Yahoo! News: Linux/Open Source

Linux/Open Source

• Prototype $200 Tablet Runs Android, Chromium OS, Linux (PC World)

  PC World - $200 tablet PCs have been something of a pipe dream. There was the Crunchpad, which was supposed to be $200, but that didn’t last very long, coming out as the $400 Joo Joo. If what Freescale showed off at Mobile World Congress becomes reality, though, the dream may finally come true.

• Rackspace Hires to Align With MySQL Offshoot (PC World)

  PC World - A number of former Sun Microsystems employees who worked on Drizzle, an offshoot of the MySQL open-source database, have ended up at cloud infrastructure provider Rackspace, where they will continue their efforts, developer Jay Pipes wrote in a blog post Monday.

• WordPress Guns for Web Content Management Duties (PC World)

  PC World - Long popular with bloggers, the open-source WordPress blogging software is also starting to find a niche as a low-cost corporate CMS (content management system), at least for managing relatively simple Web sites.

• Rivals Report Boost from Microsoft's Browser Ballot (NewsFactor)

  NewsFactor - Mozilla and Opera Software say they are seeing an uptick in demand for their browsers in the wake of Microsoft's launch of a choice ballot in Europe. Mozilla CEO John Lilly told The New York Times over the weekend that more than 50,000 Firefox downloads have already occurred via direct links from the new choice screen that the European Commission mandated last year as part of its antitrust settlement with Microsoft.

• Motorola Releases Two New Android Smartphones (NewsFactor)

  NewsFactor - Motorola is placing two new bets on the open-source Android operating system with the release of its Backflip and Devour smartphones. The uniquely designed Backflip began selling through AT&T Wireless late last week, and the Detour is now available from Verizon Wireless.

• Mozilla's Drumbeat Beats to an Open Web (PC Magazine)

  PC Magazine - In Mozilla's world, the Firefox Web browser is but a mere battle in a larger war, one that's aimed at punching holes through closed, proprietary Web platforms of all kinds. What's on the horizon? "Drumbeat".

• Group Seeks to Open Source Data-center Design (PC World)

  PC World - A new industry group is trying to apply open-source principles to the design and construction of data centers, which it says could accelerate the use of new technologies and increase competition in the industry.

• Report: North Korea Develops Own Linux Distribution (PC World)

  PC World - North Korea has reportedly developed its own version of the Linux operating with a graphical user interface that closely resembles Microsoft Windows.

• Opera Hopes To Capitalize on Europe's Browser Choice (NewsFactor)

  NewsFactor - Microsoft is promoting alternative browsers to millions of Windows users across Europe -- and Opera is poised to pounce on the opportunity. With a brand-new, faster iteration of its open-source browser, Opera is working hard to gain the attention of Europeans looking for an Internet Explorer alternative.

• Ex-Mozilla Security Chief Takes Job at Apple (PC World)

  PC World - Former Mozilla security chief Window Snyder has been hired by Apple.

• NexentaStor Adds Primary Deduplication (PC World)

  PC World - Nexenta Systems is updating its NexentaStor open-source storage software with in-line deduplication, which increases the amount of data that can be stored on a server by storing it more efficiently, and support for three popular hypervisors.

• Google's Chrome Browser Boosts Global Market Share (NewsFactor)

  NewsFactor - Google's Chrome was the only web browser application to gain global market share last month, with all other major browser platforms showing month-to-month declines, according to Net Applications. Mozilla's Firefox browser -- which had been racking up steady gains at Microsoft's expense through November 2009 -- saw its global market share fall for the third straight month, the web metrics firm reported.

• The 10 All-Time Greatest Free Downloads and Services (PC World)

  PC World - In our 15 years of choosing the best free stuff, we’ve spotlighted the superstars: Adobe Reader, Craigslist, Flickr, Gmail, Google, Mozilla Firefox, and Wikipedia.

• Ingres moving forward with database booster (InfoWorld)

  InfoWorld - Open source database provider Ingres hopes to move the Ingres VectorWise database performance technology to a beta release phase during the next month, Ingres President/CEO Roger Burkhardt said this week.

• Ubuntu Linux Now Available to Fed Customers on GSA Advantage (PC World)

  PC World - Canonical's Ubuntu has become third Linux operating system approved by the General Services Administration for use by federal purchasers. It joins Linux distributions from Red Hat and Novell, already available through the GSA Advantage purchasing program.

• Microsoft, Amazon sign patent deal (Reuters)

  Reuters - Microsoft Corp said on Monday it signed a patent agreement with Amazon.com Inc that allows the two companies to share technology in several areas including Amazon's Kindle electronic book reader and Amazon's use of Linux-based servers.

• FSF to Google: Free the On2 Video Codec (PC World)

  PC World - In an open letter to Google, the Free Software Foundation has urged Google to open source a video codec that it acquired in its purchase of On2, completed Monday.

• Rhomobile upgrades smartphone dev platform (InfoWorld)

  InfoWorld - Rhomobile unveiled this week an upgrade to Rhodes, its open source framework for building native applications for multiple smartphone platforms.

• Firefox 3.5.8 Closes Security Holes (PC World)

  PC World - Mozilla yesterday released updates for its Firefox Web browser to shore up vulnerabilities in the 3.5.x and 3.0.x browser versions.

• AT&T Becomes Last of Big Four Carriers To Offer Android (NewsFactor)

  NewsFactor - Google might figuratively be doing a backflip Thursday with news that AT&T will, for the first time, offer a mobile device based on the software and search giant's open-source Android mobile operating system. Appropriately, the device is Motorola's Backflip smartphone.