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Customers are demanding open source characteristics such as flexibility, customization, cost and time efficiency, and scalabilty, while vendors are doing their best to deliver it -- often based on support for open source components, languages, frameworks, databases -- and hypervisors.

Skype's code has been hacked and its innards published on the Web by Efim Bushmanov, a self-described freelance researcher in the tiny Komi Republic, about 870 miles from Moscow. His aim, he said, was to make Skype open source. Another goal: to find "friends who can spend many hours for completely r...

Based on initial sales reports and some tablet market flip flops, the few Android tablets that have hit the shelves so far seem to have crashed and burned. Early sales figures indicate that no Android tab is coming close to being the much-awaited Apple iPad alternative. But will time heal all? Does ...

It is rare that I lament about a task I cannot do in Linux better than when I used that Redmond OS that rhymes with lindows. But you can hear me pining for those commercial and shareware programs every time I have to create a printing job around business cards or mailing labels on my Linux rigs. Fo...

"Data" -- it's the new buzzword in the open source world, according to Tuesday's keynote speakers at the Open Source Business Conference, being held in San Francisco. "The kind of data we're collecting today is way harder to store and process than it used to be," said Mike Olson, president and CEO o...

I've gotten the impression over the years of working with people who use any operating system that most of them do not want to get involved with tinkering. I understand that, especially with the Linux platform. It is very configurable, but much of its have-it-your-way appeal is reached outside the G...

A battle to set the model for cloud infrastructure is raging, according to Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat. "We're at a fork in the road," Whitehurst told a packed room of more than 200 people at the Open Source Business Conference Monday. "Now is the time that we're going to choose the...

Having covered Linux in the enterprise and business arenas for more than 10 years, I've seen some dramatic changes in the way the open source operating system is developed and used. However, never has there been as much change in the Linux landscape and market as right now, given the impact of cloud...

You're an IT manager responsible for keeping your infrastructure up and running while squeezing every bit of value from your budget. You're interested in the latest trends and have done your research. Many enterprises rely on their existing vendors for guidance on these trends and probably recommend...

Well, well, well, so Linux has turned 20 at last. While we were reading about the inroads Android is making into the mobile market and weeping over the news that Groklaw is about to pack its bags and move on, we began wondering: Just what would the world have been like if Linus Torvalds hadn't sat d...

Keeping track of personal and business finances is one of the most essential tasks I do daily on my computer besides researching and writing about the Linux platform. Lately I am assigning much more of that task to HomeBank to keep my banking transactions in order. Do not confuse this personal accou...

In a move designed to protect the free and open source software community, the U.S. Justice Department has intervened in an intellectual property case involving four dominant IT enterprises. The transaction involves software developer Novell and a consortium made up of Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and E...

Canonical is releasing its Ubuntu 11.04 suite of corporate and developer desktops and servers -- aka "Natty Narwhal" -- on April 28. New features include a technology preview for Ubuntu Server 11.04, which is downloadable through the Ubuntu software repositories. Ubuntu 11.04 for the corporate desk...

Mobile device developers are in a holding pattern with plans to plug in the much-awaited Google Android 3.0 upgrade. The delay is causing some bad feelings in the FOSS community. But it is unlikely that Google will carry many scars from the dispute. Claiming it needs more time to solve technical gli...

There are a lot of misconceptions about open source software among legal, procurement and compliance officers. "Open source" is often equated with "loss of control" by the legal compliance or procurement department, and restrictions on its use may be imposed without a real program in place. When th...

Sometimes the number of choices the Linux operating system provides can be overwhelming. I am starting to look at other options for my preferred desktop environment as GNOME 3 and KDE 4 go in directions that might be unsettling to my computing routine. One obscure yet interesting replacement candida...

Groklaw will stop publishing new articles May 16 -- exactly eight years to the day after it was launched. This is because its reason for existence is gone, according to founder Pamela Jones. "In a simple sentence, the reason is this: The crisis SCO initiated over Linux is over, and Linux won," Jones...

When Nokia and Microsoft announced a partnership last month, many systems and app developers interpreted the deal to mean Nokia was beginning to turn away QT Symbian and MeeGo platforms. In essence, Nokia would be dialing into Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 technology in the near future -- and, it was ...

Red Hat has by all measures hit the big time, providing validation of the open source business model that even the harshest critics will have a hard time brushing aside. In its fourth quarter, Red Hat's revenue reached $245 million, up 25 percent from last year. The Linux distribution vendor's fou...

Sometimes FOSS can be a confusing source of programs to feed my Linux passion. I confronted that confusion the last few weeks while settling into a preferred Alarm Clock app for my GNOME desktop. I found what I thought was a perfect solution for my need of a do-it-all alarm tool for my computers. A...