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In a twist made possible by virtualization, Novell said this week it would support Linux virtualization, including instances of rival Red Hat's Linux Enterprise 4 operating system, using Xen virtualization optimized for Intel hardware. Novell said it will offer enterprise support both for its own Su...

Linux creator Linus Torvalds' objections to GPLv3, the Free Software Foundation's draft of the next version of the popular GNU General Public License, have been reinforced by the rest of the open source operating system's top developers. They share Torvalds' concerns over digital rights management, ...

One of the original leaders of the open source movement, Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media, kicked off a blogosphere firestorm in late May by sending a cease-and-desist letter over the use of the term "Web 2.0," as his technical conference is trademarked by that name. The complaint has since been withd...

IBM has revealed that it is considering a plan to support an open source software distribution known as Red Flag Linux from Beijing-based Red Flag Software as part of its long-term strategy in China. Red Flag would be the third Linux distribution supported by IBM and its approximately 300 software a...

Hoping to monetize its open source software development, Qlusters this week is making available openQRM Pro, a specialized version of its systems management software, for sale. Like its open source openQRM datacenter provisioning and management software -- which works with Solaris, FreeBSD, Windows ...

Open source coders have developed a Firefox variant, Torpark, that allows users to go online without worrying about the government, Internet service providers or others tracking their Internet activity. Released by a self-described group of computer security experts and human rights workers that cal...

Much in the way that open source software projects are known to produce forks, or spinoffs, based on different objectives and personalities, Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger is creating an offshoot of his popular communal Internet encyclopedia. Citizendium is intended for named, expert contributor...

The technology that college students are going back to this year is increasingly connected to the open source Linux operating system, says Red Hat, which is highlighting the growing adoption of its open source software and network solutions at institutions of higher learning. Like large enterprises,...

Red Hat this week released its first JBoss product within a new open source stack that folds together Red Hat Linux, JBoss Application Server, JBoss Hibernate and either of two open source databases -- MySQL or PostgreSQL. The Red Hat Application Stack, available via subscription, is offered as an a...

Web hosting has always been a good place to find Linux servers -- often coupled with other popular open source software such as Apache Web servers -- but Spin Magazine's recent move to Rackspace Managed Hosting illustrates the upsurge in choices for Linux hosting support, which is at the hear...

New research by a pair of Harvard University academics suggests that Linux will never be able to displace Windows based on the simple economics of Microsoft's head start and its continuing ecosystem advantages. In a paper titled, "Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows," Harv...

The Eclipse Foundation, an open source community committed to the implementation of a universal development platform, has approved the creation of the Aperi Storage Management Framework Project. The Aperi Project, which was proposed in June, will give customers more choices for deploying open-storag...

Leading Linux vendor Red Hat is developing a new software vulnerability database with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The database will give vendors of both open source and proprietary software a place to post official statements and security related information pertaining to the...

Reinforcing the company's strategy around open source business models, IBM announced new resources designed to help software development teams build Eclipse-based, vendor neutral development environments. Additionally, IBM is unveiling a new customer support program -- IBM Rational Elite Support for...

Sun Microsystems last week open sourced another chunk of Java development code, but some are criticizing the company for not declaring all of Java open source at once and under the same open source license. Sun released source code for Java Mobile Edition development tools under the Common Developme...

One week after it issued a faulty update to its popular Linux distribution, the Ubuntu project is still the subject of scorn among users of its open source software. The Ubuntu update inadvertently broke users' interface functionality, forcing them into command line mode. Many downplayed the error, ...

The IT industry phrase "a single throat to choke" stems from the idea that it's beneficial to have a single, trusted provider of software support than several sharing that all-important responsibility. However, recent research indicates only a minority of organizations are looking to open source sta...

Sun Microsystems announced this week the availability of source code for its NetBeans Mobility Pack and NetBeans Mobility Pack for CDC, which will be released under the OSI-compliant Common Development and Distribution License. The tools are intended to simplify and speed the creation of applicatio...

A legal test used to assess the validity of patents threatens the development of free and open source software, according to a civil liberties group. The test can be used to create legal obstacles to free and open source collaborations, according to a "friends of the court" brief filed Wednesday by ...

With multiple delays and dropped components for its next-generation Vista operating system, Microsoft has stirred up plenty of confusion and criticism among software developers. Now other software makers, such as Qt cross-platform development framework provider Trolltech, are trying to take advantag...