Sean Michael Kerner

Datamation looks at moves by commercial open source players Eucalyptus Systems and GroundWork Open Source to combine their technology in a bid to help companies monitor and manage cloud application usage. Helping enterprises take better control of their cloud computing applications is a fast-growing area in IT, and both companies are leveraging their expertise to […]

Popular Linux distribution Ubuntu is gearing up for the next big release of its OS, Ubuntu 10.04, AKA “Lucid Lynx,” while at the same time celebrating having surpassed an estimated 12 million users. Ubuntu 10.04 is a key release for Ubuntu and its commercial backer, Canonical. The update sports enhancements like social networking integration, cloud-based […]

From the ‘Certify Your Linux Skills‘ files: The Linux skills certification landscape is getting a little easier thanks to a new partnership between CompTIA and the Linux Professional Institute (LPI). It’s a move that will help to further consolidate the fragmented Linux skills certification market. The LPI offers a number of Linux certification programs that […]

There’s no sitting still at Cisco. The networking giant has unveiled a major upgrade of its rack and blade servers in its Unified Computing System line. The second-generation M2 servers are power by the new Westmere CPUs from Intel, which offer more cores and performance upgrades. Enterprise Networking Planet has the details on Cisco’s big […]

From the ‘After You‘ files: Oracle is now out with Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.5 (OEL)- a week after its base, Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux 5.5 (RHEL) was released. That’s pretty quick and in my view, one of the quickest turnarounds yet from Oracle with their version of RHEL.  Oracle has been releasing its own version […]

From the ‘Testing Tests‘ files: Mozilla’s Test Pilot initiative is moving out of its testing phase – for the application. Test Pilot started in January of 2009 as a Firefox add-on that enabled Mozilla to poll users about various issues with surveys. The effort was expanded in August and now is growing again with its […]

The Apache Maven is steaming toward the release of version 3 of the open source development project, promising a significant performance boost that developers hope will see wider uptake of Maven as a component in other projects. Developer.com reports on the release of Apache Maven 3, which is expected out in the next few months. […]

Apple has issued a significant security update to its QuickTime software, patching 16 vulnerabilities that affect both the Mac and Windows versions of the program. eSecurity Planet takes a look at the QuickTime security update, which addresses several flaws to prevent running corrupted audio content and exposing systems to arbitrary code execution. The iPad isn’t […]

From the ‘Cross-Platform Development‘ files: A year and a half ago, I was among those that celebrated the release of Songbird 1.0 — a Mozilla based open source music challenger to iTunes. Unfortunately for me — and other Linux users, the Songbird effort is now not nearly as interesting, as developers have chosen to stop […]

Heard about the NoSQL movement? Among open source database outfits, the movement is gaining steam, as they look to a community-based alternative to the traditional relational approach. CouchDB is trying to get ahead of the curve with the latest release of its database offering. Database Journal has the details about what’s coming with CouchDB’s version […]

When white hat hackers point out flaws in your product, it’s for your own good and you should take advantage of it before the bad guys do. Mozilla is doing just that. Days after hacks were exposed in the Pwn2Own contest, it is pushing out fixes for Mozilla 3.6. eSecurity Planet has details on the […]

Linux Planet delves into the latest edition of the popular GNOME open source desktop user interface. GNOME 2.30 ushers in a handful of changes, but perhaps its most important aspect is a closer look at the GNOME Shell. The GNOME Shell will figure prominently into GNOME 3, a more sweeping overhaul of the GUI expected […]