Jason Brooks

Back when Windows XP was in development, I wrote a column titled, “Ding, Dong, the Witch Is Dead (Almost)!” I was writing about how Windows 98 was soon to done in by a more stable, more secure version of Windows, and about how the new version would, alongside OS X and Linux, usher in an […]

Linux-based operating systems boast some very impressive management features, including detailed configuration controls for the GNOME desktop environment and a unified software management framework that puts Windows and its horde of disparate update applets to shame.However, the lack in Linux of a well-integrated analogue for Microsoft’s Active Directory and Group Policy to tie everything together […]

If you are a command line guru, you call upon your zypper, yum, conary or apt-get from the terminal, and you awk sed grep your way to what you’re after. For me, unless I know exactly what package I want–and I often don’t–I typically turn to Synaptic, the graphical package manager that graces my Ubuntu […]

I received an iPod Touch for Christmas, and before I loaded it up any MP3s or set a single Safari bookmark, I “jailbroke” the device, thereby opening it to all sorts of handy community-supplied applications, including, as Ryan Naraine is reporting today, potentially malicious code: “Security Watch – Apple – Malicious iPhone (Prank) Trojan is […]

This week, the Macworld Conference and Expo returns to San Francisco, and, for the first time since the 2002 show in which Apple’s pre-show boast of, “Beyond the rumor sites. Way beyond” turned out to refer to a flat-panel iMac, I’m feeling excited about the announcements that the Black Mock-Turtlenecked One might hand down in […]

Microsoft’s release of Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is nigh, which means that it’s nearly time for organizations sold on a “better SP1 than sorry” approach toward deploying Microsoft’s latest client operating system to start polishing off their imaging tools. However, based on the conversations I have had with readers and with eWEEK’s Corporate […]

Today my colleague Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is reporting on Mandriva founder Gael Duval’s Ulteo, which now offers online access to the OpenOffice.org productivity suite: “OpenOffice.org goes online with SAAS version“ I’m an OpenOffice.org user and overall fan of software as a service–particularly when it’s a free service–so I thought I’d take Ulteo for a spin. […]

Eyeing the trends around user-friendly Linux desktops, sub-$500 notebooks, universal broadband, and Web 2.0 office applications, my colleague Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols opines that we’re on the brink of a low-end Linux revolution. For my part, I’m not so sure. Without question, Linux has matured into a effective, manageable, and low-cost solution for companies’ and individuals’ […]

Last week I wrote about how the lack of a Linux and open source answer to Microsoft’s Active Directory is slowing the spread of desktop Linux. Could the Linux and open source answer to Active Directory be Active Directory? Today, Likewise Software (the firm formerly known as Centeris) launched a new open-source software project that […]

I scratched the surface of three of the most popular Linux distributions out there–and I took plenty of screen shots. “Desktop Linux Trio Offers Look at What’s To ComeReview: The latest versions of fast-moving OpenSUSE, Ubuntu and Fedora make a strong case for Linux on the desktop, but there’s lots of integration work to be […]