Google courts open-source developers, Mar 18, 2005

Google has launched a new site intended to serve as a central resource for developers working on applications related to the popular search engine.

A former Microsoft executive who helped shape the company's initial response to Linux has joined a company selling open-source media software

Firms with fewer than 20 employees are the most likely to move to Linux as they upgrade outdated equipment

Linux is expected to make steady gains over the next few years on the desktop PCs of small businesses, according to a new report.

Linux adversary The SCO Group has repeated its demands for IBM to show it software code and other potential evidence, and has attacked the credibility of key IBM witnesses.

In a motion filed Monday with U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, SCO asked the court to delay any ruling on IBM's request for summary judgment until Big Blue fully complies with all requests for "discovery," the process by which litigating parties turn over potential evidence. The court is scheduled to hear one of IBM's claims for partial summary judgment on Wednesday.

About a third of businesses plan to migrate at least some Windows machines to Linux, according to a recent survey, but adoption will continue to be both slow and cautious, as companies evaluate a maze of economic factors.

In a report on total cost of ownership for the Linux, Unix and Microsoft Windows operating systems, research company The Yankee Group found that only 4 percent of businesses planned to migrate Unix servers to Linux within the next two years. A total of 11 percent intended to move Windows servers to Linux, while 21 percent proposed to add Linux servers to a predominantly Windows environment.

California lawmakers and administrators got an earful on open source software Friday - a state government panel considered proposals that would boost government use of Linux and other technologies.

The proposals appear in a lengthy report from the California Performance Review Commission, charged by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with figuring out how to make state government work better and cheaper.

California lawmakers and administrators got an earful on open-source software Friday: A state government panel considered proposals that would boost government use of Linux and other technologies.

The proposals appear in a lengthy report from the California Performance Review Commission, charged by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with figuring out how to make state government work better and cheaper.

IBM asked a federal court to bar the SCO Group, a Linux adversary, from distributing any Linux software, in the latest filing in their ongoing legal battle.

In a motion for partial summary judgment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, IBM asks the court to rule in favor of its counterclaim alleging SCO has violated the terms of one of the most common licenses under which Linux software is distributed.

IBM has taken another swing at the SCO Group's faltering attack on Linux, filing a motion seeking dismissal of SCO's contract claims.

The motion for partial summary judgment, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, centers on SCO's claims that IBM violated a contract that permitted Big Blue to use Unix operating system code controlled by SCO. SCO contends that IBM overstepped its bounds by freely distributing Linux software that reuses parts of the Unix code.

An IBM representative declined to comment.

Linux seller Lindows has trimmed its planned stock price for the second time in two weeks, meaning that the company's market debut could generate less than half the payout originally anticipated.

In an amended registration statement filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Lindows--which will soon change its name to Linspire as a result of a legal settlement with Microsoft--said it expects shares to sell for $5 to $7 each.

Hewlett-Packard is set to announce plans Tuesday to expand its support for open-source software.

The computing giant will certify and support MySQL, the leading open-source database program, and JBoss, a popular Java-based application server, on HP's industry standard servers.

Under the agreement, both MySQL and JBoss will join HP's partner program and work jointly with HP on testing and engineering support. The companies also will co-operate on customer support.

IBM has asked the court presiding over its Linux dispute with the SCO Group to issue a prompt ruling that Big Blue did not infringe on SCO's copyrights.

In a motion for summary judgment filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, IBM argues that SCO has produced no evidence to back up its copyright claims and is unlikely to do so. As a result, IBM states, the copyright claims should be dumped from the case.

Linux backers foresee desktop gains - optimistic Linux will reach mainstream status, typically defined as 10 per cent market share or better, within the next five years.

To get there, analysts say, developers and businesspeople behind Linux will need to make some changes. The user interfaces used by most Linux distributions are a good place to start, independent analyst Amy Wohl said. Some relatively simple cosmetic changes to make Linux look prettier and more similar to dominant Windows conventions would make a big difference, she said.

Linux may be entrenched in the data center, but it will need some sprucing up before the upstart operating system grabs a significant spot on desktop PCs.

Cosmetic improvements, more and better business applications and better marketing will help turn the tide, according to speakers at the Desktop Linux Summit here.

While figures vary widely on worldwide Linux desktop penetration, most credible sources place it between 0.5 percent and 2 percent of the market, making the open-source operating system a slowly rising third to Windows and Apple Computer.

Controversial software seller the SCO Group has launched an online-ordering site for companies that want to use the open-source Linux operating system with SCO's blessing.

The Web site debuted quietly last week. It enables companies that use Linux to purchase a license that covers SCO's Unix System V, portions of which SCO claims were illegally incorporated into the source code of Linux.

The amended suit drops earlier allegations that IBM had misappropriated SCO trade secrets through its Linux development efforts, a substantial feature of the original complaint. The case now rests on claims that IBM violated its contract by creating derivative works based on SCO-controlled code--and on new copyright-related claims.

Streaming media provider RealNetworks on Thursday sued longtime nemesis Microsoft on antitrust charges, accusing the software giant of illegally using its Windows monopoly to hurt digital media rivals.

Open-source software maker MontaVista Software is advising customers not to pay any money to The SCO Group, which recently offered licensing plans that cover most versions of Linux.

In a statement posted on its Web site, MontaVista said SCO's claims are without merit and should not deter businesses from adopting Linux

In 2000, the Business Software Alliance conducted a raid and subsequent audit at the San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based company that turned up a few dozen unlicensed copies of programs. Ball settled for $65,000, plus $35,000 in legal fees. But by then, the BSA, a trade group that helps enforce copyrights and licensing provisions for major business software makers, had put the company on the evening news and featured it in regional ads warning other businesses to monitor their software licenses.

Humiliated by the experience, Ball told his IT department he wanted Microsoft products out of his business within six months. "I said, 'I don't care if we have to buy 10,000 abacuses,'" recalled Ball, who recently addressed the LinuxWorld trade show. "We won't do business with someone who treats us poorly."

After Vivendi Universal bought his digital music company, MP3.com, for $350 million two years ago, Michael Robertson could have retired and never looked back. Instead, the outspoken entrepreneur decided upon a second career that offered a tad more adventure: He decided to take on Microsoft.