Technology News: Support

Teeth-Gnashing and Tongue-Lashing Over Desktop Linux Foot-Shooting
October 19, 2009

Lack of vendor support, lack of marketing, too much "bad techie attitude," too much infighting and not enough developer cooperation are "Five ways the Linux desktop shoots itself in the foot," contends Computerworld's Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. "The problems listed here boil down to two basic issues: not enough corporate backing and not enough developer unity in certain areas," said Slashdot blogger Chris Travers.

VMware Laps Up SpringSource
August 11, 2009

VMware is acquiring SpringSource, an enterprise and Web application development and management company, to eventually build out a Platform as a Service offering. Under the terms of the agreement, VMware will pay approximately $362 million in cash and equity, and it will assume approximately $58 million of unvested stock and options.

The Wide-Open Career Landscape of FOSS Tech Support
July 22, 2009

The growing popularity of free open source software is a sure sign that consumers and software developers alike are becoming more disenchanted with costly proprietary products. However, the promise of free software can be tarnished when software packages need configuration help and that help proves hard to find.

Free Help for Implementing FOSS in the Enterprise
May 27, 2009

There are clearly more reasons these days than ever before for companies to adopt free and open source More about open source software. Adopting it they are, too -- in droves, it seems. However, enterprise software -- whether free or proprietary -- is not something you can just plug in and then be done with it.

What Does a Linux Support Contract Buy?
May 20, 2009

Though it's struggled when it comes to kicking in doors in the consumer market, Linux has clearly found a welcome home in the enterprise, and it appears to be making itself more comfortable with each passing day. "It's the fastest-growing server-side operating system of any of them that are out there -- Unix, Windows, you name it," said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation.

Launching a Linux Startup: No Funny Business
March 25, 2009

Having recently completed the second issue of "Hackett and Bankwell," I have been taking inventory of my accomplishments and lessons learned. Two years ago, I was working two jobs, writing Web software by day and configuring Linux servers by night. One job was a corporate situation where a lot of the work had been automated, leaving mostly maintenance, and the other was an early-stage Web startup.

Enterprise Sponsors and the Open Source Community: An Uneasy Symbiosis?
February 13, 2009

Not many years ago, the open source software ecosystem and proprietary models might have been thought of as incompatible. About 10 years ago, though, the two systems began converging. IBM began to support Linux, providing what many analysts described as "legitimacy" to the fledging operating system among enterprise customers and developers.

Helping Newbies Learn to Love Linux
February 02, 2009

As if in the blink of an eye, January has come to an end and it's the month of Love once again. How in tarnation did that happen so fast? Of course, we geeks tend to have mixed feelings about V-Day and all its associated social pressures. Rather than dwelling on those, however, or all the pangs of anxiety they might bring on, Linux bloggers in this past week apparently turned their thoughts to another kind of love.

Linux Elitism: Fact or Fiction?
January 16, 2009

For users reared on GUI-oriented commercial operating systems, switching to open source POSIX-type OSes can be an onerous task. Whereas Linux, and FOSS in general, are built around the ideas of inclusion and sharing, the communities built up around the open source operating systems often face accusations of exclusive techno-elitism.

Linux Guy and Windows Guy Walk a Mile in Each Other's Shoes
January 12, 2009

There's nothing like the dawn of a new year to give a person a fresh perspective, and that's probably never been more true than it is now, as we begin this year of monumental change. So it's not surprising that the conversations on the Linux blogs over this past week seemed to be taking place on a somewhat higher plane than usual, and to touch upon questions from more of a bird's eye view.

7 Experts Paint Enterprise IT Landscape for 2009
January 04, 2009

Welcome to the latest BriefingsDirect Analyst Insights Edition, Vol. 35, a periodic discussion and dissection of software, services, SOA and compute cloud-related news and events with a panel of IT analysts. In this episode, our guests make their top five predictions for IT in 2009.

Open Source Integration Challenges and Solutions
December 24, 2008

Linux has proven that the open source model works -- it addresses two of the biggest challenges for IT professionals: the high cost of infrastructure software and the limitations a closed stack imposes on the enterprise. Open source is particularly appealing for cost savings, vendor neutrality, access to source code and innovation.

On Politics, Porn Detectors and Linuxy Tricks
November 10, 2008

So the election came to an end at last, and the people made their choice. All throughout the blogosphere, fireworks could be heard as Obama supporters reveled in their triumph. Long live the Internet, and the new political landscape it has produced! Things will never be the same again, that's for sure.

Free Software Shouldn't Mean You Can't Make a Buck
September 18, 2008

Richard Stallman, the founder of the GNU Project, speaks at great lengths about preserving the ideological purity of free software, and in his vision of the future, computer software development is modeled after mathematics and science research, where all research and development is open.

What Xandros Has Up Its Sleeve
September 09, 2008

Custom Linux provider Xandros will release a free Linux OS called "Freespire 5" during the fourth quarter of 2008. This next version of Freespire will be based on the Debian GNU/Linux "Lenny" release rather than the Ubuntu Linux platform Freespire 4 uses. The move spearheads a new Xandros consolidated desktop strategy following its acquisition in July of Linspire, the developer of the CNR software distribution platform.

Bill and Jerry, Chrome and the Next Linux Generation
September 08, 2008

Well, it was a comparatively quiet week on the Linux blogs last week, due at least in part, no doubt, to the Labor Day holiday. Gustav could have been a factor too -- dampening, so to speak, those conversational fires -- but we here at LinuxInsider also have another small theory to explain some of the relative lack of discussion.