An anonymous reader writes “Another straw in the wind: following last week’s news that the US Department of Transportation is putting a halt on upgrades to Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7, today comes word that the Federal Aviation Administration may ditch Vista and Office in favor of Google’s new online business applications running on Linux-based hardware. (The FAA is part of the DOT.) The FAA’s CIO David Bowen told InformationWeek he’s taking a close look at the Premier Edition of Google Apps as he mulls replacements for the agency’s Windows XP-based desktop computers. Bowen cited several reasons why he finds Google Apps attractive. ‘From a security and management standpoint that would have some advantages,’ he said.”

Technorati tags: Linux, News

Source: FAA May Ditch Vista For Linux

In this beginner introduction, Jethro Carr presents helpful tips for choosing the right Linux distro for your needs. He provides details regarding: purposes of different flavors, package management, stability, and personal experiences with numerous versions.

Source: Choosing the Right Linux Distribution

A freshly installed copy of Firefox is a great software package, but what makes this open-source browser so special is the ability to customize it via extensions and themes to really make it yours. The problem is, there are so many available add-ins, it’s tough to know what’s worth installing and what’s just going to junk up your system. That’s where we come in. We’ve ferreted out 20 of the best extensions and add-ins used and recommended by hardcore Web surfers, developers and IT pros. Whether you’re looking for more streamlined surfing, improved look and feel, cool design tools or serious Web development help, there’s something (and more than likely several things) here for you.

Source: 20 must-have Firefox extensions

Consumers and network administrators often become complacent about security, trusting their anti-intrusion efforts to security product self-updates and older security technology. RSS reader software can heighten the potential for intrusion, warn some security experts. IT managers often fail to ensure that their networks are not at risk from the use of RSS feeds linked through Web browsers and e-mail clients. That oversight can punch a gaping hole in the security barriers.

Source: Is Really Simple Syndication Really Secure?

Repeated efforts at Nationwide Mutual Insurance to try Linux on the mainframe faced internal opposition, some of it from IT employees worried that a mainframe-based server consolidation would be a threat to their jobs. They “fought tooth and nail to keep it from happening,” said James Vincent, a mainframe systems engineering consultant at Nationwide. Their resistance taught Vincent a lesson that he put to use after the Linux project was finally approved in 2005.

Technorati tags: Linux

Source: IT Pro Learns Lesson Through Linux Install

Linux users can choose from several big, bulky financial packages to manage their finances, but what about consultants and freelancers who just need to whip out a few basic invoices by the end of the month? For that niche, Simple Invoices, a Web-based, GPLed invoicing system, is a winner for folks with a bit of tech savvy.

Simple Invoices requires Apache, MySQL, PHP with support for XSL (PHP5) or XSLT (PHP4), and GD2, and you need to give PHP a minimum of 24MB of memory if you want to have all of Simple Invoice’s features available. PHP’s default is 8MB, so this may put Simple Invoices out of the question for those on a shared hosting environment.

It took me about 45 minutes to set up Simple Invoices, and that included the time it took to skim the documentation and install the requirements that were not already available on my Ubuntu Dapper server. Overall, the Simple Invoices documentation is well done, but the installation instructions give some very bad advice.

Specifically, the user is repeatedly instructed to set permissions on directories to world-writable, rather than just setting the directories to be writable by the Apache user. Having any world-writable directories under the Web root is an insanely bad idea, and opens the door to all kinds of exploits. If you’re running Simple Invoices on a local machine that’s not directly connected to the Internet, this shouldn’t be an issue, but if you’re going to run the software on a machine that’s publicly accessible, please don’t set any directories to world-writable.

Online Demo

Source: linux.com

Now, unlike Windows, Linux and the rest of the Unix operating system family don’t have Daylight Savings Time innately. Instead, they use an entirely different way of telling time.

Most Linux systems have two clocks. The hardware clock, a.k.a. the “CMOS clock,” is present in most x86-based systems. The CMOS, a battery-backed time clock located on the motherboard, runs 24/7. The system clock, on the other hand, starts when you boot up your system. This is the clock used by most internal Linux programs and Linux applications.

By default, the system clock takes its cue from the CMOS. A far better way to set up the system clock, if you have an Internet connection (and who doesn’t?), is to use a program like ntpd. This program uses the NTP (network time protocol) to obtain the correct time from an NTS (network time server).

Continued: linuxdevices.com

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – An update to Apple Inc.’s iTunes music software still hasn’t resolved some of the compatibility problems with Microsoft Corp.’s new operating system.

The iTunes program is key to synching music on computers with iPod portable players, and the latest version, iTunes 7.1, comes a month after the iPod and Macintosh computer maker warned PC users against installing Windows Vista until Apple could fix the problems.

Source: Yahoo News

What do you want in a hard disk for your notebook? Small, fast, capacious and quiet are probably near the top of your list. And that’s what Fujitsu is offering with its new MHW2 BJ series.

These 2.5in SATA 3.0 drives run at 7200rpm and transfer data at up to 300 megabytes per second. When they ship in May, they’ll be available in sizes up to 160G. Fujitsu achieves these high capacities by using perpendicular recording technology.

That’s small, fast and capacious, but what about quiet? Fujitsu claims the drive is unusually quiet – “2.5 bels [25dB] at idle” – despite the high rotational speed. Notebooks typically use 5400rpm drives.

As a bonus, the power consumption is low, just 2.3W when reading or writing data. As you’d expect from a product aimed at a worldwide market, the drives comply with the European Union’s Reduction of Hazardous Substances directive.

These characteristics make the new drive very suitable for high-performance and ‘media’ notebooks. But they are also likely to turn up in all-in-one LCD desktop models, a form factor made popular by Apple’s iMac.

Source: iTWire

If you don’t like to squint and you’re fed up with tangled cables, the Archos 704 may be the personal media player you’ve been waiting for.

The 7in, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen is a much more eye-friendly choice than the smaller screens fitted to other devices such as Apple’s iPod, but you’re unlikely to have a pocket big enough to comfortably hold the 182 x 128 x 20mm (7 x 5 x 0.8in), 630g (22oz) device – unless you’re wearing a winter coat.

Buyers can choose either a 40 or 80G drive, the larger unit is said to hold up to 100 movies, 800,000 photos or 40,000 songs.

Source: iTWire