Archive for the ‘Free Software’ Category

Apple 'in talks' over Facebook Home for iPhone

Weve shown them what weve built and were just in an ongoing conversation, Mosseri said, referring to discussions with Apple.

On iPhone devices, the Home software would be tailored to what Apple prefers, Mosseri said. It could look much different than the Android version.

It may or may not be Home, he said. We could also just bring some of the design values to the iOS app. That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen. Maybe then its not called Home, its called something else.

Apple declined to comment.

Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook and Apple have a great relationship.

We are integrated into the operating system with them, Zuckerberg said. We have an active dialogue to do more with them.

Already, Facebook has issued an update to its iOS app that brings Chat Heads, a new feature in Facebook Home, to the iPhone.

But the suggestion that Apple could allow Facebook Home or anything similar on iOS drew scepticism from industry observers. Many doubt that Apple would bend its strict rules to allow any other company to influence the user interface of iOS. At the unveiling of Facebook Home last month, Zuckerberg admitted it would not be possible on iOS in the same form as the Android version.

Wed love to offer this on iPhone, and we just cant today, and we will work with Apple to do the best experience that we can within what they want, he said.

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Apple 'in talks' over Facebook Home for iPhone

GroupLink IT Klingon Battles: Free Asset Discovery In Help Desk Software

BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- GroupLink Corporation announces today the upcoming beta of the asset discovery feature added as a free component to its IT help desk software, everything HelpDesk. The public beta will be available for download soon. This announcement came at the 2013 Open Horizons EMEA Summit, which includes technologists for Linux, Novell ZENworks and Filr, government, college, K-12 education and similar industries. A common interest for the attendees of this summit is their passion for finding and battling with IT Klingons.

Information about this beta release of asset discovery in the help desk software can be found at http://www.grouplink.com/landing/ehdbetatest.html

The addition of intelligent network discovery to the powerful suite of features available in GroupLink's help desk support software brings another element of ITservice management into one solution.

For more than 15 years, GroupLink has provided powerful software solutions to customers in many industries, including K-12 schools, higher education institutions including trade, technical and traditional colleges, state and local government, and healthcare. With the addition of the network scanner, organizations can now fully leverage the asset management tools already provided by the help desk software, such as tying assets to tickets and work orders. This gives organizations the ability to run critical reports to identify trouble assets, warranty information, lease dates, trends, and more.

GroupLink is committed to providing tools to leverage existing IT infrastructure in gathering, managing, and reporting information simply and efficiently, allowing organizations to increase revenue while lowering total cost of ownership (TCO). The ability to auto-discover asset information is a crucial piece in fulfilling this mission.

GroupLink Corporation services over 1,000 enterprise customers and 4,000 worldwide implementations from its US headquarters in Bountiful, Utah. Whether deployed for K-12, Higher Education, Government, or other commercial organizations, GroupLink's world class, best-practices Help Desk, CRM, Sales Force Automation and MDM software solutions feature key integration with Microsoft, Linux, Novell and Apple/Mac environments and help customers automate and add intelligence to business processes, enhance profitability, and lower total cost of ownership.

Media Contact:

Aimee Kocinski GroupLink Corporation (801) 335-0713

GroupLink and everything HelpDesk are registered trademarks belonging exclusively to GroupLink Corporation. Linux is a registered trademark belonging exclusively to Linus Torvalds. Novell and ZENworks are registered trademarks belonging exclusively to Novell, Inc.

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GroupLink IT Klingon Battles: Free Asset Discovery In Help Desk Software

75% of Enterprises Encounter Problems When Using Free and Open Source Software, According to Univa Survey

MARKHAM, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Univa, the Data Center Automation Company, today announced the findings of its 2013 Free and Open Source Software survey. Conducted online by uSAMP, the report finds that Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is prominent within businesses today with 76% using it internally; however, 75% of those users experience problems utilizing FOSS in mission-critical departments. Although businesses are relying on unsupported FOSS solutions today, 64% say they would pay for supported software to solve their issues.

A lack of enterprise-grade support is the largest problem FOSS users have experienced in their company with 27% of respondents raising it as their top concern. Other troublesome issues include usability (24%), maintenance (20%), crashes (19%), bugs (18%), downtime (16%), loss of productivity (16%) and interoperability (16%).

Indeed, FOSS importance today means that 64% are willing to pay for better quality, with the following listed as reasons to do so:

The demand for stability and enterprise-grade support suggests that the comfort of reliability is the number one factor that leads to investments beyond Open Source solutions.

We have always said that users are willing to pay for quality when it comes to Open Source software, and the results of the survey have confirmed as such, said Gary Tyreman, Univa CEO. A large number of organizations use Open Source Grid Engine as a key ingredient in product development, but as the company grows they cant afford to rely on unsupported Open Source Grid Engine. That is when they can turn to us for peace of mind, scalability and reliability provided by our team and proven Univa Grid Engine.

