In 2005, Alfresco was the first open source software company in the UK to capture venture funding, for its collection of enterprise document management applications. John Powell, formerly the COO of Business Objects, and John Newton, founder of Documentum, got together to launch Alfresco because they wanted to create a business that would have "global reach," according to Powell. Right from the start, Powell and Newton knew that the best way to do that was to create and market an open source product.
Looming IT talent shortage sidesteps FOSS folks
A Gartner study from earlier this year suggests that a skills shortage will leave companies scrambling in vain to find qualified help. However, open source developers say there's an adequate supply of potential employees with the skills they have.
Barracuda launches reluctant legal offensive against Trend Micro
The already vicious lawsuit involving Barracuda Networks and Trend Micro that is currently in discovery in front of the American International Trade Commission (ITC) just turned nastier. Barracuda has filed its own patent infringement claim against Trend Micro, based upon three recently acquired patents. The suit is in response to Trend Micro's allegation that its patent is being infringed by Barracuda shipping Clam Antivirus (ClamAV), the popular free software application, and appears designed to pressure Trend Micro to reach a negotiated settlement.
Linux laptop retailers fearlessly face name-brand competition
Linux Certified sells Linux laptops and offers IT training to individuals and organizations. Its product line ranges from small, affordable units to performance laptops that cost well over $2,000. The company's customer list boasts the likes of Boeing, NASA, the US Army and MIT. But if recent trends are any indication, Linux Certified and similar companies that specialize in selling computers that run Linux are about to see some of the world's largest computer companies warm up to the open source operating system. Major manufacturers have begun to take notice of Linux's potential on the laptop.
