Bring out the GIMP, Feb 25, 2005

No one can beat the 800lb gorilla of image-editing software, Adobe Systems Inc’s Photoshop CS. But if you can’t afford Photoshop CS’s RM2,280 price tag, you may want to consider GIMP – a freeware, open source image-editing program.

Linux distributor Mandrakesoft has bought Brazilian-based Linux vendor Conectiva for $2.3 million, officials said Thursday.

The server is expected to run both Windows and Linux. Fujitsu has signed partnerships with Microsoft and Red Hat to help bring high-end server features to Windows and Linux.

As a pre-integrated solution based on the Linux open OS and a high performance chipset, the new system solution family meets the increasing demand from cellular network operators and handset manufacturers to bring smartphones and portable multimedia devices quickly to market with the minimum of risk.

Why build something like XORP? Just as Linux fans accuse Microsoft of stifling innovation, XORP's creators say router vendors are holding back progress. The problem is that each company's routing code is proprietary and not available for users to tweak. "They're inaccessible to you. You can't go to your router and add, say, some new piece of security," Ghosh says. "It's very difficult to experiment or innovate."

In Yale's Computer Science Department and CS computing cluster, also known as the Zoo, the UNIX-based Linux is the platform of choice. The Linux operating system benefits from a usership that actively tries to improve its function.

A German company named ROAD (Remote Office Access Devices) has introduced an unusual multifunction Linux mobile phone. Flipping the Model S101 open reveals a keyboard and screen for interacting with computer applications. Flip it closed again, and it's a GSM phone.

To the business managers who draft corporate policy, however, open source is often a disruptive force, one that brings not confidence but uncertainty. Who will guarantee that this software works as advertised? How can we be sure it's secure, or that it can scale to meet our needs? Could choosing open source today deny us a competitive advantage that proprietary software might have given us tomorrow?

Linux has quickly transformed from one that is "one against the world" hobbyist dream into one that is fast becoming a serious part of the software stacks in enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses and worldwide government institutions.

You are the CIO of a small to medium sized company. You want a big splashy cost-saving victory to impress your board. Consider your thought process as you evaluate whether a desktop switch to Linux can make you a hero without getting you toasted.

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