HostingCon 2009The World's Largest Gathering of Hosted Services Professionals.
Will you be there?
AUGUST 10-12, 2009 | Washington DC
at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center
Register today and get EARLY BIRD discounts! https://www.hostingcon.com/2009/attend/register/
If at times you’re frustrated with your PC — and who isn’t? — Google says it is working on a solution. Many people easily lose patience with PCs that are slow to start up and prone to crashing, vulnerable to virus attacks and constantly in need of fiddly updates. Hoping to turn that irritation to its advantage, Google is developing an operating system — the underlying software that handles the most basic functions of a computer. With the software, Google is mounting a blunt challenge to the dominance of Microsoft, whose Windows operating system runs about 95 percent of PCs. Google promises that its Chrome operating system, which will be available on computers in the second half of next year, will put an emphasis on speed, simplicity and security. Google faces enormous hurdles. Computing giants like I.B.M. and Sun Microsystems have spent years trying to dethrone Microsoft, with little to show for it. But if it gains traction, Google’s plan could undermine not only Windows but also Microsoft’s other multibillion-dollar franchise, Office. Google is trying to put the Web browser at the center of people’s digital lives, relegating complicated operating systems like Windows to a secondary role. “I’m not saying the shareholders should take their money and run, but this is the beginning of the end of Microsoft as we knew it,” said Jean-Louis Gassée, a venture capitalist who has battled Microsoft in posts at Apple and his own computer company, Be.
A spokesman for Microsoft, Frank Shaw, declined to comment on Google’s announcement or the competitive threat.
Firefox 3.5 GA released yesterday fdor Windows & Linux is excellent for fans, but competition getting tougher.
Firefox 3.5 brings the world's second-most popular browser up to speed with current browsing technology and trends, and perhaps nudges it just a bit ahead of the competition. However, it is by no means the leap ahead that its predecessor Firefox 3 was, and it's clear that the competition isn't going away anytime soon.
Available for Windows, Windows Portable, Mac, or Linux, Firefox 3.5 nevertheless represents the best Firefox we've yet seen from Mozilla. This comes as no surprise, and with a testing process that involved four beta builds, three release candidates, and a version change to reflect what Mozilla described as the originally-unintended breadth of the improvements being made, most of the new features are no surprise, either.
Private Browsing, known to IE users as InPrivate, Chrome users as Incognito, and Safari users as, well, Private Browsing, finally comes to a public version of Firefox. It's been available to the 800,000 or so beta testers since December 2008. If you're not familiar with it, users can toggle on or off the browser's history, cookies, and other browsing traces at will via the Tools menu or CTRL+SHFT+P. A new window will open. Among its other uses that serve as fodder for second-rate comedians, it's an excellent tool for avoiding leaving tracks on publicly-used computers and its about time that Firefox finally got it. In fact, Firefox has had it in various stages of development for four years. Read the complete and illustrated review at CNET Download.Com: http://download.cnet.com/%20http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10276351-12.html
Former U.S. cybersecurity official Rod Beckstrom has been named the new CEO and president of ICANN. His appointment was announced at the annual meeting Friday in Australia of ICANN, which stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. A global nonprofit, ICANN is responsible for assigning and managing Internet domain names and IP addresses, among other tasks. "Rod Beckstrom has exactly the sort of strong personal and technical background that ICANN needs," ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said in announcing the decision. Beckstrom, who received his MBA from Stanford University, has served on the boards of several nonprofit groups and written four books. But it was his role as director of the U.S. National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC) where he made an impression. As head of the federal center, he oversaw a large, disparate agency spanning civilian, military and intelligence communities. However, Beckstrom resigned his government role in March after complaining of interference from the National Security Agency. Find out more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10273668-38.html
The Intel Corporation said Thursday that it had agreed to buy Wind River Systems, a software company, for about $884 million in a bid to put its chips into more consumer electronics and wireless devices.
Intel said it had agreed to pay $11.50 a share for Wind River, a 44 percent premium over its closing price on Wednesday.
Wind River makes operating systems for platforms as diverse as autos and mobile phones, serving customers like Sony and Boeing.
Intel, whose processors run about 80 percent of the world’s personal computers, is expanding into new markets, including chips for televisions and mobile devices. Wind River’s software and customer list will pave the way for Intel to win more chip contracts, said Cody Acree, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Company in Dallas.
“If you have a chip you want to put in a lot of things other than a PC, you need code,” Mr. Acree said. “Wind River brings that, and it brings customers.”
