Intel shortage hits Australian builder partners

Australian system builder partners say they are feeling the pinch of a global shortage of server chassis and components from Intel.

Intel director of North American channels and distribution, Eric Thompson, was quoted in a media report as saying selected server components had been difficult to obtain through Intel authorised distributors.

Thompson said Intel was acting on the shortage by adding new vendors and expected to see a full recovery in early 2009.

Personal Knowbase Reader Software Enables Sharing of Notes and Documentation

Here is a PR from Bitsmith Software, who has released version 3.1 of Personal Knowbase Reader. PK Reader is a viewer for files created with Bitsmith Software's Personal Knowbase notes management software for Windows. It allows users to view, search, export, and print Knowbase articles.

Personal Knowbase is a freeform text organizer which uses a keyword-based system to store and retrieve related information in a natural way, by association. By filtering on keywords and other criteria, the user controls exactly which notes are listed at any time. PK Reader allows users to easily share their stored information with friends or colleagues who haven't installed the Personal Knowbase software. Corporations can distribute documentation to employees. Professors can give research and class notes to students. Help centers can share support information.

Using PK Reader, multiple users can access Knowbase files across a network at the same time. Store operating documents, FAQ's, and other information on a network computer as a publicly readable file, and all employees can reference them simultaneously.

To distribute content, PK Reader may be burned to a CD along with accompanying documentation files. Documentation may be stored in Knowbase files themselves and in external files linked from the Knowbase file using attachments and hypertext links. PK Reader can be set up to automatically load the appropriate file when the CD is inserted and the program started.

With the new version 3.1, PK Reader is also portable when installed on a USB stick or flash card. Users can carry their information with them and access it from any Windows computer without leaving personal information or settings behind on computers that they visit.

Personal Knowbase Reader 3.1 is free for personal use. Customized licenses are available for business and government use starting at $180 for 30 licenses. Runs on Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista.

Bitsmith Software develops Windows productivity software. Started in 1997, we are located in the San Francisco Bay area in California, USA. Our flagship product, Personal Knowbase, is a serious freeform note management system, beneficial to researchers and other users with large amounts of information to organize.

Free Software Group Sues Cisco For Open Source Violations

A group that promotes open source software filed a lawsuit against Cisco on Thursday, claiming that some of the networking vendor's routers violate the terms of open source licenses that govern the use of software embedded in the products.

 

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the Free Software Foundation claims Cisco's Linksys routers violate parts of the GNU General Public License, version 2, and the GNU Lesser General Public License. 

 

Both licenses place restrictions on the ways in which open source software can be commercially used and distributed. FSF notes that Cisco uses GNU Compiler  Collection and GNU Binutils, as well as other open source utilities over which the group holds copyrights, in its Linksys brand routers.

Cisco acquired Linksys in 2003 for $500 million.

FSF claims Cisco violated the licenses by failing to provide end users of its products with access to the source code for open source software embedded within the products, as required by the GPL and LGPL.

Cisco distributed to the public copies of the FSF's programs "in object code form via its Web site without providing complete and corresponding source code within the meaning of the licenses," FSF claims in court papers.

In the lawsuit, FSF claims Cisco brushed off its complaints about the matter. "Discussions have now proven unfruitful and the parties are at an impasse," the FSF states.

The group is asking the court to enjoin Cisco from further distributing Linksys firmware that contains FSF copyrighted code. It's also asking for all profits that Cisco received "from its unlawful acts."

Cisco has yet to file a formal response to the charges. Open source developers have prevailed in similar, past cases.

Google web toolkit upgrade

Google has pinned-down release plans for the next update to its Web Toolkit (GWT), stating version 1.6 is on target for a Q1 2009 debut.

"As with any development work, its hard to exactly predict when things will land, so we've stayed away from specific dates and releases past the next one," wrote Andrew Bowers on the GWT blog.

GWT is Google's tool to quickly cross-compile and optimize Java code as JavaScript for use in different browsers.

Release 1.6 will include a new compiled file deployment structure, a switch from Tomcat to Jetty hosted mode server, uniform event handlers, as well as string and compiler performance improvements.

Alex Moffat, chief engineer at the business process management firm - and GWT user - Lombardi Software told El Reg he's mostly interested in GWT 1.6's string performance and compiler improvements.

Meanwhile, Red Hat announced it has signed Google's corporate contributor agreement and will adopt GWT as a "core part" of JBoss Middleware.

"The world doesn't need another Java framework for developing rich AJAX apps. So we've decided to go with what we think is a real leader - Google Web Toolkit," wrote Rich Sharples, director of product management at JBoss Application Platform.

The company said it will provide support for GWT as part of the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform subscription in the coming months.

Microsoft and HP form joint initiative to help VARs with SaaS

Microsoft and HP have announced a joint initiative that will enable value-added resellers to benefit from a Software Plus Services (SaaS) business model by providing new revenue streams and helping them be strategic advisors to their clients.

"It is really important that our joint VARs are properly armed with information on how to give their customers the choice around Software Plus Services and make sure they have a seat at the cloud table," said Allen Clark, industry director, hosting, Microsoft Communications Sector. "We are seeing increased interest in cloud services from the SMB and we are finding these companies are going to their VARs, who are trusted advisors, and HP and Microsoft [for] information, programs and services."

Janet Pretti, vice president of Solution Partners Group with HP, added that it was quite natural for HP and Microsoft to come together for this initiative as it expands on both companies' existing strategic Frontline Partnership (30,000 joint VARs globally) and the initiative also helps increase the adoption of HP data center infrastructure and Microsoft technologies by managed service providers.

"It [shows our] commitment to the SMB market and commitment in helping VARs maintain their current trusted advisor relationship with their SMB customer," she said.

Pretti further explained that to help VARs maintain that trusted advisor relationship, the initiative will be providing training, tools, information and guidance so they can guide their customers on how to best take advantage and augment on-premise solutions with a SaaS opportunity.

For example, HP and Microsoft plan to equip VARs with comprehensive tools and guidance that will enable them to "private label" Microsoft's solutions that are hosted by managed service providers. As a result, they can generate new revenue streams by offering their small and midsize business (SMB) customers a greater choice of solution delivery methods.

 

"It gives the VAR the ability to customize on that specific customer situation," said Lisa Wolfe, worldwide mid-market strategy and marketing manager with HP.

She added that the current state of the economy has led many companies and VARs to consider SaaS.

"As the whole ecosystem moves to more of an end-to-end IT alternative, this will be a very powerful contribution to the VARs portfolio," Wolfe said.

Microsoft and HP get SaaSy with resellers

Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft hope to give its value-added resellers (VARs) a leg-up in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) game by schooling their channel partners on how to effectively sell the apps to SMB customers.

Microsoft said today that under a new initiative with HP, the two companies plan to give VARs the tools and guidance that will "enable them to offer 'private label' Microsoft solutions that are hosted by managed service providers".

So where does HP fit into the picture? The computer giant will pre-configure HP BladeSystem, HP Proliant and HP StorageWorks products to run Microsoft's SaaS apps, which Redmond prefers to dub Software Plus Services offerings, such as Exchange and SharePoint.

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft also took the opportunity to claim the initiative meant both companies are "ensuring that their joint VARs get a seat at the cloud table by offering IT alternatives to help SMB customers be more competitive." ®