Mandrakesoft Rejiggers Its Linux Roadmap, Naming Conventions
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

One of the great things about the open source Linux operating system is the speed with which the many thousands of members of the open source community develop features for Linux and the other system and application programs that run on top of Linux. Open source software is seething with change, and it evolves right before your very eyes. While nerds love this constant change, this is exactly what commercial and consumer Linux customers do not want. They want stability. READ MORE >

Linspire Launches Five-0 Desktop Linux
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Get out the kettle drums, the brass horn section, the surf boards, the grass hula skirts, and buy that plane ticket to Hawaii because commercial desktop Linux distributor Linspire has launched Linspire Five-0, it's latest implementation of desktop Linux. Linspire says it has made over 1,200 tweaks to the commercial package to bring it to the Five-0 level and to continue to demonstrate that Linux does indeed have a place on real people's desktops. READ MORE >

Bernstein Analyst Calls for Sun-Dell Partnership
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

One of the fun things about the computer business is thinking about the possibilities, and that is exactly what Toni Sacconaghi, the main IT analyst at Sanford Bernstein, has done in a recent research report. To amuse himself and Sanford's investment customers--and to get a little PR like this piece in this newsletter--Sacconaghi is proposing that we ponder "the unthinkable." That would be a partnership between Sun Microsystems and Dell. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: HP Sauce
by Hesh Wiener

Carly's gone. Now it's time for Charlie. For if ever there was a person who could suffer a bad marriage, such as that of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq, lived out in the spotlight of merciless, spiteful, and uninformed public opinion, yet still carry on with life and business, it is Britain's Prince Charles. Critics of the Prince might well say he's not as smart as Carly, but we ask you this: Which one's long since out of the bad marriage? And this: Which one's still got the job? READ MORE >

   But Wait, There's More

ShaoLin Updates Linux High Availability Software . . . IBM Brings SUSE Linux Into Innovation Centers for Partners . . . Red Hat Hires New Marketing Chief . . . HP to Attack SMB Market with New Blade Packaging . . . Merrill Lynch Says Server Market Could Slow in 2005 and 2006 . . . IBM Buys Other Half of Informix with Ascential Acquisition . . . Fiorina Misses Out on World Bank Gig . . . READ MORE >

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