OStatic

Apple Safari 4 beta borrows from Chrome and Firefox. The tabs on top layout is straight out of Google's Chrome browser.

Amazon must open the Kindle. O'Reilly maintains: Open allows experimentation. Open encourages competition.

37 Signals doubts the free model. Free is not the future.

Red Hat and Citrix ratchet up open source virtualization relevancy. Both are taking aim at VMware.

New rival for Microsoft's SharePoint. Ingres and Alfresco have a software appliance that bundles the Ingres database with Alfresco's content management.

KDE 4.2: 10 tips for getting started. This version is loaded with new design concepts and features.?

If you ask a hundred different people why they use open source software, you're likely to receive at least fifty very different reasons. The responses might range from the ethical and philosophical to stark bottom line financial reasons. If you tell a hundred different people that don't use open source software why they should, using the responses given by the first group, it's likely that most won't immediately, aggressively, start seeking out open source alternatives to the software they use on a daily basis. There might be an interest, but not a pressing one. There's likely to be a healthy percentage of that second group who are just outright puzzled by the reasons given. It's not simply the philosophical ideas that puzzle them -- I've found that those who don't use open source software, or who haven't yet explored the ways free as in speech interacts and relates with free as in beer, the financial reasons are just as ambiguous.

A good number of people (and organizations) using open source software are quite happy with the price tag (or lack thereof) but find the idea of open code inconsequential ( We don't have programmers, we'll never modify this ). The money saved comes from the low cost of the software, and if it should no longer meet the company's criteria, it's time to choose another application.

This perception is selling open source software short. Matt Asay at CNet has a good write up about this idea, and one I think can be taken even one step further.

Microsoft and Red Hat to interoperate patent-free. The two companies have an interoperability alliance focused on virtualization.

Zmanda?s 3.0 backup supports cloud, Sharepoint, PostgreSQL, EnterpriseDB. A major upgrade of the open source backup solution is just weeks away.

Bruce Perens: How many open source licenses do you need? The Open Source initiative has approved 73 licenses. Is it overkill?

Maximize your screen with Littlefox. It's a Firefox extension that sizes Firefox to fit on a small netbook screen. Check out the video.

Another desktop test for Linux. What should we make of Dell's hybrid Windows/Linux computer?

Few things are more heartbreaking than the notion of children without access to healthcare. While no one denies that there's a tremendous need for better healthcare options for American children, the U.S. provides for emergency care, vaccinations, and other basic needs. Children in many other countries aren't so lucky.

IntraHealth International works with nations across the globe to provide the training and infrastructure communities need to solve public health issues within their own country. One initiative, IntraHealth OPEN focuses on using open source technologies in impoverished areas because of its accessibility, adaptability, and versatility.

IntraHealth OPEN recently announced the launch of the OPEN Remix project, an intriguing new partnership with artists in the recording industry that it hopes will help put the latest open source technologies directly in the hands of health workers in Africa.

Foxmarks syncs bookmarks in Safari, Internet Explorer. The Foxmarks browser synchronization platform now works with proprietary browsers. It's always been a hit with mobile users.

Chrome getting faster JavaScript. Chrome developers have swapped a built-in third-party software package in favor of their own as part of a browser speedup.

Google just added 1.5 million books to your phone. Google has 1.5 million public domain titles scanned and digitized in a small-screen format.

Marten Mickos, Sun's SVP of databases, to leave in a reorg. This follows the resignation of MySQL co-founder Monty Widenius, and a big quarter for MySQL.

Does Microsoft subvert the virtualization space to harm Red Hat? BoycottNovell looks into allegedly suspicious partnerships and revenue sharing.

Facebook joins OpenID. Facebook has joined the board of the OpenID Foundation and will host an OpenID Design Summit.

Red Hat issued a call for papers this week for its upcoming conferences, Red Hat Summit and JBoss World. The co-located events are scheduled to take place September 1-4, 2009 in Chicago, IL.

Paul Cormier, executive vice president and president, Products and Technologies at Red Hat says combining events will give presenters a distinct opportunity to share innovative topics with both the infrastructure and middleware communities.