Bob Sutor » Open Source

Daily links for 07/23/2010

Bob Sutor — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:30:19 +0000

Government Computers to Get Linux-Based Operating System | Business | The Moscow Times

“The government is hoping to launch the first version of a “national operating system” for its computers as early as next year, a senior Communications and Press Ministry official said Thursday.

The operating system, for use on the computer systems of government agencies and state-run companies, will be 90 percent based on the open-source Linux operating system, Deputy Communications and Press Minister Ilya Massukh said.”

tags: linux government russia moscow
Build a $200 Linux PC – How To by ExtremeTech

“So we asked ourselves: What’s the lowest point at which these two goals could intersect? If we needed a simple computer right away, and wanted to spend as little as possible, what could we build? We knew we wanted to aim low, almost ridiculously low—so we decided on what seemed like almost an unthinkable total: $200, which would include everything needed for the base computer itself (but not counting the monitor, keyboard, and mouse, or tax and shipping charges).”

tags: computer linux build

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: Linux, News, Open Source, Politics / Government.
Tagged with: Russia.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Daily links for 07/22/2010

Bob Sutor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:30:13 +0000

Ubuntu Linux brings IBM DB2 to the cloud – Computerworld Blogs

“Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has always had many user and developer fans. Enterprise business fans? Not so much. Canonical hopes to change that with today’s, July 21, launch of a virtual appliance of IBM’s DB2 Express-C software running on the Ubuntu cloud computing platform, in private and public cloud configurations. The company also announced that IBM has validated the full version of DB2 software on Ubuntu 10.04. “

tags: ibm linux canonical db2 ubuntu cloud
Canonical, IBM plunk DB2 databases on Ubuntu • The Register

“Commercial Linux distributor Canonical has won the buzzword bingo for the week by putting Ubuntu, cloud, and appliance in the same sentence in announcing a partnership with IBM. It’s meant to bring the latter company’s DB2 databases to the latest Ubuntu 10.04 Server Edition Linux.”

tags: ibm linux canonical db2 ubuntu cloud

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: Cloud, Linux, News, Open Source, Software.
Tagged with: Canonical, DB2, IBM, Ubuntu.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Daily links for 07/21/2010

Bob Sutor — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:30:13 +0000

Canonical bundles Linux, IBM database for the cloud | Cloud Computing – InfoWorld

“Canonical is offering enterprises a chance to try cloud computing via a virtual appliance that bundles Ubuntu Linux with the IBM DB2 Express-C database running on the Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) public cloud platform.”

tags: linux canonical ibm db2

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Daily links for 07/20/2010

Bob Sutor — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:30:13 +0000

Java’s team of rivals: Conflicts and alliances in the Oracle era

“Oracle may be Java’s new proprietor, but SpringSource, Apache, and Eclipse are driving the development agenda too”

tags: java oracle eclipse apache
Social Media Draws a Crowd – WSJ.com

“Analysts and ad executives say the space won’t be dominated by small competitors for long because advertising holding companies and bigger public-relations firms will likely ramp up acquiring the smaller boutique firms, much like they have done with other digital areas such as search advertising.”

tags: social media
Virus targets Siemens industrial control systems | Technology | Reuters

“The German company said the malware is a Trojan worm dubbed Stuxnet that spreads via infected USB thumb drives, exploiting a yet-to-be-patched vulnerability in Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system.”

tags: virus siemens microsoft windows
Amazon Says E-Books Now Top Hardcover Sales – NYTimes.com

“Amazon.com, one of the nation’s largest bookstores, said Monday that for the last three months, sales of electronic books for the Kindle, Amazon’s e-reader, outnumbered sales of hardcover books for the first time.”

tags: amazon kindle ebook
Linux First Steps | ITworld

“Every now and again someone writes me and asks me “What’s the best way for me to get started in Linux?” Over the years, I’ve answered in several different ways, but here’s the summarization of my thoughts.”

tags: linux

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: News, Open Source, Social Networking.
Tagged with: Apache, Eclipse, Java, Oracle.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Daily links for 07/19/2010

Bob Sutor — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:30:13 +0000

Mozilla Ups Security Bounty from $500 to $3,000 | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

