I wrote last week about how the conservatism of many senior IT executives is a significant barrier to widespread open source adoption. A recent post from Richard Steel, CIO of the London borough of Newham, is a reminder that the machinations of the open source software world are not as engrossing as some supporters might […]

Earlier this week Silicon.com’s Naked CIO posted an article in which the anonymous chief information officer asked the question “Is open source dead?” and argued that “open source has found its niche and will continue to be of practical value in the realm of web and network security. But its application to business is limited.”
The […]

While Microsoft’s focus on its making its applications (almost) exclusively available for its own software stack is understandable, I have often thought that in the systems management sector the strategy had the effect of restricting Microsoft’s potential market and increasing opportunities for its rivals.
The company’s decision to offer cross-platform extensions for System Center therefore makes […]

I’m starting to see some big potential for symbiosis between two Linux and open source leaders: Red Hat and Ubuntu. Red Hat’s departure from the consumer desktop Linux market comes at the same time Ubuntu continues rolling in the same market with the release of Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron this week. The latest Ubuntu also […]

Early last year, Greg Kroah-Hartman led a Linux kernel development effort to address lacking support for hardware devices and drivers in Linux. Kroah-Hartman even devoted more of his work to the driver project and then put out another call for companies to come forward with their Linux driver issues. This work is highly commendable and […]

The Linux Foundation has put out a fascinating study on Linux kernel development, who’s doing it and how fast things are moving. In reading through the report, I’ve picked out some of the statistics and points that stood out to me:
There have been almost 10,000 patches in each recent ~quarterly Linux kernel release. Releases include […]

Microsoft has announced that it is to provide rivals and partners with free access the APIs and protocols it uses to ensure interoperability between its core products (Windows Vista and Server, Office, SQL Server, Exchange and SharePoint), as well as a new strategy that is focused on open access, portability, open standards and engagement with […]

Here’s an interesting bit of news from the blurred line between open and closed source software. Ubuntu sponsor Canonical has announced that it is reselling IBM’s DB2 Express-C database as both a standalone software package and as a software appliance with VMware. While Express-C is free as in beer, it is not free as in […]

It is interesting to see Google confirming that it has hired Codeweavers, to ensure that Photoshop Creative Suite and Creative Suite 2 run on Linux via Wine.
As the post states “Photoshop is one of those applications that desktop Linux users are constantly clamoring for” and projects like this will go a long way to (eventually) […]

SCO Group has announced that it has arranged $100m financing from Stephen Norris Capital Partners to exit bankruptcy, go private, and continue its litigation against IBM, Novell and AutoZone. “SNCP has developed a business plan for SCO that includes unveiling new product lines aimed at global customers. This reorganization plan will also enable the […]

Novell has announced that it has acquired open source collaboration software vendor SiteScape for an undisclosed fee, adding team workspace and collaboration functionality to its collaboration software portfolio. The main question the deal raised for me is why it took so long. Novell announced an OEM relationship with SiteScape almost exactly a year ago but […]

Yet another open source acquisition. This time it is mobile device vendor Nokia stepping up to the plate with its purchase of open source development tools vendor Trolltech. Nokia will offer NOK 16 is cash for Trolltech, which values the firm at roughly $153m (taking into account currency conversion and rounding).
Trolltech hadn’t yet announced its […]

Following on from my instant reaction to the news that Sun was acquiring MySQL for $1bn, the deal deserves some closer attention. Subscribers to The 451 Group’s TechDealMaker service can read the QuickTake and the full Deal Analysis, while a couple of points are worthy of further analysis:

Despite the best efforts of MySQL and other […]

Second-tier Linux distributors Mandriva and Turbolinux have been quietly working together since October on a joint project called Manbo-Labs to create a unified Linux base to underpin their respective distributions. If that rings a bell it’s probably because it’s not the first time the companies have worked together on such a project. It’s not even […]

News that the Italian Corte dei Conti is adopting Red Hat Enterprise Linux is interesting. Even more so when you consider the role the Corte dei Conti plays and recent complaints regarding the apparent re-allocation of state funds previously committed to open source development.
Questions have recently been raised by Italian open source supporters as to […]

Becta, the UK government agency responsible for technology in the education sector has promised to do more to promote the use of open source software within schools and colleges and has warned educational institutions in the UK against upgrading to Windows Vista and Microsoft Office.
Becta on Wednesday published its full report in to Vista and […]

How can software vendors engage with the open source community? An important step, according to Linus Torvalds, is to stop believing such a thing really exists and start engaging in the development process.
The Linux Foundation has kicked off its new Open Voices podcast series with an interview between executive director Jim Zemlin and its most […]

Jaron Lanier’s Long Live Closed-Source Software! is well worth a read if for no other reason than it challenges a number of assumptions about the value of open source software. For the same reason, it should be read in conjunction with the numerous critiques that have followed.
Lanier’s argument is that the open source movement has […]

“I believe last year was actually the peak year of open source fundraising… This year is down slightly, but not down in such a dramatic way to indicate anything else but a good appetite for funding of open source,” Matrix Partners general manager David Skok told LinuxInsider in late 2007.
The raw data indicates open source […]

MySQL CEO Marten Mickos has spoken before about how he is more interested in learning from the successes of Ikea, Ryanair and Virgin Mobile than he is the established proprietary software vendors. Even so, it was surprising to see that Red Hat has looked outside the software industry for its new president and CEO.
Jim Whitehurst […]