After a lot of harsh criticism (even cursing at times), Linus Torvalds seems rather satisfied with the new General Public Licence, which addresses Novell-type deals. This is of course excellent news.

Linus Torvalds, leader of the Linux kernel project and a major figure in the open-source programming movement, said Wednesday he's "pretty pleased" with changes in a third draft of the General Public License (GPL) released Wednesday.

What could be even better for the GPL? Well, Dell has decided to give away GPL-licensed drivers, to be added to the Linux kernel. It has also confirmed that Linux-loaded laptops and desktops are on their way.

Dell has heard you and we will expand our Linux support beyond our existing servers and Precision workstation line. Our first step in this effort is offering Linux pre-installed on select desktop and notebook systems. We will provide an update in the coming weeks that includes detailed information on which systems we will offer, our testing and certification efforts, and the Linux distribution(s) that will be available. The countdown begins today.