Canonical looks forward to working with the Linux Foundation to continue the march of Linux in all areas of computing.

Canonical, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, has joined the Linux Foundation to further accelerate the growth of Linux. Canonical supports a wide range of other open source projects including Bazaar, Storm and Upstart. Ubuntu has become a popular choice for the server and desktop as well as for the rapidly emerging areas of netbooks and mobile Internet devices.

“The Linux Foundation occupies a critical, non-commercial function in the use and popularisation of Linux around the world. We’ve always seen The Linux Foundation’s value and are pleased to now become an official member and support its activities. We look forward to working with them to continue the march of Linux in all areas of computing,” said Matt Zimmerman, Ubuntu programme manager and CTO, Canonical.

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Despite being only 15 years old, Debian is more mature than any of the other operating systems. And it is available for free to download and use.

The most popular and stable GNU/Linux operating system Debain has turned 15 today. In these last 15 years Debian has established itself as the most stable operating system. Most of the popular GNU/Linux distributions, like Ubuntu and Knoppix, are based on Debian.
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If Linux is going to make bigger inroads on the desktop, developers need to stop cloning Microsoft Windows and instead produce more unique user interface designs, according to Bob Sutor, IBM’s VP of open source and standards.

Sutor made these remarks today at the Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas, a day after IBM issued the latest in an eight-year series of Linux announcements, joining at LinuxWorld with Linux distributors Red Hat, Novell, and Canonical in an initiative to build “Microsoft-free PCs for business.”
The VP delivered his recommendations around more creative Linux user interfaces as part of a series of predictions about the future of Linux in the next decade. If developers are building applications for the traditional PC desktop, they are better off copying Apple Macintosh concepts about design and usability, Sutor maintained.

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KDE 4.1 has some of those cool features that make Vista and Mac look like kids!

This is going to give a hard time to any Vista or Mac. KDE brings to GNU/Linux the cool and bling factor with a complete arsenal of applications and tools with which you can conquer even Mars. While Windows enjoys the rich ecosystem where third-party players sell applications at a heavy price for the platform, in the world of Linux, everything is being created by a huge community which may outnumber the entire workforce of Microsoft. And all these applications and tools in Linux are available for free (free in terms of cost as well as freedom to modify it the way you want).

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A few weeks ago, the OpenSUSE Project announced the release of OpenSUSE 11.0, the “community” edition of SUSE Linux, Novell’s commercial Linux distribution. Like most recent distributions, OpenSUSE is made up of the usual suspects, including GNOME and KDE-based desktops, Live CD and full DVD installation options, and an online repository of software that can be installed using a GUI tool.

OpenSUSE started life as the offspring of SUSE Linux, a German company that based its distribution on Slackware, one of the oldest Linux distros. continue

The LinuxWorld conference programme will feature over 100 top-tier, educational sessions covering seven tracks that go deep into Linux and open source industry trends.
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In the span of a few minutes in San Francisco today, Steve Jobs stuck a needle in big balloons hanging over Google and Microsoft. By announcing and taking the wraps off MobileMe, Jobs and Apple did what Google and Microsoft have tried but have failed to do: Define the cloud, and turn it into a broad-based, software-as-a-service offering for anyone. It has potential to integrate work and life, documents and images, PCs and phones.

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At the Computex show on Monday in Taipei, Taiwan, ASUS introduced a slew of products, including the Eee Box B202. The Eee Box is the desktop equivalent of the ASUS EeePC . It’s relatively tiny, at 8.5 by 7.0 by 1.0 inches and only 2.2 pounds; That’s wider than the Apple Mac mini, but a lot shorter. With a new Intel Atom N270 processor (1.6GHz), between 1GB and 2GB of memory, integrated GMA 950 graphics, 802.11n, optional Bluetooth, and either an 80GB or 160GB hard drive, the Eee Box screams “Mac mini competitor.”

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One story not told often enough involves Linux’ growing domination of the embedded market.

In this space Linux usually stacks up against older Real Time Operating Systems (RTOS). The decision by Wind River, the largest RTOS vendor, to migrate toward Linux was a turning point.

There has been no turning back. But this is not an open source story. In fact, the embedded Linux business looks a lot like the rest of the embedded market.

Here is an example, Timesys providing subscriptions to its LinuxLink in order to help Tensilica customers get to market faster. Tensilica calls this a strategic partnership, alongside a deal with Embedded Alley Solutions to provide consulting and training.

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Thanks to a new joint effort between Intel and Wind River, you may soon be running Linux in your car.

The effort will run under the auspices of the Intel led Moblin.org effort and will deal specifically with the in-vehicle infotainment marketplace. The idea is to create a Linux based Open Infotainment Platform that will run on Intel’s Atom processor. According to a release issued by Wind River, BMW, Bosch and Delphi are among the companies that are already supporting the effort.

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Most all modern home computer users are switched on to the fact they have to protect their computer from nasties: anti-virus, anti-spam, firewalls have all entered the common vernacular. If you don’t use ‘that’ operating system from Redmond though does this still apply? And what packages should you use?

The short answer is yes, computer security is everyone’s responsibility. Ok, the case can be made that if your computer is used for a dedicated purpose and does not interact with a network or have any other connections made to it and it does not ever read any floppy disks or CDs or other media that it need not run any such applications.

However, such a computer would most likely be found as a back office financials system or running specialised scientific software in a laboratory. You most definitely wouldn’t be using it to read e-mail, browse the web, read iTWire or do your banking.

For those computers more prudence is required. We all know Microsoft Windows attracts virus writers and malware like faeces attracts flies whereas Linux users rarely get engaged in any debate on whether one anti-virus system is too bloated compared to another.

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Open source advocates have questioned Microsoft’s commitment to using open document standards in the future.

The computer giant has said it will implement use of the Open Document Format (ODF), “sometime next year”.

The Free Software Foundation Europe said: “It’s a step in the right direction but we are sceptical about how open Microsoft will be.”

The European Commission, which has fined Microsoft for monopolistic practice, welcomed the move.

“The Commission would welcome any step that Microsoft took towards genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor lock-in,” it said.

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