Sean Michael Kerner

From the ‘Apple Envy‘ files: Apple is open sourcing one component of its new Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) operating system. Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) is key new feature in Snow Leopard that is intended to help optimize multicore processing for apps. The open source effort is called ‘libdispatch’ and it’s being made available […]

From the ‘Unsupported‘ files: Verizon is now opposing the sale of Nortel’s Enterprise networking assets on the grounds that it represents a national security risk to the U.S. According to a court filing made by Verizon,”communications networks critical to the operation of the federal government, and the defense, safety, health and security of the American […]

From the ‘Rad Security Features‘ files: Cross Site Scripting (XSS) is one of the most common types of web attacks. Yet for Windows, Mac and Linux users there is no type of desktop protection for XSS issues that could affect any OS. That’s why browser security, like the type that Google is baking into Chrome […]

Barely two weeks after releasing Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, Apple is now out with an update to address several security vulnerabilities and compatibility issues. In addition to the Snow Leopard update, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has also released patches for security issues affecting Mac OS 10.4.11 and 10.5.8. For Snow Leopard, Apple has issued […]

From the ‘Good Luck In Your Future Endeavors‘ files: Sam Ramji, Microsoft’s front man for all things open source, is leaving Microsoft effective September 25th. Ramji made the announcement today during a call with press announcing the formation of the CodePlex Foundation. I’ve spoken with Ramji many times over the last few years and met […]

Linux is gaining support for new hardware — particularly USB 3.0 devices — and a new performance subsystem, courtesy of the newly released Linux 2.6.31 kernel. The release is the third Linux kernel release of the year and follows the 2.6.30 kernel, which came out in June. Chief among new hardware features is the addition […]

From the ‘They Did What?!‘ files: Microsoft today is spinning up a new 501.c non-profit effort as a forum to support open source community projects. The new effort is called the CodePlex Foundation and it builds on the efforts of Microsoft’s Codeplex site. The timing of this foundation, during the same week in which it […]

From the ‘Time To Update‘ files: Mozilla is updating its Firefox web browser to plug holes in its own software and to help prevent users from running other vendors vulnerable software as well. Firefox 3.5.3 is being released with three critical bug security advisories from Mozilla. There is, “Crashes with evidence of memory corruption” advisory […]

From the ‘Retail Competition‘ files: Does it surprise anyone that Microsoft is allegedly helping to train BestBuy employees to sell Windows 7 against Linux? It shouldn’t. A post on the overclock.net forum this week made by a self-described BestBuy employee includes a PowerPoint deck to help the retailer differentiate against Linux. This is a marvelous […]