Topics by khess

It's hard for me to admit it but there are things, ten things to be exact, that I really hate about Linux. Sometimes I think it's just me but I do see other people stating a few of these in the forums so I'm at least not alone with some …

I used to refer to [URL="http://www.microsoft.com"]Windows[/URL] as "The Infinitely Rebooting OS" and it has improved some over earlier versions but today was a different story and reminded me of those thrilling days of yesteryear. My question is why, Windows, why? Why must I reboot when I install a desktop application? …

I'm a fairly prominent member of the Linux Community as a writer, contributor, and longtime evangelist for the cause and there are a few things I'd like the Community-at-Large to consider on my behalf. These are five things that I wish Linux had. Consider this as my wish list for …

Yesterday, September 10, 2009, the announcement came that [URL="http://www.microsoft.com"]Microsoft[/URL] launched and is funding a new open source organization named [URL="http://www.codeplex.org"]CodePlex Foundation[/URL]. The [URL="http://www.codeplex.org/board-of-directors.aspx"]major players[/URL] in the new organization are from Microsoft, [URL="http://www.novell.com"]Novell[/URL] and [URL="http://www.dotnetnuke.com"]DotNetNuke[/URL]. Does this mean that a brave new Microsoft is beating its proprietary, closed-source swords into open …

System Administrators (SAs) have a tough job: Dealing with users and user accounts, security, patching, updates, upgrades, disk space, performance and other miscellaneous tasks often known as "other duties as assigned." For some SAs, the day never ends. Despite the challenges, pitfalls and occasional irate user; system administration is a …

This week I'll be at InterOp Las Vegas looking for the latest and coolest Linux-based technologies that InterOp exhibitors have to offer. My favorites are certainly the "new innovators." New innovators are small companies who've developed their own products and are trying to get noticed in the high-tech space. These …

The world's largest technical support, software and hardware companies use Linux on a daily basis for a variety of tasks and solutions. This post gives you an overview of all the ways in which large companies use Linux. Most don't use Linux on the desktop but do use it in …

I've had several people ask me what I think the best, top, most user friendly, ultimate, and so on distribution is--so now I'm publishing my Top 10 Linux Distributions in reverse order of preference. Ease of installation, commercial support, community support, updates, administrative tools, stability, performance, and to a lesser …

A new version (9.0) of [URL="http://www.postgresql.org"]PostgreSQL[/URL] is in beta and ready for public testing. If version 9.0 lives up to its proposed [URL="http://www.postgresql.org/about/featurematrix"]feature list[/URL], then it is serious competition for MySQL. PostgreSQL proponents have long suggested that PostgreSQL has always enjoyed superiority over MySQL. I beg to differ but that …

[URL="http://www.intego.com"]Intego[/URL] [URL="http://www.intego.com/news/hellrts-backdoor-can-allow-malicious-remote-users-to-control-macs.asp"]announced[/URL] today that there is an actual virus threat to the invincible [URL="http://www.apple.com"]Mac[/URL]: HellRTS.D Backdoor. Yep, that's right, a Mac virus just waiting to take control of your iThis and iThat. It would have been funnier if the virus had a better name, but hey, virus writers aren't necessarily …

My "[URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story229382.html"]10 Best Linux Distributions of 2009[/URL]" list drew a bit of disdain from some of my readers, so I thought I'd make it up to them by posting a list of Linux distributions that [I]they[/I] like to use. Since I have no way of knowing which of these distributions …

Time to enter the Wayback ([URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WABAC_machine"]WABAC[/URL]) Machine to an experience I had with a new Linux user and compare it to today's more tech savvy audience. The year was 1997 and I had settled in for the evening with my [URL="http://www.guinness.com/"]favorite beverage[/URL] and a bit of channel flipping, when I …

[URL="http://www.mozilla.com"]FireFox[/URL] 3.5 is due out by the end of June and includes some pretty interesting new features--and not a moment too soon. Some of these new features include the ability to play videos in the browser without the need to download and install a third-party plugin. It also includes [URL="https://wiki.mozilla.org/JavaScript:TraceMonkey"]TraceMonkey[/URL], …

[URL="http://aws.amazon.com"]Amazon Web Services[/URL] (AWS) uses it. [URL="http://www.elastichosts.com"]Elastichosts[/URL] uses it. [URL="http://www.google.com"]Google[/URL] uses it. Yahoo uses it. [URL="http://www.engineyard.com"]Engine Yard[/URL] uses it. [URL="http://www.facebook.com"]Facebook[/URL] uses it. "It" is Linux, of course. But what else do all these companies have in common? If you said "cloud technology," you're correct. Perhaps the best known of all …

I saw a report that read, "Video game sales plunge in April." Software sales dropped by 22 percent and hardware sales dropped by 37 percent. What's the story, folks? Do you have all the gaming miscellanea that you can afford? Are you satisfied with your current array of video games? …

I just read an article called: [URL="http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/life-after-windows-what-happens-tech-if-microsoft-dies-551?source=footer"]Life after Windows: What happens to tech if Microsoft dies?[/URL]" The article made me think of what it really would be like without Microsoft. I didn't like it. We need Microsoft over there competing with us. No matter what happens to the economy, to …

Hey Windows fans, would you like to take Linux for a spin to see what everyone's buzzing about? It's easy to do in just five easy steps. You can test Linux for yourself without having to setup multibooting, worry about partitioning or installing over your current Windows system. That's right, …

