OStatic

Has Sun been holding Java back? Red Hat thinks so.

The Open Cloud Manifesto is nothing but a vapor tiger. IBM is the lead toward this purported push toward an open, interoperable cloud model.

GNOME vs. KDE: Which has the evolutionary advantage? Both are mature desktops, but Bruce Byfield sees KDE as the evolutionary leader.

21 of the best free Linux DVD tools. Good choices, from Xine to Handbrake.

Mark Cuban: Open-source your venture funding. Will startups post their business plans on his blog?

April is fast approaching, and that can mean only one thing -- the jackalopes have returned from wherever it is that jackalopes overwinter, and they're making their way to mirrors and torrents near you. The alpha stage of the Jaunty Jackalope (Ubuntu 9.04) release is now behind us, and the first beta version was sighted on mirrors worldwide just moments ago.

While the world won't see the official Jackalope release until April 23rd, the Ubuntu team invites any interested in Jackalope (bug) hunting to download the beta version and join the party.

GNOME 2.26's 5 best features. It has solid Exchange/Outlook mail compatibility, improved CD/DVD burning, better support for multiple monitors, and more.

Is Ballmer conceding victory to Linux netbooks? He acknowledges that buyers are extra sensitive to prices now.

French police switch from Windows to Linux. Department cuts costs by 70 percent.

Sun deal could make IBM unbeatable in Unix server market. It would give IBM nearly two-thirds share of the Unix systems business.

Red Hat's JBoss Developer Studio 2.0 - Portfolio Edition is now available. It adds Enterprise Application, Portal, SOA and Data Services Platforms.

Many people are surprised to find that with all the writing I do, hardly any is done with a traditional word processing application. Between smart quotes, file extension quirks, and publications and websites having slightly different formatting requirements, I find it's quicker and easier to use a text editor.

The two computers I use most run Linux -- the laptop runs Ubuntu, while the desktop is a distribution nomad that changes frequently. One great thing about Linux is that the platform has no shortage of capable text editors. Some lend themselves more to writing code and heavy-duty programming than others (such as Vim and Emacs) while others straddle the plain text document/programming editor line.

Lately, primarily because I've been slow to install my usual cross-over text editor of choice, Geany, I took a closer look at the plugins available for GNOME's came with the desktop editor, Gedit. The default plugins (and those found in the extra packages) make the plain vanilla editor far more appealing and useful for hardcore writers and casual programmers alike.

Yesterday, the GNOME Project released the latest version of its desktop, GNOME 2.26. The new release incorporates the usual bug fixes and numerous accessibility and application improvements -- including updates to the GNOME Developer Platform and support for 48 languages.

Some of the notable new desktop features include updates to Evolution. The mail and groupware suite is better able to communicate with Exchange servers, as it adds support for both MAPI and SOAP protocols. The Brasero media burner, the Epiphany browser, the Orca screenreader, Empathy, and the GNOME Media Player have all seen signficant feature enhancements. The utilities for managing multiple desktops, pulse-audio, and fingerprint readers have also been updated.

This week, the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit began accepting proposals for its upcoming event. The event, aimed at encouraging interaction between KDE's Akademy and GNOME's GUADEC developer conference attendees, gives prospective speakers the opportunity to bring their passion to a more diverse audience.

Last month, I covered some of the reasons why companies contribute less often to open source projects, and some possible reasons why. It's an intriguing topic not only because it highlights how groups approach projects differently than individuals, but because it is so pertinent to the growth of open source software. As more household name companies begin using and developing products that utilize open source software, a new demographic will get the opportunity to experience (and hopefully, embrace) the new products and their different, open, approach.

The GNOME Foundation's Executive Director, Stormy Peters, offers advice to companies interested in actively collaborating in the open source world. Her post outlines the basics of her talk at OSiM USA.