No explanation for the PC giant’s decision was given, according to Stephen Vaughan-Nichols. Presumably, after years of shouldering the unwanted burden of supporting Microsoft operating systems, the vendor was loathe to increase the burden on its support staff further.
Ubuntu overlord Mark Shuttleworth announced today that the codename for Ubuntu 9.04, which is expected to arrive in April, will be Jaunty Jackalope. Ubuntu releases are issued every six months and include the latest versions of popular open source software applications. Shuttleworth believes that Ubuntu is ready to compete with Windows and Mac OS X and he expects to see the open source Linux distribution ship on millions of devices in the coming year.
A few weeks ago, when I wrote that, “forced to choose, the average FOSS-based business is going to choose business interests over FOSS [free and open source software] every time,” many people, including Mathew Aslett and Matt Assay, politely accused me of being too cynical. Unhappily, you only have to look at the relations between Red Hat and Fedora, the distribution Red Hat sponsors, during the recent security crisis for evidence that I might be all too accurate.
Linux Mint 5.0 (”Elyssa”) is available in a lightweight flavor suitable for older hardware, thanks to its use of the ultra-lightweight XFCE window manager. At the same time, the release features the option of fancy Compiz desktop graphics, for those who like eye candy.
Since quite early on, we have been covering the evolving Fedora 10 artwork. Fedora has a long track record of producing amazing themes and it is obvious to me that this release will live up to that expectation. Now that the second deadline has past, it appears that only a few themes are left. Of these, all of them would make great themes. My favorites, though, are these.
Before debating the relative merits and shortcomings of Linux and Windows, it helps to understand the real distinctions between them. Jack Wallen has distilled the key differences into one list.
As we all know, there are a vast amount of applications available for Ubuntu. People outside the Linux scene will probably have heard and used the most famous open source apps (such as Firefox), but there are a select few programs that are either insanely cool and innovative, or just extremely polished. They might not even be well known within the Linux community, but they make the overall experience that much better for everyone.
We asked the devoted Linux users, the dual-Windows-and-Linux-booters, and the newer converts to the open-source operating system last week why they made the switch to Linux, and received over 330 responses as of this posting. The answers were sometimes level-headed, often passionate in their embrace of open-source culture, and occasionally induced a laugh (or a cringe) with tales of the last straw before switching.
KDE 4.1, released last month, brought a great number of improvements to the popular desktop environment. It’s the best desktop I’ve ever used — but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be better. Here are 10 features that would be great additions to a future KDE release that I hope the developers will consider.
For everyday users, the semantic desktop will allow enhanced searching of the type that has already been introduced by applications like Beagle, but with more user control than any existing program. For more sophisticated users, such as academic researchers, while Nepomuk will not actual do data-mining itself, it will assist such processes.