“Fancy a bug? Mozilla has upped the cash bounty it’s awarding industrious users that find security-threatening bugs in its Firefox, Thunderbird, or Firefox mobile products. As well, users will be eligible for the $3,000 award—kicked up a notch from the previous $500 award—for hunting down security bugs in Mozilla services that, “could compromise users of those products, as released by Mozilla Corporation or Mozilla Messaging,” says the company.”

tags: mozilla firefox security
Initial program | DrupalCon Copenhagen August 23-27 2010

“After reviewing 240 sessions submitted for the conference, the track chairs, the Copenhagen team and the Drupal Association are proud to present the DrupalCon Copenhagen program.”

tags: drupalcon program drupal opensource
10,000 Boat Names – Home

All the names you could ever want.

tags: boat names

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: News, Open Source, Sailing.
Tagged with: Drupal, Firefox, security.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Searching from the Firefox address line

Bob Sutor — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:51:00 +0000

One of the nice things I liked about the Chrome browser was searching from the address line, that area at the top of the screen where you would normally type in some URL like http://www.sutor.com. Firefox has a search area on the upper right, but I really like the idea of having one place to type in something meaning “this is what I want, you figure out how to get me there.”

I don’t believe that Firefox did not have this capability when it first started, but you can now set it up to do a search. In fact, it probably works to some degree right now. Try it.

To make Firefox initiate a Google search when it can’t decode what you typed as a web address, do the following:

Type in about:config in the address line.
If you get scared off by the warning on the next page, stop. Use the search entry area instead.
Otherwise, click the button about being careful.
Scroll down to where you see keyword.URL in the first column (which is called Preference Name).
Double-click on it and replace the command there with http://www.google.com/search?q= .
Click the OK button and you are done.

I first learned about this technique at LiewCF.com, which says pretty much exactly what I told you above. Kudos to that site and author.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: Open Source, Software.
Tagged with: Firefox.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Daily links for 07/16/2010

Bob Sutor — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:30:17 +0000

RIP OpenSolaris – Computerworld Blogs

“Good-bye OpenSolaris. It’s been fun knowing you. Unfortunately for you, it’s become all too clear that your new parent company, Oracle doesn’t want a thing to do with you. “

tags: opensolaris oracle open-source

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: News, Open Source.
Tagged with: Oracle, Sun.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Daily links for 07/15/2010

Bob Sutor — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:30:15 +0000

Standards

ODF 1.2 Begins Final 60-day Public Review

“A major milestone was reached for the OASIS ODF TC last week. The latest Committee Draft of ODF 1.2 (CD 05) was sent out for a 60-day public review.”

tags: odf oasis standards

Industry Criticism

Windows Phone 7: Don’t bother with this disaster | Mobilize – InfoWorld

“Microsoft needs to kill Windows Phone 7 and avoid further embarrassing itself by shipping this throwback. It’s not a question of whether Windows Phone 7 will fail — it will — but how long it will take Microsoft to admit the failure. For the company’s sake, the earlier it fesses up, the better.”

tags: windows phone
Five Reasons You Don’t Need Microsoft Office 2010 – PCWorld Business Center

“So, the bottom line is this: forget Microsoft Office 2010. It’s not worth the money, the few updated features, the prolonged learning curves, the decreased efficiency, or the headaches.”

tags: microsoft office
451 CAOS Theory » Judgment day for open source at Oracle

“There are signals of continued problems and dysfunction — namely lack of support, organization and communication — in the OpenSolaris community. This follows on a deterioration of the OS leadership and support since Oracle bought Sun Microsystems, including the elimination of OpenSolaris CDs, one of the things that made the open source version of Solaris more like Linux. “

tags: oracle opensolaris sun
OpenSolaris board in OpenRevolt against Oracle | Deep Tech – CNET News

“One of Sun Microsystems’ ambitious dreams, a vibrant open-source community for the Solaris operating system to rival the Linux collective, is in serious danger of evaporating in the Oracle era. “

tags: opensolaris oracle sun

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: Linux, News, Open Source, Standards.
Tagged with: Microsoft, ODF, Oracle.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Daily links for 07/10/2010

