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Software

Submission + - Quality Open Source Calendaring/Scheduling? 2

Submitted by
Jim R. Wilson
Jim R. Wilson writes: "In past jobs, I've used Microsoft Outlook/Exchange, Novell Groupwise, and Google Calendar for handling business appointments. I'm sorry to say it, but I have yet to see a rival to Microsoft's scheduling features. On Slashdot, I have occasionally read rumblings that there are better, open source email and calendaring solutions out there. Can anyone substantiate this claim? What are the OSS alternatives? Can any compete with MS's resource scheduling?"
Google

Submission + - Google Acquires Jaiku (jaiku.com)

Submitted by
jimbojw
jimbojw writes: "Jaiku, a social networking and micro-blogging site, is the latest in a string of web 2.0 companies to be acquired by Google. According to jaiku's FAQ, Google bought Jaiku for an undisclosed sum because "Activity streams and mobile presence are important areas where we believe Google can add a lot of value for users. Jaiku's technology and talented team are a great addition to Google's current application and mobile teams." The FAQ goes on to explain that "While it's too soon to comment on specific products and development plans, we'll be working with the Jaiku team over the coming months to expand their technology in ways we hope you'll find interesting and useful." Pending the merger, account creation on Jaiku has been restricted to invitations only — which you can request here."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Nebraska Senator Sues God (wired.com)

Submitted by
ThelpDealio
ThelpDealio writes: "A Nebraska Senator, Ernie Chambers, has filed suit against god in Chambers v. God in order to stop terror threats.
In the suit, (PDF) he states that god "has made and continues to make terroristic threats of grave harm to innumerable persons." including "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.""
Operating Systems

Submission + - Citrix buys XenSource for $500M (zdnet.com)

Submitted by
jimbojw
jimbojw writes: "According to a recent zdnet article:

Citrix's $500 million buyout of XenSource is a brilliant strategic move that will enable the Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. software company -and its powerful close ally, Microsoft — to steal market share from virtualization software kingpin VMware.
Is there no hope for open-source virtualization?"
Businesses

Submission + - Asia's skill shortage

Submitted by
enrac
enrac writes: "An article in the Economist:

http://economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?sto ry_id=9645045

talks about skill shortages in Asia which could hamper growth for that region:

"IT SEEMS odd. In the world's most populous region the biggest problem facing employers is a shortage of people. Asia has more than half the planet's inhabitants and is home to many of the world's fastest-growing economies. But some businesses are being forced to reconsider just how quickly they will be able to grow, because they cannot find enough people with the skills they need"

You know, they could outsource that work back here . . ."
X

Submission + - Citrix and XenSource (infoworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Citrix Systems was already a wild card in the virtualization game. The longtime leader in thin client computing, clearly awakened from a slumber by VMware's launch of the Virtual Desktop Initiative last year, has been sprinting ever since to stay ahead of the threat. The acquisition of XenSource fills the remaining hole in Citrix' virtualization portfolio, allowing Citrix to go shoulder to shoulder with VMware (and soon Microsoft) on the desktop virtualization front. It also plops Citrix into the lucrative server consolidation market.
Businesses

Submission + - Citrix acquires XenSource

Submitted by Huh?
Huh? writes: Network world reports Citrix acquires XenSource for desktop and server virtualization

Citrix Systems agreed to acquire XenSource today in a deal valued at $500 million. The recently rumored deal will let Citrix enter the server and desktop virtualization markets, long dominated by VMware, who went public yesterday and whose shares are trading at $51 at the close of trading. Investment banking firm Jefferies & Company issued a report Tuesday on Citrix titled "Citrix-Xen Makes Perfect Strategic Sense." The company says Citrix's close relationship with Microsoft — the two have worked together for years on thin-client technology — is key in that Citrix could help Microsoft make up ground on VMware, whose successful IPO on Tuesday confirmed its leadership role in the emerging virtualization market.
Linux Business

Submission + - Citrix Announces Acquisition of Xensource (citrix.com) 1

Submitted by dch24
dch24 writes: Citrix announced today in a press release that they will acquire XenSource for $500M. Over at ZDNet UK, "XenSource is a small company, claiming 500 paying customers and 5,000 production users."

This comes hard on the heels of the VMWare IPO. An eWeek article suggests, "The Citrix-XenSource deal might pressure VMware to drop the price on some of its products. To increase the pressure, Citrix announced that it will begin selling XenSource's products through its roughly 5,000 channel partners."

How will this affect the open-source Xen hypervisor? The press release says, "The acquisition will also strengthen each company's strong partnership with Microsoft and commitment to the Windows platform." Does that mean a change in direction?
Software

Submission + - Dell to let users opt out of bloatware (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by
jimbojw
jimbojw writes: "Computerworld UK is reporting that Dell now allows buyers to opt out of bloatware, stating "Dell has agreed to give buyers of certain PC models the option to avoid pre-installed software. Buyers of Dimension desktops, Inspiron notebooks and XPS PCs can now click a field in Dell's online order form that will block the installation of productivity software, ISP software, and photo and music software." For Windows users, this could represent a significant time-savings as now the infamous post-boot uninstall marathon may be obsolete. The effect this will have on trendy Mac commercials has yet to be seen."
Programming

C# Book Recommendations? 116

Posted by Cliff from the which-one-is-the-best-to-learn-from dept.
Stevecrox asks: "I'm in my final year of university and have a working knowledge of C/C++, Visual Basic, VHDL and a variety of Assembler languages, however chatting to a friend on his placement year I've been told that C# is what employers are really looking for. What book would you recommend to someone looking to learn C# with my experience?"
The Internet

Submission + - Authority from nothingness at Wikipedia

Submitted by
CurtMonash
CurtMonash writes: ""Everybody knows" that Wikipedia shouldn't be regarded as an authoritative source on anything. Well, Tom Relly of Register makes a compelling case, by way of anecdote, that mainstream journalists don't know actually this. And that makes for an interesting circularity:
  • Wikipedia is full of claims that are sourceable in principle, but aren't actually sourced.
  • Mainstream journalists use information from Wikipedia, even if it is not further sourced.
  • Those very articles can be viewed as authoritative for Wikipedia's own sourcing purposes.
  • Thus, unsourced information could, by virtue of having been placed in Wikipedia, grow to be regarded as authoritative by Wikipedia itself.


This phenomenon needs a name, and I am helpfully offering one: Circlesourcing. So how long will it now take for Wikipedia to have an entry of that name?"

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