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Buyouts and Mergers to Proliferate in 2009

Today there are quite a lot of lists of predictions for 2009 appearing. This list of 10 predictions for Linux has some ideas that I agree with, including bright futures for embedded Linux, virtualization, Linux-based gadgets and more. (I'm not so sure Linux-based game consoles have a bright future.) It's the first prediction on the list, though, that I think will have a big impact on open source next year: More buyouts and mergers. We are in a business environment right now where people are lulled into believing that very abnormal things are normal. The unwinding of this will be a huge 2009 story in open source and in the technology industry overall.


Despite the Economic Gloom, Another Home Run for Red Hat

Red Hat reported its third quarter earnings after the close of the stock market today, and the news was rosy, especially given these economic times. The earnings were up nearly 20 percent, although the company did have to contend with unfavorable exchange rates. For the quarter ended November 30th, net income was $24.3 million or 12 cents per share, compared to $20.3 million, or 10 cents per share for last year's third quarter. Revenue grew 22 percent year-over-year to $165.3 million. The profit? performance also topped analysts' expectations. Here are some of the details and what this means.


The Open Source Crystal Ball

The end of the year is a self-indulgent time, when those who write about technology stop making lists of the best, worst, and most mind-numbingly mediocre applications they find and pause to make lists about tech trends in the upcoming year.

Assessing the past is easy: it has been an interesting year for open source software. Predictions that come to pass, unless suitably vague, just fall into the lucky guess category. The one prediction I am sure of for 2009: Open source software will hold its own when it comes to growth and adoption.

My other predictions? What do you think?



Will Open Source Conferences Go the Way of BrainShare?

GigaOm did an interesting piece on Wednesday called The End of MacWorld, addressing the fact that Apple is pulling out of the Macworld trade show after January, and Steve Jobs won't do a keynote address there. The piece includes some good analysis of how rapidly technology is undermining the status quo at trade shows and conferences. Then, just yesterday, Novell announced that it is cancelling BrainShare after 20 years. Will this erosion of high-profile gatherings extend to the major open source conferences?


Novell Cancels BrainShare Conference After 20 Years

Novell's Senior Vice President and Chief Market Officer, John Dragoon announced today that it has cancelled its annual conference, BrainShare, after more than 20 years. In an open email to Novell's customers and partners, Dragoon says the move is in response to industry-wide budget tightening and a generally sluggish economy.



Leapin' Lizards: openSUSE Jumps to 11.1 Tomorrow

On Thursday, the openSUSE project will make available its stable 11.1 release. I was fortunate enough to take a sneak peek at the new release this week, and while the changes aren't quite as dizzying as those between 10.3 and 11.0 (understandably), they work nicely to make this new release both eye-catching and functional.

Though the final releases will be offered in a variety of architectures with DVD, network install, and liveCD images, I used one of the DVD install images. openSUSE offered an installer with the 11.0 liveCD, and in its 11.1 beta versions, and I imagine this has not changed. The DVD install process is slightly different than liveCD installers, but is just as straightforward and offers more from the get-go.



HP Opens Up Open Source for Small Businesses

HP has been quirky over the years when it comes to open source. It has been, traditionally, a company that supports open source -- especially in larger enterprises. While large businesses are a major focus for HP -- and it has supported open source in other ways -- a smaller business line of open source products has been a long time coming.

HP is approaching this market with both fists flying. Wednesday, it announced two new open source products, geared to small businesses and educational institutions.



Moonlight 1.0 Beta Available

Not long ago the Moonlight development team announced that the Linux Silverlight adaptation was drawing ever nearer to the 1.0 release. On December 1st, the Moonlight 1.0 beta version was released.

The Moonlight beta installs easily, and works quite well (though some sites respond better than others, this seems to hold true with Silverlight in a native Windows environment as well). The few hiccups I encountered during installation had more to do with network congestion and user error than the application itself.