Novell swears Microsoft deal panning out; others resist getting chummy with Windows maker. Motorola knows that product development needs to move quickly for the company to stay competitive -- and it’s using Linux to hasten the effort.

Alfresco Software's survey found that companies that decided to launch its software -- as opposed to those evaluating and testing the applications -- tended to prefer open source operating systems, application servers, databases and browsers. That is, when companies eventually adopted the open source content management application, they deployed it using Linux.

Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu Linux distribution, announced on July 22 at the Ubuntu Live conference in Portland, Ore., the availability of Landscape, its Web-based systems management program for Ubuntu servers and desktops.

Openads has developed an open source adserver now used by over 20,000 publishers. "The industry is generally in great shape with strong growth in ad markets across the globe," said CEO James Bilefield. "However, due to recent industry consolidation, publishers are telling us that there is now more need than ever before for truly independent and reliable solutions dedicated to their needs.

I received Gartner e-mail this week marketing their up-coming open-source summit. The message contains gems that illuminate Gartner's perspective on open source and the larger IT world.

HP says a broad range of its computer hardware running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 has been examined and certified as compliant under the international Common Criteria product-evaluation program backed by the U.S. government and sometimes required for government technology acquisitions.

I spotted four key developments in the Linux market -- including a possible surprise announcement from Hewlett-Packard Co. Here's a rundown of key open source developments investors should watch over the next few days.

Maarten Koster, President, Novell Asia Pacific, talks to Kushal Shah about the different strategies adopted by Novell and the company’s partnership with Microsoft.