Shares of Wind River, which is based in Alameda, Calif., rose $3.76, or 47 percent, to $11.76 a share. Shares of Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., rose 19 cents, to $16.13 a share.
It is Intel’s first major acquisition since Paul S. Otellini took over as chief executive in 2005.
Intel expects chips for so-called embedded systems, like the electronics in car navigation systems, to generate billions of dollars in annual sales, said Bill Kircos, a company spokesman. Intel already supplies chips to BMW for car stereos that use Wind River software.
“It’s trying to get our chips into new systems in your car, into new meters that let you monitor how you use electricity,” Mr. Kircos said. “It’s about getting into new consumer electronics, smartphones and health care.” Source: BLOOMBERG NEWS
The release of Fedora 11 has been delayed for a week. The main cause is this blocker bug. "We cannot begin Release Candidate phase until the blocker bugs are closed or at least in MODIFIED state. We are not there today, which would be our last day to enter RC phase and still have enough time to release on the 26th. We hope to enter RC phase in the next couple days, and hit our new target, June 2nd." -Fedora Community informed. Visit: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/11/Schedule
SAN FRANCISCO--Google spent Wednesday morning trying to get developers excited about the next generation of Web technologies by showing off how future Web applications will mimic desktop apps.
"It's time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that is before us," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, kicking off Google I/O 2009 in San Francisco. Schmidt was referring to the growing sense that the Internet and browsers--rather than a computer's operating system--will be the future foundation for application development.
The industry isn't quite ready for that yet. Many of applications demonstrated before the crowd of around 4,000 developers will require the widespread adoption of HTML 5 technologies, which are still under development by a consortium of companies and organizations.
Still, Google's Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering, noted that the four modern open standards browsers (Firefox, Safari, Chrome,and Opera) are all adopting some HTML 5 technologies as they become more stable, taking every opportunity possible to ding Microsoft's Internet Explorer for lagging behind the other four browsers.
However, offstage after his keynote, Gundotra downplayed any conflict with Microsoft, noting that its task in moving toward HTML 5 is more complex because of the large number of enterprises running Internet Explorer, and the possibility that internal applications developed for that browser could break. "As they follow through, they are going to have a huge impact on moving the Web forward," he said.
Network Products Guide, an industry publication on information technologies and solutions, named the winners of its 2009 Product Innovation Awards this week, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 achieved top honors in the Operating Systems category.
The annual Product Innovation awards program “recognizes and honors worldwide vendors for their innovative and groundbreaking products that are bringing essential and incremental changes and are setting the bar higher for others in all areas of information technology,” according to Network Products Guide.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux released the third upgrade to its Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 platform in January 2009, driving innovation through increased virtualization scalability, expanded hardware platform support, including support to Intel’s new Nehalem architecture, and incorporation of Java technologies with OpenJDK, a high-performance, fully open source implementation of Java Server Edition 6. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 release also included over 150 other additions and updates. The platform is developed using the open source development model, an approach which drives rapid innovation, and is sold by subscription to deliver continuous value to customers. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 was the first open source solution to deliver commercial-quality virtualization fully integrated into the operating system. Find out more at: http://press.redhat.com/2009/05/21/red-hat-enterprise-linux-recognized-for-product-innovation/
3Tera has launched it's Grid University. 3Tera's Grid University provides live online training on various aspects of grid and utility computing. If you are a new AppLogic user, a 3Tera partner, or just want to get a better feel of what grid computing is all about, Grid University is the easiest way to learn. Grid University classes are taught by experienced 3Tera application engineers and developers who are building and troubleshooting grids and grid applications for a living. All you need to attend classes is a browser and a broadband Internet connection. Best of all, Grid University is free!
The Grid University training includes three levels:
General Knowledge - describes all the terms, architectural concepts and technology models in AppLogic. It provides the basics of how AppLogic works. It is a good starting point for both people trying to evaluate the grid approach and to figure out if AppLogic works for them. New AppLogic users will greatly benefit from the classes in this level too.
Grid Usage - provides step by step guide on how to run, deploy , provision and operate online apps. This level is designed for customers who are evaluating or already have AppLogic Grids. If the grid was a car, this level provides the basics on how to drive a car - start, turn, stop and park, how to fill up the tank and clean the windshield but does not teach you how to fix your vehicle if it brakes.
