According to foreign media reports, Likewise Software recently launched Likewise Open, an Active Directory software specifically designed for Linux systems. Active Directory is a directory service that stores relevant information about objects on the network and makes this information available for use by users and network administrators. Although Microsoft's Active Directory can also be used on Linux systems, the process is very complex. Recently, Likewise launched Likewise Open 4.0, a cross-platform authentication software specifically designed for Linux systems. This is an open-source community project that allows Active Directory authentication for Linux.