Linux startup moves desktop Windows to the data center, Sep 25, 2007

Qumranet's Solid ICE product moves desktop users' Linux or Microsoft Windows installs onto virtual machines in the data center, allowing the users to run their applications and OS of choice from thin clients or from Windows or Linux PC clients.

Linux systems' power consumption is rapidly becoming a top concern for operators of large data centers. A University of California, Berkeley, study recently attributed 90% of the increase in data center power consumption to servers priced at less than $25,000 each -- the market where Linux is most important.

Linux systems' power consumption is rapidly becoming a top concern for operators of large data centers. A University of California Berkeley study recently attributed 90 percent of the increase in data center power consumption to servers priced at less than US$25,000 each, the market where Linux is most important.

As the number of Linux kernel contributors continues to grow, core developers are finding themselves mostly managing and checking, not coding, said Greg Kroah-Hartman, maintainer of USB and PCI support in Linux and co-author of Linux Device Drivers, in a talk at the Linux Symposium in Ottawa Thursday.

ZFS, like the rest of OpenSolaris, has been available under Sun's Common Development and Distribution License for about two years, and Linux has been under Version 2 of the the GNU General Public License since its first release in 1991. The licenses are incompatible

Legal threats may be the high-profile risk for Linux, but the popular open source kernel project is coming face-to-face with key technical shortcomings, too. As the Linux Foundation plans its first Collaboration Summit for June 13 through 15 at the Google campus in Mountain View, Linux contributors are speaking out about kernel gaps that have no solution readily in sight.

Linux developer Greg Kroah-Hartman, who leads the development of several kernel subsystems including USB and PCI, admits that his January offer of free Linux device driver development was "marketing hype" -- but says it has brought companies and developers together anyway.

Linux developer Andrew Morton, best known for maintaining the "-mm" test kernels, pointed out what are either some gaping holes in Linux or some great available challenges that you can take on to become the next great kernel hacker, depending on your point of view.

LinuxWorld OpenSolutions Summit speaker Jeremy Allison explains some tricky details of Linux/Windows interoperability, what the Novell/Microsoft deal really does for interoperability, and a vision for a future easy-to-administer network filesystem.

Thanks to Dell, one UK Linux user has succeeded in the perennial quest to buy and use a laptop without paying for an unused bundled OS.