Linux News for Mar 31, 2008

• OOXML Woes Continue as Norway Files Protest with ISO Relating to its Own Vote (Mar 31, 2008, 23:15)
  ConsortiumInfo: "How can all of this be true in a country like Norway? Elections this flawed usually only occur in Florida..."


• Ulteo Application System Beta 1 [Review] (Mar 31, 2008, 22:30)
  FOSSWire: "Rather than being just another Linux distribution, founder Gaël Duval (previously of Mandriva fame), wants to simplify the way you use your computer and your digital life. Apparently..."


• SliTaz GNU/Linux, The Smallest "Desktop" Distro Ever Created (Mar 31, 2008, 21:00)
  Tech Source From Bohol: "The smallest distribution that I've used so far is Geexbox at 8MB. But, it can't be considered as a complete 'desktop' distro since it only specializes in playing multimedia files..."


• One Step Forward: A Review of GNOME 2.22 (Mar 31, 2008, 20:15)
  Ars Technica: "The latest release of the GNOME desktop environment includes a number of significant architectural enhancements and new applications that offer increased power and usability..."


• Opening Up the Open-Source List (Mar 31, 2008, 19:30)
  eWeek: "I put out a list of open-source business influencers recently, knowing full well that it would cause some controversy..."


• Microsoft's Great Besmirching (Mar 31, 2008, 18:45)
  Linux Journal: "To be sure, Microsoft has crossed the line several times, but it has always worked within the system, however much it has attempted to use it for its own ends. No more..."


• Future Open Source Superstars (Mar 31, 2008, 18:00)
  Socialized Software: "This week's Open Source Business Conference was a strange meeting of Enterprise IT users, venture capitalists, and free software entrepreneurs..."


• Microsoft's New Weapon Against Open Source: Stupidity (Mar 31, 2008, 17:15)
  Open Source Initiative: "An Information Week article published last week appears to position Microsoft as trying to do something right when it comes to open source..."


• Linux Destined for Low-Cost Intel Atom PCs (Mar 31, 2008, 16:30)
  CNET News: "Intel's low-cost Atom processors will be at the core of inexpensive PCs. And inexpensive computers these days often come with Linux..."


• Companies Lag Govt in Open Source (Mar 31, 2008, 15:45)
  iTWeb: "Government is increasingly using open source solutions, or hybrid models that combine it with some proprietary software, while commercial organisations are still proprietary-oriented..."


• Firefox 4 Will Push Out the Edges of the Browser (Mar 31, 2008, 15:00)
  Webware: "After the product road map roundtable I live-blogged Wednesday, I had a talk with Chris Beard, VP of Labs for Mozilla. Beard is working on the things you won't see in Firefox 3, but will, if he has his way, surface in Firefox 4..."


• Mozilla Turns 10 Today (Mar 31, 2008, 14:15)
  LizardWrangler: "March 31, 1998 is the date that Mozilla was officially launched..."


• Is OOXML a Done Deal? (Mar 31, 2008, 13:30)
  internetnews.com: "Some Microsoft opponents admit OOXML will probably become an ISO standard..."


• Adobe Brings AIR to Linux, Joins Linux Foundation (Mar 31, 2008, 12:45)
  CNET News: "Adobe Systems on Monday is expected to release an alpha version of AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) and announce that it is joining the Linux Foundation..."


• Laptop Training Begins in Peru (Mar 31, 2008, 12:00)
  MIT Technology Review: "As teachers converge, One Laptop per Child takes a big leap from pilot program to large-scale national execution..."


• WordPress 2.5 Review (Mar 31, 2008, 11:22)
  

  I have been blogging for many years. During that time I have used many other platforms including hosted software from BlogCity. TypePad, and Blogger. I also used Moveable Type briefly and a highly customized version of Joomla! (before that MamboCMS). Last fall I switched to WordPress as my primary blog platform. Though I haven't been bowled over by WordPress I have come to the conclusion that it is the best blogging platform for me because it's easy-to-use, has the widest variety of features, extensible, and it's open source (with a thriving community of developers--over 90 developers were credited with contributing to this release).



• Universities Build Open Source Enterprise Applications (Mar 31, 2008, 10:30)
  NetworkWorld: "They're building a set of enterprise applications--the big, important, mission-critical ones that have long been the exclusive domain of software companies such as Oracle, SAP and Microsoft..."


• Future Open Source Superstars (Mar 31, 2008, 10:06)
  This week's Open Source Business Conference was a strange meeting of Enterprise IT users, venture capitalists, and free software entrepreneurs. The opening keynote was delivered by Red Hat's freshly minted CEO Jim Whitehurst who gave a very modest speech noting that while Red Hat has been a leading open source company they have not necessarily been an open source leader.


• Plans for the Linux-next Tree (Mar 31, 2008, 09:00)
  KernelTrap: "'Now that we are (presumably) approaching the next merge window, can I ask what use (if any) will you be making of the linux-next tree...?'"


• Texmaker Tames LaTeX (Mar 31, 2008, 07:30)
  Linux.com: "Texmaker is an editor for the document markup language LaTeX. It lets you concentrate on the content of a document, while the underlying LaTeX engine takes care of the layout..."


• Filing US Federal Taxes Under Linux (Mar 31, 2008, 00:00)
  Linux.com: "Filling out tax returns has traditionally been an area where Linux comes up short compared to the proprietary platforms, but you actually have several options for using commercial income tax products on a Linux platform..."