Qantas ditches Linux for AIX, Apr 27, 2007

Qantas will next month shift the underlying platform running its internal finance systems from Linux to IBM's Unix variant AIX as part of its wide-ranging eQ transformation project.

Australia's future economic prosperity will depend on it embracing the principles of community-driven technologies such as Linux and Second Life, according to Glen Boreham.

A new "hack for the dole" scheme will allow unemployed people to meet their mutual obligation requirements by working on open-source software projects.

One of the maintainers of the Linux kernel has said that a lack of 'credit or money or anything' for those who test the open source OS could threaten its long-term stability

Enterprise software giant SAP is making a renewed push to build ties to the developer community, but that enthusiasm isn't likely to extend to making the source code for any of its core components available.

Speaking at Sapphire, the company's Asia-Pacific user conference, executive board member Shai Agassi boasted that the company's SAP Developer Network site had attracted 50,000 members since launching in September last year. By the end of the year, the company hopes to have 150,000 registered developers.

Linux advocates often pride the operating system to be more secure than Windows but this claim could have attracted the unwanted attention of the hacking community.

An analysis of hacker attacks on online servers in January by U.K.-based security consultancy mi2g found that Linux servers were most frequently hit, accounting for 13,654 successful attacks, or 80 percent of the survey total. Windows came in a distant second with 2,005 attacks.

A detailed analysis of government servers also found Linux to be more susceptible, accounting for 57 percent of all security breaches.

Despite growing corporate interest, other figures demonstrate that Linux is still a geek's paradise.

The most commonly used distribution amongst attendees is Debian, a non-commercial distribution, followed by Red Hat and Mandrake.

And despite the increasing efforts put into developing user-friendly desktops and interfaces, the simple bash command line is generally the most popular interface choice amongst the vast majority of conference visitors.

"You're actually going to be forced to go into an open source model without having considered whether it will work for the long-term business model," Oi told attendees at the Linux and Open Source in Government Conference in Adelaide.

Demonstrating value for money convinces government departments of Linux's merits, according to delegates at an Australian conference

While government departments remain concerned about the implications of using open-source software, successful projects have overcome that concern by simply demonstrating better value for money.

While government departments remain concerned about the implications of using open source, successful projects have overcome that concern by simply demonstrating better value for money.

That was the message that emerged on the first day of the Linux and Open Source in Government conference in Adelaide, which is preceding the main 2004 Linux.conf.au gathering.