Sun shareholders approve sale to Oracle, Jul 16, 2009

Sun Microsystems Inc shareholders approved the computer maker's $7 billion sale to Oracle Corp as the two await antitrust clearance from U.S. and EU regulators before they can close the deal.

Shares of Linux software provider Red Hat Inc climbed 10 percent on Monday and analysts said that investors were betting that the company would be acquired by Oracle Corp. Officials with Red Hat and Oracle declined comment.

The world's second-largest cell phone maker, Samsung Electronics, will start to sell several phones using open-source Linux software platforms this year, a senior executive told Reuters in an interview.

Cuba launched its own variant of the Linux computer operating system this week in the latest front of the communist island's battle against what it views as U.S. hegemony.

One of the largest mobile operators in the world, Spain's Telefonica, joined wireless Linux foundation LiMo on Monday and committed with five other operators to sell phones using its software this year.

The world's largest cellphone maker Nokia said it expected the role of Linux operating software in mobile handsets would grow, but it would take some time to become mainstream.

Leading open-source distributor Red Hat Inc, which is shifting its focus to greater China, expects its revenue in the region to grow by 50 percent in the next fiscal year on healthy demand from enterprise clients.

The Linux computer operating system, which so far has had little success in use for cellphones, is set to become more widely available in handsets next year, helped by Google's mobile push, said Linux's creator Linus Torvalds.

Commissioner Neelie Kroes said criticism by a top U.S. Justice Department official of an EU court decision against Microsoft was "totally unacceptable."

Red Hat Inc. reported a higher profit on Wednesday on an increase in sales of its version of Linux software, which businesses are increasingly choosing over rival products to run their computer systems.

Google told the judge overseeing the 2002 consent decree that even though Microsoft has agreed to modify Vista to address the concerns, "more may need to be done to provide a truly unbiased choice of desktop search products."

The high priests of free software have congregated at Google Inc. headquarters this week to debate the future of the movement and face down recent patent threats by Microsoft Corp.

Red Hat Inc. and IBM formed a partnership to develop, sell and support Red Hat's Linux software for IBM's mainframe computers, people familiar with the arrangement said on Tuesday.

Red Hat Inc. plans to create a Web store to boost sales of its own open-source software and of compatible open-source products from other companies, a person familiar with the plan said on Thursday.

Oracle Corp. promised to take the Linux software world by storm last October, but the major expansion by one of the world's largest software companies so far has failed to show momentum.

Novell Inc. Chief Financial Officer Dana Russell said that Microsoft Corp. issued more than $73 million worth of certificates for his company's Linux software during the fiscal first-quarter.

From Brazil to Pakistan, some of the world's poorest children will peer across the digital divide this month -- reading electronic books, shooting digital video, creating music and chatting with classmates online.

Supporters of PC operating system Linux are preparing to counter a recent deal penned by Microsoft Corp which establishes for the first time the principle of paying the software giant for the operating system, whose licence requires it to be free.

Microsoft Corp. and Zend, a key supplier of tools used to design open-source software that competes with Microsoft Windows programs, said on Tuesday the two companies have struck a long-term partnership.

Red Hat Inc. lost nearly a quarter of its market capitalization on Thursday after software giant Oracle Corp. offered half-price technical support to lure away the smaller company's customers.