Enterprise

JBoss' inaugural user conference and exhibition kicked off yesterday in Atlanta with two key announcements that analysts said signify a maturation of both JBoss and of open source. The company launched the JBoss Open Source Federation to offer value-added services, technology infrastructure and mark...

The Mozilla Foundation yesterday released a security update to the Firefox Web browser. The patch includes several fixes to guard against spoofing and arbitrary code execution. Firefox 1.0.1 patches several bugs, including a vulnerability in the Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), Web addresses re...

French Linux distributor Mandrakesoft will acquire its Brazilian counterpart, Conectiva, the two companies announced yesterday. Mandrakesoft will buy all of Conectiva's stock for US$2.3 million to take over the 60-employee company, which had $2.2 million in revenue and reached the break-even point i...

In response to high double-digit growth in 2004 in the number of customers deploying IBM collaboration software on the Linux platform, IBM today announced plans to invest US$100 million over three years to expand Linux support and technology across its Workplace software portfolio. Big Blue said the...

Some friends of mine are considering setting up a new company around an e-commerce idea and asked me to research the cost of the IT infrastructure needed. As part of that, I went Web shopping for a low end server to get them started, and found some surprises. Note that all pricing data shown below i...

Microsoft has announced that it will share information on security-related issues in its software with government agencies using its products. Through the Security Cooperation Program, Microsoft will provide early warnings of security threats to participating agencies and alert them about security u...

As Linux increasingly hits the enterprise and consumer mainstream, a growing number of security threats are emerging which prey on holes in applications and files managed by desktop users. On Wednesday of this week, Linux vendors Red Hat, Novell and Mandrakesoft released patches for several vulnerab...

As the new year begins, the experts agreed that the big story for 2004 in the open-source world -- and one of the biggest in the larger realm of IT -- has been the growth of Linux and its acceptance as a mainstream choice for business. It's a trend that industry analysts expect to continue, even acc...

A developer of security software for Linux had some harsh words yesterday for what he sees as a lax attitude toward security in the operating system's community. "Linux is being presented by commercial vendors as a professional, enterprise-ready product," Brad Spengler, of grsecurity, said. "When it...

A vulnerability in Mozilla's open-source Firefox browser could be exploited, security experts have warned. Despite the hoopla about the superior security of Firefox, Secunia Research reported that the browser could be used by malicious people, know as phishers, to spoof the source URL displayed in t...

A company that makes a tool for finding bugs in software code disclosed this week that the Linux kernel is far less flawed than many programs people pay money for. According to San Francisco-based Coverity, its source-code auditing tool found the Linux 2.6 kernel had 985 bugs in its 5.7 million line...

Industry analysts say the fastest growing operating system in the world -- Linux -- could be experiencing growing pains as growth outpaces the supply of IT professionals with expertise in this area. "Linux is increasing its market share so rapidly that, in consequence, some companies find it difficu...

Linux solutions developer Xandros today announced that Wal-Mart's online store is carrying a full range of Linux desktop computers with the pre-installed Xandros Desktop Operating System. Built by Microtel and available at Walmart.com, the offerings provide a range of inexpensive home, school and sm...

In a move to steal market share from Microsoft Windows, Novell has unveiled Linux Desktop 9. The company claims the new release is robust enough to offer a viable alternative for enterprise Windows users. At the same time, the company also announced of settlement of its antitrust suit against its de...

Microsoft users may feel as though they're the only ones constantly under attack from hackers, but they're not alone with that dubious distinction. Late last week, Red Hat, the Raleigh, North Carolina-based Linux provider, was also hit. The threat came in the form of a fake security warning. The e-m...