Software

Linux has so far barely made a blip in the mobile phone market, accounting for less than 1 percent of units shipped in 2004, according to IDC. However, yesterday MontaVista announced an effort to change that. The company, which develops mobile phone software for Linux, has created Mobilinux Open Fr...

In an ongoing battle to keep software patents out of Europe, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament yesterday voted unanimously to restart the legislative process and request a rewrite of the European Commission's proposed Computer Implemented Inventions Directive. The decision is a ...

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...

Open source is undeniably on the march. Linux continues to grow at a torrid pace -- now forecast by IDC to represent a US$35 billion market by 2008 -- though it has yet to significantly breach the desktop market. Mozilla's Firefox browser debuted with much fanfare recently, with over ten million d...

Large patent portfolio owners seem to be in a particularly generous mood these days. A few weeks after IBM announced it was giving away 500 patents, Sun jumped on the bandwagon by announcing that it is releasing more than 1,600 patents associated with the Solaris OS, a move they describe as eclipsin...

Sun Microsystems officially started down the path to an open-source version of Solaris on Tuesday with a partial release of source code which ultimately will be OpenSolaris. Being released under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), which was reviewed and approved by the Open Sourc...

IBM is set to tackle the entry-level server market next month with the release of its two-way OpenPower 710. The RISC-based open-source server is designed to compete head-to-head with Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems servers for Unix and Linux, but Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff told LinuxInside...

Pervasive Software has recently joined a burgeoning field of database vendors looking to capitalize on the open-source boom by way of commercial solutions. Best known as a seasoned veteran of database infrastructure management solutions, Pervasive is now looking to take advantage of PostgreSQL's sol...

Sun is expected to take a step forward next week with its plan to release the code for its Solaris 10 operating system. The company has scheduled a news conference on Tuesday where John Loiacono, Sun's executive vice president of software, will give an update on the issue. Sun's Common Development a...

Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) is calling reports that it is leading a revision of the Linux kernel to remove code that might infringe on software patents "horse puckey." OSDL, which promotes the adoption of the Linux operating system, debunked a Linux Business Week report based on anonymous "i...

Red Hat is getting ready to roll against rival Novell with the latest version of its Linux Enterprise server. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 will feature the 2.6 kernel complete with enhanced features that Novell SuSE is already peddling. The Linux community is speculating that Red Hat will release the ...

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...

International Business Machines announced today that it plans to provide free access to the information in 500 company patents to individuals and groups working on open-source software. The company said this could be the largest pledge of patents of any kind and applies to any individual, community ...

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...