OStatic

Microsoft is scrambling to counter conclusions made in a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, which suggest that India could save $2 billion if open source software solutions hit 50 percent adoption across its economy in 2010. As a story from New Delhi, running in the Business Standard reports, even if isolated categories of open source software such as server operating systems and antivirus software see broad adoption, the cost savings could be substantial.

Microsoft is firing back with its usual claims about support and other issues representing hidden costs that actually make open source more expensive than its proprietary software. There is an interesting footnote to the war of words, though: Red Hat was the sponsor of the study. Whose numbers are correct?

Noted blogger and novelist Cory Doctorow has posted a diatribe against cloud computing, in which he says the main attraction of the cloud to investors and entrepreneurs is the idea of making money from you, on a recurring, perpetual basis, for something you currently get for a flat rate or for free. In a post called Young man yells at cloud, ZDNet's Dana Blankenhorn flatly disagrees with him, pointing out that the many headaches and screw-ups that go along with using computers are abstracted in the cloud, managed by others.

Meanwhile, The VAR Guy notes that Red Hat Executive VP Paul Cormier has warned the attendees of Red Hat Summit that Microsoft has its eyes on lock-in--not openness--with its Azure cloud platform. Is the cloud evil?

SpringSource takes on Java goliaths. The company is proving that commercial open source can peacefully coexist with community involvement.

Microhoo lessons for open source. Yahoo?s open source projects are now held by a company that is cash poor.

Acer: Android netbook on track for Q3. The company has wavered on whether it will deliver one, but it apparently is on track, and may dual-boot with Windows.

The Gap moves from Windows to Red Hat Linux. The company needed to revamp its entire end-to-end business technology platform.

Dell: New Ubuntu desktop PC launching soon. There?s a high probability that it will debut the week of August 2nd.

Hadoop and MapReduce are cheap and scalable for clustered queries, but they're slower than relational databases. Yale researchers have an improvement.

The Ubuntu Linux app store: fact or fiction? The emerging app store, which offers Ubuntu Linux and Debian applications, wasn?t built by Canonical.

Linux slips into Microsoft's warm, deadly embrace. How Microsoft will use the GPL to mount a serious backdoor assault on the core of the Linux platform.

Is Microsoft's GPL2 support really a big deal? It's recently released code is only for Linux Virtual Machines on Windows, not physical Linux servers and Linux desktops.

Red Hat is wrong to insist Microsoft disavow litigation. Did IBM, HP, Oracle, or even Red Hat ever declare that they will never, ever sue open source developers over patent infringements?

Palm's Linux secret makes the Pre. Palm Pre is no thriller as a smartphone, but the SDK reveals the most open mobile platform on the market.

Microsoft beating Mozilla...in open-source licensing. Adoption of its open source Microsoft Public License (MS-PL) is more prevalent than you think.

First look: Opera Unite alpha lets you share files -- but is it safe? The browser offers people their own web server, but what are the security risks?

EnterpriseDB brings Postgres closer to Oracle. It's more compatible and more scalable.

Red Hat's virtualization plan enters next phase. The company is aiming to challenge VMware and Citrix.

Microsoft beating Mozilla...in open-source licensing. Adoption of its open source Microsoft Public License (MS-PL) is more prevalent than you think.

First look: Opera Unite alpha lets you share files -- but is it safe? The browser offers people their own web server, but what are the security risks?

EnterpriseDB brings Postgres closer to Oracle. It's more compatible and more scalable.

Red Hat's virtualization plan enters next phase. The company is aiming to challenge VMware and Citrix.