Linux vs Windows - Conquering a Windows Based World

The three way hacking challenge at the CanSecWest conference, pitted the MacBook Air, a Fujitsu Laptop running Vista, and Ubuntu Linux on a Sony Vaio against each other. In the end only the Ubuntu Linux was left standing.

“Under contest rules, qualifying exploits on day one had to target default installations of the operating system itself and winners were allowed to walk away with the hacked box and a $20,000 bounty. Contest organizers gradually expanded the eligible attack surface on days two and three by allowing an vulnerabilities in an increasing number of third party applications. The bounty dropped to $10,000 on day 2 and $5,000 on day three. No one bothered competing on day one.”

Ironically, it seems that Microsoft initiated the switchover to the Linux alternative by launching its anti-piracy policy in the Philippines. The government them responded by seeking out alternatives. In a sweeping move 13,000 Fedora Linux and 10,000 Ubuntu Linux computers have have been deployed within Philippine schools in the country replacing old Windows PCs. It was discovered that the old Windows PCs were not being used because nobody knew how to use them

A quote from and independent open source consultant Ricardo Gonzalez who worked on the project.

“People in the government now understand Linux can do so much for so little outlay,” he said. “In a brand new computer 50 percent goes to the operating system and office suite, so how many people can afford that?”

This should be an interesting case to follow, to discover if Linux can be a useful learning tool in the education system.

Bahrain will be working with IBM and Gulf Business Machines (GBM) to unify its government’s infrastructure and provide services to its citizens using secure hardware, and software  platforms.  It will be based on Linux.

“Standards based technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for modernisation throughout society in our country. The pioneering vision of the Government of Bahrain is dedicated to ensuring that the Kindgom is at the forefront of developing technology and in driving services for our citizens with flexibility and accessibility to government services,” said Shaikh Ahmed Ateyatalla Al Khalifa, Undersecretary of the CIO.

The project will integrate several back-end systems and support the introduction of national card system that will give citizens access to information, services, and government facilities.

The Google phone will not be hardware, but in fact an open source mobile Linux OS. It is built on the open Linux Kernel. It will be a complete set of software for mobile devices along with a (Software Developer Kit) SDK that will be released November 12.

What is amazing is now we could see a boom in handset functionality and features that would have never been possible before. In fact, it brings the technology to the developers and removes the control from the big carriers and phone manufacturers. I don’t believe that any company other then Google could have pulled it off.

“Android breaks down the barriers to building new and innovative applications. For example, a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual’s mobile phone — such as the user’s contacts, calendar, or geographic location — to provide a more relevant user experience. “

Drive a company into bankruptcy, get a bonus! Can’t say that I’m that surprised given their track record.  Pamela Jones at groklaw.net goes into a lot of detail. SCO 8-k filing is also here on yahoo.

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. On September 13, 2007, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of The SCO Group, Inc. (the “Company”), approved an increase in the base salary of Ryan E. Tibbitts. Mr. Tibbitts’ base salary will be increased from $160,000 per year to $210,000 per year, effective as of September 3, 2007. In recognition of the significant contributions Mr. Tibbitts has made to the Company, the Board also approved a discretionary bonus of $50,000, net of taxes, to be paid to Mr. Tibbitts.

The largest state run pharmacy in Sweden has decided to replace its all if its existing IT infrastructure at its 900 pharmacies with Redhat Enterprise Linux on Intel servers. Because they deal with people’s health they wanted a system that they could really rely on. Isn’t that what we all want?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, in combination with the new hardware, brings several advantages to Apoteket including low cost of ownership, solid performance and a large selection of software and open source alternatives that enhance development opportunities.

They must have forgot to read Microsoft’s “Get the Facts” campaign.

After almost 3 years of SCO “shell game” the hammer has finally dropped, and SCO has declared bankruptcy to protect its customers (snicker, snicker). The ironic part of this complete fiasco is that Novell, might be entitled to SCO’s original “licensing” fees that it initially received to fund this whole production. This occurs just after an interview 4 days ago on Sept 10 when Darl said …

All of our product business is really unaffected by this ruling, other than the noises in our market places.

Remember customers, he is doing this all to protect you.

All speculation and rumor right now, but the Google Linux Phone might just become reality at around $100. If this is true, I will be line for it.

I am finding that Google is becoming and indispensable part of my business and personal life. Still trying to decide if this bad or good.

Microsoft in a surprising move, has taken down its biggest Linux bashing site to date. Not sure if its feedback from users, that want unbiased information or the fact the Microsoft is now taking the stance that it supports open source software development. Mary Jo Foley has a good write up with more details.

It was a long time in coming. But Microsoft has finally acknowledged that its anti-Linux site had gone past the point of usefulness.

Russian software developers are coming to the aid of the Russian education system en masse. The number of specialists in the alliance that are helping already surpass the number of supporters in Mandriva and Ubuntu.

CNews found out, ALT Linux, Linux-Online, Naumen, Etersoft and the system integrator Center created and alliance to jointly participate in tenders to supply open source software to Russian schools