The Chief Software Architect of TrustCommerce has written a detailed analysis of his company's migration to open source not only on the server, but also the desktop. “These days, we now hear the term “Microsoft-free office” spoken in much the same tone of voice. A new enabling technology (Open Source/Free Software) will allow businesses to rid themselves of an older, less functional technology (proprietary software) which has become more trouble than it is worth. “
Acording to a press release posted at Linux Weekly News, the Police Information Technology Organization (PITO) has awarded a company called Netprojects a contract to examine deploying 600,000 Linux desktops across the country. “
'This work is part of Project Valiant that is examining the requirements
for the next generation of police computing.' said Marco Dawson, PITO.
'The police need very secure, virus resistant and stable desktop
computing. We believe that Linux can provide this.”
In probably one of the biggest pieces of Linux-related news in weeks, the Washington Post revealed an apparently reliable rumor that AOL might be in discussions to aquire RedHat, Inc. “AOL Time Warner Inc. is in talks to buy Red Hat Inc., a prominent distributor of a computer operating system, an acquisition that would position the media giant to challenge archrival Microsoft Corp., according to sources familiar with the matter.”
NewsForge is carrying an interesting look at virtualizers (tools that can run multiple operating systems on a single computer at the same time). “Consolidating those servers into a single 'footprint' can save server management costs, she says. In some cases, companies running IBM zSeries with Linux virtual machines are running hundreds, and even thousands, of images of Linux on one box.”
The Register has a report on the recently announced migration of Korean civil servants to Linux desktops from Windows ones. “The Korean government is to buy 120,000 copies of Hancom Linux Deluxe this year, enough to switch 23 per cent of its installed base Microsoft user to open source equivalents.”
KDE::Enterprise, an enterprise savvy site about KDE first reported last year in OfB, has launched a forum for it's users. “The KDE::Enterprise Forum went live today to give you the facility to discuss with others topics about KDE in businesses, schools, charities etc.”
RedHat, Inc. announced today that RedHat Linux 7.2 for Itanium processors is now available. This is particularly noteworthy since RedHat has finally started to offer a journaling file system in this release, making RedHat 7.2 a lot more ideal for enterprise systems than previous releases from the Research Triangle-based company.
ZDNet is carrying an interesting article on post dot-com crash Linux. “'Everyone has been saying that the Linux movement is over because the dot-com boom is over,' said Jacques le Marois, president of French Linux distributor MandrakeSoft. 'But Linux is going to go on. It predates the dot-com hype.'”
According to the results of several polls from independant sites mentioned in the MandrakeSoft Shareholders Newsletter, Mandrake Linux topped the list as the distribution preferred by most respondents.
Looking back over the past year, I think most people would have
to agree it has been a ground breaking time for open source.
While it is true that open source companies suffered just like
the rest of the tech sector from poor economic conditions, those
same conditions have also made open source appear even more
attractive.