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The Quick Firefox Fix Jumps Over the Lazy Weekend

Just last Thursday, I wrote a post proclaiming my undying love for how quickly open source projects tend to right themselves when sailing the choppy waters of software vulnerabilities. This time around, a vulnerability had been spotted in Firefox, affecting 3.x releases on all platforms. The fix was scheduled for release sometime this week, in the browser's 3.0.8 version.

Firefox 3.0.8 made an early arrival, however, and was officially released Friday afternoon (at 3:45 PST). For those keeping score, this was roughly two days after one of the vulnerabilities it patches was discovered.



Linux Foundation Welcomes credativ, Strengthens Presence in Europe

The Linux Foundation welcomed its newest member today, the European-based free and open source standards consulting firm, credativ. This new partnership is a particularly exciting one, thanks to credativ's presence in the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada, and its focus on creating and implementing standards.

Naturally, credativ's business -- providing consulting and support services to businesses using free and open source software -- means it will take an active role in the Linux Standard Base workgroup. Because credativ is one of Europe's largest employers of Debian developers, the company also plans to participate in the Desktop Linux workgroup.



3 Open Source Apps On My Wish List

In February, I wrote about GizmoForYou, an interesting site that has been described as Santa's workshop for gadgets. Registered members create wish lists for hardware inventions, and then skilled people execute the best ideas. After thinking about the model that the site uses, I began to think that a similar model might work well for open source software development. The idea is actually not new. For example, Mozilla has routinely called for users to submit ideas for Firefox extensions, and then encouraged developers to execute the ideas. Along the same lines, in this post I've come up with three ideas for open source applications that aren't available to me now (at least I don't think they are) that I would very much like to have. I also think there could be business prospects for them.


Could the Palm Pre's Linux-Based WebOS Be Headed for Netbooks?

There's a lot of hubbub gathering about the upcoming Palm Pre smartphone, which runs WebOS, a Linux-based operating system. JKOnTheRun and Laptop Magazine ?(noted for its exhaustive coverage of netbooks) think it's entirely likely that we'll see WebOS arrive on netbooks. Cupcake, a strain of Google's Android OS (also Linux-based) has already been demonstrated successfully on netbooks--another example of a smartphone OS heading in more than one direction. Could Palm have much more far-reaching plans for WebOS than just smartphones? Check out how its touch-friendly, good looking interface might work well on netbooks.?


What's Really Behind Red Hat's Recent Drop in Earnings? Investments

Earlier this month, in a post called Behind Red Hat's Consistency: A Surprising Concentration on Investing, I discussed a very interesting post from Savio Rodrigues called Is Red Hat a Software Firm or Financial Institution? In that post, Rodrigues noted that big proprietary software companies including IBM, Microsoft and Oracle derive less than 10 percent of their net income from Other Income that they report, which refers to income generated outside their core software businesses, typically from interest-bearing investments. By contrast, Rodrigues noted that over the past two years Red Had got a whopping 48 percent of its net income from Other Income investment sources. How did this affect the financial performance that Red Hat reported this week??


OStatic Buffer Overflow

Is a cabal of tech companies, including IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Enomaly developing a secretive Open Cloud Manifesto? Some say so.

An open source presidency. The U.S government can save billions and foster innovation if it deploys open-source software, says Forbes.

25 great free Mac apps for freelancers. InkScape and NeoOffice are open source essentials.

5 essential Ubuntu modifications. Install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package, and GNOME-do.

How to install Ubuntu on a MacBook.?Step-by-step instructions.

Top MySQL admin and development tools. Windows, Linux and Mac choices.?



It's About Saving Money, and It's Not About Saving Money -- Why the Economy Needs Open Source

Shortly after firing up my laptop, located just a hair closer to the State House in Boston than the Route 128 Technology Corridor that winds around Waltham, I stumbled across an opinion piece by Black Duck Software's Peter Vescuso for Mass High Tech on the financial benefits of open source. While Vescuso's Massachusetts-centric angle is due to Black Duck's location and the recent rumblings that the state is losing its tech edge, his points are pertinent to any geographic region and take a holistic look at the financial benefits of open source.

It got me thinking. Industries and markets are inextricably linked, and when one experiences a significant downturn, it ripples through connected markets, and the markets connected to those markets. Vescuso touches on the financial benefits of open source software -- the infrastructure is already there, established, and strong, and the open, accessible code eliminates wheel re-invention, allowing developers to innovate and experiment.



First Beta of Ubuntu's Jaunty Jackalope Now Available

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.



OStatic's 8 Most Popular Open Source Resource Collections

Since OStatic's inception, we've done regular roundups on everything from the best Firefox extensions, to free books on open source topics, to top FOSS applications for working with video and digital music. Many of these are good ways to dive into open source applications, plug-ins and communities that you may not know about. In case you missed any of these or are new to the site, here are the eight most popular roundups we've done, including hundreds of our favorite apps and extensions.


Takeaways and Study Materials from the Open Source Business Conference

Matt Asay, who chaired this week's Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco has a good post up with some links to good material from the event. Dries Buytaert gave a great presentation on open source community building and it's now online, the 451 Group collected some very provocative quotes from thought leaders, and more. Here are a few of the eye-catching missives Matt points to from OSBC, plus some of our own posts related to the event.


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