Saturday 22 November, 2008

Open Source > Desktop Environments > All

  • A prescription for lower costs

    McKesson is a multifaceted healthcare company, a large distributor of pharmaceuticals and a thriving developer of healthcare-related IT systems. Its software and hardware are installed in more than 70 percent of US hospitals with more than 200 beds, and handle everything from billing and scheduling to capturing MRI-machine images and preventing dangerous drug interactions. For the last five years, the company has used open source technology to deliver products at lower cost and greater speed, says Randall Spratt, executive vice president and CIO. After seeing open source, Spratt considers it an essential part of McKesson's product development strategy.
  • Puppy Linux

    Specialty Linuxes to the rescue

    Linux is, among other things, a customizable operating system. Clever developers can craft a Linux whose kernel and packages are configured for a specific purpose, to serve as a sort of vertical-market operating system. The benefit to users is somewhat akin to walking into a hardware store. On the shelves are tools, each suited to a specific task. And it's particularly nice that all the tools are free.
  • Education IT chiefs debate open source

    The concept of open source software seems so firmly entrenched in higher education that it comes as almost a shock to realize there's actually a debate over it. But debate there was, civilized and trenchant, this week during the annual Educause conference on high technology in higher education in the US.
  • The five best things in Linux 2.6.27

    Does anyone really know what will be better in Windows 7? I don't and I follow Windows almost as closely as I do Linux. With Linux, on the other hand, we know exactly what we're getting well in advance of its arrival. In this latest Linux kernel, I see several outstanding new features that have been coming down the road for some time.
  • Google's iPhone killer

    Now that we early reviewers are free to talk about the T-Mobile G1, you should expect to see G1 referred to as the "iPhone killer." G1 is a killer, all right, but imitating iPhone was the farthest thing from the minds of the Google and open source developers that pulled Android, G1's unique operating system and GUI, together. G1 was a consumer-oriented product from the word go.
  • The G1, the first phone to run Google's Android software, includes a touch screen and a slide-out Qwerty keyboard.

    The T-Mobile G1 'Google phone' is a tweaker's delight

    At first glance, the T-Mobile G1 (US$179) doesn't seem to merit much attention. It looks like just another bland, HTC-manufactured phone. But use the G1--the first phone to run Google's Android operating system -- for 5 minutes, and you'll start to see why it's one of the best-designed phones you can buy. Not only is the G1 intuitive to use, but its customization options (via Android) makes it a tweaker's delight.
  • Five outside-the-box ways to cut IT costs

    Every time the economy turns downward, IT shops take a hit.
  • Jim McHugh, vice president of software infrastructure marketing, Sun Microsystems

    Solaris exec touts Unix platform's strengths

    Solaris has been Sun Microsystems's bread-and-butter Unix system since 1992. While Unix platforms such as Solaris now are up against the open source Linux juggernaut, Sun maintains it has the technological advantages and accommodations for open source to keep Solaris in the game. The company also cites important customer wins as evidence of the platform's continued strength. To hash out the state of Solaris in today's marketplace, InfoWorld editor at large Paul Krill recently met with Jim McHugh, vice president of Solaris marketing at Sun, at the company's California campus.
  • Five programs you can afford in a financial meltdown

    It's the afternoon of September 30th and for reasons beyond my understanding the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) is up more than 3.5 percent after yesterday's financial fiasco. Hello, Wall Street, what part of "No one has a new bailout deal; the House hated the old deal, and it's the week of Rosh Hashanah so it won't be a full week at Congress anyway" do you not understand? Even if you believe the bailout will magically work wonders for the economy -- I don't -- it's not going to happen this week.
  • Using the built-in package manager: The easiest way to get new apps onto a Linux system is to use the integrated package management system that is included with your distribution. The Synaptic Package Manager, shown below, is used in Debian-based Linux distros such as Ubuntu.

    Installing Linux apps: A few good tips

    Sooner or later, we all end up installing new software on our computers. Whether it's a new version of Firefox, or a cool game, or a video editing package, there comes a time when you want to make your system do more than it can do now.
  • Lancelot is a plasmoid application launcher menu for KDE 4 designed to provide a place from which all jobs begin

    A dozen cool plasmoids for your KDE desktop

    Okay, before I begin writing about plasmoids, we have to get one thing straight – what on Earth is a plasmoid? A plasmoid is an applet developed with KDE’s new Plasma application development environment.
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