What would Google do with its own PC operating system? We might find out soon, since it already seems to have one.
, Google's open-source mobile operating system, is based on a Linux kernel. As a result, it isn't hard to imagine Android, given the right kind of driver support and application software, running a lot more than just smartphones.
But there's no need to imagine Android running on a netbook PC. It's already doing just that. And there Read the rest of this entry »

Microsoft is in the midst of a shakeup in its online businesses with the aim of turning them into moneymakers instead of money sinks. That's especially true for search.
The $64,000 question is how to do that.
Recent statements by CEO Steve Ballmer make it hard to tell whether the software titan still has any designs on Yahoo's search business. In the meantime, with a weakened Yahoo, what can Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) do to expand its own dismal Read the rest of this entry »

December 11th, 2008
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The worries about Microsoft’s fiscal second quarter and fiscal 2009 are starting to pile up. While Microsoft is viewed as one of those recession resistant companies–no company is recession proof–the headwinds to the software giant’s quarter are becoming clear.
On Thursday, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Holt lowered his second quarter and fiscal 2009 Read the rest of this entry »

Will Microsoft extend its planned Office Web to Firefox and Safari browser users? That appears to be the case -- and it also looks like both Mac and Linux users will have a standing invitation to join the party.
Late last month, Microsoft
that it would launch lightweight, Web-based versions of four key Office suite components. At about the same time, in a follow-up
with Computerworld, a Microsoft executive stated that its Office Web applications Read the rest of this entry »

While I am glad PS is exposing its readers to Linux I wish some misconceptions were not passed along. First, Linux programs are far easier and safer to install than Windows programs. Program installations are taken care of by a package manager. Open the package manager program, click on the program you want, and it is automatically installed over the web from a SECURE repository. I challenge anyone to install from scratch Windows and associated Read the rest of this entry »

November 6, 2008 8:50 AM PST
I use Ubuntu exclusively for work and play and I am very happy with it. I have no interest or intention to go back to the world of Windows.
November 6, 2008 9:33 AM PST
I guess you don't play games.
November 6, 2008 11:55 AM PST
rucknrun: You must have missed the last paragraph; he specifically addresses games.
November 6, 2008 12:21 PM PST
How many years now has it been 'The year of Linux'?? More than I Read the rest of this entry »

November 7, 2008 (Computerworld)
The first generation of solid-state drives (SSD) introduced in PCs last year failed to live up to the hype.
Though praised for using less power and generating less heat than conventional hard disk drives,
especially with low-end models found in netbooks, left a lot to be desired.
But another problem was that neither the hardware nor the software had caught up to SSDs.
"Operating systems need to treat SSDs Read the rest of this entry »

Plat'Home, the maker of small, tough, eco-friendly servers that
, ran a contest this summer about ideas. They called it the
and solicited ideas how to use Linux, how to abuse Linux, how to push the limits.
Part of it was marketing, sure, but it focused on Linux users' ideas. Send in your ideas, the best ones get a free
worth $600.
So what ideas won and how did the testing go?
, there was a "chicken sitter." Gordon Smith of Lakewood, Read the rest of this entry »

Duplantis is building a system to control his farm's
irrigation system, covering five acres, for watering lawns, providing
drinking water for horses and other animals, and keeping a pond full. He
had written his own version of irrigation control software. To fully
test it will require running it through four seasons, so it is still "in
testing," but popping open the hood,
installing an 8GB CF card, and Read the rest of this entry »

explains how Microsoft's future business model will borrow from both Apple and Google to compete with the free world of software. The essay was
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How do you compete with free? That's the question Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, is trying to answer every morning when he goes to work.
On the server software side, Windows Server is doing well, especially with the Exchange e-mail server and the unheralded but very good collaboration server, SharePoint. Read the rest of this entry »