Remaining Vehemently OpenVMS

When people hear mention of the OpenVMS operating system and Alpha-based servers, they typically think ''old'' and ''legacy''. And then they think about buying something much more modern. It might appear very strange for a company to buy a brand new OpenVMS operating system. Yet that's exactly what the IT department did at the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia.

FreeBSD-based, Triance OS 1.0 beta

Looks like there is a new commercial OS on the block and its name is Triance. Triance OS is based on FreeBSD with KDE as the default DE. Beta testers wanted, for a completely gui'ed-up version of FreeBSD. Mandatory screen shots can be found here.

Two Years Before the Prompt: A Linux Odyssey

Derek Croxton has written an editorial on how he sees the Linux and Open Source communities, and his personal experiences with Linux. Excerpt: "A novice’s greatest fear is sitting in front of a motionless command prompt with no idea what to type; or, as so frequently happens, knowing a command that he copied verbatim from a document discovered on the internet somewhere, but with no idea of what it means or how to alter it if it doesn’t behave exactly as advertised."

Apple Remote Desktop 2: An Inside Look

The release of Apple Remote Desktop 2 in June was yet another sign that Apple is building an increasingly enterprise-centric portfolio. Tools that help reduce technical support and system downtime and also automate software updates are critical. "My contention is that even as a small company, it is best to buy an integrated solution that addresses 80 to 90 percent of need," said Forrester analyst David Friedlander. "It will significantly reduce management and support costs."

Review: Sun Microsystems Inc.’s Trusted Solaris

Sun's Trusted Solaris 8 builds on the vendor's Solaris foundation with stronger access controls and support for multilevel data separation that extends from the core to the desktop environment. Trusted Solaris demands greater administration expertise than do mainstream OSes, but it can make potentially vulnerable pieces of a company's infrastructure significantly more secure. Read the review here.

UserLinux releases first beta CD

UserLinux has released its first beta CD and is widening the scope of testing. The project, led by long-time open source advocate Bruce Perens gives enterprise customers a certified version of Linux without the support price tag and restrictive licensing policies offered with commercial distributions from vendors like Red Hat and SuSE.