Sun Microsystems Begins Taking Java Open Source
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

"I get a lot of flack about being a software guy and for giving away a lot of free stuff," explained Jonathan Schwartz, the new chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems at the JavaOne 2006 show in San Francisco last week in his keynote address. Having taken its Solaris Unix, Java Enterprise System middleware, and T1 Sparc processor open source, there is one significant piece of software technology that has remained closed: Java. That, after long last, is finally changing. READ MORE >

Next Up on the System i: Native .NET
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

For all of the benefits that the File Serving IOP, the Integrated PC Server, and the Integrated xSeries Server have given to OS/400 shops since they were introduced in 1994, the very idea of a server co-processor is somewhat in conflict with the integrated nature of the AS/400, iSeries, and System i5 platforms. Windows, which has always been the dominant operating system installed on this co-processor, gets bolted onto the side of the OS/400 server, but is not woven into its fabric in the same way that Linux and AIX are today though the advent of mature, dynamic, and sophisticated logical partitioning. READ MORE >

Business Continuity Planning: Are OS/400 Shops Ready for Disaster?
by Mary Lou Roberts

None of us, even those who live a good distance from Hurricane Alley, will soon forget the devastation caused by Katrina and Rita in the summer of 2005. These names, now infamous, have joined and even surpassed the likes of Andrew and Charley and Hugo in our collective memory. But, having presumably learned from experience--or at least been awakened from our slumber--are we ready for Alberto, Isaac, Leslie, and Oscar? The odds are a few of these names will make headlines in the 2006 hurricane season. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Patent Depending
by Hesh Wiener

When you think of rights granted by law, such as the right to express your opinion, you usually think in positive terms. Positive rights guarantee freedom of action. If you're willing to obey some rules and follow some procedures, you can own some property, you can drive a car, you can publish an article about patents that includes controversial opinions. Patent rights are different. They are negative rights. They allow you to restrict the activity of others. There are other negative rights in the law, of course, such as the right to exclude others from your home. But few negative rights have the big financial impact of patent rights, as the recent Blackberry affair demonstrated. READ MORE >