Do you use [URL="http://google.com"]Google[/URL]'s Chrome Browser? Apparently, a lot of people do. So many, in fact, that it has now [URL="http://www.pcworld.com/article/199961/googles_chrome_passes_safari_in_us_browser_share.html"]passed[/URL] [URL="http://www.apple.com/safari/"]Safari[/URL] in the web browser popularity poll. Is this a big surprise to anyone? The article states that Chrome now has just under ten percent of the market share …

Any list of best or worst will have its opponents and proponents and I foresee that this list of worst Linux distributions will be no different. There were, at last count, almost 300 Linux distributions and they all can't be great. But, this list of Linux distributions are, in my …

I saw this article yesterday titled, "[URL="http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090220/tc_pcworld/studyfederalgovtcansavebillionsinitspending"]Study: Federal Gov't. Can Save Billions in IT Spending[/URL]," and feel compelled to comment. The gist of the article is that by switching to open source software, like Linux and OpenOffice.org, the federal government would save billions of dollars in IT costs. This is …

When I started exploring Linux back in 1994-1995, there were very few resources available and many of the problems I experienced didn't have solutions. That was a long time ago. The situation has changed for the better. These days, there are plentiful resources for those new to Linux or for …

Do you consider yourself to be fairly familiar with the [URL="http://www.debian.org"]Debian[/URL] Linux distribution? I thought I was familiar with it enough to know its origin and history, how its name was derived and that Richard Stallman, the Father of the [URL="http://www.fsf.org"]Free Software[/URL] movement, uses a Debian derivative ([URL="http://www.gnewsense.org/"]gNewSense[/URL]) for his …

That's right, create your own Linux virtual appliances with [URL="http://www.vmware.com/appliances/learn/vmware_studio.html"]VMware Studio[/URL]. Appliances are small, single purpose servers that provide a service to users. Some examples are Content Management Systems (CMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, web servers, mail servers, DNS servers, database servers, and so on. VMware Studio is actually …

Jim Whitehurst, [URL="http://www.redhat.com"]Red Hat, Inc.[/URL] CEO, believes that [URL="http://www.vmware.com"]VMware[/URL] is its biggest competition in the virtualization and cloud computing space. In a [URL="http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/199870/red_hat_ceo_vmware_our_biggest_competitor.html"]PCWorld article[/URL], Whitehurst stated Friday at the Red Hat Summit that "When you start thinking about who is defining cloud-based architectures, it's us and them [VMware]," he said. …

[URL="http://redhat.com"]Red Hat[/URL] Enterprise Linux now comes with built-in virtualization ([URL="http://linux-kvm.org"]KVM[/URL]) but is Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) about to go to the virtual mat with [URL="http://vmware.com"]VMware[/URL]? If you look at their [URL="http://www.redhat.com/v/swf/rhev/demo.html"]RHEL video[/URL], you'll come away with a resounding 'Yes' to that question. Red Hat purchased [URL="http://www.redhat.com/promo/qumranet/"]Qumranet[/URL] in 2008 to …

In a twist of Internet fate, [URL="http://www.facebook.com"]Facebook[/URL] creator and owner Mark Zuckerberg finds himself as defendant in a lawsuit over the Facebook's majority ownership. Paul Ceglia claims that he entered into a contract, signed by both himself and Zuckerberg, that sold 50 percent of facebook.com to Ceglia for $1,000. Ceglia …

In the latest episode of the [URL="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179007/SCO_appeals_ruling_in_Novell_case"]story that never ends[/URL], [URL="http://www.sco.com"]SCO[/URL] filed an appeal in the [URL="http://www.novell.com/prblogs/?p=2153"]closed[/URL] case against [URL="http://www.novell.com"]Novell[/URL]. Everyone in the Linux and Open Source Communities thought the case was finally brought to a close when the judge declared that Novell is the owner of UNIX copyrights. The …

According to the Associated Press article, "[URL="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100706/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_technology_consolidation;_ylt=Aue.2rGwfTjg.EXFBurPtDIjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwZ2I5cjU2BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNzA2L3VzX3RlY190ZWNobm9sb2d5X2NvbnNvbGlkYXRpb24EY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3RlY2hjdXN0b21lcg--"]Tech customers question industry's takeover spree[/URL]," large technical companies have absorbed smaller tech companies to the detriment of their customers although these tech "sponges" say they're doing it "for their customers." How can there be such a disparity between the reality of customer pain …

There's a lot of buzz on the Internet today about some "leaked" [URL="http://www.microsoft.com"]Microsoft[/URL] slides concerning Windows 8. But, like the [URL="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178753/_Don_t_get_excited_about_Windows_8_says_analyst"]Computerworld article[/URL] on the subject says, you shouldn't get excited about anything in those leaked slides. You're likely to end up disappointed. If any of you can remember back to …

There's big news in the software patent front from none other than The U.S. Supreme Court. In the case of [URL="http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=167db2c8-5a72-4f52-8c22-6ae54ff16062"]Bilski vs. Kappos[/URL], handed down yesterday, is a major blow to the anti-patent movement, specifically the [I]no software patent[/I] groups. [INDENT]Florian Mueller, founder of the anti-software patents movement (NoSoftwarePatents) in …