The key product development departments of a business where most mission-critical software resides - engineering and R&D rely most heavily on FOSS (32%). These trump executive (5%), legal (1%), finance (6%), sales (8%), HR (3%) and marketing (6%) combined. One in ten businesses uses FOSS across the board in every department, indicating how important FOSS is depended upon as the backbone of a company.

To download an infographic of the survey results, go to: https://www.yousendit.com/download/UVJqV0o5NmNVbThQWWNUQw

About Univa Corporation

Univa, the Data Center Automation Company, is the leading provider of automation andmanagement software for computational and big data infrastructures. Our products and global enterprise support give our customers the power to manage their entire computational space, no matter how big or where it is deployed. Many of the leading brands in the world depend on Univas unsurpassed expertise, and premier services and support. Univa is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, USA, with offices in Markham, ON, Canada; Austin, Texas, USA and Munich, Germany.

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75% of Enterprises Encounter Problems When Using Free and Open Source Software, According to Univa Survey

Taxpayers denied access to “return-free filing”

Last month, we detailed how Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, hasfoughta proposal that could make filing taxes easier and cheaper for millions of Americans.

As we noted, tax activist Grover Norquist and other conservatives havealso opposed the proposal, called return-free filing, which would give many taxpayers the option to receive a pre-filled return that they could simply review, sign and send back, all for free. Return-free filing has been endorsed by many experts and adopted by several European countries.

As it turns out, Norquist has also recently weighed in on the side of the tax prep industry on another issue.

A House bill introduced earlier this year would bar the IRS from offering taxpayers software that would compete with programs like TurboTax. In March, Norquist and otherswrote a letterto members of Congress that urged them to support the bill what they called a pro-taxpayer, anti-IRS power grab legislation.

At issue is how Americans file their taxes and whether electronic filing can be offered directly through the IRS.

The bill is called theFree File Program Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill. and Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wisc. It declares that the IRS, with a few narrow exceptions, may not establish, develop, sponsor, acquire, or make available electronic filing service or tax software.

Roskam declined to comment. Spokespeople for Kind and Norquist did not immediately respond.

The bill would also make permanent theFree Fileprogram, a public-private partnership between the IRS and the tax software industry created in 2002 to offer some taxpayers free electronic filing.

The industry group behind the programboaststhat almost all taxpayers can use software like TurboTax or more primitiveelectronic formsfor free. But access to the more sophisticated software is limited by income. Only about 3.5 million taxpayers used Free File last year, according to aTreasury Department tallythrough the end of April.

The pact governing the partnership, which countsIntuit as a member, includes a sweet deal for the industry: In return for the companies offering free software to some, theIRS agreed not to developits own free, online tax prep services. The current deal expires next year.

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Taxpayers denied access to “return-free filing”

Bloor Research and Confio Software to Discuss Wait-Based Approach to Database Performance Management in Live Webinar

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Bloor Research and Confio Software will discuss the advantages of using a wait-based approach to measure database performance in a free, live webinar on Thursday, Apr. 18 at 9:00 a.m. ET/2:00 p.m. GMT. In this webinar, called Best Practices in Database Performance Management with Bloor Research, Bloor Research Director Philip Howard will cover the three key elements for monitoring database performance and how a wait-based performance approach will help ensure optimum database performance. Sr. DBA and performance expert, Neil Hambly, will demonstrate how Confio Ignite, a wait-based performance monitoring tool, can be used to proactively manage database performance.

According to Bloor Research, a wait-based approach to measuring database performance is not only more intuitive, but is also more effective in identifying the root cause of database performance problems. Most database monitoring tools focus on server health. Server performance metrics provide a lot of information about what is happening but not about why it is happening. A time or wait-based approach monitoring what the database is waiting on is far more effective and enables DBAs to take a proactive approach to database performance management.

By integrating a wait-based approach for database performance monitoring also called Response Time analysis into Ignite, our customers can quickly pinpoint delays in their end-user service. This key feature enables DBAs, developers and IT managers to identify and troubleshoot performance problems before they disrupt production or performance, said Hambly.

DBAs, developers and IT managers interested in attending this free Confio webinar can register here.

To learn more about Confio Software or its flagship software Ignite, please visit http://www.confio.com.

About Confio Software

Confio Software is the leader in database DevOps performance solutions for DBAs, developers, and IT managers to accelerate application delivery, speed problem resolution, and reduce cost of IT operations. Confios flagship product, Confio Ignite improves software development and service delivery for systems based on Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2 and SAP Sybase databases, running on VMware virtual servers as well as physical servers. Recognized as the fastest-growing database performance solution company in the past two years, Confio has earned recognition on the Inc. 500/5000 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 lists. Founded in 2004, Confio products are developed and supported from the Boulder, CO headquarters. For more information visit http://www.confio.com.

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Bloor Research and Confio Software to Discuss Wait-Based Approach to Database Performance Management in Live Webinar