“We’re not adopting Linux to the exclusion of others, and will continue to support an agnostic approach, which is best for customers,” 

I am a current Verizon customer and have been very pleased with the existing service and Blackberry phone.  I can’t wait till 2009 to try out the new Linux-based phone!

• Financial
• Software quality
• Students can work at home with same programs used at school

The original article in French can be found here, as well as the Google English translation.

“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.”

Cisco’s new Aggregation Services Router (ASR) 1000 platform is a WAN (define)aggregation platform that includes firewall, Session Border Control (SBC), VPN and other core networking features.

It is designed to have the speed and efficiency of a application specific integrated circuit with the flexibility of a microprocessor.

“Take a migration to Linux slowly. Work on proofs of concept. That way, if something blows up, it’s not huge. It’s called a migration for a reason”

Sounds like successful project overall, for more detailed information the full story is at http://www.linux.com

A quote from Maurizio Quattrociocchi, IT & Telecoms Director at IPZS.

“Migrating our systems to JBoss solutions was a strategic choice for us. It not only offers economic benefits, but also provides constant innovation and enhancements from the community that are key aspects for a company like ours that provides high-value services” 

The adoption of open source software is increasing however there is not an overriding direction of how it should be accomplished. It is best summed up by Bernard Golden, chief executive officer of Navica, a system integrator.

“The adoption of open source technology is widespread but uneven in the Defense Department.There has clearly been an expanded awareness and penetration of open source. Some groups don’t do it at all, some use it and don’t even know it, and some actually advocate its use“

Some of the reasons that Linux and open source are being adopted within programs inlcude:

• Reduced cost
• Reduced time in which innovations in software can be incorporated into systems
• Security

I have also seen this first hand, where there is not a clear direction on the policy for use of open source software, but more programs and more organizations are adopting it. Open source is now becoming a relied upon and accepted option.

• Reducing Costs
• Reducing single vendor lock-in
• More control

“The 100,000 strong force’s leap to open source software is thought to be one of the biggest yet by a public organisation. Apparently, the French national assembly made the switch to Ubuntu last year.”

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.

A quote from Joe Morrissey of MYSQL.

 “MySQL Cluster Carrier Grade Edition and MySQL Enterprise are now at the heart of the solutions implemented by the leading industry players. We are delighted about this additional endorsement by Virgin Mobile.”