GNU/Linux

• Macedonia and Ubuntu
  
  

  Two years later, in 2007, Macedonia became one of the few countries to roll out, en masse, Ubuntu throughout the educational system.

  
  
  
• We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet For $200. Help Us Build It.
• IBM nears a decade of Linux and open source
  
  

  After nearly a decade of active involvement in open source, IBM's commitment to Linux is broad and deep, said Inna Kuznetsova, the director of IBM Linux strategy &ndash. This vision of IBM's rapport with Linux is shared by most, but not all, IBM observers.

  
  
  
• Kernel Log: No unstable series; Linux 2008.7; dealing with security fixes
  
  

  He does not want to simply drop the 2.6 prefix – he and others do not like such high version numbers. That is why he is considering a model that roughly corresponds to the year and month – Linux 2.6.26 might then be called 2008.7.

  
  
  
• Ubuntu for business
  
  

  IT’S shaping up to be an exciting year for Ubuntu, the Linux distribution that can knock the socks off Windows Vista and free your company from expensive software licenses.

  
  
  
• Debian Project News - July 21st, 2008
  
  

  Luk Claes sent a release update regarding the upcoming stable release Debian 5.0 Lenny. An important part is, that starting with next week, the transition of packages from the unstable to the testing branch will be frozen to concentrate on: fixing the remaining bugs.

  
  
  
• Killing the Desktop Metaphor with GNOME
  
  

  The desktop metaphor as we typically know it reproduces some of the concepts of the real world, which brings its share of drawbacks. While GNOME still uses this metaphor by default, we can, however, customize it to fulfill more efficiently the needs of the increasingly complex information flow that we experience on a daily basis.

  
  
  
• what is KDE?
  
  

  whenever people ask me that question, I have trouble answering. what is KDE? it’s not just a desktop environment any more, not by a long shot. it’s a whole universe of software projects (one of which is a desktop environment).

  
  
  

F/OSS

• Study: IT jobs will drop in 2009
• Where Are IT Jobs Headed?
• Blog: SaaS and Open Source are Good for Customers ... Unfortunately
• Open-Source Databases MySQL, PostgreSQL, Adoption Rising
• Rightscale Partners with EnterpriseDB for Powerful Cloud Management and Open Source Database for the Enterprise
• GitHub unites Version Control with the Pastie
• Openbravo Releases New Version 2.40 of Leading ERP Solution
• LoopFuse and Acquia Team to Deliver LoopFuse OneView Integration Module for Drupal Social Publishing System
• Flavour of the Month: [Mozilla] Executive Director

Standards, Monopolies

• (2008-08-17) 'Who Owns Free Software? The Copyright and Patent Debate' speech at OSiM World, Berlin
• European Commission publishes draft of interoperability framework
• Business System Patents
• Extension of sound recordings and performers’ rights: an issue of fairness
  
  

  In setting up the rationalist background of his title, Professor Bently noted that the 2004 EC Staff Working Paper, the Gowers Report, and the EC-commissioned IVIR report had all approached the question rationally, with evidence-based and economic reasoning. Each had come out against extension.

  
  
  

Censorship Laws Via the "War on Child Porn" Excuse/Lie

• Comcast bows to child porn pressure [and to blindly kill tons of newsgroups]
  
  

  Cuomo is backing a "code of conduct" that requires ISPs to block web sites and newsgroups thought to be fiddling about with child pornography.

  
  
  
• Groups Urge FCC to Keep the Internet Open
• The Acceptable Face of P2P
• €£11m P2P stream project starts public trial

Windows

• Why windows why??
• Microsoft: No tech support for you
• If your SSD sucks, blame Vista, says SSD vendor