Vista weakness could feed Linux growth, Feb 18, 2008

The maturing expectations of desktop operating systems have given Linux a better chance than ever of denting the desktop - even as they have helped down Windows Vista, says Linus Torvalds

Windows Vista was hit by significantly fewer publicly disclosed security flaws in its first year than Windows XP and open source rivals in their first years, according to a report from Microsoft.

The Gnome project has released the first test version of Gnome 2.22 this week, including a new web-browser engine, a new virtual file system and updates for virtual network computing and accessibility.

Ubuntu developers have taken the wraps off the fifth update to the upcoming "Gutsy Gibbon" version, a major release that will include significant additions to the Linux distribution.

Red Hat's chief executive has revealed that the company held talks with Microsoft last year over a possible patent agreement like the software giant's controversial deal with Novell.

Microsoft is not the real patent threat Linux and open source developers should be worried about, said Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth. In fact, the software giant will itself be fighting against the software patents system within a few years, Shuttleworth predicted.

Virtualization leader VMware has published a white paper condemning what it calls Microsoft's moves to block competition in the virtualization market, the most public sign to date of the friction between the companies.

Linux kernel maintainer Andrew Morton last week revealed some of his plans for the next kernel version, a few days after the final release of Linux 2.6.20.

The latest release of Debian, "Etch", may slip another month, according to some Debian developers. In the meantime, Ubuntu, a distribution based on Debian, has formed a deal with Linspire that will see that company dump its Debian base for an Ubuntu link.

Birmingham City Council has defended its year-long trial of desktop Linux, claiming it to be a success, despite an independent report showing it would have been cheaper to install Windows XP.

The City of Munich has developed impressive systems for rolling out and maintaining Linux desktops for large numbers of users, according to a British developer who had a close-up view of the system.

Future versions of OpenOffice.org will come bundled with Mozilla's Thunderbird email client and Lightning calendar application.

An effort by the Open Source Development Labs to help developers defend themselves against software patents has come under fire from Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman, who believes that the plan could backfire.

Corporate Server 4.0 is the first to offer three of the most prominent virtualization technologies--VMware, Xen and OpenVZ--in its standard version, said Mandriva, formerly known as MandrakeSoft

Major customers such as governments and large corporations are critical if Linux is ever to knock out the Windows monopoly, according to an upcoming economic study authored by two Harvard faculty members.

The Spanish region of Extremadura has gone open source, deciding to move its entire administratrion to Linux and open source software within a year.

A new database will tackle one of the persistent problems facing Linux deployments - figuring out what hardware is and isn't compatible.

The City of Munich has insisted it is on track with its massive Linux migration, in the face of claims in the German Senate that the project seemed to have failed before it ever got off the ground.

PostgreSQL users have been put in a potentially sticky situation by a serious security flaw made public last week.

Vista's new security features will make for such a disruptive user experience that business users might want to steer clear of the operating system for the time being, according to Yankee Group.