InformationWeek August 14, 2008 04:00 AM

Our open source expert foresees the future of Linux: By 2012 the OS will have matured into three basic usage models. Web-based apps rule, virtualization is a breeze, and command-line hacking for basic system configuration is a thing of the past.

By Serdar Yegulalp

What will desktop Linux be like four years from now?In the time it takes most college students to earn an undergraduate degree — or party through their college savings — Linux will continue to mature and evolve into an operating system that non-technical users can fully embrace.

The single biggest change you’ll see is the way Linux evolves to meet the growing market of users who are not themselves Linux-savvy, but are looking for a low-cost alternative toMicrosoft (NSDQ: MSFT) (or even the Mac). That alone will stimulate enormous changes across the board, but there are many other things coming down the pike in the next four years, all well worth looking forward to.

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Technology August 14, 2008, 12:01AM EST

Support is building for a measure that would make companies get consumers’ approval before collecting info about their Web surfing

by Heather Green

Support for a law aimed at protecting consumers’ online privacy is gathering steam in Washington. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), head of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, says he and others plan to introduce comprehensive online privacy legislation in the coming congressional session.

Dubbed the Online Privacy Bill of Rights, the law may require companies to get approval from consumers before collecting information about their Web-surfing habits, a process known as behavioral targeting that helps Web sites more strategically place ads. The legislation may also demand that companies disclose more information on how they collect and use people’s Web-use data. “There is a reasonable chance that we will see something in the next Congress,” says Michael Hintze, an associate general counsel at Microsoft (MSFT).
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AP - Sat Aug 9, 9:55 AM ET

BEIJING - Some Web sites remained inaccessible to reporters as competition got under way Saturday at the Beijing Olympics.

By STEPHEN WADE, AP Sports Writer

China’s communist government routinely filters its citizens’ access to the Internet, but in the runup to the Olympics Chinese officials and officials with the International Olympic Committee vowed there would be no censorship of the Internet for accredited journalists covering the games.

Some sites were unblocked 10 days ago after reporters arriving to cover the games found them blocked and complained to the IOC, but others remain inaccessible, including sites related to the Tiananmen Square protests, Tibet, Taiwan and the Dalai Lama.

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InformationWeek - August 7, 2008 03:35 PM

The Xen hypervisor distributor wants Windows to be sold as part of a virtual environment application package that could run on any hypervisor, on any machine.

By Antone Gonsalves

Virtualization software maker Citrix Systems (NSDQ: CTXS) on Thursday called on Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) to offer a Windows license that would enable software vendors to sell the operating system as part of an application package that could run on any virtual environment.Simon Crosby, chief technology officer of Citrix, told attendees at the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco that the future of virtualization includes the concept of a “virtual appliance,” a package comprising an application, operating system, and virtual machine that could run on any hypervisor installed on a desktop, notebook, or server. Standing in the way of this advancement in portability is Microsoft, whose Windows operating system dominates the business computing market.

“Microsoft has to change its licensing policies to redistribute Windows on virtual appliances,” Crosby said during his keynote. “Microsoft needs to have a license that allows [independent software] vendors to redistribute Windows as a bag of bits.”

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Sillicon Alley Insider - Eric Krangel | August 6, 2008 8:00 AM

NBC will bring 2200 hours of Beijing Olympics streaming video to the web, starting today. But Americans will miss some of the best parts. Why? Because NBC, which has exclusive rights to the games in the United States, still makes a whole lot more serving up TV ads than Web ads. So for many of the most-anticipated events (volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, boxing) US-based viewers have to either watch on TV (often on tape-delay) … or they will have to get sneaky.

Easiest steps first: Figure out when the event you want to watch is on (the NY Times has an excellent event tracker for this) and then try to figure out if it’s on nbcolympics.com (NBC’s broadcast schedule here). You’ll also need to download Microsoft Silverlight, which NBC.com requires to watch the game. We were ready to complain about that, but found it fairly painless, as these things go.

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InformationWeek August 5, 2008 04:36 PM

The software vendor plans to develop versions of its products with “basic functionality” to be sold at lower prices than its standard offerings.

By Paul McDougall

In response to rising competition from open source software that’s community developed and often given away for free, Microsoft said it plans to develop versions of its products with “basic functionality” to be sold at lower prices than its standard offerings.Once the sole domain of self-styled computer geeks, open source software, such as Linux, is now used in products offered by a growing number of large tech companies, such as Google, IBM, and Motorola. Those companies believe they can earn more revenue by selling add-ons and services around the software than they could by charging for the software itself.

Microsoft says it’s a growing threat to its commercial software business.

“Open source software vendors are devoting considerable efforts to developing software that mimics the features and functionality of our products,” Microsoft said in its annual report, filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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