Stories about: Robert Frances Group

Microsoft introduced late last week a new pilot program to encourage refurbishers to install legitimate copies of Windows XP on used PCs.

With Linux making deeper inroads into corporate data centers, the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo gave attendees some firsthand information about how open source is maturing to handle more critical business workloads.

Open-source software is everywhere. But how does a large company -- from its executive team down to its IT staff -- figure out which open-source applications are right for its users and won't endanger the core business?

IBM has released a free version of its flagship DB2 database, sweetening the pot by eliminating some of the key user limits imposed by rival vendors.

Sun Microsystems has worked to improve the compatibility of its StarOffice application suite with Microsoft's Office, but it still faces an uphill climb as it tries to entice corporate users to consider the new version released on Tuesday.

They say statistics are like a lamppost to a drunk; more for support than enlightenment.

Linux's total cost of operation (TCO) is typically 40 percent lower than Windows, according to an IBM-sponsored report from the Robert Frances Group (RFG), publicized by IBM last week.

It's a topic of fierce debate among high-tech cognoscenti: What's more secure -- "open source" code such as Linux and Apache, or proprietary "closed source" operating systems and applications, Microsoft's in particular?

Four small Linux vendors this week said they're joining together to create a common code base in an effort to attract more independent software vendors and hardware makers to support their versions of the open-source operating system.

The LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco last week put the spotlight on a growing opportunity for enterprise customers: the ability to integrate open source software into existing IT architectures from the data center to the desktop.

New open source databases users seem to blend the fervor of religious converts with the hardheaded realism of IT professionals.