The 10 Coolest Open Source Products Of 2008

OpenOffice.org 3.0

The popular -- and free -- open source productivity suite hit its milestone 3.0 version in 2008, making it more clear than ever that its functionality and compatibility with Microsoft Office (including OpenOffice Impress, which is PowerPoint compatible) make it a force to be reckoned with. With an acquisition cost of between $150 and $200 less than Microsoft Office 2007, it could have a big year in a down economy in 2009.

IBM Lotus Symphony

IBM has taken great pains to position itself as more of a middleware company than a desktop productivity software company, but diverged from that path a bit in 2008. By launching and upgrading its IBM Lotus Symphony suite of productivity apps based on OpenOffice.org, IBM is once again using the Lotus brand to take aim against Microsoft on the desktop.

Firefox 3.0

Die-hard Firefox users showed thanks for the Mozilla community's efforts to eliminate memory leaks and other annoyances in the most recent iterations of the open-source browser. Features like its "awesome bar" are also helping it continue to gain market share against Microsoft Internet Explorer, even as it's fending off new challenges from Google's new Chrome browser.

Laconica

If microblogging site Twitter became the social networking smash of 2008, 2009 could be a great year for the open-source microblogging platform called Laconica. The best-known site using that code, Identi.ca, allows communication through browsers, e-mail and SMS messaging -- giving a powerful, free alternative to those seeking to build their own social networking or microblogging platforms.

Fedora 9

Test Center highlighted three intriguing aspects for Fedora 9: the new desktop schemes, the new package management system and back-end improvements to memory usage and performance. On the desktop front, Fedora 9 Beta offers GNOME 2.22 and KDE 4.0.2 as the defaults. GNOME 2.22 in Fedora 9 has better file system performance, security improvements and the ability to manage power right at the login screen (quite handy on a laptop). There's also better Bluetooth integration, especially for Palm devices.

Ubuntu 8.10

Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition, nicknamed "Intrepid Ibex," provides so much functionality and ease of use, at zero cost of acquisition, that it is really impossible to ignore. For anyone or any business not tied to Microsoft legacy desktop applications, Ubuntu 8.10 may realistically be considered a smarter choice in many scenarios.

OpenSuSE 11

Novell didn't launch a new version of its SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop in 2008, but it did shepherd the OpenSuSE community that delivered OpenSuSE 11. OpenSUSE is powerful, and improvements in usability, performance and stability should attract and win back users from other Linux distributions. There is some business advantage to consider OpenSUSE instead of Ubuntu or Fedora because of Novell's relationship with Microsoft, such as the tweaks to OpenOffice.org that make document conversion and migration easier, as well as the hypervisor adapter support. OpenSUSE is probably best for power users, those who can take advantage of the virtualization support and those with more experience using Linux.

Novell JeOS

SUSE Linux Enterprise JeOS (pronounced "juice"), the beta "Just enough" operating system from Novell is a lightweight and barebones version of the company's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The code base is SLES 10 Service Pack 2. The stripped-down operating system is intended specifically for virtual appliances. Applications certified to run on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server will carry that certification onto the JeOS platform as well.

Ubuntu 8.04

A big difference between Windows and Ubuntu (besides that Ubuntu is free) is that Canonical, which oversees Ubuntu's development, provides new releases every six months. With Ubuntu 8.04, also known as "Hardy Heron," Canonical will provide support and updates through 2011 -- making it its "LTS" (long-term support release.)

It's also the first Ubuntu OS that provided rich support for Wubi -- a Windows-based installer that writes the entire Ubuntu OS as a file on a Windows machine. With Wubi, there is no partitioning of the disk drive, so Ubuntu can be installed onto an existing Windows machine without losing any data. Just as Boot Camp brought the Mac to Windows users, users interested in Linux but uncomfortable about losing legacy Windows apps now have a painless option at their fingertips.

Android

Android, the Google-driven open source platform for mobile devices, jumped into the market in 2008 with the clear aim of taking on Apple's iPhone platform. For developers, Android opens up many doors and possibilities for creating mobile apps, and gives them control over items like remapping buttons and using hardware such as the GPS chip and Wi-Fi. Android changed the way technology makers approach the mobile and handset space, and real traction could be coming in 2009.

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Intel releases quad-core notebook processor

The problem with computer chips? You can’t run just one, these days. Seems like everything’s got multiple chips or dual cores—it’s enough to make your head spin. The current king of the heap for the Mac is, naturally, the Mac Pro, boasting your choice of one or two quad-core Intel Xeon chips.

And, as legally obligated by that Moore fellow, processor companies continue to release new chips like clockwork (Get it? Because processors have clock spe—oh, never mind). Intel’s newest line, quietly unveiled this week, features five new mobile processors, including one quad-core model. In fact, PC maker Acer has already gone ahead and released their first notebook with the new Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000, running at 2.0GHz (pictured). With an 18.4-inch screen, the $1,799 Acer Aspire 8930G-7665—and won’t that be on the tip of the tongue of every kid this year—is classed as a gaming rig and desktop replacement.

Among the other chips in Intel’s new mobile line are the 2.93GHz T9800, the 2.66GHz P9600 Core 2 Duo, the 2.66GHz T9550, and the 2.53GHz P8700. The chips range in price from $241 to $530.

Intel is, of course, Apple’s exclusive chip supplier, so there's a pretty good chance that some of these powerhouses will make it into Apple’s portable line before too long. With its four cores, it seems likely that the Q9000 would be destined for the 17-inch MacBook Pro, but the other chips of the line could be candidates for the rest of the MacBook series as 2009 rolls around.

