distributions Resources on ZDNet

ZDNet Resources

Has Ubuntu clinched the desktop Linux market?: On the surface a two-month delay in Red Hat's release of Global Desktop Linux is no big deal. (Picture of a Dell laptop running Ubuntu from Indiecom.)The aim of the project is not just to deliver an operating system, but a complete environment, including applications, aimed at the mass market.Some...; Tags: Strategy, mass market, Linux Desktop OS, Linux, Hardware, Distributions, General; Blog posts 2007-08-03
Microsoft Project to get open source competition: Projity, which has been selling its project management software in the form of Software as a Service (SaaS), will launch an open source version at LinuxWorld next week, under the name OpenProj.CEO Marc O'Brien said download and community sites should be ready in time for the show, but that the company...; Tags: Strategy, Microsoft, marketing, Implementations, General, Events, Distributions, Applications; Blog posts 2007-07-27
Zend Framework hits 1.0 milestone: Just in time for Independence Day the Zend Framework for PHP has hit its 1.0.0 milestone and is available for download.Zend uses the OSI-approved New BSD license.Zend Technologies gave credit to 230 community developers, including Google and IBM, releasing the framework for Web 2.0 application development less than two years after...; Tags: Google, Distributions, Development, BSD, Applications, IBM, Implementations, Internet; Blog posts 2007-07-03
Eclipse delivers biggest update yet: As important as operating systems and applications may be, the real key to software innovation lies in building better tools.Open source toolmaking is in the hands of the Eclipse Foundation, which has now delivered its biggest release yet, dubbed Europa. Some 21 projects were updated, with 17 million lines of...; Tags: support, Infrastructure, Implementations, General, Distributions, Development; Blog posts 2007-06-29
The state of Unix: As most people know Linus Torvalds tore a rather uninformed rant out of Sun last week - here's part of what he said--- Here's a cynical prediction (but backed up by past behaviour of Sun):- first off: they may be talking a lot more than they...; Tags: Distributions, Linux, Sun; Blog posts 2007-06-18

