Linux

Canonical has released its first test version of Gobuntu, a variant of the Ubuntu Linux software that's devoid of proprietary software.

Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth announced the version's availability this week on his blog. The test version of Gobuntu, based on the upcoming "Gutsy Gibbon" version of Ubuntu due in October, can be downloaded from the Ubuntu Web site.

Regular Ubuntu includes proprietary software such as video drivers that enable accelerated 3D graphics. Shuttleworth called on programmers to lend a hand building Gobuntu into a version on its own right.

"This is a call … Read more

Matt Hartley writes in Mad Penguin that Ubuntu has essentially won the Linux war. While Matt seems to be talking about desktop use (he stresses ease of use and only compares Ubuntu to OpenSUSE and Fedora), there's actually more truth to what he writes than he may know.

He reasons:

There are plenty of areas where Ubuntu has fallen flat on its face, but for mainstream users, it has completely eclipsed the competition. And this remains a sore spot for many Fedora and SuSe users. My words to them: get over it, it's a different market.… Read more

Ask a simple question, get a simple, but subtle answer. I asked Savio Rodrigues, who replaced me on the Open Sources blog but originally blogged here, to comment on the state of open source at IBM. He gave me a bit more than that.

You know, IBM, the company that essentially carried open source into the enterprise on its back in 2000 when it pledged $1 billion to fund Linux. Lately, though, IBM's has been less flashy with its commitment to open source though, as Savio points out, no less involved. As Savio reports, however, IBM's commitment to open source is broader than source code. Open source without open standards isn't of much interest to Big Blue.

In this fifth installment of the Open Source @ Series on The Open Road, Savio gives us much to think about in terms of the power of open source...and what it means in the absence of standards.

Savio writes...

Matt Asay asked the question: What is the State of Open Source at IBM?

Our answer? Excellent!… Read more

Fortune Magazine has a great article on Microsoft's growth in China. Gates is apparently a rock star in China, with government officials and groupies clamoring to meet him. He owns China, as the article suggests.

Gates says he's certain China will eventually be Microsoft's biggest market, though it may take ten years. Projected sales this year are already three times what they were in 2004, yet still less than annual revenue in California. (Microsoft will not disclose figures, but Fortune estimates China revenue will exceed $700 million in 2007, about 1.5% of global sales.)

Why? How did Microsoft get to this point in China? Well, funny enough, by acting very much like an open source vendor, despite its best efforts :… Read more

David's friend calls him in a panic. There's something wrong with his computer, and it's clearly malware.

However, when David attempts to reboot the Windows machine, he discovers that the problem lies much deeper--the whole operating system, it seems, has been corrupted beyond repair.

How does David resuscitate his friend's computer and save his important data in the process? Learn David's creative solution in this week's Spyware Horror Story.

Instead of kicking back for the July 4 holiday, Steve Ballmer should be going crazy right now.

If you're Microsoft's CEO, the finding by Evans Data of a falloff in the number of developers writing apps for Windows desktop computers makes for grim reading.

The study, which reports a 10 percent drop in the number of developers writing software applications for Windows, also forecasts another 2 percent decline this year. The big winner--this hardly comes as a surprise--is Linux. Evans Data says the percentage of developers writing Linux applications is up 34 percent from last year.

I suppose … Read more

The sky is not falling for Microsoft, but it's sure starting to look cloudy. No wonder the company keeps trying to make thunder about patent infringement. The US Supreme Court under Justic Roberts has become less activist than in previous decades, as the WSJ reports: let's hope that the courts won't be the last bastion for market share in the software world, either.

Evans Data, as reported by Paul Krill at Infoworld, just completed a survey of North American developers and found the following:

A survey this spring of more than 400 developers and IT managers in North America found that the number of developers targeting Windows for their applications declined 12 percent from a year ago. Just 64.8 percent targeted the platform as opposed to 74 percent in 2006....… Read more

In this second installment of the "Open Source @" series, we're taking a look at the role of open source within one of the industry's largest open-source companies, Novell. Of course Novell is doing things with open source," some will say. However, I chose to include Novell because I wanted to give the company a chance to tell its side of the story, given all the flak (much of it from me) it has taken on its patent deal with Microsoft.

I've given Novell a forum to discuss the patent deal before but, frankly, I wanted to give the company a chance to talk about all the other open-source-related things it's doing. Even I get tired of hitting the same note all day long, every day, for the past year.

And so I asked Justin Steinman, director of product marketing, Linux & Open Platform Solutions at Novell, to comment on the state of open source at the company. What is Novell doing for which it gets little credit?

Justin responded (and sent his response in Open Document format, which I think says a lot about Novell's desktop efforts) with a long (very long!), thoughtful post. It's well worth a read.

He writes:… Read more

Google has been pretty busy in the past few days. There have been changes or tweaks to three of Google's product offerings, as well as the unexpected resurgence of one product that many thought would never return. We've broken the news down for you below.

1. Google Answers is back--in Russia. I guess Google figures Russia to be an inquisitive bunch, since it's re-launched its defunct (read: dead) Answers service there. According to a post from Google Russia's blog, it's the first country to get the service, despite the fact that the previous version was … Read more