Many small businesses are starting to use Linux and open source solutions without even realizing it. They’re helped along by consultants who offer better solutions at lower costs, a nice combination for any business. Nice story at the MIT Enterprise Technology Review:
Linux Sneaks into the Small Business Marketplace.
Tux magazine has a quick how-to about creating greeting cards in Linux using Scribus. Quick Do-It-Yourself Greeting Cards | TUX.
While reading a biography of Ben Franklin, I learned that Mr. Franklin routinely gave his inventions away to the public, without collecting a nickel. Having made his fortune running a successful printing business in Philidelphia, he decided he had accumulated enough wealth to retire and pursue his scientific, diplomatic, and other interests.
His most significant invention was the lightning rod. Before this invention, buildings and towns frequently burned down when struck by lightning. Lightning was a force of God, capriciously causing death and destruction. Franklin single-handedly tamed lightning, and removed an enormous threat to mankind.
“As we enjoy great advantages from the invention of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously,” he wrote in his biography, explaining in part why he refused to patent his inventions. It could also stand as a motto for the open source community.
He also invented the Franklin Stove, bifocal glasses, swimming flippers, and several other completely original devices.
Anybody else find it ironic that Microsoft sponsored the History Channel’s recent Ben Franklin biography?
There is now a tool that can easily crack PPTP authentication, which is what is used in the basic Virtual Private Networking standard included in Windows. Because of its wide deployment, PPTP is perhaps the easiest type of VPN to deploy–but it should no longer be considered secure. Read more at ZDNet.com: George Ou » PPTP VPN authentication protocol proven very susceptible to attack.
At Freelock Computing, we recommend and deploy OpenVPN for secure, cross-platform, relatively easy to administer private networks.
A four year analysis of the Linux source code conducted by five Stanford University computer science researchers found a tiny fraction of the number of security holes and bugs, compared to similar studies of proprietary software. Read the Wired story, Linux: Fewer Bugs Than Rivals.
In Australia, at least, it appears that deploying Linux results in an overall cost savings of at least 27% in a medium-sized company over Microsoft solutions. And that’s not even counting costs associated with viruses and downtime during reboots! Read about it on ZDNet Australia at Linux advocate takes another swipe at Windows TCO, and download the full report, with numbers, at the Cybersource Web site (PDF format).
Wired magazine is running a story about “bluesnarfing,” the practice of sniffing out your address book or calendar, making calls with your phone, and other more nefarious activity, hijacking your phone via Bluetooth. A must read. Wired 12.12: They’ve Got Your Number