Naturetech Proso 2400 Pictures

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 31, 2005

While preparing my review for publication, I’ve gone ahead and put up pictures of the Naturetech Proso 2400 Portable Server.

Review: Naturetech Meso999 (aka Sun Ultra 3)

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 31, 2005

I’ve published my review of the Naturetech Meso999 Portable Workstation, one of the systems that Sun is now offering under the “Ultra 3” name.

Enlightenment DR17 on OpenSolaris

Posted by Dennis Clarke on Jul 31, 2005

Ben Rockwood has created simply the most stunning and beautiful rendition of Enlightenment on OpenSolaris. Please see his blog for the screenshots and to read more about his brilliant work.

Two Million Solaris 10 Licenses

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 27, 2005

Sun has distributed more than two million registered licenses for Solaris 10 since the operating system became available on January 31st.

Sun announces Preliminary Results for FY2005 and Q4

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 26, 2005

Sun today reported results for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30, 2005.

Revenues for the fourth quarter were $2.975 billion, a decrease of 4.3 percent as compared with $3.110 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004. Total gross margin as a percent of revenues was 41.4 percent, an increase of 2.0 percentage points as compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004. Net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005 on a GAAP basis was $121 million or a net income of $0.04 per share as compared with a net income of $783 million or a net income of $0.23 per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004.

Cash flow from operations for the fourth quarter was $195 million and $369 million for the full fiscal year, Sun’s 16th consecutive year of generating positive cash flow from operations. The cash and marketable debt securities balance at the end of the quarter was $7.524 billion.

Online Books at Google Print

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 24, 2005

Google Print now offers a large selection of Solaris and UNIX books (among many other topics) in an online-readable format.

Sun to offer all its software for free (eventually)

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 23, 2005

As covered in this INFOWORLD article, Sun’s president Jonathan Schwartz has said that Sun intends to eventually offer all of its software products for free as a way to build communities around its technologies.

zlib 1.2.3 has been released by Ken Mays at Blastwave.org

Posted by Dennis Clarke on Jul 23, 2005

A Buffer overflow security flaw in zlib 1.2 and later versions allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted compressed stream, as demonstrated using a crafted PNG file.

See CAN-2005-2096 for details.

An official patch from the zlib project has been released.

Version 1.2.3 eliminates potential security vulnerabilities in zlib 1.2.1 and 1.2.2, so all users of those versions should upgrade immediately. The following important fixes are provided in zlib 1.2.3 over 1.2.1 and 1.2.2:

  • Eliminate a potential security vulnerability when decoding invalid compressed data
  • Eliminate a potential security vulnerability when decoding specially crafted compressed data
  • Fix a bug when decompressing dynamic blocks with no distance codes
  • Fix crc check bug in gzread() after gzungetc()
  • Do not return an error when using gzread() on an empty file

Sun to help AMD develop future Opteron chips

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 22, 2005

According to this NEWS.COM article, Sun will be helping AMD develop future Opteron processors.

Sun gives more details on future SPARC plans

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 18, 2005

This ITJUNGLE article has a good deal of information on Sun’s future SPARC plans, and details on why it’s pushing the Opteron systems at the low end.

Sun donates to the Drupal project

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 15, 2005

Recently, the Drupal project ran into problems with their existing server system and host. They put out a plea for donations, hoping to raise $3000 in order to buy a new server to be hosted at the OSU Open Source Lab.

In the matter of a few days, over $10,000 in donations has been collected, and Sun has donated a SunFire V20z to the project. Tim Bray has more details on the donation, which was made with no strings attached.

Sun open-sources Web Single Sign-On

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 13, 2005

Sun is releasing the source code to its web site authentication and single sign-on technologies through the Open Source Web Single Sign-On project.

2005 System Administrator Appreciation Day

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 11, 2005

Friday, July 29th, 2005, is the 6th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. On this special international day, give your System Administrator something that shows that you truly appreciate their hard work and dedication.

Let’s face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgement. It’s the least you could do. Consider all the daunting tasks and long hours (weekends too.) Let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t know our System Administrators as well as they know us. Remember this is one day to recognize your System Administrator for their workplace contributions and to promote professional excellence. Thank them for all the things they do for you and your business.

SAGE 2005 Salary Survey

Posted by Bill Bradford on Jul 2, 2005

The SAGE 2005 Salary Survey is up. Fill it out and help get a picture of what IT salaries are like across the country.