SUSE's Amazing Software Vending Machine, Aug 03, 2009

SUSE Studio may well be the neatest thing in Linux so far this year. It's a web service where you can build a custom Linux distro or "appliance" in minutes. I think of it as a software vending machine, a way to get exactly the product you want the first time.

Maker of Buffalo networking gear pays up in exchange for patent indemnification.

Google's announcement late Tuesday that it's developing a lightweight operating system based on the Chrome browser sounds great at first. But the more I looked into the meager information available, the less attractive the offering seemed.

Red Hat (is trying to make it easier to run applications under Linux in the cloud. It's going to certify which partners are competent at building cloud workloads to run with its Enterprise Linux.

Not long after my post about the newest rev of OpenSolaris, a programmer friend called me to dissent. He'd tried OpSol, too, found it sorely lacking, and from his comments I found a criticism that now applies to Linux as well.

Invisible Linux would essentially do for Linux what Apple did with NeXTStep / BSD: take the open source core and wrap it in a layer that may not be open source but which is polished to a degree that makes it irresistible to end users.

A Linux expert tries out netbook-ready Puppy Linux, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Xubuntu, gOS, and Moblin, and reports on how they stack up.

With Chrome 2.0 out this week for Windows only, the hue and cry arises once more: why is there still no Chrome for Linux -- or for that matter, anything other than Windows?

It was back in 2002, according to Sam Trenholme, the creator of the secure DNS server software MaraDNS. That was the year that forces conspired to make sure Linux on the desktop would never become a reality. Linux as a server was another matter entirely, but to him the "Linux desktop" is as dead as the Amiga.

It appears there will be a global Android explosion this year if the latest forecasts are true, as worldwide Android-based smartphone shipments will grow 900 percent in 2009, according to research from Strategy Analytics.

Big Blue is doubling a rewards program under which businesses can get thousands of dollars worth of software and services for free -- if they unplug their Sun boxes.

Microsoft is reportedly taking a version of its XP OS intended for entry-level PCs, and repurposing its post-Vista incarnation to run netbooks. Its name and functionality do little good for the company's brand.

First it was "the desktop". Now it's "the netbook" -- as in, what's the big proving ground for Linux vs. Windows going to be? And the latest hotly-debated bit of conventional wisdom is whether the Linux-based netbooks just don't cut it compared to their Windows cousins. The real problem seems to be who's willing to do more to bring regular users in.

The Linux kernel has a new advocate for clean code who is determined to clear up unresolved bugs.

Virtualization, cloud computing, and adoption by startups will make Linux the fastest-growing operating system, post economic downturn.

The next iteration of Ubuntu Linux will really help companies lift up into the clouds

It's the latest wave of insight from the pundits with an eye turned to the Linux-powered netbook world. It isn't a Windows vs. Linux race; it's a Linux vs. Linux race.

There would be more migrations from Unix database servers to Linux if Red Hat made its product available for free, Oracle's chief Linux technologist said.

The good news is the deployment of open source is growing. The bad news is that policies managing those projects are an afterthought. Among the biggest concerns keeping both large and small developers up at night are licensing and support.

A February survey of IT managers by IDC indicated that hard times are accelerating the adoption of Linux. The open source operating system will emerge from the recession in a stronger data center position than before, concluded an IDC white paper.