David Overton's Blog

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• This consumer operating systems stuff is harder than 1st thought – Red Hat and Novell no longer targeting consumers with desktop Linux

  I saw this and it made me smile – looks like building a desktop OS for consumers is harder than people thought :-) And I thought consumers were more willing to put in time to fiddle too, so that makes the enterprise play even less likely for me!! Red Hat skips consumer Linux desktop Red Hat has no plans to create a traditional desktop product for the consumer market, but will continue to place its bets on a desktop for commercial markets. "We are focused on infrastructure software for the enterprise market... Posted Apr 18 2008, 08:58 AM by David Overton with | with no comments Filed under: Windows Vista and XP, Microsoft, Windows Client, Windows XP, Vista, Windows Vista, Linux, Competition

• Dissent in the Open Source world between GPL 2 & GPL 3 - Linus Torvalds will be sticking with GPL 2

  I personally don't mind which license type someone chooses to deliver their product with, but I think it should never be used as a shotgun against the developers, contributors or organisations that have been using / developing the software to force them into agreements that were unrecognised prior to that use. GPL 3 was hijacked (in my very personal opinion) by a small group to change the meaning of "free" and change the ethos of the GPL. Today I read that I am not the only person who feels that... Posted Jan 09 2008, 12:52 AM by David Overton with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Licensing, Linux, Open Source

• Microsoft switching SharePoint to claims-based authentication - The Password is changing

  You've heard it before, well this seems to suggest that the password or AD based auth is just too wrong! So SharePoint is going as open as possible!! Microsoft switching SharePoint to claims-based authentication By John Fontana , Network World, 10/16/07 Microsoft is replacing the authentication system for SharePoint Server and plans to make the collaboration platform one of the first of the company’s marquee applications to rely on a new claims-based identity model . The goal is to have SharePoint incorporate... Posted Oct 25 2007, 01:59 AM by David Overton with | with no comments Filed under: Office System, Security, Microsoft, SharePoint, Linux

• Microsoft gets official open-source blessing from OSI for two of its licenses

  Many times Microsoft has been barracked for its "anti-open source" stance, which quite frankly has never existed. However, since we have always made software available under various licenses, it was decided that it was time to get these officially recognise by the people behind the dreaded GPL (that is my humour btw). Not everyone is happy about it as can be read at http://robertogaloppini.net/2007/10/18/open-source-at-microsoft-microsofts-licenses-get-approved-by-osi/ . Microsoft's desire to protect... Posted Oct 23 2007, 01:34 AM by David Overton with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Community, Microsoft, Licensing, Linux, Open Source

• Windows is now getting too difficult to hack, so the hackers sights are moving elsewhere, but that does not mean security is now easier.

  I have heard many times how Windows is the big target for virus and phishing nasty people in general, but more and more people are showing that Windows is just too hard to hack when applications and other platforms offer so much more opportunity. From the article at eBay: Phishers getting better organized, attacking Linux Dave Cullinane, eBay's chief information and security officer said that in his previous job protecting a bank from phishers "The vast majority of the threats we saw were rootkitted... Posted Oct 17 2007, 11:33 PM by David Overton with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Windows Vista and XP, Security, Windows Client, Vista, Windows Vista, Malware, System Update, Linux

• Things they said would never happen - Sun becoming a Windows OEM and Microsoft and Novell open Windows and Linux interop Labs

  I saw this and thought I would publish this to show that businesses will always put differences behind them if they think there is a buck to be made: Sun to Install Windows Server on Its Hardware Sun Microsystems will start selling its lineup of 64-bit, x86-based servers preinstalled with the Windows Server operating system within 90 days. and Microsoft/Novell Open Windows/Linux Interop Lab The initial focus will be around three projects involving virtualization, management, and identity federation. This just... Posted Sep 14 2007, 03:50 PM by David Overton with | with no comments Filed under: Windows Server 2003, Microsoft, Linux, Competition

• Security is a journey, never a destination

  I was watching the Bourne Identity the other night and Marie asked "how did they find us", to which Bourne replied "we let our guard down, we got lazy". This is so very true for computer security - you can't stop updating your systems, updating your anti-malware tools, updating the firmware in your firewall and more. To highlight this I saw the article below. There was an operating system that claimed it did not suffer from the issues of needing constant TLC. Then 5 of the 8 community... Posted Aug 27 2007, 12:02 AM by David Overton with | with no comments Filed under: Security, Malware, Linux

• Will Virtualisation really crush the server market and Virtualised Windows on Linux... not likely

  From the register I saw the article " Virtualization Software to Crush Server Market " and it sort of made me laugh. Last year saw a dramatic drop in growth of Server shipments, both Microsoft and non-Microsoft. One explanation given is that virtualisation has increased so much that less servers are being bought, but the growth was still strong, just not in actual servers. I have seen the growth of virtual servers, but don't think it really accounts for the hundreds of thousands of servers that... Posted Aug 14 2007, 09:18 AM by David Overton with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Windows Vista and XP, Windows Longhorn, Virtualisation, Windows Server 2003, Windows Client, Windows XP, Vista, Windows Vista, Virtual PC, Virtual Server, Windows Server 2008, Linux

• The Linux is beginning to admit that Microsoft might have some good ideas, but shows that it is still important for you to code the kernel and there still is not a way to know an application will run on it!

  You know me, I like talking about Linux and when I saw these three articles I thought I had to share them. They all came out last week. The 1st article discusses the need for a bit more respect between the Windows an Linux camp. Microsoft has tried to put fact behind the arguments against Linux adoption and while some people think the surveys were doctored (they were not), they did start the discussion as to why each OS was better. I have said before that this should not be a religious discussion, but an evaluation... Posted Aug 13 2007, 07:49 AM by David Overton with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Developer, Community, Microsoft, Linux