Building IT Support for Open-Source Model, Jun 22, 2008

Children are taught as early as preschool that sharing is an essential part of learning to get along with others. Yet some people still can't grasp the concept of sharing code or they reject open source because of the monetary value of ideas, said Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat, at the recent Red Hat Summit in Boston.

Linux offers equivalents to many Windows applications that are often as good as -- or even better than -- the programs you're used to. In some cases the apps are also available in Windows and Mac OS versions, allowing dual-booters to stay with the same set of free programs regardless of the operating system in use.

Open-source developers should stop bickering, unite and jointly develop a Windows user interface to make XO laptops more appealing to users, One Laptop Per Child Chairman Nicholas Negroponte has urged in a public note to that community.

Looking to boost the Web, Sun is working on a royalty-free and open video codec and media system, company officials said Thursday afternoon.

Is Windows broken? Gartner says yes, and explains why. Many readers have other ideas, though, and not everyone is ready to jump ship to Linux. Give us your take on the situation.

A report from the Linux Foundation details individual kernel contributions and suggests enterprise use is expanding.

... despite the rock-bottom prices, neither PC qualifies as a bargain. They use lowest-of-the-low-end components--you're essentially paying fair prices for inferior products.

Nokia didn't mention the iPhone, but told a disappointed audience at the Mobile World Congress that it is still working on bringing out touch capability to its phones.

More laptop computers preloaded with Ubuntu Linux are coming from Dell Inc. in response to demand from potential customers around the world.

A mass attack ongoing for the past month against Linux Apache Web servers has become increasingly successful because its break-in method makes use of an automated password and installation process, according to a security researcher monitoring its progress.

Infected sites feed exploits to visitors--and more sites are affected than first suspected.

OLPC America plans to combat digital divide by distributing low-cost laptops to needy students in the U.S.

Human-powered computing team supplies a supercomputer with enough juice to model a nuclear fusion reaction.

Here are my impressions of the Eee PC after two weeks of using one. I have shown this laptop to hundreds of people who have visited the public library where I work.

Opera argues that because each version of Windows comes with only IE preinstalled, Microsoft has an unfair advantage against rivals like Opera and Firefox.

Beta users can access the OpenOffice.org suite using a Web browser on Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X--no download necessary.

Dell's efforts to reinvent itself this year through a dramatic break from its direct-sales model, expanded services and new enterprise offerings have shown positive early results, but some users have lingering concerns about supply chain management and support -- long-time issues for the company.

The One Laptop Per Child Association has been sued for patent infringement, charging the project with stealing its designs for a multilingual keyboard.

IBM Tuesday released the second beta of its free Lotus Symphony productivity applications suite and says a final version will ship next year designed to drive adoption of open file formats.

Mozilla is close to releasing the first beta of Firefox 3.0, which is several months behind schedule.