OStatic

China's Firefox browser has one feature the West lacks.....

Is open source software a race to zero?.....

Killer open source monitoring tools.....

Microsoft releases Singularity under unapproved license.....

DataForm adds efficient input to OpenOffice.org Calc.....

Ulteo is an interesting company. Started by former MandrakeSoft developer Gael Duval, the company aims to make using your computer easier, regardless of whether you're using your computer. The company focuses on the development and delivery of open source web applications and storage.

They offer applications such as the Virtual Desktop Beta, which runs a Linux environment over a Windows installation, allowing users to switch easily between the two, the Ulteo Online Desktop, which allows users access to a remote desktop and applications such as OpenOffice 3, and its full distribution the Ulteo Application System. Having used a few of these products, some are hits (the Windows Virtual Desktop is really sleek) and others (the Application System) still need significant work.

Today Ulteo announced another application, the Open Virtual Desktop.

According to The Register, Sun plans on laying off between 15-18% of its workforce (an estimated 5,000-6,000 positions) and restructuring itself into three major divisions, thanks to earlier periods of slowed growth (or losses) and the already bleak economic picture.

Sun's President and CEO Jonathan Schwartz says that this is a decisive action in the face of the economy, and that these cuts should facilitate the delivery of key open source platform innovations, including MySQL. In his corporate blog, however, Schwartz drops a few hints about other projects, such as OpenOffice.

Many readers of our review of Go-oo concluded that it is part of a Microsoft (via Novell) conspiracy. My take is that Go-oo is just one of many variants of OpenOffice, and the Microsoft Office compatibility features in Go-oo can save OpenOffice users in a jam. It is, after all, a free alternative to MS Office. Consider Matt Asay's take here.....

Yoggie shows open source portable firewall.....

Is Sun's open source storage play too late?.....

OrecX, which makes open source voice recording applications, announces two enhancements for its Oreka Total Recorder.....

Sun expands its open storage line.....

Russia and Cuba unite against Microsoft.....

Android: Not so open after all?.....

Shuttleworth: There's more to Linux development than kernel hacks.....

Where to find royalty-free clipart for OpenOffice.org.....

A year after acquiring it, Yahoo! is finally using Zimbra.....

Must-have Firefox add-ons, plus plenty more.....

Evaluating the new Linux distros, and the new Python......

Top 10 open source productivity apps.....

OpenOffice.org 3.0 is an incremental improvement.....

On Internetnews.com, Christopher Saunders asks if Linux is really necessary for the desktop. He relates a discussion he had with a creative/marketing executive recently, and the doubts that this executive has about the ability of open source alternatives to meet his company's needs.

This conversation goes astray with the word necessary. Is Linux necessary? Is Windows necessary? Perhaps a Mac would do better here? A key point that many open source detractors -- and supporters -- miss is that there doesn't have to be an all or nothing approach to using free software.