Articles by Jack M. Germain

Crate.io on Tuesday announced an upgrade to its open source CrateDB, and introduced a commercial version. The database now is available as a managed service as well CrateDB 2.0 features clustering enhancements and SQL improvements. The enterprise edition adds authentication and authorization features for enhanced security, which are not provided in...

Ultimate Edition has a lot going for it. However, the latest release, version 5.4, also reflects numerous missteps that developers of a seasoned Linux distro should avoid....

Red Hat on Thursday announced JBoss AMQ 7, a messaging platform upgrade that enhances its overall performance and improves client availability for developers. JBoss AMQ is a lightweight, standards-based open source platform designed to enable real-time communication between applications, services, devices and the Internet of Things. It is based on...

Canonical this week said that it will end its support for Ubuntu Touch phones and Ubuntu-powered tablets in June, and that it will shut down its app store at the end of this year. The company previously had signaled the system's demise, but it had not fixed a date. With Ubuntu Touch, a unified mobile OS based on Ubuntu Linux, Canonical hoped to es...

A new strain of malware targeting Linux systems, dubbed "Linux/Shishiga," could morph into a dangerous security threat Eset on Tuesday disclosed the threat, which represents a new Lua family unrelated to previously seen LuaBot malware....

Docker this week introduced two new projects at DockerCon with an eye to helping operating system vendors, software creators and in-house tinkerers create container-native OSes and container-based systems The projects are based on a new model for cross-ecosystem collaboration and the advancement of containerized software. Both projects aim to help ...

Black Duck Software on Wednesday released its 2017 Open Source Security and Risk Analysis, detailing significant cross-industry risks related to open source vulnerabilities and license compliance challenges Black Duck conducted audits of more than 1,071 open source applications for the study last year. The audits show widespread weaknesses in addre...

Tiny Core Linux 8.0, released last week, is a minimalist Linux OS built from scratch with a focus on being as small as possible That means you should be able to run this Linux distro on a wide range of legacy machines. The tradeoff for ultra-smallness, however, often is a not-so-powerful OS that can leave you longing for better options....

Kingsoft on Tuesday announced that it has expanded its WPS Office suite to include WPS Cloud. The upgrade enables users to work in a cross-platform office suite environment with added storage, file roaming and sharing capabilities The cloud-enhanced version is available for PCs and mobile as a fully functional free release and with premium subscrip...

Fatdog64 has the potential to serve as an alternative lightweight OS to Linux distros such as Puppy Linux, Knoppix and Zephyr. However, it has some critical usability issues that need to be fixed first....

Zephyr Linux is a newcomer to the Linux scene, and it is still morphing from developmental releases. However, it takes an interesting approach to removing desktop clutter and default software bloat....

The Cloud Foundry Foundation on Wednesday announced the launch of a worldwide cloud-native developer certification initiative. The foundation created the cloud developer certification program to fill the widening gap of trained programmers for cloud apps and services. The Linux Foundation -- which has trained and certified more developers on open...

OpenSuse Leap 42.2 goes a long way toward maintaining Suse's reputation for reliability and stability. That said, new users might need a push to take the leap from their familiar distros to this latest OpenSuse release....

Slackel's Openbox edition is a lightweight operating system that offers reliable performance once you get the box open. It is not an ideal OS for every user, though....

Accenture and Docker on Wednesday announced an expanded global alliance and the availability of container services within the Accenture Cloud Factory The new services provide a faster industrialized on-ramp solution for enterprises moving to the cloud. They focus on container enablement of applications and feature use of Docker Datacenter (Enterpri...

The latest release of Black Lab Linux, an Ubuntu 16.04-based distribution, adds a Unity desktop option. You will not find Unity offered by any other major -- or nearly any minor -- Linux distributor outside of Ubuntu.

The Online Trust Alliance on Tuesday released a report calling for businesses, consumers and government to share responsibility for ensuring that Internet of Things devices are not weaponized. Issued in recognition of National Consumer Protection Week, the report outlines actions that businesses, consumers and government can take to ensure the sec...

Google last week released its E2EMail encryption code to open source as a way of pushing development of the technology "Google has been criticized over the amount of time and seeming lack of progress it has made in E2EMail encryption, so open sourcing the code could help the project proceed more quickly," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pun...

Zorin OS developers on Tuesday released Version 12.1, offering Linux users a patchwork of software and hardware updates with some performance enhancements and bug fixes.

The DebianDog distro offers a lot of functionality and customization that frees users from many of the restrictions of a Linux community tied up in its own developmental red tape. DebianDog is fast and focused on getting work done without a lot of distractions However, it also is a disorganized desktop environment that can leave new users flounderi...