Open source: Several days into his Ubuntu plunge, Randall Kennedy has learned that "when something doesn't work the response is most often to point fingers. Assign blame," he writes in Why Desktop Linux fails: a first-hand account. "This entire experience simply reaffirms what I believe is a key barrier to the widespread desktop adoption of Linux: A lack of accountability." Contrast this with Microsoft Windows, Kennedy adds, and you begin to appreciate just what a Herculean feat the Redmond giant has accomplished. "Pass the buck. Great for political rallies and Linux love-ins. Not so hot for enterprise desktop computing." Related: Taking the Ubuntu plunge, Day 1.

The news beat: IBM buys Cognos, one of the last standalone BI vendors. Google releases the Android SDK so that programmers can create cell-phone apps for its mobile platform. Microsoft says it is not happy with AV software performance, citing ongoing growing pains, though a company executive maintains that OneCare and Forefront have helped it combat malware. And the MySpace malware problems began days before the Alicia Keys hack, and such issues are likely to continue.

Notes from the field: Firing back at iPhone unlockers, Apple released version 1.1.2 of its OS which relocks the devices and kills third-party apps users may have installed. "But wait, it gets better," Cringe writes in The score so far: Hackers 2, Apple 2. Hackers shot back and managed to rebreak the app for activated iPhones, such that it takes about 10 minutes. "I don't know what's more galling for Apple -- having weeks of dev work scotched in less time than it takes to eat a hamburger, or being gamed by people whose nicknames make them sound like Teletubbies." Google might actually come to the rescue with Android, Cringe suggests. "A person can dream, can't he?"

Posted by Tom Sullivan on November 12, 2007 11:20 AM