Microsoft and open-source backers: best 'frenemies' forever?, Oct 26, 2007

There's a scene in the 2004 movie Mean Girls in which the most popular girl in the film's fictional high school finds out that a friend who now is a fast-rising social rival plans to throw a party without inviting her.

MontaVista and Access have pledged to work together to produce a version of MontaVista's Linux-based mobile phone operating system optimized for Access's mobile phone software application and middleware stack. Additionally, MontaVista is among six new members of Access's partner ecosystem, which now numbers 73.

The SCO Group, working to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, hopes to sell its Unix assets to York Capital Management for up to $36 million, the company said this week in regulatory and bankruptcy court filings.

There's a few applications that would help make Linux more of a mainstream OS, but don't expect to see them ported to Linux anytime soon. One of the least discussed in this fashion? Adobe Photoshop.

Desktop Linux needs drivers. Right? Of course. So why is Novell's Greg Kroah-Hartman, a Linux kernel developer and head of the Linux Driver Project, having to ask people to tell him about devices that need drivers?

Pika Technologies has introduced a compact, customizable, Linux-based IP-PBX appliance. Based on the company's host media processing software, "Pika Warp, the Appliance for Linux," is said to provide IP-PBX (IP-based private branch exchange) functionality along with integrated voice response (IVR), predictive dialing, and appointment reminders.

Experts say that migrations from Unix to Linux have slowed down because all the low-hanging fruit has now been picked.

My colleague over at Microsoft Watch, Joe Wilcox, declared that "Microsoft bowed before the EU and took its whipping." Eh, after a couple of days to look at the decision, I don't think so. At best, I'd say the European Union got the more favorable end of a draw.

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