Sean Michael Kerner

Reporter’s Notebook: So Oracle isn’t going to create its own Linux based on Ubuntu to fight Red Hat. Oracle is going to have its own Linux based on Red Hat’s own binaries to fight Red Hat. Sort of like using a person’s own hands to choke them with. Officially though, Red Hat is taking the […]

While most operating system vendors struggle to meet their target delivery dates, at least one is keeping its promises. Ubuntu is set to release its latest Linux distribution today, code-named the Edgy Eft, and officially called Ubuntu 6.10. The release follows the last Ubuntu release, Dapper Drake, by only four months. In the last few […]

The open source Asterisk IP-PBX is one of the most disruptive technologies in the market. But plain vanilla Asterisk can be challenging in that it isn’t exactly a point-and-click install with a simplified GUI administration. That’s where a whole cottage industry of GUI add-ons for Asterisk sprung up, with one of the leading implementations being […]

Mozilla is pushing ahead on work and planning for its next two major browser releases, Firefox 3.0 and 4.0. Firefox 2.0 was just released yesterday. Firefox 3.0 is currently being developed under the code name Gran Paradiso and the current alpha release is code-named Minefield. Click on the graphic for a larger view The Firefox […]

Without any fanfare, Microsoft’s free anti-spyware tool has emerged from its beta status and is now final. Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s security technology unit, officially announced the availability of Windows Defender final at the RSA’s Conference Europe 2006 in Nice, France, today. The final Windows Defender release come after nearly two years […]

Fedora Core 6 (FC 6) is now available, offering Red Hat users a view of the latest and greatest in open source technologies. It could also be seen as a preview of what is coming in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5, though Fedora is now a well-established Linux distribution in its own right. The […]

Last week, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7. Today, Mozilla, the spawn of Microsoft’s 1990s’ browser nemesis Netscape, will release Firefox 2.0. The browser wars are back. The official Firefox 2.0 release (FF 2) is the culmination of months of effort from Mozilla that spanned at least three alphas, two betas and three release candidates. […]

Reporter’s Notebook: Shares of Linux leader Red Hat   got hammered this week on market speculation that Oracle will announce some kind of new Linux stack initiative at its upcoming OracleWorld Conference. In my opinion, it’s all much ado about nothing. The most likely development to expect is that Oracle will certify or support the […]

There is a fine line between providing too much or too little detail in security vulnerability reports. Oracle users have been complaining for some time that they get too little information, but that changed this week with Oracle’s final quarterly Critical Patch Update (CPU) of 2006, which fixes more than 100 flaws. The October update […]

Monitoring and maintaining databases has long been a somewhat specialized task, which is why enterprises employ database administrators (DBAs). Open source database vendor MySQL AB is hoping to give a helping hand to DBAs with MySQL Enterprise, its new flagship commercial subscription offering. MySQL began offering subscriptions-based support with MySQL Network in early 2005. MySQL […]

Sometimes you fight fire with fire. In this case you do it with ice. Neither Mozilla Firefox nor Mozilla Thunderbird are likely to be in the next Debian GNU/Linux release. Mozilla is still hoping that it can come to an agreement with Debian but at this point it seems likely that Debian users will see […]

Mozilla is hoping that the third time is the charm for its next-generation Firefox 2.0 Web browser. The third and likely final release candidate for Firefox 2.0 is now available . The third release candidate follows RC 2 by a little over a week. “The difference between RC2 and RC3 is basically a small set […]