Bob Sutor — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:30:19 +0000

Firefox 4 beta 1 is a smart-looking, snappy performer – Computerworld

“The just-released first beta of Firefox 4 takes some smart design ideas from Chrome, mixes in a few of its own and throws in a few new features and snappier performance. Add these benefits to Firefox’s existing world-class library of add-ons, and Firefox just might leapfrog other browsers and become the best of the bunch — if the beta keeps progressing along its current positive path. “

tags: firefox beta
U.K. government could drop Microsoft for Linux | NetworkWorld.com Community

“Among the dozens of staff-submitted ideas for the British government to save money are two that suggest dumping Microsoft and moving to Linux, OpenOffice and other open-source applications.

To be sure, they are just two among the 60,000 ideas proffered by those who work in the public sector, but just 31 of those were listed on the website for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. ”

tags: uk government open-source

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: Linux, News, Open Source, Politics / Government.
Tagged with: Firefox, Microsoft, UK.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Daily links for 07/08/2010

Bob Sutor — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:30:22 +0000

ISO/IEC JTC1 Revises Directives, Addresses OOXML Abuses

“On July 1st, 2010 a new set of rules (directives) took effect in ISO/IEC JTC1 including new processing and voting rules for JTC1 Fast Track submissions. If these rules had been in effect back in 2007, OOXML would have died after its initial ballot.”

tags: jtc1 ooxml iso iec fail
Inexpensive DIY iPad Trixs Part Two :: App Advice

“In response to my previous article: “Inexpensive DIY iPad Trix“, reader Michael suggested using Legos to create a freebie (assuming you have some Legos around) iPad stand. Based on these terrific pictures, this looks like the perfect way to save a few dollars and create a durable stand”

tags: ipad legos
2010 Readers’ Choice Awards Survey | Linux Journal

“Linux Journal’s Readers’ Choice Awards offer the opportunity for readers to vote for their Linux and Open Source favorites. We compiled nominations and came up with the following list. If your favorite is not listed in any category, we encourage you to write in your vote”

tags: linux open-source award

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

© Robert S. Sutor for Bob Sutor, 2010. All rights reserved.
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Categorized under: Linux, News, Open Source, Standards.
Tagged with: Apple, iPad, ISO, JTC1, OOXML.
Twitter: bob_sutor

Daily links for 07/03/2010

Bob Sutor — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:30:15 +0000

Waiting for the fluid book format: KMWorld

“The big weakness in EPub is that it is so darn finicky. If you thought XHTML was fussy—make sure you close every door behind you, and don’t you dare butter your bread from the outside in!—you haven’t met its OCD cousin. Of course, I’m writing this having spent just about a full day trying to wrangle an uncomplicated book through its many hoops, including (and this to me is just too much) making sure that one of the various files is the first in the zip you ultimately produce. These are files with distinctive names and extensions that a compiler couldn’t miss. Aarggh!”

tags: book epub
Another High-Tech Barrier Falls in South Korea – Digits – WSJ

“Hancom, the developer of a word-processing program known to Koreans as Hangul and foreigners as HanWord, said this week it will open up the product’s source code so other people can modify it for smartphones, tablet computers and other new gadgets.”

tags: word-processor korea
Weekend Project: Spring Clean your Photo Collection | Linux.com

“The broad outline we’ll follow is the same at the one used for music: find and eliminate duplicates, centralize storage, standardize the file names, then apply or fix the metadata. Image files have some key differences, though, particularly at the metadata stage, that deserve special attention. On top of that, because our photos are used as “read/write” information, unlike most people’s music libraries, we’ll have to pay special attention to the complexities that image editors can introduce.”

tags: linux photos

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Daily links for 07/02/2010

Bob Sutor — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:30:17 +0000

Firefox to become IBM’s new default browser – The H Open Source: News and Features

“The Firefox community also has another reason to celebrate. On Thursday, Firefox add-on downloads crossed the 2 billion marker, further emphasising the popularity of the browser and its extensions.”

tags: ibm firefox browser
IBM Switches to Firefox as the Default Browser – The open source browser will be used by all 400,000 IBM employees – Softpedia

