IBM picks open-source in Oracle database fight

Compatibility is a company called EnterpriseDB

By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Enterprise, 22nd April 2009 17:02 GMT

IBM is licensing technology from an open-source database company it's invested in, hoping to convince Oracle customers they should switch to its next DB2.

The giant has licensed capabilities in five-year-old EnterpriseDB's Postgres Plus Advanced Server, which EnterpriseDB claims will cut by 90 per cent the cost of moving off Oracle. The technology is expected to appear in the next version of DB2, version 9.7, to be announced today.

EnterpriseDB's Postgres Plus Advanced Server provides compatibility with Oracle's PL/SQL on Postgres, simplifying the migrations of application and customer data off of Oracle and on to the open-source database.

IBM's licensing reveals a subtle shift in tactics by the company. It is moving from competing outright for Postgres and MySQL customers, to working with EnterpriseDB to harness Postgres in a way that can help erode the market share of leader - Oracle.

Until now, IBM has used cut-down or free versions of DB2 - DB2 Express and Express-C on Windows and Linux - to woo potential Postgres customers and users of Sun Microsystems' MySQL.

The news, or course, comes as Oracle is set to ramp up the database competition on all fronts with its planned purchase of MySQL through the Sun deal.

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Windows 7 Starter Won't Open Any Doors for Android or Linux

by Lance Ulanoff

Buzz up!on Yahoo!

Tell me if you've heard this before: Microsoft's decision to limit Windows 7 Starter to running three concurrent programs at a time opens up a huge opportunity for Android. It's the premise of a wrong-headed column by Seth H. Weintraub on Computerworld. It sounds reasonable, but for me there was an eerie echo. I seem to recall that Microsoft Vista travails would also open up an opportunity for Linux.

Let's get real, folks. There is no opportunity for Linux or Android, for that matter, on the desktop. This is not case of my dislike of either platform, mind you. In order to understand what upstart platforms can and can't do against the world's most-widely-used OS, we need only look at history (even recent history will do).

First, though, let's return to the Computerworld article. In it, Weintraub points to a now oft-cited The Wall Street Journal report about how Microsoft is making just $15 per license on netbooks running Windows XP. That's not much, and Weintraub states that Microsoft is doing this to "stave off broad adoption of Linux." Ha!

Let's look at what really happened when a good portion of early netbooks shipped with Linux: They were returned! Consumers did so because netbooks targeted the least tech-savvy, most cost-conscious rung of the market. Not exactly a good fit for Linux, which, while a great OS, can get a bit confusing at times (i.e. adding apps, updating drivers, finding things in the varied distro interfaces, etc). Microsoft was pushed into offering Windows XP on netbooks because manufacturers were desperate. If they didn't replace Linux, the market would have suffered an untimely death. Against its own best interest, Microsoft has allowed netbooks to extend the life of Windows XP.

Now let's look at Linux offspring Android's opportunity to take it to Microsoft and Windows.

As you know, I've been running Windows 7 Ultimate for months. It's a good OS and could make people forget about Microsoft's Vista blunders. Windows 7 Starter is the low-end edition in the Windows 7 line. Interestingly, under Vista, "Starter" was only available in third-world countries and the abysmal "Basic" was the low-end, entry-level OS in the Vista line.

Windows 7 Starter doesn't sound much better than Basic. Running just three apps at once could be a buzz kill for almost any user. (What happens when Internet Explorer or FireFox opens multiple tabs? They're seen as separate processes in Windows. Does this mean Starter will see those tabs as separate apps? I hope not.)

Weintraub and others insist that this latest Microsoft blunder opens the door wide for Google Android. I know that Android-based computers could show up in market before the end of this year. As a result, I've been walking around with a T-Mobile G1 for the last few weeks, trying to assess its desktop chops. So far I'm not convinced. It's nice looking and relatively fast (though the phone takes a solid minute plus to launch the OS). Still, the OS feels a bit lightweight to power a PC. Acer admitted to having an Android desktop prototype, but the company isn't jumping to roll it out into its retail channel.

Even if Android is desktop ready right now, I still don't think it can win or even grab measurable PC market share, and the reasons are very simple. Microsoft released Windows Vista in late 2006, and it was a disaster from the get-go. Don't get me wrong. The operating system, especially SP2, is decent, solid, and usable. It's also an excellent case study for what can happen when you over-promise and under-deliver.

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Shuttleworth: Oracle now largest open source player

by Paula Rooney

Oracle’s planned acquisition of Sun not only makes it a hardware giant but also a huge open source player, Ubuntu’s founder said.

On Monday, Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical and Ubuntu Linux, said the deal makes Oracle one of the largest if not the largest open source software player.

