Linux/Open Source News

InformationWeek - Michael Robertson says Microsoft's imposing lead in the desktop market means Linux should look to next-gen devices for growth.

The Mozilla Foundation has set a world record and achieved new heights in its battle for browser market share. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 Web browser set a record for the most downloads in a day. It was the first time a browser-maker attempted to set a record.

Thanks in part to the Guinness Book-making Download Day debut of Firefox 3, Mozilla's popular browser has managed to secure an overall marketshare of 19 percent.

(Reuters) - Mozilla, developer of open-source Web browser Firefox, said on Wednesday it set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours.

InformationWeek - Linspire produced Click'N'Run as a way of finding, reviewing, and downloading a copy of desktop software available on the Internet, including the Linspire Linux distribution.

Mozilla is successful in setting the world record for most software downloads in one day with Firefox 3.

InformationWeek - The "Neo FreeRunner" touchscreen device will be fully modifiable and features integrated Wi-Fi, assisted-GPS, and Bluetooth capabilities.

A Red Hat official revealed on a blog that the first release candidate for JBoss Application Server 5.0 will be out soon.

InformationWeek - The global market share for Linux jumped in the past 10 months, while Microsoft's Windows lost a few points, says Net Applications.

Xandros confirmed Wednesday that it has acquired Linspire, the developer of the Linspire Linux-based OS as well as the Click-n-Run (CNR) shop and business model.

Open source fans: OpenMoko has finally announced the availability of its Neo FreeRunner handset. The Linux-based handset will, fittingly, be available to consumers in the US on July 4th.

San Francisco - Today's IT managers face tough choices. PCs that run fine today have an uncertain upgrade path, now that Microsoft has chosen to discontinue Windows XP. Upgrade costs associated with Vista, coupled with the ever-escalating cost of application licenses, make switching to desktop Linux an increasingly attractive option.

InformationWeek - Ubuntu's consumer-friendly features have made it the Linux distribution of choice for a growing number of IT vendors. Here's a quick-start visual tutorial.

On Monday, Netgear announced the WGR614L, what might be the world's first native open-source consumer router.

The leading database vendor retained strong market share in 2007, but faces increasing competition from low-cost, open source alternatives.

Microsoft, usually a source of software patch updates and claims about Vista adoption rates, produced a bit of sentimental...

Intelligent Enterprise - Open Profiler helps IT teams assess data to identify potential problems before beginning projects such as data integration or application development.

InformationWeek - In the face of increasing competition from Nokia and Google, mobile Linux group LiPS has merged with the LiMo Foundation.

The LiPS Forum, a mobile Linux group, said its activities will be folded into the LiMo Foundation going forward.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Red Hat Inc , the world's largest publicly traded provider of Linux software, reported on Wednesday a quarterly profit that met Wall Street expectations as its revenue grew 32 percent.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Red Hat Inc. said Wednesday its first-quarter 2009 profit rose 6.6 percent as the software distributor posted an increase in sales led by growth in software-subscription deals.

Symbian: As Open As They Wanna Be (But How Much Is That?)

InformationWeek - The latest in the company's Ming line feature built-in GPS, a Linux operating system, and Bluetooth capabilities.

Symbian's decision to make its source code freely available tips the scales in favor of open-source software in smartphones...

InformationWeek - Nokia's moves to make Symbian a free and open mobile operating system should put pressure on competitors to keep innovating and giving customers what they want.

Nokia on Tuesday purchased the remaining portion of Symbian it did not already own, and announced plans for a mobile open-source development foundation that will include partners like LG, Samsung, and most notably AT&T.

Canonical on Tuesday released its first publicly available developer edition of Ubuntu for mobile Internet devices.

InformationWeek - Disasters happen to the best of computers. Luckily, open source apps like SystemRescueCD, dd, Partedmagic, BackTrack, Security Tools Distribution, Helix, and TestDisk can help recover important data and bring dead systems back to life.

InformationWeek - Linux kernel developers issued a statement saying binary drivers cannot be viewed as an acceptable alternative to open source drivers.