IT Hot News

Managing an Open Source Project for DotNetNuke

In December 2004 it was decided that DotNetNuke would break out its existing core modules into separate Projects so that they could be enhanced, released, and supported independently from the core Web Application Framework. It was further decided that some additional modules would also be added as official Projects to provide an increased level of richness to the platform. The first modules that we determined were going to be added were the TTT Forum and TTT Gallery, authored by Tam Tran Minh of TTT Corporation. I was already working closely with Tam on these modules, and I volunteered to co-lead the development of these Projects and to help morph them into modules that take full advantage of the DotNetNuke Web Application Framework. Read More

Major OEM Launches First-Ever Line of PCs Dedicated Exclusively to Linux

Linspire and Mirus Innovations have announced the launch of Koobox, the first-ever line of desktop computers offered by a major OEM to exclusively run Linux. Starting at just $299, the Koobox machines come outfitted with a complete Linspire Linux operating system, including a Microsoft Office file-compatible office suite, Internet browser, email, IM client, media players, and a photo manager -- the equivalent of hundreds of dollars worth of software. Three versions of the Koobox are available, including a basic machine, multimedia machine with DVD player and a high-performance machine.  Read More 

Major OEM Launches First-Ever Line of PCs Dedicated Exclusively to Linux

Linspire and Mirus Innovations have announced the launch of Koobox, the first-ever line of desktop computers offered by a major OEM to exclusively run Linux. Starting at just $299, the Koobox machines come outfitted with a complete Linspire Linux operating system, including a Microsoft Office file-compatible office suite, Internet browser, email, IM client, media players, and a photo manager -- the equivalent of hundreds of dollars worth of software. Three versions of the Koobox are available, including a basic machine, multimedia machine with DVD player and a high-performance machine. Read More

USPTO Revamps Open-Source Patent Process

USPTO Revamps Open-Source Patent Process
NewsFactor - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has partnered with IBM, Novell, and others in the open-source community to revamp the way the agency grants software-related patents. The announcement on Tuesday follows years of criticism from industry leaders and smaller firms that the agency fails to do due diligence in its patent-application investigations.

JotSpot melds spreadsheets to Wikis
The Excel spreadsheet is getting an overhaul thanks to the guys who brought you Excite, the pioneering Internet search company.   Jotspot, a builder of applications that enable...

Web 2.0, Wikis, Commercial Open Source All Came Of Age (Investor's Business Daily) 
Investor's Business Daily - The top tech ideas of 2005 covered a wide terrain. They shared two important traits, both of them fitting in this cautious, post-bubble market.

Mozilla Updates Thunderbird E-Mail App

Mozilla Updates Thunderbird E-Mail App
Version 1.5 of the open-source e-mail client features improved security, support for podcasting.

Novell and Red Hat Join IBM Open Source Strategic Alliance Program
The recently announced inclusion of Red Hat and Novell in IBM's Strategic Alliance program opens significant new channels and access to IBM innovation centers to the two companies, according to IBM, including those in emerging countries like Brazil, Russia, India, China and Korea to drive more open source deals in those booming markets. 

Zimbra Launches Network Version of Its Collaboration Suite for Mac OS X
Zimbra, a leader in open source, next-generation collaboration and messaging, today announced the Zimbra Collaboration Suite Network Edition for Mac OS X version 10.4 'Tiger' and Mac OS X Server version 10.4 'Tiger.' The Zimbra Collaboration Suite is a leading open-source enterprise-grade email and collaboration solution and the Mac OS X version of the Zimbra Collaboration Suite includes support for iCal, Apple Mail clients and Xserve RAID storage. 

Open Source Technology Blog Introduced to Focus on Open Source Software Packages Such as Linux
Frank Wiles, President and Founder of Revolution Systems has started a new blog located at http://www.revsys.com/blog/ which will focus on Open Source Software packages such as Linux, Apache, Perl, mod_perl, Sendmail, and PostgreSQL. He will also discuss various on topic Open Source news, businesses, and trends when appropriate. While most articles will be very technical in nature, he aims to provide enough non-technical content in an effort to help out readers of all skill levels.

Zimbra Unveils Innovative, Open Source Collaboration Software and Messaging Server

Zimbra Unveils Innovative, Open Source Collaboration Software and Messaging Server
the Zimbra Collaboration Suite. Built on open source technology, the Zimbra Collaboration Suite will fundamentally change the way people interact with e-mail by fixing the most frustrating problems for users and administrators. Currently available as a Beta, the messaging server and client will be generally available in November. 

Palamida Expands Open Source Reach
Palamida announced alliances with two major open source organizations, Eclipse Foundation, Inc. and SourceForge.net.  In addition to extending the reach of its software intellectual property compliance solution, IP Amplifier, the new relationships will also ease open source developers' concerns about the utilization of their custom-created intellectual property, and allow organizations to be more confident in their use of open source software.   

Mono Will Be Part Of Fedora Core 5
The Mono open-source development platform based on .Net will be included in the next version of the Fedora core Linux distribution. Fedora users will get Mono and the various Mono-based applications, along with support for new languages like Boo, IronPython and Nemerle.

SCALE Announces Workshop on Open Standards for Government Organizations

In partnership with The Open Document Fellowship, the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) has announced plans to host a workshop on open standards in government at their upcoming conference, SCALE 4x. The focus of this workshop will be on the use of OASIS OpenDocument Format for Office Applications (ODF) and document accessibility standards in state and local government. The goal of this event is to foster a discussion about choice in software and open standards at all levels of California government. The workshop will be held on February 10, 2006 at the Los Angeles Airport Radisson and will lead into SCALE 4x, the 2006 Southern California Linux Expo. Read More

A Watershed for Open Source

A Watershed for Open Source (BusinessWeek Online) 
BusinessWeek Online - Open-source software isn't a new phenomenon. It has been winding its way through the tech world for decades, starting with Richard Stallman's Free Software movement in 1980s. But only in recent years have businesses warmed to the promise of low-cost, openly available software. In fact, open-source programs have become so popular, they now pose a legitimate threat to the established software giants.

Open Source Apache OJB 1.0.4 Enables Transparent Java Persistence
Apache Object/Relational Bridge (OJB) is an Object/Relational mapping tool that allows transparent persistence for Java objects against relational databases. The OJB team recently announced the 1.0.4 release, with several highlights, including support for embedded & network Derby (only distinct count queries don't work yet, and the added ability to prepare the database for OJB's unit tests via DdlUtils(instead of Torque). 

PostgreSQL 8.1 Open Source Database Now Available for Downloading

PostgreSQL 8.1 contains more than 120 new features and enhancements contributed by almost 200 developers. 'The project is clearly accelerating in the minds of database users,' said Lance Obermeyer, Director of Products at Pervasive Software, one of PostgreSQL's corporate sponsors. 'Given the growing interest in open source infrastructure software, we're expecting PostgreSQL to pick up even more steam.' The new version of PostgreSQL can be downloaded in a variety of binary formats for Linux and Windows platforms, or as source code.Read More  

Free "Live-CD" Ships With Linux for Open-Xchange Server

Free "Live-CD" Ships With Linux for Open-Xchange Server
Open-Xchange, Inc. today announced the availability of a free, fully functional 'Live-CD' of Open-Xchange Server 5 that gives users a cost-free, risk-free way to test all the attributes of open source alternative to Microsoft Exchange. Open-Xchange Server 5 is the leading messaging and collaborative solution based on open source technology. It provides key messaging functions like email, calendaring, contacts and task management, fully integrated with advanced groupware features such as project tracking, document sharing, user forums, and a knowledge base.