SpikeSource, SourceLabs Launch Supported Open Source Stacks
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

What Linux has done for operating systems, a stack of open source programs can do for middleware--provided someone has pre-integrated, pretested, and packaged that software together and is prepared to provide technical support for that software as the commercial Linux distributors started doing in the mid-1990s. Yes, that was a decade ago, and yes, it should not have taken us this long to get here. But get here we did, now that SpikeSource and SourceLabs have launched their respective services. READ MORE >

Fujitsu Chases $2 Billion with PrimeQuest Itanium Boxes
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

As expected, Japanese server maker Fujitsu last week rolled out its "Mission Critical IA Server," an Itanium-based server line that will sit beside the Primergy X86 servers and PrimePower Sparc servers that the Fujitsu-Siemens partnership peddles around the world. The new Itanium machines are called PrimeQuest, and Fujitsu thinks it can generate $2 billion in sales over the next few years from these Windows and Linux boxes, mainly because some companies don't want big Unix iron and they have outgrown 32-bit X86 iron. READ MORE >

Windows Trumps Linux in Key Areas, Yankee Group Finds
by Alex Woodie

You can add another report to your file on the ongoing war for SMB operating system supremacy between Windows and Linux. Earlier this week, the IT analyst firm Yankee Group unveiled a new report that says customers find Windows equal to or better than Linux in terms of quality, performance, and reliability. Despite any perceived shortcomings in Linux, Yankee found that 50 percent of the companies it surveyed are planning to deploy Linux. READ MORE >

Shaking IT Up: Meet That Date!
by Kevin Vandever

How many times have you been given an IT-related task and been told, "This has to be done by so-and-so date?" (Fill in "so-and-so" with your own unrealistic date). Wait! Don't answer that question. The easier question is: How many times have you been given an IT-related task that did not already have a date attached to it? READ MORE >

   But Wait, There's More

Mandrakesoft Chooses New Post-Merger Name: Mandriva . . . Analyst Firm Says Mid-Sized Firms Not Interested in Linux . . . SteelEye Adds Power, Red Hat 4 Support to LifeKeeper . . . Volvo Buys Linux-Opteron Cluster, Ousting SGI Unix Box . . . Red Hat Touts Big Linux Wins at Insurer, Bank . . . IBM, Sun Tweak Financing Deals for Server Buyers . . . IBM Takes High Road, Starts Expensing Stock Options . . . READ MORE >

Reader Feedback and Insights

We value your feedback and insights. Feel free to send a letter to the editor. Letters may be printed, unless otherwise specified, and edited for clarity or length. READ MORE >