Appcelerator challenges Adobe Air

Adobe Air may find an open source rival in Appcelerator Titanium, a platform designed to enable Web developers to build installable desktop and mobile applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, states The Register.

California-based Appcelerator unveiled a public preview release of Titanium for Windows and Mac. The Linux version will be available in January 2009.

Titanium compiles Web applications into desktop code with file system access and operating system privileges Web developers normally must do without. It is distributed under the Apache Public Licence.

Linux distributor Red Hat has invested in open source business intelligence (BI) vendor JasperSoft, as part of a $12.5 million round of funding for the company, reports PC World.

Red Hat is not disclosing its exact investment in JasperSoft, which offers a suite of open source BI products, including JasperServer, JasperAnalysis and JasperReports.

JasperSoft has a significant number of original equipment manufacturer partners that license its software, and it claims to be the most widely-deployed BI software in the world, with more than seven million product downloads.

Amarok, a popular open source music player, has achieved its second major release, says Desktop Linux.

Amarok 2.0 adds an updated interface, online service integration, and behind-the-scenes changes like KDE 4.0 integration and new plug-ins and script APIs.

The music player integrates with online services, including Magnatune, Jamendo, MP3tunes, Last.fm, and Shoutcast and adopts KDE 4 technologies such as Solid, Phonon, and Plasma.