Sun Microsystems has launched a new platform in an attempt to gain a foothold in the rapidly growing rich internet applications space, as well as generate solutions for mobile devices and even TVs. The platform, JavaFX 1.0, seeks to let developers build Web apps with high-fidelity audio and video, rich text, vector graphics, animation and Web services for, as Sun notes, "all the screens of life." Sun says JavaFX opens up a vast market for developers and content authors.

IBM has teamed with Virtual Bridges and Canonical to offer a new Linux-based virtual desktop solution. The three companies announced the general availability of Virtual Linux Desktop Thursday, calling it a cost-effective alternative to Microsoft's desktop software. VLD runs open standards-based e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, unified communication, social networking and other software to any laptop, browser or mobile device from a virtual desktop login on a Linux-based server configuration.

Authorities in the southeastern Chinese city of Nanchang are requiring all local Internet cafes to replace their Microsoft Windows XP operating systems with a Chinese-made system, Red Flag Linux, according to officials and Internet cafe owners. An official with the Nanchang Cultural Discipline Team, which oversees the roughly 600 Internet cafes operating in Nanchang city, said the new operating systems were mandatory. "We have already started installing the new software in all Internet cafes. All of them must have this new one," the official said.

Good OS, developer of the gOS Linux operating system, announced its latest endeavor Monday, dubbed "Cloud." The new operating system, unlike most OSes, actually boots into a browser. From there, the user may surf the Web or go to a traditional Windows or Linux operating system. The new OS integrates a Web browser with its compressed Linux OS kernel for immediate access to the Internet, integration of browser and rich client applications, and full control of the PC from within the browser, Good OS said.

A group of amateur developers has ported the Linux operating system to Apple's iPhone and iPod touch devices. Members of the iPhone Linux development team revealed in a blog posting that they had installed a working version of the Linux kernel on the handsets. The software must be installed by the user, and exists largely as proof that Linux can be ported to the handset. The researchers noted that several major features, such as sound support, touchscreen capability and wireless networking, had yet to be figured out.

There's been a growing concern among companies operating social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn -- as well as the hundreds of niche sites that have sprung up -- that too many of these online hubs could lead to paralysis among users. Inevitably, a user with too many sites to visit and update will abandon some, if not most. Facebook, MySpace and others have been addressing the problem of the so-called "Walled Garden" with initiatives that make it easier for users to toggle back and forth between sites, taking their content with them.

One of the most exciting aspects of the PlayStation 3 is that it allows users to install an alternative operating system. You can't overwrite Sony's GameOS or access privileged resources, but you can run your own applications on the new Cell Broadband Engine processor -- called the "CBE processor" or the "Cell" for short. The Cell is the mighty brain of the PlayStation 3, and this article explains how to access it by installing Linux on the console.

Well, the holiday season is upon us once again, and that means it's the beginning of what, for many geeks, is a time of unnatural, enforced, repeated and prolonged socialization. Yes, it can be an uncomfortable time for those of us who aren't perky, extroverted cheerleader-types, and we here at LinuxInsider are no exception. So it was with great relief that we came across a few posts in the blogosphere that promised some welcome, Linux-inspired distraction. Another group photo? Sure, we'll be right there! Ha.

In January, James Whitehurst became president and CEO of Raleigh, N.C.-based Red Hat. The 41-year-old came to the software company, which sells and services the Linux open source computer operating system, from Delta Air Lines, where he was chief operating officer and had worked on, among other projects, development of the discount travel Web site Orbitz. At Red Hat, Whitehurst, a native of Atlanta and 1989 graduate of Rice University, will be part of a collaboration between the company and IBM to develop a personal computer that doesn't rely on Microsoft software.

The battle of the operating systems is intensifying in Nepal, and it looks like free open source software like Linux is emerging as a viable alternative to commercial software. People usually are only too happy to grab anything labeled "free," but free and open source software was finding it difficult to make much headway against the commercial giants. Ironically, it was the fact that pirated Windows operating systems are cheap and sometimes come free with the hardware that made it difficult for FOSS to have a following.