“The browser wars are as heated as it’s ever been, but Firefox is still the number one ‘alternative’ browser out there with a significant market share. But getting people to use Firefox is one thing, getting companies to do it is quite another. With plenty of other companies still relying on Internet Explorer 6, IBM has taken a bold move, for a company its size, and is now switching to Firefox as the preferred default browser for its employees. “

tags: ibm firefox browser
2 Billion Firefox Add-on Downloads! ❍ Rock Your Firefox

“Today marks a very special occasion in the world of Firefox Add-ons as we cross the 2 Billion download marker. We have alot of people to thank for helping us reach this milestone: most of all, you!”

tags: firefox billion

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Setting Firefox as your default browser

Bob Sutor — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:03:03 +0000

On Linux and Windows, setting Firefox as your default system browser can be done within Firefox itself. From Preferences, go to the Advanced tab and look down at System defaults. Click the Check Now button and then make Firefox the default browser from the next dialog that pops up.

This method appears to work on the Mac as well, though not all applications appear to believe it. Therefore, the most reliable way to make Firefox your default OS X browser is, paradoxically, to do it within Safari.

On the Preferences.. | General options tab, choose Firefox from the Default web browser dropdown list.

Around the web: IBM adopts Firefox

Bob Sutor — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:32:01 +0000

Here are a few links to stories and blog entries about IBM’s announcement that it is adopting the Mozilla Firefox browser for internal use.

IBM embraces Firefox, adopts it internally – Ars Technica

“A recent change to IBM’s internal IT policy has made Firefox the company’s default Web browser. The move is a major endorsement of the browser’s suitability in large-scale enterprise environments. IBM plans to roll it out to employees on new computers and will encourage its staff of 400,000 to use it on their existing systems.”

tags: ibm firefox browser
IBM moving to Firefox – ZDNet

“Got that? For the shift to the cloud to work it needs open standards.”

tags: ibm firefox standards
IBM says “I do” to Firefox – NetworkWorld

“But the decision by Big Blue gives Firefox an immediate boost in usage as well as an endorsement from one of the most trusted, historic names in business technology.”

tags: ibm firefox browser
Nearly half a million IBM employees get Firefox as their default browser – DownloadSquad

“Will IBM start a trend? They’re certainly an influential company, and one which a lot of other companies — tech and otherwise — look to for advice and guidance. IBM’s browser action speaks loudly, and there’s every chance their example will be followed.”

tags: ibm firefox browser
IBM Adopts Firefox as Its Default Browser – IT Infrastructure from eWeek

“IBM has standardized on the Mozilla Firefox web browser as the default browser for its employees. Big Blue says the Firefox browser is standards-compliant, enterprise-ready and provides an on ramp to cloud computing.”

tags: firefox ibm browser
IBM names Firefox its default browser – Deep Tech – CNET News

“Firefox has become the default browser for nearly 400,000 IBM employees, a big coup for the open-source project during a time of increasing browser competition.”

tags: firefox ibm

Daily links for 07/01/2010

Bob Sutor — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:30:17 +0000

What the hell is going on at Microsoft? | ZDNet

“The sudden rise and fall of the Kin is a clear pointer to the fact that Microsoft has no clear mobile strategy. The company is flailing wildly, throwing money about like it’s a solution to everything. It isn’t. the phrase that lingers in my head to describe Microsoft’s current mobile plan is “here today, gone tomorrow …”.”

tags: microsoft kin
Wired Magazine App Updated, Issue Price Reduced :: App Advice

“Conde Nast Digital has released yesterday a new issue of its Wired Magazine app for the iPad and in the process has revamped a bit its approach to tablet magazines. When the first Wired Magazine app was released in May for $4.99, it contained only the June electronic issue of the technology magazine. The new app however is free and contains previews of past and current issues of the magazine and will be updated monthly. Now users can determine which issues to purchase based on their preferences.”

tags: magazine wired iPhone
451 CAOS Theory » While lies beyond the open core debate?

“Open source software monitoring and management services delivered as part of a subscription package are not uncommon. Could it be that the key to differentiation in the long-term is not products or services, but data? That’s one possibility. What are the others?”

tags: open-source

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.