Open Source

Dispel the five major myths surrounding Open Source security and gain the tools necessary to make a truly informed decision for your IT organization.
When choosing between proprietary and Open Source security solutions, many organizations are misled by Open Source myths. As a result, they ask the wrong questions when evaluating their options and unnecessarily limit […]

Most of you reading this are likely doing so with the now popular Web browser lovingly known as Firefox. Born out of the frustration to need something with less bloat, Firefox fit the bill with flying colors. These days, however, this is looking less and less like what we can expect from them in the […]

Not too long ago, I shared my thoughts on Microsoft’s introduction of Silverlight, its blatant lack of Linux support, and how it was aiming at regaining its browser dominance. Well, it looks like the Open Source crowd has picked up the pieces again with a solution to conquer what ails the common Linux user. Silverlight, […]

After getting home from Linuxfest Northwest, I found that I had a lot of decompressing to do. After all, it was Sunday, and Monday was just around the corner. But I must admit that if there is one thing that will keep bringing me back year after year, it has to be the wealth of […]

Is there really the level of competition in the Open Source world that we see in the Closed Source world? This is something that has been stuck in my mind lately as I have been told so many times by Closed Source developers that by opening the code you are creating your own competition. Today, […]

In an open letter released today, the OpenOffice.org community invites Michael Dell to work with it to pre-install OpenOffice.org 2 office software on Dell computers. Dell’s own IdeaStorm Web site has recorded an overwhelming customer demand for this feature, currently showing over 70,000 requests for OpenOffice.org 2.
The OpenOffice.org community is the home of the leading […]

I have always been interested in trying new software, specifically free software. One of the most well known pieces out there is OpenOffice. I normally use Microsoft Office, but have tried OpenOffice limitedly. Well, in order to give it a fair shake, I have made the decision to try it full time […]

One of my favorite operating systems of all time was OS/2. Man, I loved that OS! It was so rock solid that I rarely rebooted. I was using it years before Microsoft came out with its 32 bit OS, Window 95, and it would still be years later before it had a […]

Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, Python, and Perl - a mixture that seems to have moved beyond the
fossilized carbon stage. With heat and pressure, it has molded this
stack into a beautiful diamond. Linux
has grown from a group of tinkering hobbyists to a multibillion dollar industry. Apache
dominates the Web server market with an almost three times […]

It is time to put duct tape on the mouths of the zealots on both sides and have a real debate about Open Source code and propriety code. Both sides vehemently argue that their solution is the best. Honestly, it comes down to what works. I have used software that I had to pay for […]

Red Hat Magazine is hot off the (electronic) presses, and this month’s issue features a cool article called “Open Source on the force: An officer speaks”. The article discusses a police officer who turned to a basic DOS solution on old hardware to solve a problem ten years ago, and has since discovered Linux and […]

I can’t speak for larger enterprises, but having worked with schools and SMBs, I hate it when I see Steve Ballmer trying to convince me that Microsoft has a better ROI than Linux and Open Source systems. The price quotes I received for SQL Server alone blew out my annual budget at one job, and […]

Governments using and sharing Open Source software - sounds like a rather progressive idea, doesn’t it? So progressive, in fact, that it’s no surprise to find it started in Massachusetts with the Government Open Code Collaborative. This collaboration began early last year and launched its official site (driven by Plone and running on […]

In spite of recent criticisms hurled at MySQL, there is a lot of industry talk taking place regarding Open Source databases. This could be perfect timing with major updates to MySQL and PostgreSQL scheduled for release this month.

While most of us were busy predicting insecure Web browsers would be the downfall of the Internet, the folks at Mozilla were slowly positioning themselves to save the day. As a result of promotions like Switch, Spread Firefox, and a 2-page New York Times ad, Mozilla Firefox has been downloaded over 13 million times […]

Over the past few days, I have had a number of people emailing me asking how they can successfully upgrade their Firefox and Thunderbird programs. The main fear seems to be that if they try to upgrade outright, there might be a loss of data.

Speaking of alternate platforms, I’m pondering my approach to Linux. I’m too busy/lazy to deal with anything but a prepackaged distribution. When Red Hat was “free” (as in money) and the most popular distribution, the answer seemed easy. Fedora Core 1 has seemed a natural progression from Red Hat 9. However:

You want to monitor your log files but you don’t want to spend alot of money on expensive commercial packages. Fortunately for you, Linux has a grizzled veteran to help out.
The tail command, on its own, has its uses. To me, however, it is pretty useless. It is designed to […]

http://www.mono-project.com/about/index.html
Yeah, that was my reaction, too! It seems rather strange, but Novell is the one responsible for bringing open source .NET development to Linux. Mono is now at a 1.0 release milestone, bringing with it the new Mono-Project.com Web site. An implementation of the .NET Framework on systems other than Windows stands to greatly enhance […]