New TalkBack feature
A quick administrative note for all the folks who read the Open Source blog. ZDNet Blogs is now using the same TalkBack software used by ZDNet News.
Linux and Open Source
The latest news and views on all things Linux and open source by seasoned Unix and Linux user Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols.
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting edge PC operating system. SJVN covers networking, Linux, open source, and operating systems.
Paula Rooney
Paula Rooney is a Boston-based writer who has followed the tech industry for more than two decades.
Latest Posts
The new Metasploit is out
Along with news of new nasty virii comes word that Metasploit, an open source tool for creating exploits and testing them against your system (to make sure that it is secure) has been released. Get your copy here.
Misunderestimating open source
Open source, as a concept, is misunderstood and thus underestimated.Most people think that open source means Linux.
Fighting the antibodies
Jon Udell has an interesting post about groups resisting change much the same way that antibodies take on an infection. He addresses some of the rather acerbic comments to my post about his Monad/MSH columns.
IBM's patent move
As part of its effort to reduce open source Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD), IBM has released 500 of its patents for use without payment. A complete list is available here.
SCO skipping the tough questions
Groklaw has a link and writeup about a report from Chris Preimesberger about SCO's bad numbers for the fourth quarter of 2004, but a puzzling "optimistic" outlook. Preimesberger notes something that I've long been aware of, namely that SCO is very picky about who gets to ask questions during their quarterly conference calls:Something I want to mention about this conference call: No hardball questions were asked.
The new service paradigm
We have a great story on open source services from Martin LaMonica on ZDNet today. I recommend it.
Open source kant
One advantage I enjoy here at ZDNet is your diversity.All kinds of solutions are represented.
Apples and office suites
Is Apple prepping a new and improved office suite? The rumors that abound before Apple's Macword Expo are in full force, and one of the rumors gathering steam is that Apple might be ready to unveil a suite called iWork, with its Keynote presentation software and a new word processing program called Pages or perhaps Notes.