Adobe to Deliver AIR for Linux, Feb 29, 2008

Adobe Systems hopes to make nice with the open-source community and soon deliver a Linux version of its newly released Adobe Integrated Runtime.

With version 4.0 of the popular KDE Linux desktop released, the KDE team has set a roadmap for future releases of the technology.

Sun Microsystems' Chief Open Source Officer, Simon Phipps, spoke on the issues of software patents, patent reform and Microsoft's claims that free and open-source software infringes the software company's patents. Phipps spoke with eWEEK Senior Editor Darryl K. Taft.

Chris DiBona, open-source programs manager at Google, says the jury is still out on Microsoft's recent claims that free and open-source software violates 235 Microsoft patents.

Adobe Systems has announced its plans to open-source its Flex Web development framework.

Red Hat's JBoss division is planning to move in June to a model similar to that used by RHEL/Fedora model, said sources close to the company.

Red Hat is catching flak from the open-source community over a series of cease-and-desist letters the company's lawyers have sent to independent consultants that provide training and consulting for the company's Hibernate platform.

Last summer's box office hit "snakes on a plane" was the unlikely story of a batch of snakes getting loose in flight on a 747. In what some might view as just as unlikely, ITA Software is using the Python language to empower its airline reservation system.

The 2007 road map for the Ubuntu Linux operating system includes continuing its focus on the desktop, paying more attention to the server and garnering additional corporate support.

Marc Fleury, the fiery, open-source software entrepreneur who launched a thriving business around providing support for open-source technology, has decided to leave JBoss, the company he founded. JBoss is a division of Red Hat.

The Open Source Development Labs has laid off a significant chunk of its engineering staff and has moved to shift its focus.

JBoss has grown up. The force behind the self-proclaimed "professional open source" strategy has had its rite of passage and is now entering adulthood as a division of Red Hat.

Red Hat said that the success of Linux on Wall Street is no fluke and that use of the open-source operating system and other components will only continue to grow as more users realize the benefits.

What comes after open-source software? Open services, said Sun Microsystems Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Greg Papadopoulos.

Sun Microsystems is taking a cue from its successes with open source to help shape the future of education and bridge the digital divide, according to the company's chief executive, Scott McNealy.

Sun Microsystems' Simon Phipps says going open source for the Solaris market has opened up new opportunities for growth.

The vice president of the dominant Linux supplier in China says government support is creating opportunities for desktop Linux to grow.

Ward Cunningham, one of Microsoft's high-profile hires, is leaving the Redmond software company to join the open-source tool group, The Eclipse Foundation.

Microsoft Corp. has extended an olive branch to the open-source community, calling for a sit-down to discuss how the software giant can better work with the open-source world.

The Eclipse Foundation next month plans to announce a new open-source project to deliver an open platform for frameworks and services for test and performance tools used along the software development lifecycle.

According to foundation officials, the Eclipse Foundation will announce its Test and Performance Tools Platform Top Level Project at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco early next month. Intel Corp., an Eclipse member, will lead the project. The project will foster open-source collaboration in testing and other areas.