Sean Michael Kerner

At the heart of every Unix and Linux desktop is the X Window system (also referred to as just X). It’s a heart that, now with the X.org 7.3 release, adds a number of new features including input hot-plugging support. While hot plugging, the ability to plug something in while the system is already running […]

Sometimes it takes more than one or even two kicks at the can to fix a security issue even when the source code is open. Such is apparently the case with vulnerability in the Mozilla Firefox uniform resource identifier (URI) handler, which enables Firefox to call on other Web resources. Security researchers Billy (BK) Rios […]

At the front line of the triple-play networking revolution are the cable modem termination systems (CMTS) employed by cable operators that deliver bandwidth to end-user cable modems. But with the need for increasing amounts of bandwidth, it’s not always easy for small operators and deployments to handle demand, which is where networking behemoth Cisco is […]

Development tools vendor ActiveState is opening up parts of its Komodo IDE in a new effort called Open Komodo. Komodo is a Mozilla Framework-based application that uses Mozilla’s XUL (XML-based User Interface Language), which is Mozilla’s language for creating its user interface. The Open Komodo effort will take code from ActiveState’s freely available, but not […]

Eudora is back. Well, almost. Qualcomm’s Eudora e-mail client is taking its first steps in a comeback attempt with the beta release of Eudora 8. Eudora 8 is the first version of Eudora to be based on code from the open source Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail project. The effort to resurrect the once dominant e-mail client […]

Citrix is acquiring XML and Web Services technology vendor QuickTree in an effort to expand the conversation between users and applications. “The conversation between users and applications today is HTML and HTTP, but we’re seeing a few areas where it is being augmented by XML,” Sanjay Uppal, Citrix vice president of marketing in the application […]

The multi-billion-dollar market for CRM software is hotly contested by closed source vendors like SAP, Oracle and Salesforce.com among others, all of whom spend tens of millions of dollars marketing their wares. Can open source compete? John Roberts, CEO of open source CRM vendor SugarCRM, has been out to prove that it can for the […]

Web 2.0 has enabled a broad array of Websites to be more engaging for users. It has also enabled a new and now very common attack, namely cross site scripting, commonly referred to as XSS attacks . Mozilla is aiming to put an end to XSS attacks in its upcoming Firefox 3 browser. The Alpha […]

Sourcefire , the company behind leading open source intrusion detection system Snort, is acquiring the open source antivirus project ClamAV. The move joins two widely used open source security tools under one corporate umbrella, as Sourcefire ramps up its efforts in the multi-billion-dollar security gateway market. Wayne Jackson, CEO of Sourcefire, noted on an investor […]

In 2003, the SCO boogeyman was scary. There were fears that SCO could end the Linux dream much the same way, a generation earlier, AT&T ended the dream for BSD. The SCO boogeyman has now been exposed to be a straw scarecrow with no real substance. A judge has ruled that SCO didn’t fully control […]

Apparently having an Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved license does matter. Companies that had once shunned the official open source label while still operating as open source entities are starting to adopt a new OSI license, the Common Public Attribution License (CPAL). For years, numerous commercial open source startups have used a Mozilla Public License […]

How much does $500 million actually buy? Though it may be enough for Citrix to buy XenSource, the lead commercial entity behind the Xen open source hypervisor, it doesn’t actually buy the community behind it. Or does it? After a $500 million dollar announcement, you’d expect some chatter. But in the open source world of […]