Last year we had looked at The Greatest Linux Innovations Of 2007, and as this year ends, we have compiled a similar list of what we believe were some of the greatest Linux innovations or achievements of 2008. Among the innovations named this year were KDE 4, NetworkManager 0.7, new hardware companies standing behind open-source support, and the Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix.
This week I'm your straight reporter bringing you news of of updates, upgrades, and new releases in the world of Linux audio software. Development in this world is continuously productive, so I'll present only a selection of the Linux sound and music applications and utilities announced in the month of November in the year 2008.
What concerns me here is that schools tend to be teaching kids that using computers is about learning to use microsoft products such as word, powerpoint etc, all very well, but how about introducing elements of computer science into the classroom and not just leaving it as an option for further education. Anyhow, the event is fully talked about in the the tech guy podcast.
Here’s what happened: when I run Ubuntu, the old laptop is lively - it does what I tell it to do, right away and without complaint. But there is an unexpected side-effect: lately when I boot into Windows I find myself getting frustrated.
My forecast: netbooks are going to get even hotter in 2009 as buyers turn to affordable PCs with decent performance during an economic downturn. An alliance to watch: Acer and Canonical. As good as its netbooks are, Acer could benefit from Ubuntu, one of the most popular and user-friendly Linux distributions. Canonical, Ubuntu’s sponsor, stands to gain from a sharp rise in its installed base that a bundling deal with Acer would bring. What are these two waiting for?
The Linux-based machine will come loaded with loads of open source software as well as a G-Key, which is described as "a bootable USB key on which the Linux operating system, applications, and personal data are stored." Expect it to ship in white, black and pink sometime between January and the end of time for $400.
