Sean Michael Kerner

The price of PC desktops has been edging downward for several years, but hardware cost is only one of several considerations IT has to take into account when deciding what to purchase. There is also the issue of so-called total cost of ownership (TCO) or what it costs to maintain and support the hardware. Upgradability […]

From the ‘What’s That Smell?‘ files: If you’ve ever had to audit/capture network traffic, you’ve likely used the open source wireshark (formerly Ethereal) application. Wireshark is getting updated this week to version 1.4.3, providing some really interesting fixes. I personally use wireshark to audit network traffic and security, but apparently Wireshark itself had a trio […]

While the NoSQL database movement has been gaining momentum, MySQL remains a powerful force in the market. But need it be an either/or proposition? Xeround doesn’t think so. The firm has released the public beta version of its cloud database, which it bills as a pairing of the benefits of SQL and NoSQL databases. While […]

It’s been a long wait, but after three years in development, Joomla 1.6, the latest version of the open source content management system (CMS), is out. Enterprise users may find several features of interest in the new release including a new abstraction layer that further enables the CMS to run on different database backends as […]

With the next version of JRuby, developers can expect an array of improvements. JRuby 1.6, now available as a release candidate, promises to deliver enhanced compatibility with Microsoft Windows, as well as stronger integration with Ruby on Rails. The latest version of the Java implementation of the Ruby language is the first to support Ruby […]

From the ‘Disambiguation:open‘ files: Google is dropping support for the near ubiquitous H.264 video code in Chrome. That’s right folks, you’ll have to choose your platform based on what content you want to use. If you want Flash you can’t run Apple iOS and if you want H.264 forget about Chrome. That’s nuts. Google Product […]

From the ‘End of Bit.ly?‘ files: Google has had its own goo.gl URL shortening service since September — though until now the only way that users could use it was via a web interface. Now Google is expanding Goo.gl with a new API so that the service can be leveraged by third parties (thing Twitter […]

Cisco is expanding its Catalyst switching family with the addition of two more compact lines. The new compact switches are part of an effort by Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) to expand the availability of networking for retail, medical, industrial and other vertical markets. The release includes the new Catalyst 3560-C and Catalyst 2960-C Compact Series of […]

As Linux continues to win converts across industry, from small and midsized businesses to large enterprises, so too is the nonprofit Linux Foundation seeing its membership swell. Already in 2011, the group has added at least three new corporate members in the form of Broadcom, Timesys and Protecode. Now, after just three years in operation, […]

From the ‘How Much Is the Company Worth Now?’ files: Zend, one of the lead commercial sponsors behind the open source PHP development language has raised another $7 million in venture funding. This latest round is in addition to the $9 million Zend raised in May. No, it’s not Facebook money, but it’s still not […]

In what could dramatically broaden the use of an open source middleware technology for metadata, the Apache Foundation has made NASA’s Object-Oriented Data Technology (OODT) a top-level project. A year ago, the technology became an Apache Incubator project. In the time since, NASA’s computer scientists have worked to meet Apache’s governance and licensing criteria, and […]

Cisco executives have become fond of talking about the future of networking as an infrastructure that facilitates the delivery of any digital content to any device at any time users wish to access it. The company took a step forward in that direction this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where Cisco […]