linux

Asus to offer Windows-based Eee PCs

The low-cost Eee PC may have been officially announced only last week, but Asus has kept the buzz going by confirming that it will offer Windows preloaded on the Eee PC by the end of the year. "With the addition of Microsoft Windows," reads the press release, "the Eee PC can now also accommodate educational and corporate requirements." It's a smart move on the part of Asus; provided the laptop's price remains below $500, a Windows-based Eee PC will have tremendous appeal to schools and parents who want to give every child his or … Read more

Disgracefully unreliable software

Software can be made pretty reliable, lots of people and companies know how to do so. The auto-pilot on an airplane comes to mind, as do the computers that run financial markets. Then there's mainframe computers, perhaps the classic example of reliability (I spent many years working in a mainframe environment). But chances are that the computer you are reading this on is not as reliable as it could be.

Impolite Waiter Let's start with an analogy. How would you feel if you were in a restaurant, in the middle of your meal, and the waiter takes your … Read more

Linux development: Too fast, too furious?

Is Linux pushing the envelope a bit too far, too fast? That's the question posed by Charlie Babcock's interesting article on the pace and scope of Linux development. Dan Frye argues that Linux represents a "first-of-a-kind developer community." Most people don't recognize this, thinking that all open-source projects are similar to Linux.

Not at all. The breadth of its community differs from most projects. Its ambition, too. This may actually be as much cause for alarm as it is for celebration:

Torvalds is pushing open-source development tactics to new extremes. As the kernel grows in size and complexity, the rapid-fire iterations are straining the capacity of the community of volunteers who test and debug them.… Read more

PayPal's open-source solution

I've written before on PayPal's reliance on open source, but came across this article that takes it one step farther. Not content to admit to deriving benefits from open source, PayPal's Matthew Mengerink (VP, Core Technologies, PayPal) lists four things that any IT department can do to derive maximum benefit from open source:

PayPal transacts more than US$1,500 every second of every day, with millions of people around the world relying on the robustness of its system.

It comes as a surprise to many people that PayPal runs such a large financial services company on an open source platform, but that's precisely how we're able to deal with the two competing demands our business model places on us: security and innovation.… Read more

Firefox 3 to go native in appearance

What do you get when you cross a Firefox with a chameleon?

An open-source Web browser whose user interface is adapted to the look of the operating system it's running on. One change planned for the upcoming Firefox version 3, code-named Gran Paradiso, is this more native appearance.

"The Web browser is an incredibly central piece of the user's operating system, and we don't want the user's initial reaction to be that they have modified their computer to add some type of strange, foreign application," said Mozilla interface designer Alex Faaborg in a blog posting last week. &… Read more

Still SourceForge after all these years

James Maguire has written a great article tracing the history of SourceForge, one that is well worth reading, if for no other reason than to get some historical context for one of open source's enduring treasures. SourceForge has become creaky in its eight years, and hasn't kept up with the times in many ways (causing several would-be anchor tenants to host their projects elsewhere).

But it's still a fantastic tool for any new open-source project, and hence the place where most open-source projects are born.

Back in 1999, the folks at VA Linux were just crazy enough to think launching a site for open-source projects was a good idea:

When [VA Linux] went public in December (symbol: LNUX), its stock rocketed from $30 to almost $240 in one day ? a delirious 700 percent return. [Matt's note: I tried desperately to get shares for this. I failed. :-) ]Amid these dizzying champagne fortunes, the company had an idea. A wildly optimistic idea.… Read more

Ubuntu and the future of the Linux desktop

I will admit to being a Linux desktop nonbeliever. It feels a bit like yesterday's battle fought with the wrong weapons: geekiness rather than ease of use. There's a chance--still a slim one, but a chance nonetheless--that Ubuntu will change that.

In three separate places today I read reviews of Ubuntu's new desktop (7.10). Two were very complimentary, while the third suggested that Ubuntu give up.

Ubuntu upgrades the Linux desktop experience in two ways: user interface and form factor. While Novell continues to be the leader in traditional desktop replacements, Red Hat is reinventing the Linux desktop for new markets with its One Laptop Per Child involvement. Ubuntu is arguably doing the same, but is going one step further in disruption: Changing the notion of the Linux "desktop" completely:… Read more

Portable Linux rave machine

If your old iPod is gathering dust, why not use pdPod to turn it into a drum machine or a synthesizer? pdPod is an iPod version of a free, open-source application called Pure Data, used by experimental musicians with a mind for math and too much time on their hands. Installing it on an iPod isn't easy, but it sounds like a worthwhile weekend project if you're a musician with an extra iPod laying around.

To get the pdPod software up and running, you first need to load the Linux-based Podzilla iPod operating system as a foundation. Once … Read more

Why isn't data encryption the norm?

The TSA recently demanded data encryption on all contractor laptops as two machines containing personal data of 3,930 truckers who handle hazardous material were lost or stolen.

This made me wonder why more attention and more startups aren't trying to come up with easier ways to safeguard data. My initial guess is that the data problem is more about users than it is hardware.

As I searched for information on this I came across a few things of note: Windows, MacOS and Linux all have encryption capabilities, but none do so by default. There are quite a few … Read more