Articles by Jack M. Germain

Custom Linux provider Xandros will release a free Linux OS called "Freespire 5" during the fourth quarter of 2008. This next version of Freespire will be based on the Debian GNU/Linux "Lenny" release rather than the Ubuntu Linux platform Freespire 4 uses The move spearheads a new Xandros consolidated desktop strategy following its acquisition in Ju...

Schools, libraries, corporations and government agencies have their picks of programs that restrict user access to networks, impose usage privileges, and prohibit time-hogging distractions such as games, instant messaging and peer-to-peer file-sharing applications. In that category, Faronics' Anti-Executable 3.0, which allows a computer to run app...

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) regulation changes that take affect Oct. 1 will mean some additional work by IT departments -- and some new spending But the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) version 1.2 will allow the Payment Card Industry a phase-in period to meet the new rules, according to two security firms that provide compliance tools....

Why sell somebody else's product line when you can do a better job offering your own? That was the question that ultimately pushed Jan Hichert, CEO of Astaro, and two other cofounders to develop their own Internet security solutions for a market they viewed as needy of attention -- the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) segment Prior to deciding...

Xen.org, the developer of the open source Xen project, on Wednesday announced the release of the Xen 3.3 hypervisor engine. The product is the result of a distributed development effort by senior engineers from more than 50 leading hardware, software and security vendors Xen 3.3 includes enhancements that further advance its position as a fast, sca...

Anyone looking to make a decent presentation, speech or lecture in front of an audience needs the ability to perceive, judge and play off viewers' reactions. Sometimes that can be done just by keeping one's ears open. (Are your jokes bombing? Then perhaps stop trying to be funny and just get to the point.) In other circumstances, though, the presen...

The enhanced degree of communication that Web 2.0 utilities enable is changing the corporate world, for good or for ill, as enterprises decide whether to reject or embrace concepts like wikis, blogs, social networks and video-sharing. The trend has touched the academic world in similar ways Web 2.0 utilities have raised concerns about security in n...

Digital age, and the stealin' is easy. Regardless of the content type -- be it a text, audio or video file -- computer users can seemingly download and upload copyrighted content with near impunity. After all, it doesn't cost anything to share this material. It's there for the taking. Besides, what's the harm, and who cares anyway, right?...

Proponents of open source software are trying to make a case for using the collaborative approach to conquer the world's most vexing medical problems. However, established practices of avoiding the spotlight and protecting vested interests in breakthrough results still hamper the collaborative process This kind of proprietary work ethic leads to re...

Canonical, the commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, is now a member of the Linux Foundation (LF). The foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting the accelerated growth of Linux, announced Canonical's membership on Tuesday Ubuntu community members have been active participants in a variety of workgroups at LF, including the Linu...

Warning: Your personal data may be at risk. As RFID (radio frequency identification) devices work their way into consumers' everyday lives, the potential for data breaches grows rapidly. RFID technology used to be used primarily to track warehouse operations and perform inventory control through. Now, this same technology is finding its way into s...

Dell announced on Tuesday seven new laptop models aimed at what it termed today's "digital nomads." The new laptops are the fourth generation of the Dell Latitude line and are designed with light weight and durability in mind The Latitude laptops use new proprietary Dell technology that extends battery life up to 19 hours on a single charge, the co...

HP on Tuesday announced partnerships with five printing vendors to grow its portfolio of security and manageability enterprise printer and imaging offerings. The new solutions range from check printing security to document capture The new additions to the HP Solution Business Partner (SBP) program is aimed at managing and securing workflow in imagi...

The latest release of Barry Kauler's Puppy Linux version 4.0 has a lot to bark about. Installed directly on a hard drive, it lacks some of the bells and whistles found in more popular Linux desktop versions. But run it from a USB (universal serial bus) drive in RAM (random access memory), and Puppy growls impressively The ability to carry an entire...

HP announced Monday a new round of open source utilities for data center operators. The expanded portfolio increases support for HP Serviceguard for Linux, HP's clustering and disaster tolerance products, to include Novell Suse and Red Hat Xen virtual machines HP also introduced its HP Strategy Workshop and Migration Assessment Services. These offe...

Enterprise virtualization provider 3Leaf Systems announced Monday the release of its V-8000 Virtual I/O (input/output) Server version 2.0 This software, part of the 3Leaf Virtual Compute Environment, is designed for disaster recovery, streamlined management and enhanced availability for large x86 server deployments. The V-8000 version 2.0 software ...

Alfresco Software announced Thursday the availability of Alfresco Labs version 3, an open source alternative to Microsoft's enterprise content management (ECM) software SharePoint Formerly called "Alfresco Community," Alfresco Labs 3 offers users the first open source fully compatible SharePoint repository. With Alfresco Labs 3, companies can lever...

Interoperability is fast becoming a key watchword in business computing circles. Open source products continue to gain enterprise acceptance. With that acceptance comes an increase in users who demand that data produced with one application to work with data produced for another application -- or even another operating system. Open source advocate...

The idea was simple: Build a large catalog of consumer items and make it accessible in a structured format, unlike what already exists in wide-open search engines like Google. Give users tools similar to what they get on financial Web sites. Give a unique online business experience to both the buyers of the goods and the sellers The result is an in...

As a whole, the education industry is usually relatively slow to integrate technology into the classroom. In lots of schools nationwide, unbridled access to computers and the Internet is still the exception rather than the rule. Sure, school districts use computer networks, e-mail and teacher pages on school Web sites to more efficiently communicate with staff, students and other teachers. However, using technology to enhance learning is often a by-product rather than the thrust of technology in the classroom...