Microsoft contributes to Linux. Acquia raises $8m. And more.

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“Tracking the open source news wires, so you don’t have to.”

Microsoft contributes to Linux
Microsoft announced that it is to contribute device driver code to the Linux kernel under the GPLv2. Prompting us to publish a CAOS Theory Q&A. Answering one questioning we failed to ask, ZDnet reported that Microsoft’s Linux contributions should find their way into the 2.6.32 release.

Acquia raises $8m
Mass High Tech …

Funding for Aptana and Jolicloud. Ingres targets MySQL. Trent Reznor on Open Core (sort of). And more.

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“Tracking the open source news wires, so you don’t have to.”

Funding
# Aptana raised $7.8m in funding from Rembrandt Venture Partners and Accel Partners.

# Jolicloud raised $4.2m in series A funding for a Linux-based Netbook OS.

Not with a bang…
# Sun reported preliminary revenues for Q4 2009 of $2.58bn to $2.68bn, compared to $3.78bn a year ago.

Best of the rest
# Ingres …

Red Hat betas Enterprise Virtualization, partners with HP for SOA. And more.

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“Tracking the open source news wires, so you don’t have to.”

# Red Hat announced that its Enterprise Virtualization portfolio of products is now available for beta testing.

# Red Hat collaborated with HP on SOA.

# David Megginson published mixing GPL and non-GPL: a different perspective. A new take on the MySQL/MariaDB storage engine debate.

# UK Government CIO shed some light on “G-Cloud” plans and how the new open source policy provides an opportunity.

# WAZI: …

Open source and SMBs. New funding for Lucid Imagination. And more.

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On open source and SMBs
Savio Rodrigues contrasted Dell’s plans to target SMBs with bundles of hardware and open source with research from Forrester that indicated that SMBs are still wary of open source, while Matt Asay noted that there are significant opportunities for open source vendors if they can work out how to crack the SMB market and suggested that the way to make software easier for SMBs and to monetize it might actually be cloud-based computing.

OStatic noted that the issue may well be one of lack of awareness and that Dell’s initiative, as well as the …

Cloudera lands funding. SourceForge acquires Ohloh. Novell reports Linux growth. And more.

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Cloudera shows signs of progress
GigaOM reported that Cloudera raised $6m Series B funding from Accel and Greylock and is now looking beyond web applications to wider enterprise adoption of Hadoop. Cloudera also announced its first certification program for Hadoop.

Open source goes mainstream in the UK
There have been signs of change recently with regards to open source adoption in the UK, which has traditionally lagged behind the rest of Europe and the US. CBR Magazine provided an analysis of …

Javier Soltero, former CEO of Hyperic, has maintained that the sale of Hyperic to SpringSource was driven by discussion between himself and SpringSource CEO, Rod Johnson, but the fact that the companies shared investors - Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital - no doubt accelerated the deal (and I wonder whether either could have afforded to acquire the other without shared investors).

When examining the open source vendor landscape it is tempting to imagine that the combined total could be bigger than the sum of its parts - that a combination of many open source product specialists could mount a challenge to Red Hat and Sun to claim the title of biggest open source software vendor.

Benchmark and Accel are among …

OIN aims to cut the FAT. What is the point of the GPL? Black Duck takes flight. Ingres delivers Salesforce.com appliance. The ongoing fallout from Oracle-Sun. Feedback on the Bee Keeper model. And more.

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OIN aims to cut the FAT
# The Open Invention Network announced plans to review the Microsoft FAT patents at the center of its recent skirmish and settlement with TomTom. have been placed for prior art review on the Post-Issue …

Open source in government. Sourcefire announces relationships with Symantec and Microsoft. EPL supercedes CPL. The cost and potential savings of open source. The origins of open source. IBM and Sun - back on? And more.

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# OStatic: Why Isn’t Open Source Even Considered at the U.S. State Government Level?

# Simon Phipps: Five Ideas To Get FOSS Into Governments.

# Sourcefire’s 3D system to be bundled as part of the Symantec Managed Security Services offering.

# Sourcefire has also announced a strategic relationship with Microsoft.

# The Eclipse Foundation has …

Refining the Beekeeper model. Investment opportunities. Schooner, Gear6 and Virident line up memcached appliances. The launch of the Open Source Channel Alliance. Is source code necessary? And more.

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Of bees and trees
We noted last week that James Dixon, CTO of Pentaho, had updated his Beekeeper model for understanding the commercial-community relationships employed by vendors to engage with open source. Roberto Galoppini quickly followed up with some feedback, as did Tarus …

Microsoft and TomTom settle patent claims. Alfresco makes progress and shifts its strategy. The Open Cloud Manifesto is published. Support for free software. And more.

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Quietening the patent drums
Cnet’s Ina Fried had the scoop on the news that Microsoft and TomTom had reached a settlement in their patent dispute. The news story was quickly followed by Microsoft’s official statement, as well as a note from the Software Freedom Law Center that the situation is not completely dealt with. Jay Lyman delivered the 451 CAOS …