OStatic

Red Hat acquires Qumranet, an open source virtualization company.....

Dell has an Ubuntu based netbook in the works.....

Ubuntu Linux now tops 8 million users.....

A new model: Open source software after it's acquired.....

Mozilla's Mitchell Baker on Firefox and Chrome.....

There's a lot of buzz right now about Ubiquity: Mozilla's attempt to explore command-based interaction within Firefox. Users of other command-oriented interfaces like QuickSilver or Enso, will feel right at home with Ubiquity: you activate it within your browser with a simple key combination, and then start typing. Depending on what you type, stuff happens.

Perspectives, a Firefox extension from Carnegie Mellon, offers robust privacy features.....

Are there too many cooks in the kitchen, working on too many open source projects? Would consolidation help?.....

Open source gaming goes commercial with Wiz handheld.....

Postpath is an open source e-mail and collaboration server offering interoperability with Microsoft Exchange.....

Take a gander at Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail client.....

John Resig, a member of Mozilla's Firebug development team, announced yesterday that the final version of Firebug 1.2 had been released. Firebug is a debugger for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that sits within the Firefox Web browser. It has become an essential tool for Web developers, particularly those who use the modern technique known as Ajax ( asynchronous JavaScript and XML ).

JavaScript has become an increasingly important part of the Web application ecosystem. JavaScript is the key to many of the Web's most interesting applications, using the Ajax paradigm ( Asynchronous JavaScript and XML ). This has led to a renaissance in the use of JavaScript, as well as a flurry of libraries aimed at making it easier to use and cross-browser compatible. It was thus with a great deal of excitement that several JavaScript developers announced late last week that a new JavaScript engine, known as Tracemonkey, will be a part of Firefox 3.1 when it is released. The Tracemonkey engine is dramatically faster than the existing JavaScript engine, with some actions running 20 times faster.

One of the keys to the success of Firefox, the popular open-source browser produced by the Mozilla Foundation, is its extensibility. Earlier this summer, the Mozilla Foundation sponsored a contest, dubbed Extend Firefox 3, that offered prizes to the best add-ons that developers would submit. Last week, contest judges announced the winners.