News (97)

Solaris licence gets OSI approval

Sun's proposed licence for its Solaris operating system has been granted official status as an open source licence by the Open Source Initiative. Read more »

Government CIOs 'do not understand open source'

Government CIOs that dismiss open source software because of support issues, which is the case for the Australian Tax Office, Defence and Centrelink, simply do not understand the concept, according to Sun Microsystems. Read more »

Hacked? Don't blame China, blame Denmark

Forget pointing the finger at China when government systems and defence contractors are compromised — it's the dirty work of Danish hackers, says Finnish security researcher, Mikko Hyppönen. Read more »

Bosses can snoop on staff e-mails 'to fight terror'

The Greens and privacy advocates have hit back against proposed laws to allow companies to snoop on their workers' e-mails, but Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said the laws are needed to protect vital electronic infrastructure from terrorist attacks. Read more »

Chinese hackers attack Australian govt networks

Chinese computer hackers have once again been accused of launching attacks on classified Australian government computer networks. Read more »

Govt CIOs still misunderstand open source: Novell

The problem with open source software is a lack of understanding, not a lack of support, according to a Novell executive who hit back at the CIOs from some of Australia's top government agencies. Read more »

ACS: Tech disasters scare government buyers

IT disasters have frightened government purchasers into only dealing with big guns such as EDS and IBM when it comes to awarding contracts, said the nation's peak ICT body as it proposed a raft of initiatives to boost local innovation. Read more »

Free Wi-Fi set to go full-time at Sydney libraries

Over the past four weeks, the City of Sydney Council has been trialling the provision of free Wi-Fi services in its libraries. With only a fortnight to go before the hotspots are switched off, a spokesperson has said that users won't have long to wait before access becomes a permanent fixture. Read more »

Labor fires first tech shots in official election fight

On the first official day of the federal election campaign, Labor has placed IT at the centre of its agenda for growth, issuing a challenge to the Coalition on broadband and procurement. Read more »

Consultants in to map out Aust software industry

The federal government wants to get to know the Australian software industry and map out a strategy to make it "get vertical". Read more »

Features (61)

IBM gets Rational with open source

Big Blue's tools division is expected to detail its plans for using software from the open source project Eclipse to make its products better integrated and to accelerate development. Read more »

Aussie IT unions rise from the dead

Australia's creaky technology unions have finally awoken from their long slumber and have started to throw their weight around. Read more »

Hacking with no technology

The typical image of a hacker is a kid hunched over his keyboard in the wee hours of the night staring at commands on his computer screen that unlock the secrets of the national government. But the woman sitting next to you at Starbucks fiddling with her digital camera could be just as dangerous. Read more »

Inside the San Fran network lockout

A strange sort of techno-drama is playing out in the city of San Francisco, California right now. The blame for the fiasco may not be as easily assigned as it at first appears. Read more »

10 ways to effectively estimate and control project costs

Estimating what a project will cost is only half the battle; controlling those costs during the project and after delivery is equally critical. Take a look at these methods for predicting and managing costs. Read more »

Using the Singleton pattern in Java

The Java Singleton pattern belongs to the family of design patterns that governs the instantiation process. A Singleton is an object that cannot be instantiated. Read more »

CVSDude: Queensland one day, global the next

Beginning with hardware bought on eBay, Brisbane-based CVSDude now manages source code for Apple, Intel and the BBC. Read more »

Encrypt any file with symmetric cryptography using GPG

Encryption lets you keep your sensitive data, banking information and conversations safely protected by code. Learn how you can use the free GPG utility to protect your data. Read more »

10 midyear resolutions for net admins

We've put together a list of resolutions aimed at helping net admins line up their priorities, effectively deal with the day-to-day issues, and plan and execute improvements. Read more »

Investigating open source

The proprietary/open source dilemma confronts governments and businesses everywhere--it's only a matter of scale. Read more »

Blog (6)

Samba gets an inside look at Microsoft documentation

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- A complicated third-party arrangement means that the open-source Samba project will be able to make use of proprietary documents describing Microsoft file-sharing software. Read more »

Gestation, robots and NASA hacking

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Firefox 3 made it out the door last week, and set a world record while doing so; after 15 years Wine 1.0 also hit the street. We also look at robots, google developer day and outsourcing in this week's Weekly Roundup. Read more »

How Microsoft beat Linux in China and what it means for freedom, justice, and the price of software

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Thanks to some major concessions on source code and a precipitous price drop, the Chinese government has now thoroughly embraced Windows and Office, what does this mean for the world? Read more »

Google's Android parts ways with Java industry group

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Google's Android software gives Sun Microsystems' Java technology a starring role -- but not the version of Java the rest of the mobile phone industry has been developing since the 1990s. Read more »

How to make a brand homeopathic

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- There was once a time when the word Java was used another person knew what you were talking about. It was either the language, the island or the coffee -- it was hard to take either of those three definitions out of context. Read more »

The trouble with contracting

David McAmis [blogs:theneteffect] -- More and more companies are using IT recruiters and contracting agencies to fill developer positions, but the developer usually ends up paying the price. Read more »

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  • Staff Shadow chasing in browsers

    The punching and counterpunching continued in the ongoing web browser development bout. Each time one browser closes a feature gap, a new feature appears in one of the others -- how we ever put up with the years of browser stagnation, I'll never know. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Chris Duckett Safari gets Gears

    Since its release in May last year, Gears has supported only Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. With the addition of Safari into the Gears fold, it closes the loop of major browsers to support Gears Read more »

    -- posted by Chris Duckett

  • Renai LeMay MyPerfect.com.au has potential

    Victorian Web start-up My Perfect has a strong story and rationale for why it will succeed. But it has to overcome some challenges and design flaws first. Read more »

    -- posted by Renai LeMay

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