Grid Maintenance - provides step by step guide on how to install, configure and manage the grid infrastructure. Generally people who most benefit from this level are Sysadmins, Operations Managers at a hosting provider's data center. They setup grids for other users and make sure their "cars" run, have the latest version engine and are safe to drive.
Signing up for Grid University is easy. First, jump please to http://www.3tera.com/Grid-Computing-University/ and pick a class you'd like to attend from the table there. Click on the class name to read the synopsis. Click on the calendar icon to register. You will receive an email with the URL and WebEx meeting info required to login to the class. We recommend that the first time you login to a Grid University class, you allow 15 min for setting up WebEx on your computer. Enjoy!
Enterprise-Ready Ubuntu Server enhances common workload features and delivers cloud computing inside the firewall and on Amazon EC2
LONDON, April 20, 2009 – Canonical, the sponsor of Ubuntu, announced today that Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition is available to download from Thursday 23 April. Canonical offers assessment, deployment, migration, training and support services to ensure that companies can make the most of the cost-effective, powerful and reliable Ubuntu Server Edition platform.
Ubuntu Server Edition enables businesses to deploy and manage their common workloads – web, print, file, database and mail servers – more efficiently. Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition integrates the latest, stable Open Source applications from across the community, packaged and ready for users to deploy. New enhancements include improved virtualization with the latest KVM features, clustering support in Samba file server and easier mail server setup with out-of-the-box Dovecot-Postfix integration.
Canonical has also worked to extend the range of enabled servers for Ubuntu 9.04, with 45 of the most popular mid-range servers from IBM, Dell and Sun and HP tested in the Canonical labs.
In addition, Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition will preview Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC). Ubuntu is the first commercially-supported distribution to enable businesses to build cloud environments inside their firewalls. With Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition, organisations can explore the benefits of cloud computing without the data or security issues associated with moving data to an external cloud provider. Following a successful beta programme last year, Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04 will also be fully available on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
“Our ongoing commitment to increase productivity and efficiency savings with every release has seen more and more organisations deploying common workloads on Ubuntu-based server environments,” says Jane Silber, COO, Canonical. “We make it easier for companies to run larger systems more efficiently, a key benefit in financially-challenging times. Backed up by a full range of professional services, including support from Canonical, larger businesses will find Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04 to be the most cost-effective, easy-to-deploy server platform for their production environments." About 9.04 Ubuntu Server Edition
Ubuntu Server includes a range of new and updated features to boost efficiencies for system administrators running large systems in production environments.
New fully supported features:
Extended hardware compatibility ensures easier deployment for users
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can now pre-install their own default first-boot configuration of Ubuntu Server Edition and replicate it across all their Ubuntu servers
Ubuntu Server on Amazon EC2 helps businesses to deploy services to external clouds
Virtualization updates, including support for nested virtualization, further improve infrastructure management efficiencies
New mail server features include shared user authentication and enhanced spam protection
Samba 3.3 provides extended cluster support for file serving and integrates with the latest Microsoft systems
Enhanced integration between OpenChange and Microsoft Exchange encourages interoperability
Suspend-and-Resume features deliver power-management improvements
Security enhancements with Apparmor offer greater peace of mind
Previews:
The Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud uses an open source system known as Eucalyptus to enable a company to test, deploy and experiment with their own private, in-house cloud that matches the Amazon EC2 API
Advanced Message Queue Protocol (AMQP) support brings the emerging standard for high-performance enterprise messaging to Ubuntu users through Rabbit MQ
MySQL 5.1 is the latest release of the world's most popular Open Source database server. Upgrade from the fully-supported 5.0 to 5.1 is possible now
Availability
Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition is available from 23 April 2009. It can be accessed in a number of ways:
Former U.S. cybersecurity official Rod Beckstrom has been named the new CEO and president of ICANN. His appointment was announced at the annual meeting Friday in Australia of ICANN, which stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. A global nonprofit, ICANN is responsible for assigning and managing Internet domain names and IP addresses, among other tasks. "Rod Beckstrom has exactly the sort of strong personal and technical background that ICANN needs," ICANN Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush said in announcing the decision. Beckstrom, who received his MBA from Stanford University, has served on the boards of several nonprofit groups and written four books. But it was his role as director of the U.S. National Cybersecurity Center (NCSC) where he made an impression. As head of the federal center, he oversaw a large, disparate agency spanning civilian, military and intelligence communities. However, Beckstrom resigned his government role in March after complaining of interference from the National Security Agency.
June 2009August 2009
WIDGETIZE