Microsoft's open source arguments are arrogant, says IBM, Jul 06, 2001

In recent weeks, Microsoft executives have launched an all-out propaganda war against open source software, based on the GNU Public Licence (GPL). Open source allows free access to the programming code that makes up operating systems and applications, but also requires that any source code modifications also be made available.

Microsoft's comments have branded this way of working anti-American and destructive to intellectual property, but IBM, which has recently become an outspoken proponent of open source, says Microsoft is swimming against the tide.

But times have been tough for embedded Linux companies, as the economic malaise has curtailed customer and manufacturer interest in embedded product categories such as handheld computers and telecommunications equipment. Lineo withdrew its initial public offering plan in January, and LynuxWorks followed suit in June. Red Hat has said customers in the embedded market are delaying orders.

MontaVista was worried that securing financing would be difficult and laid off about 20 percent of its staff in May, lowering its employee count to its current level of about 140, said Sheila Baker, vice president, marketing. Cuts came chiefly from internal computer system operations and from customer support, she said, adding that the company still is hiring a handful of people in sales and marketing.

I've probably installed more new OSes from scratch over the past two months than during the entire preceding year. Not because of an extraordinary influx of new hardware--alas--but rather because of the vast number of new operating system options available for both x86 boxes as well as PowerPC-based machines. To no one's surprise, the best-represented OS category is of the genus Unix, and includes its many and varied subspecies. While those on the x86 side of the fence are accustomed to--if not outright blasé about--the opulent choice of operating systems available to them, the PowerPC hasn't traditionally offered nearly as much choice. That has not only changed, but even continued to improve.

The ideal device for the project would be Sony's PlayStation console, according to Gage. The console already supports Linux and Sun's Java programming language. In addition, a hard disk can be connected to the device using the IEEE1394 fire wire port.

When businesses ready to delete Microsoft Windows buy a new computer, Bill Gates & Co. have sold a license, but lost revenue from software sales and technical support

Ximian, a small, Boston-based developer specializing in user interfaces for Linux, will formally announce on Monday an open-source project to create a Linux version of Microsoft's .NET platform.

On the Java front, San Jose, Calif.-based Halcyon Software is enabling developers to either migrate their Active Server Pages or Visual Basic code to JSP (JavaServer Pages) or Java, respectively, or to deploy .NET applications on Java-based infrastructures.

The Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories has released to the public a computer software program that enables a collection of off-the-shelf desktop computers to rank among the world's fastest supercomputers. It is scalable and Linux-based.

 View older news this year: Aug Jul Jun May Apr Mar Feb Jan
 View news from other years: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999