I had originally titled this piece "Why SCO Is Irrelevant." However, if the
SCO Group were truly irrelevant, why would I be writing about it? Why have so
many bits been wasted and why has so much ink been spilled over an
organization run by litigious drones with a penchant for mediocrity? The
answer seems obvious when you examine the elements involved in the circus
better known as SCO.
Who is SCO?
Lest we forget, Darl McBride, the CEO of SCO, was formerly employed at IKON
Office Solutions as Sr. Vice President for Technology Services. One of his
goals was to make IKON a major player in the technology services area. Where
are they today? Surely not a major player in the field. McBride's biggest
accomplishment with IKON seems to be the lawsuit that he brought against his
own employer over benefits. With such an impressive resume, it doesn't take a
huge leap of faith ... (more)
James Turner: 5 problems with the Open Source community
There’s no question that the Open Source community has a lot going for it.
Besides a staggering amount of developer power that can be turned against
important problems, the Open Source movement also has a passion and
commitment to its work that the commercial software world often envies. But
sometimes, the Open Source community can be its own worst enemy. Here are a
few reasons why.
1. Too many developers “scratch the same itch.”
We hear that Open Source developers come up with new ideas because they
“had an itch to scratch.... (more)
Over the last five years, the level of interest in Linux and open source
software has risen dramatically. Not coincidentally, the number of books on
Linux and open source have also risen. The number of titles available leaves
the would-be buyer in shelf-shock.
If you want to learn the intricacies of Linux administration, should you go
to a training class or get mentored, self-teach using the Google method and
experimentation, buy a book, or a combination of all of them? Training and
mentoring are valuable but only available at a high cost and for a limited
time. Students can ask... (more)
Folks out of Redmond have been talking more than normal about the advantages
of Microsoft's security and track record. Witness the statements from
Microsoft's Chief of Security in this article and Bill Gates himself speaking
about security in an interview with the BBC.
With these statements in mind, a reader might assume that Microsoft is
responding to vulnerabilities quickly in order to ensure that their customers
are protected. One might assume that Microsoft is performing adequate testing
and performing due diligence to ensure that old bugs don't pop up again in
new versions o... (more)
Like many geeks, I find myself as the default support person for my family's
computers.
How this came to be is a mystery since I rarely, if ever, run any of the same
programs as the rest of my family. Months ago I spent the better part of two
evenings removing adware, spyware, malware, worms, and viruses from my
parents' computer which was running Microsoft Windows XP Professional. During
the course of this first infection I removed McAfee firewalling and other
bits (which obviously didn't prevent the problem) and I purchased Norton
Antivirus and firewall for the computer.
Soon ... (more)
Steve Suehring is a technology architect and engineer with a solid background in many areas of computing encompassing both open and closed source systems, he has worked with a variety of companies from small to large, including new and old economy, to help them integrate systems and provide the best use of available technologies. He has also taken a hands-on approach with many projects and frequently leads teams of engineers and developers, and has written magazine articles as well as a book on the MySQL database server. He has also performed technical editing on a number of other titles.
Scott Sellers
David M. Adler
Anthony Franco
Daniel Morris
Wayne Walls
Niki Acosta
Jereme Hancock
Oren Michels
Marvin Wheeler
Douglas Kim
Ken Guiberson
