Sean Michael Kerner

Open source database vendor MySQL AB is floating a new license exception among members of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community in a bid to permit bundling of MySQL alongside PHP . In the view of at least one prominent member of the community though, the Free Software Foundation (FSF), backer of the […]

As it ramps up its search offerings, Microsoft has acquired personal search tool maker Lookout Software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Lookout tool allows users to perform a “fast” search for local data, files and e-mail from within Microsoft Outlook 2003. Outlook’s own search has often been criticized by users as […]

One of the most critical parts of Java development is understanding the complete state of a development effort as quickly as possible. That’s the goal of Apache’s Maven project, which released its milestone 1.0 release this week. “Maven has a long history of pushing out beta after beta, so this is definitely an important release,” […]

TORONTO — Microsoft has provided a sneak peek of new features in the next version of Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. The message: The brand new look with MOM comes with an ability to monitor your systems’ health like never before. MOM is an application that provides event and performance management, application monitoring and reporting […]

Apache-backed PHP Group, which oversees one of the most popular open source scripting languages, officially released PHP version 5.0 Tuesday. The release follows four betas and three release candidates dating back to June 29, 2003 before it was considered stable enough for the latest release. PHP 5.0 includes numerous enhancements that further extend the functionality […]

TORONTO — For those who like their bad news first, Microsoft said it plans to release its Network Access Protection patch management tools in 2005 instead of this year. During Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference here, Mike Nash, Microsoft corporate vice president for security business and technology, outlined Microsoft’s Network Access Protection (NAP) technology strategy and […]

TORONTO — Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer came out swinging — verbally and even physically at times, at the Worldwide Partner Conference where he mocked open source technology, Linux in particular, while touting opportunities on the company’s own platforms. During a keynote address here Tuesday, Ballmer also identified Novell customers as prime targets for Microsoft’s partners […]

If software security play FaceTime Communications has any say about it, enterprise grade instant messaging security packages are no longer just the province of large enterprises. On Tuesday, the company unveiled its RTShield product, an IM and P2P-based security package geared for the small to medium business segment. RTShield is a small form factor network […]

Research firm Netcraft is out with its latest Linux statistics, which said Red Hat is the dominant Linux distribution in the hosting industry. The results come from Netcraft’s hosting provider switching analysis. Netcraft said it showed that Red Hat holds 49.8 percent market share, which is actually down by 1 percent from its January survey. […]

The market for Free and Open Source (FOSS) Linux related IT services in Western Europe will hit $228 million by 2008, according to new research by IDC. But according to the same estimates, the market for FOSS/Linux IT Services in 2004 is still quite small and will be worth only approximately $98 million that year. […]

Who’s the top dog in the SSL certificate market? According to a GeoTrust statement, it is. VeriSign would have you believe otherwise, though. Regardless, bragging rights are at stake in a market that forms the basis of modern Internet security and may be on the verge of explosive growth. GeoTrust made the claim that it […]

In a lively online discussion Thursday, Microsoft engineers faced off with end users who lobbed irate questions, comments and a few tirades about its Internet Explorer browser. More than any topic, security reigned as the most pervasive theme during the online discussion, including when end users could see the next patch for vulnerabilities in IE. […]