Software has been released that essentially allows users to take advantage of GMAIL’s 2+GB of storage space for peer to peer (p2p) file sharing. There are disadvantage’s such as turning over your gmail login info to the group behind the web-based service (!!!!)
Month: November 2005
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The eternal beta…
Slashdot has a story from the Wall Street Journal online about why beta’s last so long. Google News’ beta, Microsoft’s Antispyware beta are both mentioned. This has become a new way of marketing software it seems, beta has gone from being considered pre-release/buggy software to… oooo new shiny software. However, with the beta is the disclaimer of liabilities of polished release software. If something goes wrong, “oh it’s just in beta anyway…”
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Making backups simpler
Linux.com is running an article on easy automated backups with a new program called sbackup. Sbackup is a product of Google’s summer of code and is a GUI to pick and choose what to backup and when to routinely back it up. Apparently the project was also sponsored by Ubuntu. (I’d expect integration into their distro’s admin tools if not already then.)
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Xubuntu for older systems
I can’t recall trying Ubuntu (maybe a livecd), but I’ve heard quite a bit about various variations on it lately. I’ve seen articles on business desktop use, certification by IBM (?) for running one of their applications and other various positive articles. I’m going to have to give it a try soon. Anyway, with all that this article caught my attention.
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OpenDocument format (ODF) versus Microsoft’s opening of MS XML
There are a couple articles out today (last few days) on the growing conflict between the ODF (Open Document Format) Microsoft’s XML. For starters, the ODF came about as a response/alternative to closed formats such as Microsoft’s. The concept is that it is in the public interest for information to be stored in formats that are open and accessible to anyone. Last week Microsoft fired a volley with a modification to the license for their MS Open XML. They hope the file format will become an international standard. The format is to be used for the next version of Microsoft Office.
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Dutch record store chain switching to Novell linux with KDE
The dot has an article on a Dutch record chain switching some 1000 desktops over to Novell Linux with the KDE desktop. The Kiosk mode in KDE has been helpful in locking down certain settings and creating a nice controlled environment. It sounds like Point of Sale is the biggest use, although the store manager makes use of one as a workstation to access information from the cash registers.
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Server sales numbers linux/windows
On the back of new server sales numbers, cooltechzone has been declaring the demise of linux. I remember looking at the stats and numbers when they came out and didn’t see anything terribly surprising. (Windows server sales outpace Unix server sales), Unix server sales are not equal to linux server sales and have been declining for years, Windows AND linux server sales have been growing. Newsforge has an article on the numbers and get’s into the details.
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iPod nano sales “staggering”
Reuters has a story about how big the sales of the Apple iPod Nano
such as the Apple 2 GB iPod Nano White
, Apple 2 GB iPod Nano White
are exceeding expectations this holiday season. Amazon reported that the Apple 2 GB iPod Nano Black
was the 6th biggest selling item in Electronic gadgets, while the White version above of the 2GB was 10th. There is, of course, also the Apple 4 GB iPod Nano White
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Old hardware has new legs with linux
This isn’t actually news in the “new” sense, but to many people this is newsworthy. From slashdot… aselabs is running a bit on DSL linux on an older laptop (Pentium 266MMX with 64 MB RAM). Most people would agree that is old/slow hardware by current standards and this is something that can be useful still with linux as the base operating system (fluxbox as the Window manager – I think that’s what dsl uses?)
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Worldnic DNS server outage teaches lesson…
Incidents.org has a post on a DNS server outage for Worldnic. Which effects a number of Network Solutions customers. Apparently they’re aware of the problem and are working on a fix. It doesn’t affect EVERY Network Solutions customer, there are some specifics…
To clarify the impact to the casual reader:
Not all customers of Network Solutions are affected.
No root or TLD servers are known to reside on these machines.
It’s “just” individual domains that are affected, but it might be a lot of them.
Only domains that have all their namervers on these machines will have significant impact.
