Oracle Linux deal speculation grows

On the eve of the OracleWorld user conference, market watchers are divided on whether Oracle intends to make an announcement concerning its Linux plans. However, it`s a fair bet that Oracle is working on incorporating Ubuntu Linux into its own product.

Some analysts say Oracle is going to announce a move to offer its own Linux product, based on the Ubuntu distribution, others say it will announce an alliance with Red Hat, and still others say it will make no announcement at all.

According to ITWire, all of the speculation is based on the musings of Oracle founder Larry Ellison back in April, when he said words to the effect that he would like Oracle to own the entire software stack.

3Com has unveiled a new cordless voice-over-IP phone, targeted at business customers who tend to move around the office a lot in their jobs, says CIO Magazine.

The phone uses session initiation protocol, which means it`s compatible with standard networking equipment that a business might already have. It is also compatible with standards-based wireless LAN infrastructure.

3Com expects such phones will appeal to workers in education, government, healthcare and retail who spend much of their time away from a desk. Users can transfer calls to other employees, reach a receptionist, listen to voice mail and read e-mail on the phone. They can also customise personal settings such as ringtones and speed dials.

There`s no question that, today, Macs are much more secure than Windows-based PCs, reports ITWire.

This is thanks to a more secure operating system, but it has also been because of a smaller user base that presented a smaller target for malware and virus writers. However, the smaller user base argument is not necessarily the case today, thanks to the rise and rise of the iPod and the iMac.

Why bother if hardly anyone would get affected? What virus/malware writing glory is there in that? But the invasion of Mac malware began some time ago, and both everyday and self-righteously invincible Mac users need to be aware: your Mac is not secure, and neither is anything else in the universe.

The complete works of Charles Darwin followed perhaps its own natural evolutionary process this week when researchers began publishing the material online - some of it for the first time.

The University of Cambridge said it will place the entire body of Darwin`s works online - which consists of 50 000 pages of text and 40 000 images - by the bicentenary of Darwin`s birth in 2009.

Much of the material has come from the Darwin Archive, housed at Cambridge University. The project is being overseen by John van Wyhe, a researcher in the history of science based at Christ`s College, Cambridge, NewsFactor.com