And he doesn’t seem too worried that the proprietary software company will kill Sun’s open source Java, OpenSolaris and MySQL jewels, in spite of Oracle’s hold on the database market.

“I’m sure Oracle has carefully thought through everything it committed [itself] to [and] there will be no reversal of the idea that Java should be widely available and available as open source,” Shuttleworth said during a press conference today to launch ubuntu 9.04 upgrade.

“It’s a one-way trip,” Canonical chief said about the process of making software open source. “What is interesting [about the Oracle-Sun deal] is that it really cements the idea that free and open source software is the profound driving force in software today. ”

He noted that 80 percent of all software revenues go to just five companies — and one of them just bought Sun, the “world’s biggest free and open source software company” for a whopping $6 billion. “Part of the reason is that open source is dominating the innovation pipeline,” Shuttleworth said. “It cements the idea that open source and free software is the big game. What [SAP, Microsoft and other large proprietary software companies] can’t do is ignore it.”

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RP retailer goes for Linux-based system

SOURCE

MANILA, Philippines – Local retailer Puregold is deploying a Linux-based point-of-sale or POS system, as it looks to cutting down costs on security while expanding its network of stores.

Puregold has ordered more than 2,000 licenses of TPLinux software, according to Paderborn, Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf, which sells niche solutions for banks and retail firms.

These licenses will cover Puregold’s network of 36 hypermarket stores in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, the German firm said.

Puregold is the first Philippine-based firm to use the German firm’s open source-based software, according to the German company.

The company is looking to cut overall licensing costs in terms of security while standardizing on an open-source platform, covering both current and future store openings.

TPLinux has the capability to run on other vendors’ hardware as well as Wincor Nixdorf’s own systems.

“We wanted to cut the cost of buying anti-virus licenses and save on the cost of the license of (Microsoft) Windows per POS,” said Ruel Magat, Puregold’s IT Manager.

Magat said the company was looking for a POS system that can handle anywhere between 3,000 to 5,000 customers that visit any given Puregold store on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Christian Charlton, Wincor Nixdorf’s Asia Pacific head of retail solutions, said Puregold also intends to use the open source-based software to boost its customer-related initiatives such as promos and discounts.

Apparently, using Linux is a crime at Boston College

SOURCE

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reported over the last couple of days that a Boston College computer science student has been targeted by BC police largely on the basis of using Linux. No, really - I’m serious.

School officials allege that this student sent an email to a school list outing another student as gay. Assuming he actually did this, it’s clear that this wasn’t particularly nice, professional, or tolerant; I’ll leave it to the lawyers to judge whether it was illegal. Regardless, the real problem here is not whether the student was professional or respectful of his peers, but that Boston College police seized several items, citing his use of Linux as probable cause supporting their actions.

According to the EFF,

In his application, the investigating officer asked that he be permitted to seize the student’s computers and other personal effects because they might yield evidence of the crimes of “Obtaining computer services by Fraud or Misrepresentation” and “Unauthorized access to a computer system.”

Access to the school’s computer system would hardly have been unauthorized since the computer science major is employed by the BC IT department and even their warrant application notes that he is considered a “master of his trade among his peers.” The warrant application, though, takes on comic proportions as the investigating officer describes the young man’s computer system:

Mr. Calixte [the student in question] uses two different operating systems to hide his illegal activities. One is the regular BC operating system and the other is a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on.

I’m not saying that Mr. Calixte didn’t do anything wrong. It’s even possible that the BC police know something we don’t. However, their seizure of, among other items, his Ubuntu CD, seems to suggest that not using “BC’s operating system”

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7 Things You Need to Know About Conficker

SOURCE

On Wednesday, April 1, the latest variant of the Conficker (also known as Downadup and Kido) work will download new instructions. The sophistication of this worm and its botnet have many concerned, although the amount of legitimate concern is a matter of debate.

If you're concerned, then here are the 7 most important things to know about Conficker:

1. The overwhelming majority of systems infected with Conficker were infected through a vulnerability in the Windows RPC facilities. This vulnerability was patched in October. If you installed that patch before Conficker came out (late December '08) then you were protected and still are. If you haven't installed the update then it's essential that you do so. Windows Vista is technically vulnerable in this way, but the exploit is almost impossible to execute on it. Conficker is basically an XP problem.

2. Conficker can also spread through network shares, including those that have weak passwords; the worm executes a "dictionary attack" in which a list of common passwords (think "password", "asdf", etc) are used to gain access to the share. So if you find new executables on such drives they may be infected. Treat them as you would a program that got e-mailed to you unsolicited, and we hope that means you'll avoid it and report it to a network admin if you have one. A good anti-malware program will detect it at this stage.

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