Linux, Open Source, & anti Microsoft news

Google’s alternative to Microsoft Office, Google Apps, has always suffered from the fact that it offers a sort of “good enough” compatibility — fine for most basic document and spreadsheet…

PC sales in Western Europe plummeted in the first quarter in the biggest decline the continent has ever seen — more than 20 percent. And one key reason for the…

Is Microsoft “snooping” on Skype text conversations, or merely protecting users from malware URLs?  German publisher Heise Online has given that question prominence with the accusation that Redmond is snooping,…

Microsoft has confirmed that it will issue its Blue update to Windows 8 without charge, with first code scheduled at the company’s Build conference starting on June 26.

Microsoft claimed last week that it’s made ‘100 million’ Windows 8 sales and the claim has been widely repeated. But channel feedback and the experience on the ground point to…

Microsoft will close serious vulnerabilities in all versions of Internet Explorer as part of this month’s Patch Tuesday update.  The remote code execution flaw affects Internet Explorer versions 6, 7,…

The crew of the International Space Station (once they’ve fixed their leak) will trade their old Windows XP laptops for Debian-powered systems to use in their Operations Local Area Network…

Whether Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who doesn’t even have a computer on his desk, actually uses it is another matter. But he’s moving to Google, and bringing some 20,000…

Just six months after the official release, Microsoft – which relies on Windows licences for about half its profits – is getting ready to make compromises to key aspects of…

The decision to make Debian the default image type for Google Compute Engine was announced by the company on Thursday. As a consequence, Google’s stripped down Linux OS GCEL (Google…

In a move that’s been welcomed locally by the IT industry, the government has clarified the original intention of the legislation, that software alone should not be patentable.

Big changes to “key” parts of Windows 8 are coming after Microsoft admitted it “could and should have done more” on its big answer to Apple’s iOS for tablets.  “Key…

Packaged Apps are different because they still work when the Internet goes down. They’ve been fairly experimental. Google asked developers to build some a few months ago and since them,…

CopyTele, a “patent enforcement entity” based in New York, has filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft in connection with its Skype IP calling and messaging service, now used by…

THE UK GOVERNMENT has shown it’s at the forefront of modern technology and online services with its latest form for claiming benefits online. The service does not work properly with…