New Linux Group To Tackle Legal, Standards Challenges -- And Microsoft, Jan 27, 2007

The group's formation is an acknowledgement that Linux can't afford to divide its resources for funding, legal defense, and standards, since problems on any of those fronts could weaken the operating system's advancement.

For big companies that want to use the Linux operating system and get business-level support, there are only two main options: Red Hat Inc. and Novell. And one of those looked shaky last week.

The sheer amount of processing power--the number of CPUs grows as much as 10% monthly--made Linux the obvious choice to run Linden Lab's servers.

Linux wasn't a box-office hit with Regal Entertainment Group, the country's largest theater owner with $2.5 billion in 2004 revenue. It's switching from open-source Linux to Microsoft Windows.

SCO launches a set of Web services designed to let companies tie "smart" handheld devices that act both as cell phones and mobile desktops to back-end applications and data.

Two research reports sponsored by IBM argue that Linux is less expensive to buy and operate than Windows or Unix.

The IT world may be an insecure place, but don't blame Linux. In fact, very few IT pros participating in InformationWeek Research's Linux and open-source survey say Linux has introduced security problems into their IT environments.

Latest version of Carrier-Grade Linux lets telecom-equipment makers build less expensive, high-availability network components.

Former SuSE Linux Inc. president Richard Seibt resigned Monday from his post at Novell, which acquired SuSE in January 2004. Seibt joined Novell as president of its Europe, Middle East, and Africa region following the $210 million acquisition.

The SCO Group, through its landmark lawsuit against IBM, gets much of the credit for stirring up demand for automated tools that compare intellectual property against open-source source code.

Linux remained a small part of Novell's sales in its most-recent quarter, which got a big cash boost from settling with Microsoft.

As Linux running on x86 servers continues to grow in corporate data centers, questions remain as to whether the open-source operating system introduces a higher level of management complexity than the proprietary Unix systems it replaces

Three decades ago, Atari was the pioneer in video-game systems. A lot has changed since then--Pong isn't quite the draw it was in 1975--but Atari Inc. hasn't given up on progressive thinking.

G2 Computer Intelligence Inc., a small provider of high-tech newsletters, filed a motion Tuesday with the Utah district court that's hearing SCO Group's lawsuit against IBM, asking the court to unseal any protected documents related to the case.

As companies ramp up open-source deployments, expertise is in high demand and short supply. The costs of developing talent can add up.

IBM's Linux Scholar Challenge is one of a few programs to drum up enthusiasm among students worldwide in Linux and open-source software.

When Tim Howes and a group of colleagues created the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol almost 15 years ago, he had no idea this quiet little front end to the more robust X.500 directory services standard would become such an important weapon in the battle for enterprise Linux supremacy.

The race is on to deliver a version of the Linux open-source operating system that will be more secure than any of its predecessors but also manageable and affordable enough to garner widespread acceptance. Linux developer MandrakeSoft SA and a consortium of European software makers have tossed their hat into the ring, as has Trusted Computer Solutions Inc., a maker of software used by government agencies and businesses to securely transfer sensitive data.

Open-source software meets the basic criteria of useful and affordable that people and businesses in emerging economies such as India need to adopt them. But, says a prominent Indian IT scholar, there's no shortage of other reasons why Linux and its ilk are leaving an indelible mark on the Indian software market, particularly for the country's 2.5 million small and medium businesses.

The open-source model suits India, where most businesses have previously made no investment in IT; many large businesses rely on Unix; and Microsoft Windows is seen primarily as a desktop operating system, says Deepak Phatak, the Subrao M. Nilekani Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology's Kanwal Rekhi School of Information Technology. Phatak, who spent much of last year traveling his native country evangelizing Linux and open source, also contends that the open-source model offers better support than proprietary vendors do in India. And he isn't concerned with the intellectual-property concerns that have arisen from Linux use in the United States.

Late last month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Wall Street analysts that the commercial software industry faces a risk: Open-source software could threaten the sector's profits in the next decade. At the same daylong meeting, chairman Bill Gates asserted the need for "increased, intense focus" on protecting intellectual property in the software business and predicted a dramatic rise in the number of patents that Microsoft files. A week later in San Francisco, a different sentiment was in evidence at the LinuxWorld trade show. IBM, perhaps the most influential patent holder in the tech industry, said it wouldn't use its hefty patent portfolio against Linux, as it released into the public domain the software code for its Java-based Cloudscape database. "No single vendor, no matter how large, can claim a monopoly on innovation," said senior VP Nick Donofrio. And Matthew Szulik, CEO of Linux distributor Red Hat Inc., denounced patent holders' "veiled threat of legal intimidation" against users of open-source software during his speech.