Sean Michael Kerner

From the ‘battery of the month club‘ files: Financially challenged consumer electronics retailer Circuit City is selling off its Canadian stores to Bell Canada. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed at this time.My colleague Andy Patrizio has been writing about the Circuit City bankruptcy in the US, but we didn’t know what […]

Beleaguered networking vendor Nortel revealed precisely how bad its past year had been, signaling that as it restructures in a bid to regain its luster, it’s going to have to overcome sizable hurdles. Nortel, which entered bankruptcy protection in Canada and the United States early this year, said in its full-year earnings report that it […]

From the ‘it’s time to train’ files: The Linux Foundation put a release this AM announcing a new Linux Training Program. My first reaction was ‘Is the Linux Foundation now going to compete against the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) and their Linux certifications? The LPI has been the standard bearer of Linux certification for years […]

There is a popular notion among open source advocates that open source software will do well in a recession as enterprises seek low cost alternatives. Open source vendor Novell’s CEO Ron Hovsepian (NASDAQ: NOVL) might beg to differ. “Our Q1 Linux performance did not meet our expectations as our pipeline coverage and conversion was overly […]

From the ‘counter-intuitive‘ files: Microsoft is suing GPS vendor Tom-Tom over alleged patent violations that might include Linux. Is this the beginning of the big Linux versus Microsoft patent showdown? Microsoft has long asserted that open source somehow infringes on Microsoft’s intellectual property. My view is this is a great thing for Linux. Really. You […]

Without much fanfare or self-congratulations, networking giant Cisco Systems has become one of the top contributors to the Linux kernel and an active contributor to the broader open source community. It’s a message that Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) isn’t boasting about yet, but was willing to discuss with InternetNews.com. Cisco is the world’s largest networking vendor […]

It’s not all about the code in the Linux ecosystem. Any Linux project needs leadership. Markus Rex is one such leader. For most of the last year, Rex was the CTO of the Linux Foundation, on loan from his employer Novell. Now, he’s back with Novell, where he is responsible for Novell’s open source and […]

From the ‘spot the missing feature‘ files: Google is out with the 2.0.166.1 update to its Chrome web browser dev-channel version, adding several new features. Among them is one that I frankly hadn’t actually noticed was missing (but it was) – full screen support.That’s right friends, you can now for the first time do full […]

A new report from Infonetics Research on the state of the Ethernet switch market shows that 2008 on the whole was a decent year for vendors in the space. But new signs of a slowdown are demonstrating that the space hasn’t escaped the malaise plaguing the rest of the industry. The research firm reported that […]

From the ‘how many Beta’s makes a release?’ files: Mozilla is now planning on adding a fourth Beta to its oft delayed Firefox 3.1 open source web browser. Firefox 3.1 will be the first major update to Firefox 3.0.x which was first released in June of 2008 after five alphas, five betas and three Release […]

The U.K. is taking an aggressive stance on open source software, giving new teeth to directives designed to push and promote open source within the British government. The new policy from Tom Watson, the U.K.’s Minister for Digital Engagement, directs government agencies to adopt open source in new ways while even preferring it over proprietary […]

From the ‘read in between the lines‘ files: A little bit of buzz today about the United Kingdom going open source – kinda/sorta. The BBC reports that the British government would, “..ensure that open source solutions are considered properly and, where they deliver best value for money are selected for Government business solutions.” Sun’s Simon […]