OpenSUSE 12.1 bulks up on features for cloud, servers, desktops

The OpenSUSE project has released its next stable version, a.k.a OpenSUSE 12.1. It includes the Linux kernel 3.1, tons of enhancements for use with public and private clouds and the cool new Tumbleweed tool, a project conceived by SUSE kernel engineer Greg Kroah-Hartman.

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Microsoft contributes GPL'd code to old enemy Samba project

On October 10, a group of developers contributed a patch to the Samba Technical Mailing List. That would be an unexceptional event except that these developers worked for Microsoft, Samba is covered by the GPLv2 and there's a long and not-very-friendly history between Microsoft and the project.

NOT TOTALLY FRIENDS: Barnes & Noble subpoenas Nokia over Microsoft Android lawsuit

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Two weeks with Ubuntu instead of Windows 7: Linux is great, Unity needs work

Today is my last day with the test machine loaded with Ubuntu 11.10 that Canonical sent me. My conclusion is: Unity is too buggy. I don't want to do my job, 8-10 hours a day, with it. This even though I like its look and feel and there are things about Unity I will miss when I go back to Windows 7.

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Consumer devices to get more support for using Linux

In an effort to make Linux even more appealing for embedded consumer electronics than it already is, the Linux Foundation today announced a new project where the foundation will take on long-term support of a Linux kernel suitable for consumer devices. The project, aptly named the Long Term Support Initiative, includes a who's-who in the consumer electronics world including some of the companies that have entered into broad patent cross licensing agreements with Microsoft for Linux and Android.

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Week 1: Ubuntu Unity instead of Windows 7 and ready to scream

It finally happened. At the end of my first week of using Ubuntu 11.10 with Unity, full-time, 8-10 hours a day for work, the system crashed. I fumbled a few keystrokes, hit some combination of keys and froze LibreOffice Writer. And the whole system locked up. This caps a week of chronic little struggles that have made me look longingly at my Windows 7 machine. But I've had some good moments, too.

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Day 1: Giving up Windows 7 for Ubuntu 11.10 for two weeks

I am on a two-week mission to see if I can quit using Windows 7 in favor of Ubuntu 11.10, code-named Oneiric Ocelot. Oneiric Ocelot was released last week from Canonical and, like the version before it, features the new Unity interface. This is Day 1, and like any change in behavior, I'm having moments of intense frustration coupled with moments of intense delight.

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Linux Foundation snags three enterprise cloud vendors as new members

The Linux Foundation has added three enterprise, cloud-focused companies to its membership, an interesting direction for the non-profit organization with a mission of supporting and promoting Linux. The new members are Eucalyptus Systems, Nebula and Virtual Bridges. The Linux Foundation has become a roll-call of companies that compete with each other  -- all of them trying to have their say in the direction of the powerful server operating system kernel.

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Will Intel pull the plug on MeeGo? Should it?

A number of reports have popped in the last few weeks claiming that Intel is about to pull the plug on its open-source MeeGo project, which is hosted under the auspices of the Linux Foundation. Intel has been publicly denying this ... and has said that it remains committed to MeeGo and is even hinting that it is still looking for a new handset partner. Meanwhile, Jim Zemlin, director of the Linux Foundation, says that interest in MeeGo remains higher than you might expect.

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A tour of the first-ever Linux Hall of Fame

As part of the 20th anniversary of Linux, the Linux Foundation put together its first ever Linux Hall of Fame exhibit. They showcased it at LinuxCon, held in Vancouver last week. The exhibit features signed items from the who’s-who of the Linux world like Linus Torvalds. The Linux Foundation’s Jennifer Cloer walked me through some of her favorite items. These include a notably empty whiskey bottle donated by Torvalds, a signed box from the Caldera team (Caldera would later become SCO and do battle against Linux ...

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Torvalds says, "Virtualization is evil"

Ask the world's most famous kernel developer what he thinks of the virtualization wars going on the Linux community between KVM and Xen and you'll hear a condemnation (of a sort) of them both. "I'm not a virtualization kind of guy. I think virtualization is evil," Linus Torvalds told the crowd at LinuxCon on Wednesday during his keynote interview session with Greg Kroah-Hartman.