The Utah-based SCO Group has been cleared to appeal a court ruling that might lead to a revival of its dispute with IBM over copyright claims to the freely distributed Linux operating system. Utah Federal Judge Dale A. Kimball has signed a final judgment in a case involving Novell, in which he had awarded Novell $2.5 million for some of the revenues SCO obtained in licensing the Unix computer operating system. The judgment is the latest development in the case that began in 2003 when SCO sued IBM saying the Unix code that SCO claimed to own had been the basis for code placed in Linux.

About eight months ago, the owners of a sporting goods company contacted their attorney, Doug Wolf, a partner at Wolf Greenfield. It seemed a company was using the firm's logo and trademark without proper authorization. Setting the matter right should have been a straightforward task for Wolf -- except for the fact that the intellectual property theft was happening online, specifically in Second Life. The client didn't even know who was controlling the avatar who had set up shop using its trademarks.

Opera Software has thrown open the doors to reveal the final version of its popular Opera Mini 4.2 browser for mobile phones. The 4.2 version has been in beta the last few weeks, and now that Opera Software has opened a new server park, users of the browser in the United States should see a 30 percent speed boost. This release is the first version officially available for Google's Android mobile platform -- and the T-Mobile G1 smartphone. It's also the first Web browser alternative to the built-in browser on the open Android platform.

Part 1 of this two-part series on five of the boldest decisions made by technology companies this year explores the launch of Hulu and Amazon.com's decision to go DRM-free with its Amazon MP3 store. Now, for the three remaining genius strokes in the E-Commerce Times' lineup of bold decisions that changed the technology landscape in 2008: Salesforce.com's launch of its Force.com platform; Google's launch of the Android mobile platform; and Apple's launch of the iPhone App Store.

Copyrights are perhaps the most common type of intellectual property (along with trademarks), and are the first stop when it comes to protecting software-based products. This is because copyrights, which protect a particular expression of an idea, exist automatically upon fixation of an author's work in a tangible medium of expression. This means that a graphic designer's works are protected the instant they are drawn on paper or saved on a computer. A software programmer's works are protected the instant they are saved to disc.

"Cloud computing is not magical, but it is more economical, more easily scaled and more easily managed," said Lance Walley, chief executive officer of Engine Yard, a hosting and infrastructure support company for Ruby on Rails applications. It's getting more so, too. That's because it's so practical, more applications are sure to appear every year. "It's like running your own generators or buying power from the public grid," Walley said. "What this will do is make more apps appear and prosper than would have before."

Thanksgiving may still be around the corner, but already Linux users have something to be thankful for. Yes, Adobe apparently saw the writing on the wall at last, and last week released a 64-bit version of Flash for Linux. The righteous have been rewarded! The news made no small splash on the Linux blogs, as one might expect, with geeks far and wide praising the new technology. Indeed, once the geeks started expressing their enthusiasm, there appeared to be no end to the gushing of love.

It was meant to be an escape, a break from the day-to-day routine, a fantasy world where 13-year-old Missouri high-school student Megan Meier could retreat from reality. But when Meier began corresponding with 16-year-old Josh Evans on her MySpace page, it rapidly turned into a nightmare. Instead of the sweet, flirtatious communications she had hoped for, he started telling her "everybody hates you" and "the world would be a better place without you in it." Twenty minutes later her mother found her hanging in her cupboard. She died the next day.

In December 2007, Palomar Pomerado Health broke ground on a 600-bed hospital in Escondido, Calif. Just two months later, officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony, allowing patients, staff and others to tour Palomar Medical Center West and play with new technology deployed throughout the facility. No, this wasn't the most rapid hospital construction in history. The ribbon cutting took place in Second Life, a 3-D, virtual world that exists entirely on the Web.

I've been using a T-Mobile G1 for about a month now, and while it's the best phone I've ever owned (yes, I bought it), I haven't yet found myself saying "I love this phone." I like it plenty, don't get me wrong, but like any device, it's got things about it that are frustrating and other things that are pretty cool. The G1 is the first phone to use Google's Android software stack, though by no means the last or the only. Others are said to be in the works from the likes of Motorola and LG. This one is an implementation of the HTC Dream.