Proof of open source incline at SixApart: I happen to think SixApart's decision to make Movable Type 4 open source, under the GPL, is big news.Once again, you have a major vendor being pushed down the open source incline, toward the GPL, by pressure from the marketplace. In this case, from WordPress.WordPress is already open source. Some full...; Tags: Strategy, publishing, marketing, GPL, Distributions, content, business models, Blogroll; Blog posts 2007-06-06
Xandros deal is Microsoft water torture strategy: Long-time readers of this blog may remember how two years ago I sat down to lunch with Marc Fleury, then running JBoss.Fleury was celebrating because he'd signed a re-sale agreement with Microsoft. The deal was superior to one IBM offered, he told me, in that it did not interfere with his...; Tags: Strategy, resellers, Patents, Microsoft, management, Linux Server OS, Linux Desktop OS, Linux, Legal, Enterprise Policy, Distributions; Blog posts 2007-06-05
What's the best defense for open source?: The OSBC is in San Francisco this week, worrying over defending against Microsoft patent claims.Our own Ed Burnette was intrigued by hints in Jonathan Schwartz' blog this week that Sun Microsystems might help defend Ubuntu and Red Hat, if push came to shove.Interesting given that Sun isn't even a member...; Tags: Applications, Distributions, documentation, Enterprise Policy, Events, Implementations, Legal, Microsoft, Patents, Strategy, Sun Microsystems; Blog posts 2007-05-23
Happy Sun Day: My best friend in England is a fan of the soccer team Sheffield Wednesday, which plays most games on Saturday.So despite this being Tuesday, I hereby proclaim it Sun Day. As in Sun Microsystems.Fulfilling the promises of CEO Jonathan Schwartz, Sun today released new versions of its Java Development Kit...; Tags: Development, Distributions, General, java, Sun Microsystems; Blog posts 2007-05-08
Can Dell change the Linux market?: Yes it can.But it is showing no inclination to do so.After a lot of hemming-and-hawing, Dell has decided to accept the verdict of its IdeaStorm users and sell pre-installed Linux. The company said it is already in the process of certifying the Novell Suse distribution, but will work with others...; Tags: Linux, Strategy, Hardware, Distributions, mass market, General; Blog posts 2007-02-26
Will politics or economics drive open source?: When economic factors dont drive development, as at Debian, politics rushes in to fill the gap.This is the key problem I think amateurs have in building open source projects and which professionals have with amateur control. Right now, for instance, the Debian project is seeking a new leader to replace...; Tags: Development, Distributions, General, Government, Linux, management; Blog posts 2007-02-19
SAMP makes sense for Sun: Suns transformation into an open source company continued today with its launch of what it calls a SAMP stack.SAMP consists of the three most popular open source application projects -- Apache/MySQL/Perl or PHP -- on top of Solaris Express, a developer version of the Solaris 10 OpenSolaris project.When CEO Jonathan...; Tags: Applications, Development, Distributions, General, management, Sun Microsystems; Blog posts 2007-02-13
There will be no Linux Vista: In a fascinating TV-type interview with ZDNet Australia, Linus Torvalds (your choice on who speaks for Linux, if anyone does) says hes in no hurry to update the Linux kernel from its present Version, 2.6, which has been out for about 2 1/2 years. Given the current hoopla over the...; Tags: General, Development, Linux, Linux Desktop OS, Linux Server OS, Distributions, Microsoft, Microsoft Corp.; Blog posts 2007-01-23
Eclipse wants you to know it has friends: To those of you who believe open protocols are more important than open source, the Eclipse Foundation has a message.They agree with you.Mike Milinkovich, the foundations executive director, said the group has long worked closely with standards bodies such as the Java Community Process (JCP), Object Management Group (OMG) and...; Tags: General, Development, Implementations, Standards, Distributions, management, Eclipse; Blog posts 2007-01-18
Finnish mySQL support was 3rd most-read story of 2006 on open source blog: My April piece on Solid Information Technology, putting its storage engine for mySQL under the GPL, was the 3rd most-read story of 2006 on this blog.My story emphasized that both Solid and mySQL originated in Finland, but your comments and further research showed that the real question is whether Solids...; Tags: Databases, Storage, blog, MySQL, database, open source; Blog posts 2006-12-18
Microsoft stranglehold on disabled market is broken: One of Microsofts hole cards in halting the spread of open source has been trumped, by IBM.The argument, which succeeded in Massachusetts, was that open source was not friendly to screen readers and magnifiers used by the blind, so mandating an open source file format like ODF was discrimination. There...; Tags: open source, Microsoft, Distributions, Implementations, Development, Applications, General; Blog posts 2006-12-15
Do stacks solve the lock-in problem?: One reason open source has proven so powerful an enterprise trend this year is that it promises to eliminate the lock-in problem. (Illustration from PHP.Net.)Lock-in occurs when you discover it would be more expensive to dump your IT garbage than keep throwing good money after bad. Lock-in happens whenever a...; Tags: management, middleware, Distributions, Linux Server OS, Strategy, Enterprise Policy, Linux, Development, Applications, General; Blog posts 2006-12-04
Is Medsphere taking it back?: Is Medsphere still an open source company, or is it trying to turn public domain software into something proprietary? And can you run a company open source when the cost of making a sale is astronomical, but the price you must charge for support (to compete against do-it-yourself efforts) is...; Tags: Medsphere, Applications, Development, Implementations, Legal, Infrastructure, Distributions, General; Blog posts 2006-11-30
Did Sun do right by Java?: Ed Burnette has some excellent covererage of todays decision by Sun to release Java under the GPL, rather than its CDDL, including an interview with Tim Bray. Many observers were no doubt surprised by the decision. I know I was. But after looking at it for a few moments, it...; Tags: General, Development, Software Licensing, Legal, Distributions, middleware, mass market, java; Blog posts 2006-11-13
Open source as a bargaining chip: The big moves by Oracle and Microsoft, along with the newly-announced decision by Adobe to open source some code, has customers of all sizes asking the same question.Is this real? Or is open source just being used as a bargaining chip? Is this a sea change in software company attitudes,...; Tags: General, Software Licensing, Enterprise Policy, Legal, Strategy, Standards, Distributions; Blog posts 2006-11-08