Virtualization takes Torvalds away from the hardware and that's not where he wants to go. "I built a kernel because I wanted to get my hands grubby with things like I/O ports."

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Live blogging LinuxCon: The Changing Linux Landscape

Jay Lyman, an analyst for The 451 Group likes this Tweet: "If you're not ashamed of your code, you waited too long to put it out." That sums up the feeling with the main Linux distro players, he said during a session at LinuxCon.

Here is my live blog from the session on Wednesday where he ran down the SWOT of each distro: strength weakness opportunity and threats.

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Live blogging: LinuxCon Keynotes Jim Zemlin, Jim Whitehurst

LinuxCon has only just kicked off and I'm already having an interesting time. Riding the elevator to the conference, in walks Linus Torvalds. And Alan Clark of SUSE. I'm already wearing my badge and Torvalds make a joke that he's grateful for badges and he's not good with names -- even with names of people he should know. (I agree 'cause I'm the same way). And low and behold, Linus goes to the registration desk, and gets in line to get his badge. I attended Cisco Live last month and believe me, John Chambers didn't stand in line to get his badge.

So I'm already enjoying the day.

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20 years of Linux: Then and Now

LinuxCon kicks off on Wednesday and I'll be there to report on the keynotes, the news, the fun stuff. To kick it off, the Linux Foundation sent out this then-and-now graphic of how far Linux has come in its 20 years. Note the number of lines of code, the numbers of patents and the number of "Linux-based" cell phones out there (thanks to Android). The only area where Linux lags is desktop adoption, but who knows? Maybe we'll see a big change there in the next few years as well.

Click to enlarge graphic.

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Drupal, Joomla, WordPress smackdown!

The three big three contenders in the open source CMS world are Drupal, Joomla! and WordPress. The folks at Devious Media boiled each of their advantages/disadvantages down to a simple comparison and Joomla comes off looking pretty sweet.

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CentOS 6 Linux finally arrives

Although Red Hat released RHEL 6.0 way back in November and the 6.1 version in May, the freebie clone CentOS, is finally now available in the 6.0 version.

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Metasploit launches cash-for-exploits Bug Bounty program

If you've got a way to crack Google Chrome, the Metasploit team wants to pay you for it. Today Rapid 7 announced that it has a total of $5,000 to reward to contributors who send in exploits for its Top 5 or Top 25 vulnerability lists. The exploits have to be submitted, and accepted, as modules under its standard Metasploit Framework license.

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AT&T researchers call for smartphone apps that won't suck your battery dry

Who doesn't love Pandora Radio? But listening to it on my Android phone is the fastest way to kill the battery and what good is a mobile phone if it has to be constantly plugged in? New research shows that Android phones are the most data hungry smartphones out there. A group of researchers at AT&T Labs are calling on app makers to fix this problem by building more energy-aware apps. Not surprisingly, Pandora is one of their test subjects. (Facebook is another).

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Smartphone apps will boost enterprise productivity by 2015

Smartphones and tablets are already starting to flood the enterprise and this trend is expected to accelerate rapidly over the next four years. Enterprises expect mobile apps to accomplish some big goals including reducing paper in the office. (How many years have we been talking about the paperless office?)

Because the iPad is the leading tablet, businesses seem most focused on iOS apps, both for the iPad and iPhone. But Google is working on Android Honeycomb, and if the past is any indication of the future, Android's tablets will eventually attract plenty of users.

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Red Hat claims virtualization improvements in RHEL 6.1 released today

Red Hat released RHEL 6.1 today and proclaimed its latest Linux server distribution as being the best at virtualization. Red Hat has really been out there pounding its chest on the virtues of its current virtualization platform, KVM.

According to Red Hat, improvements in 6.1 include:

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Reports: Attachmate lays off Mono developers; de Icaza won't confirm

Reports are flying today that Attachmate laid off about 30 developers responsible for Novell's Mono project. Mono ports the .Net environment to Linux. When Attachmate bought Novell's assets, in a $2.2 billion deal that was sealed last week, pundits wondered at the eventual fate of Mono.

MORE ON MIGUEL: GNOME creator respects proprietary software, can't wait for iPad 2

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