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On Windows Vista, DRM, and New Monitors

"One of the more touchy subjects crowding my inbox lately relates to how Windows Vista will fail to render High Definition video in 'pure' High Definition on most existing monitors. There's quite a bit of hemming and hawing over the probability that Windows Vista users will have to buy new monitors to see HD content. Let's get a few facts out on the table before we oil our rags and tie them to our spears, because there's a considerable amount of misinformation out there."

Resuscitating Microsoft Exchange 5.5 with Linux

Microsoft dropped support for Exchange 5.5 on December 31st, 2004. Exchange 5.5 users can upgrade to Exchange Server 2003, continue to run 5.5 with all accompanied security risks, or switch over to another mail/groupware system.In this article I propose a fourth option that is really options two (run Exchange) and three (run another mail system) combined.

Linux On The Desktop?

The true reason for this article is to point out some sensitive points and to start a discussion. Hopefully, this discussion will produce some useful outcome and if some people in the Linux community are willing to listen to them, I would already be very enthusiastic. Let's start, shall we?

Linux, Market Share and the Desktop

Many people take as a given that the desktop computer market is ossified and completely dominated by Microsoft. But, taking the global view, the PC market is anything but saturated. Some huge, untapped markets will ultimately decide how the market share pie will ultimately be divided. There will be room for Microsoft, Apple, and Linux, but how will it shake out?

IT Jobs and the Current Economy

It's the old catch-22 of the job market: It's hard to get a good job without experience, but it's hard to get respectable experience without a good job. But if you're looking to enter the job market, why not take advantage of the huge opportunity that Open Source Software provides? You can make a meaningful contribution to a high-profile project, based merely on your skills and initiative.

The end of free innovation

When Pythagoras invented a new way to make calculations with triangles, there was not yet an European Patent Organization. Bad luck, because everybody knows that patents stimulate innovation. Pythagoras invested much time in contemplation. Now, anyone could use this new mathemathical method for free. How could others be stimulated to make the same investment for no financial benefit?

Command-line interactive programs in UNIX shell-scripts

Like it or not, but sooner or later you realize that you'll have to write shell-scripts to administer UNIX. And among these scripts there certainly will be those to cooperate with interactive applications such as telnet, ftp, su, password, ssh. But it means the end of the admin's quiet life because while dealing with interactive programs one often come across numerous hidden traps which doesn't usually happen with ordinary sh-scripts. Though fortunately or may be not, but most of these problems generally turn up within first five minutes of the work under the script. The symptoms typically look like that author can't pass the authentication from the script. At first you feel confused because usual pipe constructions such as:

A Solution for Enterprise Faxing: Biscom FAXCOM Server

Tired of getting up from your desk to fax a document? Have you ever wondered why your company’s call center maintains wall-sized desks of fax machines? Employees at many large organizations are asking the same questions. Fortunately, so is Biscom, Inc. While there are a few companies providing enterprise fax solutions, Biscom, in this author’s opinion, stands out as the market leader.

Interview: Joseph Cheek on the acquisition of Lycoris

With news of the recent Lycoris acquisition by Mandriva, it would seem that the Linux desktop landscape is in for yet another change. Lycoris, considered to be one of the most innovative and easy to use desktops at one time, has recently lost market share due to a botched release and their inability to keep up with the fast changes in Linux technology. If there ever were an acquisition/merger that made good sense to Linux Desktop users, this is it. We were able to catch up with Joseph Cheek, CEO of Lycoris and ask him some questions about Lycoris and the acquisition. Read More at GUILinux!

NetBSD Project Requests Donations For New Hardware

Thor Lancelot Simon wrote to the NetBSD-Advocacy Mailing List: "There are many upgrades we'd like to make to the NetBSD project infrastructure, but which we cannot make because, to be blunt, our project is poor. Not poor in innovation nor poor in developer resources nor poor in features -- poor in cold, hard cash, the kind we need in order to buy hardware that would let us better serve our users."

Apple’s Glass House

Was it Palol Rossetti that one said, "People in glass house shouldn't throw stones?” Push away the Intel this, the Pentium-M that, or perhaps the ability to use the Dual Core Pentium 4, Apple has a much bigger challenge ahead of them. For years, they have been throwing down the MHz myth and now? They are sleeping with the "enemy" according to PowerPC zealots.