Consider virtualization to consolidate servers, test deployments, and cut hardware costs

Virtual machines have become a standard tool for testing applications and system configurations, and assessing potential new software. Deploying virtual machines in your organization can save you hardware costs and administrative headaches, but which software best serves your interest and that of your organization?

The Open Source Heretic

"One problem with the services model is that it is based on the idea that you are giving customers crap--because if you give them software that works, what is the point of service?" McVoy says. "The other problem is that the services model doesn't generate enough revenue to support the creation of the next generation of innovative products. Red Hat has been around for a long time--for a decade now. Yet try to name one significant thing--one innovative product--that has come out of Red Hat."

LinuxWorld: Savings, Stability Make Strong Business Case

"When we moved to Linux, we found that using the low-cost x86 hardware platform made our system run three times faster and was 90 percent cheaper than the mainframe using Unix had been," Wiseman said. "It also has the highest uptime of any system we have had: We have not had a single second of outage, either scheduled or unscheduled, since June 2004."

Investors to commercialize open source | CNET News.com

The venture, called Simula Labs, will take open-source development projects and seek to create businesses around them. That approach was employed at Gluecode, a company founded in 2001, which was bought by IBM earlier this month.