IBM supercomputer dual-boots Windows and Linux, Jun 20, 2008

IBM has demonstrated one of the highest profile supercomputers yet to run Windows as well as Linux - the Akka system, installed at the High Performance Computing Center North (HPC2N) in northern Sweden.

Network World published a test today that declared Linux -- especially Red Hat's Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.1 -- was more green than Windows Server 2008. RHEL drew less power on 13 of 16 test scenarios and came in with almost 10 percent savings in power over Windows Server 2008 in some of those cases.

Workloads running on Linux servers are shifting to become more business oriented, including databases and line-of-business applications, and the operating system appears headed for measurable growth over the next three years, according to a white paper released Tuesday by IDC.

The message posted Friday evening on emacs-eval by Richard Stallman was cryptic: "Stefan and Yidong offered to take over, so I am willing to hand over Emacs development to them."

Wayne Kelly, leader of the open source Ruby.Net development project, announced last week that he intends to discontinue development of Ruby.Net and join up with Microsoft's IronRuby open source efforts. This might sound good on the surface, but it is a bad idea.

Microsoft's aggressive defense of its intellectual property, which includes claims that Linux violates a number of its patents, is nothing more than "a marketing thing," according to Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel.

Novell will head to court this April to find out what it is owed, if anything, by SCO, which had been trying to earn royalties from Unix code it did not own.

Linux development is more like a social network built on trusted relationships and less like a democratic community of individuals dedicated to a single development process, according to Linux creator Linus Torvalds.

“The judge slapping down SCO in the SCO vs. IBM/Novell lawsuit was the smartest move,” says Andreas Antonopoulos, founding partner at Nemertes Research and a Network World columnist.

More and more open-source developers these days are employees of companies, paid to work on open-source projects, rather than independent programmers doing it for fun. The change raises issues for projects, programmers and employers alike.

... in its battle against Microsoft for unified communications dominance, it's time for Cisco to reach out to a key software company: Red Hat. Here are seven reasons why Cisco needs Red Hat in its corner -- fast.

IBM today will announce it is consolidating nearly 4,000 small computer servers in six locations onto about 30 refrigerator-sized mainframes running Linux saving $250 million in the process.

With about a week remaining to collect comments on a plan to adopt Ecma’s Open XML standard, Massachusetts is mum on how the issue is fairing, but some who disagree with the action are already voicing their opinion publicly.

Xandros CEO Andreas Typaldos said Thursday his company did not agree that its Linux distribution violates any Microsoft patents nor did the software giant ask Xandros to do so as part of the patent cross-licensing deal the two signed Monday.

Linux's bark is turning into a bite for Microsoft. As a result, the software giant is stepping up to protect itself and keep corporate customers from turning to the open-source operating system to satisfy server and desktop needs.

As Novell kicks off its annual user conference, customers are enthusiastic about their transitions from the legacy NetWare operating system to Linux. There’s discord, however, among Novell users regarding the company’s controversial technology pact with Microsoft.

Linux clustering start-up Terascala is generating interest among investors, as the Massachusetts-based company recently received a $3 million in first-round venture capital funding.

I predicted Microsoft Vista would spur improvements in the Linux desktop world, and that's coming true. I wish the Linux people got their act together a bit sooner, but better late than never. Maybe they learned that slogan from Microsoft, as well.

Cisco plans to resolve a single license compliance issue regarding the use of Linux in one of its iPhones, the company wrote in a blog posting, but a researcher contends that Cisco has more work to do.

As we close out the year, it is instructive to ponder last month's pro-Linux announcement by Microsoft. It tells us a lot about how the company's thinking is evolving with respect to competition. And, more importantly, what that might mean to customers in the coming year.