Linux/Open Source News

New copyright law could affect online music stores, open-source software, and peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

A small Sri Lankan firm of open-source developers says it's time to bring a fresh set of concepts and standards to the notion of an application server.

San Francisco (InfoWorld) - Intellectual property issues have become a paramount concern in software development projects lately, with a great deal of the angst arising from the use of open source software.

Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT - News), the open source leader, has some substantial opportunities in front of it, mainly related to the disruptive nature of the subscription-based business model in the software world. However, in the here and now, it has some pretty cool things going on -- think virtualization opportunities, for one thing (more on this later). Given the rich stock price, much of this potential is priced in, but that doesn't mean investors can't obtain decent returns by waiting for an even sharper dip in the price. ...

Wall Street opened higher on Thursday as investors gained confidence ahead of a decision on US interest rates from the Federal Open Market Committee later in the day. Markets were also given a boost by gains in Asia and Europe. Brokerage upgrades helped boost McDonald's and Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO), but software maker Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT) slipped after reporting earnings.

Wall Street was poised to open higher on Thursday as investors gained confidence ahead of a decision on US interest rates from the Federal Open Market Committee later in the day. Markets were also given a boost by gains in Asia and Europe. Brokerage upgrades helped boost McDonald's and Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO), but software maker Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT) slipped after reporting earnings.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Red Hat Inc., the leading distributor of the open source Linux operating system, said Wednesday its first-quarter profit rose nearly 11 percent on higher revenue, but the results missed analysts' expectations.

Red Hat's profit grew at a slower rate than expected in its latest quarterly report Wednesday, driving down the stock in after hours. The company, though, said year-over-year comparisons were misleading.

Open-source software kingpin Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT - News) reports its fiscal Q1 earnings today. Want to know just how this high-flying company is expected to fare, and get one Fool's take on the company? Read on.

In this eWEEK Daily News Podcast: Windows churns out another Vista test build, but does it mean the OS is on track for the new year? The other 800-pound gorilla, Google, is planning to roll out its online payment service soon, but will it work? European cops catch suspected botnet operators; and Red Hat's CEO says Linux could become a U.S. standard.

Novell launches a preview version of the SuSE Linux Enterprise 10 platform.

The time could be right for Oracle to launch a line of Linux products, suggests an analyst firm.

CEO Matthew Szulik predicts greater growth and innovation for open-source products, and says better education and access to information are crucial.

Office's test drive relies on a Citrix plug-in that must be downloaded and installed; non-IE browsers, such as Mozilla's Firefox, can't be used to run the online applications.

When I think about Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL - News), I picture a lumbering dinosaur, tethered to the decaying remains of a once-great operating system. The cost of supporting Netware, Novell's old flagship OS, is keeping the company from wholeheartedly joining the exploding Linux market.

Review: Want to take Office 2007 for a ride around the block? Check out the Web demo.

San Francisco (InfoWorld) - What may go unnoticed in next week’s Callisto release, a flurry of open source releases from the Eclipse Foundation, is BIRT (Business Intelligence Reporting Tools), a project some consider the future direction of all Eclipse open source endeavors.

Project leaders say the platform's modular architecture made it relatively simple to coordinate the release.

Company president says lawsuits against Linux users shouldn't affect its Unix business

Ronald Hovsepian, named Novell's CEO in a management shakeup, said he aims to accelerate the software maker's channel charge to Linux with simplified pricing models and rebates.

The foundation plans to make available seven million lines of code as part of the coordinated release for the project, code name "Callisto."

Adoption trend continues to grow.

San Francisco (InfoWorld) - MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- The open source software paradigm has changed the software market, but open source itself is becoming so established that it will be boring in five years, panelists said at an industry event held at the Computer History Museum on Wednesday evening.

A few longtime Mac and open-source gurus are vocally publicizing their switch away from Apple's platform to more open-source solutions.

Ronald Hovsepian has been a rising star within Novell since he joined the company three years ago. But with a dropping stock price, declining sales of NetWare, and stiff competition in the Linux market, it's going to take more than star power.

Linux isn't a threat to Windows on the desktop and is losing steam on the server as customers separate the operating system from the development model, according to Bill Hilf, Microsoft's chief platform strategist.

San Francisco (InfoWorld) - Motorola will announce on Thursday that it has joined the Eclipse Foundation as a Strategic Developer member and is proposing a project to boost mobile Linux application development.

Novell fires CEO Jack Messman and CFO Joseph Tibbetts Jr. as it looks to accelerate its growth strategy and continue its transition to Linux.

Xandros 4.0, the first new version of Xandros' desktop Linux distribution in a year and a half, has arrived. It includes the newest editions of the KDE application family, Firefox, Thunderbird, and the OpenOffice.org 2.0 office suite.