OStatic

Ever since netbooks--low priced, ultra-mobile computers with very low price points--became a hot hardware category, with both Linux and Windows versions available, reports have flown around saying that the return rates for Linux netbooks are vastly higher than return rates for Windows machines. Kevin Turner, Microsoft's COO, helped fuel the fire by saying that return rates for Linux netbooks are more than four times higher than return rates for Windows netbooks, here.? I challenge you to find a retailer who wants to sell Linux on these netbooks, because the returns are bad, Turner said.

That position has been challenged a number of times, with the most serious challenges coming from netbook manufacturers. Asus' CEO has said that return rates for Linux netbooks are no higher than they are for Windows systems.?He ought to know, and he's also said that Linux netbooks are quite popular in Europe, where overall open source adoption is high. Now, as The Register reports,?Dell, the number two computer manufacturer in the world, is refuting Turner's position as well.

Back when Microsoft was actively pursuing an acquisition of Yahoo!, only to withdraw its bid, many observers felt that the withdrawal was good news for Yahoo!'s many open source and open initiatives. But we made the point back then that the game might just have begun. From Yahoo!'s open strategy for developers, to its Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI), to the company's reliance on Hadoop for advanced fast queries, Yahoo! has always been a strong supporter of open standards. Yahoo!'s entire site runs on FreeBSD--a free operating system descended from AT&T Unix.

Microsoft still isn't acquiring Yahoo!, but it has struck a far-reaching search deal with the company. What are the implications for Yahoo!'s many open source and open standards initiatives?

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.

Missing: Dell Ubuntu desktop PCs. The VAR Guy explores whether Dell has stopped selling Ubuntu desktop computers.

Open source Hive: Large-scale, distributed data processing made easy. Hive is a data analysis and query front end for Hadoop that makes Hadoop data files look like SQL tables.

Microsoft opened Linux-driver code after violating GPL. Did it act simply to head off any potentially embarrassing legal disputes over violations?

SpringSource and MindTouch seek to redefine the application server. Spurred by economic pressures on IT departments, new breeds of app servers are taking shape.

The tech jobs that the cloud will eliminate. IT pros face new competition for their jobs from cloud services. Which jobs go, and which become more valuable?

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.

In a move that marks a notable shift for Microsoft, the company has announced that it has released 20,000 lines of device driver code to the Linux community. The code includes three Linux device drivers, and has been submitted to the Linux kernel community for inclusion in the Linux tree. The drivers will be available to the Linux community and customers alike, and will enhance the performance of the Linux operating system when virtualized on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, company officials said in a statement.

Sam Ramji, Microsoft's open source czar, commented on the move in an interview posted on Microsoft's site. Today?s release would have been unheard of from Microsoft a few years ago, he said but it?s a prime example that customer demand is a powerful catalyst for change. It's a smart, long overdue play from the company.

In the open source community, few companies gather more criticism than Microsoft, and the company's proprietary, patent-centric practices--as well as its highly publicized run-ins with the DOJ and the European Commision--have a lot to do with that. Still, those of us who want open source software to flourish in the long run should be objective enough to look at what the software giant does right. I mentioned Microsoft's sophisticated usability testing efforts here, the company spends a lot of money on its Microsoft Research division--which produces innovative technology--and even the company's stance toward open source has improved in some ways under open source czar Sam Ramji.

With the debacle that Windows Vista has been for Microsoft, many people have been lulled into forgetting what happens when Microsoft delivers a well-received version of Windows. When the company does that, it affects the entire technology ecosystem, and open source will definitely be affected when Windows 7 arrives this fall. By most accounts worth trusting, Windows 7 is an extremely solid operating system, and some of that has to do with more open? development practices from Microsoft.