Linux has fewer bugs than typical commercial software, says testing tools vendor Coverity. The company says the 2.6 Linux kernel has one bug for every 5,787 lines of code, compared to the commercial software norm of one bug per 40 lines.

Coverity markets source code analysis software, including a product called SWAT that "simulates the effects that the operations in the source code might have" in runtime environments. The company says this approach finds more potentially disastrous bugs than competing code analysis tools that simply scan for known, dangerous coding patterns and sloppy coding constructs.

Coverity says its project to analyze Linux source code began in 2000, at the Stanford University Computer Science Research Center, as part of a research initiative to improve software industry engineering processes. The company was founded by five of the lead Stanford researchers involved in that project, it says.

Commercial software typically has 20 to 30 bugs for every thousand lines of code, according to Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab Sustainable Computing Consortium, as cited by Coverity. The production 2.6 Linux kernel has 5.7 million lines of code, but only 985 bugs, Coverity says, including 627 bugs in critical parts of the kernel, 568 crash-causing bugs, 25 buffer overruns, 33 resource leaks, and 100 security bugs.

Lead Linux kernel maintainer Andrew Morton said, "We've already addressed the top priority bugs that Coverity has uncovered. It's a very useful system for high quality code. This is a benefit to the Linux development community, and we appreciate Coverity's efforts."

Coverity CEO Seth Hallem said, "Our findings show that Linux contains 0.17 bugs per thousand lines of code, an extremely low defect rate and evidence of the strong security of Linux. Many security holes in software are the result of software bugs that can be eliminated with good programming processes."

Coverity says it will periodically publish free summary results of its Linux bug analyses.

Cybersource has updated a 2002 study that compares the costs of Linux and Windows systems. The Australian IT services firm's latest findings suggest that Linux systems can be up to 36 percent less costly to install and run over a period of three years, in comparison to comparable Windows systems.

However, when mandatory software programs, subscription support services, and hardware acquisitions are taken into account, that savings could be reduced by nearly half, to 19 percent, the study notes.

CyberSource, which claims to have published the first Linux TCO (total cost of ownership) study back in 2002, has now updated its report to include current pricing, mandatory support contracts, and a synopsis of Microsoft's controversial Software Assurance software licensing policy.

The question of Linux versus Windows TCO has raged for more than a year. Many analyst firms have weighed in on the issue, only to be accused of bias, flawed methodology, or influence due to the pay-for-evaluation model.

Many independent reports, including a "real world case study" published by DesktopLinux.com, consistently place the savings at around 35 percent for systems running Linux.

PalmSource announced today that it will soon offer PalmOS as a middleware and application stack for Linux mobile phones. "PalmOS for Linux" will target smartphone manufacturers in China, initially, but will soon be offered globally and may also target PDAs. To gain a China presence and jumpstart the program, PalmSource has acquired successful mobile phone software startup China MobileSoft, which it also announced today.

Read more about this exciting development at LinuxDevices.com, and be sure to follow the link to an extensive open letter to the Linux community from PalmSource vice president of engineering, Mike Kelley.

Efrain Rovira, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s worldwide director of Linux marketing, wants one thing perfectly clear: HP is taking Linux very seriously.

"Linux is a very important customer trend that goes beyond the operating system. Customers want to do a lot more with less money," Rovira said. "We understand that, so we've made Linux one of our three key operating systems: Windows, Unix and Linux."

HP's open-source plans aren't limited to Linux, though. The company recently partnered with open-source middleware vendor JBoss Inc. and database vendor MySQL AB.

Novell has issued a response to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's latest attack on Linux. The Linux software maker accuses Microsoft of using biased reports to back up its claims, and has launched a web page dedicated to debunking the myths, called "Unbending the Truth: Things Microsoft Hopes You Won't Notice."

Novell says it is focused on setting the record straight, and urges the public to explore the facts and dicover why Linux is often a better choice for satisfying enterprise business needs.

Microsoft's latest attack on Linux was widely reported last week. Chief executive Steve Ballmer's repeated the key themes of Microsoft's "Get The Facts" campaign, in an email message sent to Microsoft customers and partners. The campaign claims that Windows is a better choice than Linux in terms of security, training, total cost of ownership (TCO), and protection against legal action over patent violations.