Microsoft launches a Linux-related patent lawsuit against TomTom. UK government takes a more proactive stance on open source. Novell’s Linux business disappoints. Sourcefire’s revenue grows 35%. Business models. Community engagement strategies. Humanoid robots. And more.

One might have thought Microsoft was back rattling the patented software sabres against Linux and open source this week, reading some of the recent reports regarding Redmond’s patent infringement suit against automotive navigation and GPS player TomTom. However, upon further review, it seems that Microsoft is making a point to say that these suits are [...]

The UK government has updated its policy on open source software, taking a more positive stance on encouraging the use of open source software for government IT systems and introducing an action plan that will ensure the theory is put into practice. Just last month I criticised the Labour government for failing to act on [...]

Citrix makes XenServer free, but not open source. REd Hat outlines virtualization strategy. Ingres debuts ECM Appliance. Ubuntu in the clouds. MuleSource appoints a new CEO. OpenLogic and OpenGear boast of their successes. And more.

I mentioned last week that the debate about open source business strategies had reared its head again thanks to posts by Dave Rosenberg and Michael Coté (twice) – not to mention Matt Asay and Tarus Balog. While I am at risk of repeating myself, there are a couple of points I wanted to make. In [...]

Topics for this podcast: *Red Hat and Microsoft come together on virtualization *New deals and models mean mobile Linux consolidation *Sun shuffles its open source stack iTunes or direct download (28:05, 6.6 MB)

Encouraging corporate contributions. How to make millions with open source. Or not. Red Hat and IBM celebrate 10 years of mutual appreciation. Nokia borrows €500m to invest in Symbian. And more.

# You can now follow 451 CAOS Links Live @caostheory # I have been sceptical about Twitter but have been experimenting with it as a tool for collating 451 CAOS Links content # It will primarily be used for outgoing communication about the latest news and views on open source # I will also be [...]

Back in July last year we reported on the formation of a new open source cloud computing start-up called 10gen on our Cloud Cover blog as well as here. Seven months later and there have been a few changes at 10gen, such that our information management blog is arguably the most suitable venue for discussion [...]

We’ve been talking on our blog and podcast about mobile Linux, and some of our findings from CAOS 10 – Mobility Matters. We’re seeing signs that we, along with mobile Linux and open source in general, are on the right track. It seems after a few fits and starts over the past few years, mobile [...]

Red Hat and Microsoft make nice on virtualization. Vodafone’s new Android handset. Esmertec acquires Purple Labs and becomes Myriad Group AG. Krugle acquired by Aragon Consulting Group. Serena boasts of 1 million Projity downloads. And more.

More than two years since Microsoft persuaded Novell to enter into an interoperability agreement concerning Linux and Windows, it has finally got Red Hat to talk interoperability. The agreement does not appear to be a repeat of the one Microsoft struck with Novell, however. I’m still taking in the details but one element stands out: [...]

I wrote last year about how netbooks represented one of the first times Linux was going head-to-head on a more level desktop playing field against Windows. With word of a recent ‘hybrid,’ pre-installed Windows/Linux computer from Dell, I think we may be seeing a similar situation where Linux is not as handcuffed by the hardware, [...]

The open source vendor definition debate rumbles on. How open source could save the US government $3.7bn. Red Hat plans MASS migration to JBoss. Open source content management invades the US. Exploiting the attribution loophole in the GPLv3. And more.

Yesterday Sun introduced Glassfish Portfolio. Its a new stack of open source middleware products including Glassfish Enterprise Server, Glassfish ESB, Glassfish Web Space Server, and the new Glassfish Web Stack, which includes support for projects such as Tomcat, Memcached, Apache, PHP, Ruby and Python and a copy of MySQL Community. It’s a pretty complete infrastructure [...]

The debate over the security of open source software is dusting up again with some recent criticism of inherent risk in open source software packages commonly used by enterprises, governments and others. While the criticism from Fortify, based largely on a previous report, comes in response to some UK government indications of an embrace of [...]

Reaction to Marten Mickos’s departure from Sun. Lots of announcements from the LIMO Foundation and Ws02. Mozilla offers to help EC investigation of Microsoft. Black Duck raises funding. The state of Red Hat. And more.

Savio Rodrigues picked up the ball and ran with it, furthering the discussion on what makes a vendor an “open source vendor”. I left a few comments to Savio’s post that I thought were worth repeating here. First off, Savio altered my definition slightly to ensure that the likes of Google and Amazon could not [...]

Topics for this podcast: *Defining an open source vendor *The virtual desktop game opens up *Canonical’s Ubuntu survey, Linux server market *Marten Mickos moving on from Sun iTunes or direct download (26:32, 6.1 MB)

All change at Sun. A new CEO at Zend. Ingres enjoys revenue up 32%. Purple Labs raises funding. Is open source a danger to Microsoft or will Danger bring open source to Microsoft? (Not) open source food. And more.