Daily news beat for July 23, 2008

Sun readies a Web stack that features a choice of operating ssytems. The company is announcing on Wednesday Sun Web Stack, which brings its own twist to the open source LAMP stack by letting users choose Solaris, Linux, Windows, and others.

Trying to fend off Microsoft, VMware says that when it becomes available in two weeks, the forthcoming ESXi will be free of charge.

Ubutnu founder Mark Shuttleworth urges Linux desktop makers to soar above and beyond the Mac in terms of a crisp and clean user experience, but do so without sacrificing the community process.

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, gets the keys to the city's network back, after meeting with Terry Childs, the administrator who was arrested and charged with four counts of computer tampering and has been locked up since July 13.

And Data security meets disco fever. So whatever you do, do not take a smartphone along if you decide to go to a disco in some foreign city because, Cringely reports, "a high-ranking U.K. official got Shanghai'd in Shanghai last January, possibly compromising the cyber security of the British government." What's more, U.S. G-men aren't much better at holding onto their handhelds, either.

Posted by Tom Sullivan on July 23, 2008 08:41 AM