Researchers hack VeriSign's SSL scheme for securing Web sites

With the help of about 200 Sony Playstations, an international team of security researchers has devised a way to undermine one of the algorithms used to protect secure Web sites — a capability that the researchers said could be used to launch nearly undetectable phishing attacks.

To accomplish that, the researchers said today that they had exploited a bug in the MD5 hashing algorithm used to create some of the digital certificates used by Web sites to prove they are what they claim to be. The researchers said that by taking advantage of known flaws in the algorithm, they were able to hack VeriSign Inc.'s RapidSSL.com certificate authority site and create fake digital certificates for any Web site on the Internet.

Hashes are used to create a digital "fingerprint" that is supposed to uniquely identify a given document and can easily be calculated to verify that the document hasn't been modified in transit. But the flaw in the MD5 algorithm makes it possible to create two different documents that have the same numerical hash value.

That, the researchers said, explains how someone could create a digital certificate for a phishing site that has the same fingerprint as the certificate for a genuine Web site. They added, though, that they don't expect to see any actual attacks using the flaw that they exploited — a point that Microsoft Corp. seconded in a security advisory in which it downplayed the threat to Internet users.

Using their farm of Playstation 3 machines, the researchers built a rogue certificate authority that could issue bogus certificates. The Playstation's Cell processor is popular with code breakers because it is particularly good at performing cryptographic functions.

The researchers planned to present their findings today at the Chaos Communication Congress, a hacker conference being held in Berlin. Even before their talk took place, it already was the subject of speculation within the Internet security community.

The team that did the research work included independent researchers Jacob Appelbaum and Alexander Sotirov, as well as computer scientists from the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley.

Although the researchers believe that a real-world attack using their techniques is unlikely, they say their work shows that the MD5 algorithm should no longer be used by the certificate authority companies that issue digital certificates. "It's a wake-up call for anyone still using MD5," said David Molnar, a Berkeley graduate student who worked on the project.

In addition to VeriSign, TC TrustCenter AG, EMC Corp.'s RSA unit and Thawte Inc. use MD5 to generate their digital certificates, according to the researchers. They said that VeriSign also uses the algorithm on a certificate service offered through its Japanese Web site, in addition to RapidSSL.com.

Microsoft Release new Photosynthesis Product

What is Photosynth?

Imagine being able to share the places and things you love using the cinematic quality of a movie, the control of a video game, and the mind-blowing detail of the real world. With nothing more than a bunch of photos, Photosynth creates an amazing new experience.

Whether it’s a quiet creek in the woods of Pennsylvania, or the grandeur of the interior of St Paul’s cathedral, Photosynth puts you there like nothing else can.

It can capture the sweeping scale of a mile of the Grand Canal in Venice, and focus in on the exquisite rot at the waterline of a beautifully decaying palazzo doorway.

Want to share your amazing new room with your friends—after all what justice do a bunch of thumbnails do for a room that took you a month to decorate? Only a synth can capture every detail.

And it’s not just for spaces and places. Photosynth is an amazing way to share the full juicy details of the stuff in your life.

Go on, get synthing.

How does it work?

Photosynth is a potent mixture of two independent breakthroughs: the ability to reconstruct the scene or object from a bunch of flat photographs, and the technology to bring that experience to virtually anyone over the Internet.

Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point each photo was taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos. Photosynth was inspired by the breakthrough research on Photo Tourism from the University of Washington and Microsoft Research. This work pioneered the use of photogrammetry to power a cinematic and immersive experience

Providing that experience requires viewing a LOT of data though—much more than you generally get at any one time by surfing someone’s photo album on the web. That’s where our Seadragon™ technology comes in: delivering just the pixels you need, exactly when you need them. It allows you to browse through dozens of 5, 10, or 100(!) megapixel photos effortlessly, without fiddling with a bunch of thumbnails and waiting around for everything to load.

Windows 7 Leaked To The Internet

A trial version of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s forthcoming Windows 7 operating system showed up on the Internet over the weekend, according to numerous blog reports.

The beta version of the OS, reportedly Windows 7, build 7000, can be downloaded from several infamous torrent sites often used to share pirated content.

More Windows Insights

The Internet's influence is much in evidence in Poland's capital city – despite the best efforts of the French to bollocks it up.

Microsoft isn't planning to officially release beta copies of Windows 7 until its MSDN developers' conference in January. A final version of the OS isn't expected until late 2009 or early 2010.

Microsoft may not be overly displeased with the leak.

The company is urging partners to begin work on Windows 7 product development as soon as possible to avoid the sort of compatibility problems that plagued the launch of Windows Vista in January 2007.

Earlier this month, Intel (NSDQ: INTC) released a pre-production version of Windows 7 drivers for graphics chipsets. The WDDM1.1 graphics driver is designed for "enabling the full Windows 7 experience," Intel said, noting that the driver is the result of ongoing collaboration with Microsoft.

Drivers allow hardware components to communicate with a computer operating system.

When Vista launched in January of last year, many hardware makers -- including Intel -- didn't have fully compatible drivers ready. The problems marked the beginning of a slew of bad press for Vista that ultimately led many businesses and consumers to reject the operating system.

To avoid a repeat of those problems, Microsoft earlier this year ordered computer and other hardware makers to begin testing their devices on Windows 7 as soon as the first beta version becomes available.

Microsoft for the first time unveiled Windows 7 features at its Los Angeles Professional Developers Conference in October and appears anxious to release the OS as soon as possible. The company has formally said that Windows 7 won't ship until early 2010, but the January release of a beta disk is the latest sign that Windows 7 could debut in late 2009.

Microsoft is hoping Windows 7, which includes native support for touch screens, will help erase memories of Vista, which has been a disappointment for the company.