Cody Taylor

Smidge207 writes “Lately there has been a huge push by Certified Microsoft Professionals and their companies to call (potential) clients and warn them of the dangers of open source. This week I received calls from four different customers saying that they were warned that they are dangerously insecure because they run open source operating systems or software, because ‘anyone can read the code and hack you with ease.’ Other colleagues in the area also have noticed that three local Microsoft Partners have been trying to strike fear in the minds of companies that respond, ‘Yes, we use open source or Linux’ when the sales call comes in. I know this is simply a sales tactic by these companies, but how do I fix the damage these tactics cause? I have several customers who now want more than my word about the security of systems that have worked for them flawlessly for 5-6 years, with minimal expense outside of upgrades and patching for security. Does anyone have a good plan or sources of reliable information that can be used to inform the customer?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Periodically, we here at OStatic like to round up our ongoing collections of open source resources, tutorials, reviews and project walkthroughs. These educational tools are a central part of the goal here at the site. We regularly round up the best Firefox extensions, free online books on open source topics, free tools for web developers, resources

soDean writes “Miro just launched their 2.0 release today. The free and open source HD video player and Internet TV features an all-new interface and an entirely rewritten UI engine, plus tons of new features and improvements — it’s less of a collection of new stuff and more of a rethinking of the whole experience. You can download Miro 2.0 here for Linux, Mac, and Windows. Miro is developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, hell-bent on making Internet video more open and decentralized, along with a dedicated community of users, volunteers, translators, testers, and coders.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Glyn Moody writes “Last month, a story about Russia producing its own national operating system based on GNU/Linux started circulating. Now there’s some confirmation, and details of how the plan might be put into practice. Red Hat had a meeting with the Russian communications ministry, which announced that the development of free software in Russia was one of its priorities. One concrete idea they talked about was using the Russian Fedora project as a step towards creating a national operating system.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes “When is an Intel PC not an Intel PC? When it moves applications such as Internet browsing and email on to an ARM processor because it can get longer battery life. And according to a story at EE Times, this hybrid Intel-ARM processor approach is being taken by PC makers as prominent as Dell. The problem for Intel: Why would you switch out of ‘all-day’ mode and use the Intel processor? The problem for ARM: lacking support from Microsoft for Windows; the applications it runs for the PC have to do so under Linux.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Insight into Microsoft’s fight against Intel’s GNU/Linux on the desktop

Your next cheap phone might be a Linux phone – but you might never know it. The LiMo Foundation announced Monday that Verizon Wireless and other global carriers will be rolling out Linux-based phones in 2009, possibly including low-cost devices capable of running advanced Web apps.

Linux is different, you see. Open source, as Microsoft is starting to recognize, is just another part of its ecosystem, one that it must support if it wants Windows to continue to be a first-class computing citizen.

Are you interested in taking the job of Director of Open Source Desktop Strategy at Microsoft? If so, here’s the LinkedIn job description. Matt Aslett at The 451 Group notes that Microsoft is looking for “a strong team member to lead Microsoft’s global desktop competitive strategy as it relates to open source competitors.”

It’s always great to have Linux Alternatives to popular applications so here are some of the most useful System tools application for Linux including CD burners, Aniti Virus, FTP solutions and instant messengers that can be downloaded today.