Tectonics (South Africa)

Alan Cox, a core member of the Linux development world, and for some time Linux Torvalds' "second in command", recently spoke out about the lack of quality in software development. He also offered tips for developers wanting to write better code.

No matter whether you're a one-man, kitchen-table-as-a-desk type small business, or an SME on the brink of becoming a corporate, Linux is probably your best choice for running your business. But there are a few things to consider before you take the plunge. Phil Thane takes a look.

Novell will ship SuSE Linux Professional 9.2 in November with better Bluetooth support and the recently released Evolution 2.0.

Michael Brunzlik warns that government needs to pay particular attention to maintenance and support issues on the move towards open source software.

More and more professionals are going the certification route to gain broader hands-on experience while many companies are still unsure of the value of certification to their current IT staff. Warren Bell of Obsidian Systems looks at some of the trends shaping the Linux training market.

Cape Town's Sadalbari Open Software appointed Africa's first JBoss authorised service partner.

Next year 11 percent of PCs sold in the emerging market will be sold with Linux pre-installed. But research group Gartner predicts that as many as 80 percent of these will have their operating system replaced with a pirate version of Windows.

"Get a clue over desktop Linux," says open source industry as it disputes Gartner Linux findings.

Pick 'n Pay backs schools Linux project with donation of more than 800 PCs and the Shuttleworth Foundation hopes to add another 40 schools to their current 62 Linux labs in the Western Cape.

Preview version of Firefox 1.0 browser shows the competition a clean set of heels as it innovates on the browser front.

Security and speed of development and deployment make open source software a critical part of any IT strategy according to a new report by the Computer Sciences Corporation.

Enterasys' Dragon gets open platform for security(OPSEC) certification and now integrates with Checkpoint's VPN-1/Firewall-1 software to combat misuse and attacks across the entire network

Novell South Africa has signed up on one of the key architects of Microsoft's OEM strategy in South Africa to grow the local user base of Linux. Novell expects to have Linux-based PCs for sale on shop shelves in South Africa before Christmas as it rolls out its Linux OEM strategy. Novell also announced its national Linux support centre.