Articles by Jack M. Germain

Many companies are running software on their Web servers that contains open source code with known vulnerabilities, a security firm has found Software risk management solutions firm Palamida has expanded its Vulnerability Reporting Solution detection capabilities to include 431 open source security alerts. The alerts include 148 that are considered...

The career path to the software industry used to be cut and dry. Coders had a choice of either developing projects as part of a remotely dispersed community or punching a clock as a slave to a commercial software house. The former usually meant being considered a player in the software bush league. The latter meant a promotion to the industry's majors...

OpenLogic, a provider of open source packages, has begun the task of quantifying the extent of open source code used on enterprise computers. The company will roll out its global Open Source Census in several phases over the next six months In early December, OpenLogic announced the first phase with the release of OSS Discovery under an open source...

Certifying Linux technicians is a developing trend. The Linux OS is growing up. This is pushing many computer engineers and IT professionals to prove their skills as programmers and systems administrators While not quite a common job requirement yet, some employers and high-level software developers are looking for Linux-certified employees. This i...

"Web 2.0" was one of the computing industry's biggest catch phrases of 2007. Much like a software upgrade, Web 2.0 brings to mind images of bug fixes and new features. In reality, however, Web 2.0 is nothing more than a new round of Internet functionality bolted onto a very tired and old World Wide Web infrastructure The rise of Web 2.0 technologie...

Shakespeare wrote that a rose called by any other name would still smell as sweet. Proponents of open source software and standardizing document formats might wonder whether the same sentiments apply to the poetry between the OpenDocument Format, or ODF, and the Compound Document Format, or CDF The Organization for the Advancement of Structured In...

For a computer addict, choosing a Linux distribution is much like being an unsupervised child in a candy store. So many flavors with so many choices make the task of picking just one type of candy a near-impossible -- but fun-filled -- task For a consumer or business exec who must pick a Linux distribution (known as "distro"), the task is even more...

Web 2.0 applications are quickly taking over traditional activities on the Internet. Web sites are becoming interactive as they offer multiple function applications. This, in turn, is creating greater security risks for both consumers and network operators One of the biggest concerns is the need for Web 2.0 developers to build their applications wi...

Running Microsoft Windows or Apple's Mac OS X gives users about the same amount of flexibility as was offered to early car buyers. They could drive any kind of car they wanted, as long as it was a Model T and as long as it was black When the free open source Linux OS first showed up, early developers offered much the same set of options. Today, how...

The Linux OS is free, but that doesn't mean it won't cost you more than pocket change to keep it working in your office Depending on which of the many consumer or enterprise flavors you select, the price tag for support can range from your own invested hours scouring community help forums to spending thousands of dollars per month in IT salaries or...

Consumers are enamored with HD entertainment devices. What consumers abhor, however, is the quagmire of cabling that tethers their HDTVs, high-def DVD players, gaming consoles and surround sound systems together Hudson, Mass.-based Radiospire Networks is banking on consumers clamoring to its breakthrough technology to replace that cabling nightmare...

Growing concerns over migrating to Vista may push companies to adopt alternative operating systems. A study released in late November revealed that 90 percent of the Windows users polled reported concerns about migrating to Microsoft's newest operating system Forty-four percent of those polled said they would consider deployment of alternative oper...

Companies that fail to prevent data breaches will pay higher costs to repair the damage in 2008, according to a recent report. Data breach incidents will also cost these companies additional revenue from lost business opportunities and reduced customer retention Data breaches cost companies US$197 per compromised customer record in 2007, compared t...

The video gaming industry has seen huge growth over the past few years with the emergence of the massive multiplayer online (MMO) model. These video games, examples of which include "World of Warcraft" and "Everquest II," allow thousands of players to interact simultaneously over the Internet in a persistent virtual world Free multiplayer games abo...

The holidays are coming, and there's no better time of year to consider buying a computer for yourself or as a gift. It is also a good time to consider a PC loaded with Linux What's that you say? Run Linux instead of Microsoft's Windows Vista? Does anybody really do that?...

When it comes time to upgrade to a new version of proprietary software -- take the Windows OS, for example -- many users are less than thrilled. Upgrades can mean an added expense for anything more extensive than a bug fix or minor feature upgrades Even free minor version upgrades of a software product can cost a considerable chunk of time backing ...

Terra Soft Solutions, the developer of Yellow Dog Linux, has teamed up with Circle-S Studios to create Y-Film, a suite of VFX (visual effects) management and productivity tools coupled with DNA Research's 3Delight RenderMan compliant rendering engine and Terra Soft's Y-HPC cluster construction suite Terra Soft will display the alpha version of its ...

The growing popularity of Web 2.0 applications is creating new worries about network security for IT managers and program users alike. One of the biggest concerns is the lack of attention by some product developers and the users themselves to regularly scan their computer systems for holes The recent acquisitions by IBM and HP of two companies that...

After the initial warranty period has expired on a desktop or laptop computer, consumers, SOHO (small office/home office) users and SMBs (small- and medium-sized businesses) may find themselves stranded when computer woes strike. Without costly warranty extension plans or an IT department, there is little to do but pay up An alternative to costly l...

In what may well be one of the most unusual computing tasks performed by the Linux operating system, Terra Soft Solutions integrated its Yellow Dog Linux distribution and the Sony PlayStation 3 to guide a specially designed driverless car competing in the qualifying rounds for the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) autonomous vehicle challenge in Victorville, Calif...