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The myths persist, however, when it comes to Linux. In the eyes of many computer users, Linux is perceived as largely functional, mostly restricted to running servers, office tasks and web browsing.

It's time to stop treating Microsoft like a purely evil corporation aimed at the destruction of open standards. Let's match Microsoft in their moves towards interoperability.

You can search Google.com from the Linux command line without using a CLI web browser like lynx or Elinks. All you need is the curl and html2text packages installed. Then you issue the following command: curl -A Mozilla http://www.google.com/search?q=Linux |html2text -width 80 where you can replace Linux with another keyword of your choice. The results will be displayed in your console application with a width of 80.

Computerworld’s Preston Gralla blogged the other day that Microsoft, in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, admitted that Microsoft is afraid of Linux, specifically Ubuntu maker, Canonical, and one of the grand daddies of Linux distributions, Red Hat. And with Windows 7 now released to the large volume customers, the debate of the desktop is again back in the cross hairs.

This week at Phoronix began by learning that Compiz is now running on ATI R600/700 GPUs when using the latest open-source Mesa / DRM stack. Owners of ATI Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000 series graphics cards are now just a step away from finding "out of the box" open-source 3D acceleration support. On that same day there was also the release of the OpenGL 3.2 specification, but that didn't come as a surprise.

On July 7, internet search giant Google not only announced its operating system Google Chrome OS with much fanfare, it also quietly released Neatx, an open source NX server. According to the announcement, Google has been looking at remote desktop technologies for quite a while. While the X Window System has issues with network latency and bandwidth, the NX protocol compresses X requests and reduces round-trips, resulting in much better performance — to the point that it can be used over network connections with low bandwidth.

"... this Firefox version, carries the code name "Namoroka" Alpha 1, and it is also currently referred to as Firefox.next. And like other Firefox Alphas, it does not bare the Firefox logo. This release uses the Gecko 1.9.2 engine and will likely include several interface improvements in later versions, such as new graphical tab-switching behavior, which was removed from 3.5 with Beta 2."

It isn't unknown that Linux/UNIX systems have a powerful CLI. The heritage of these operating systems is in the CLI, and applications are still written for it. Here is a run down of some of the more popular CLI apps.

Nagios provides a monitoring option to evaluate routers and switches using SNMP, Simple Network Management Protocol. This course will show you how to set up Nagios and specifically how to locate the information you want to monitor with SNMP on a Cisco router. This is a Free Course available to anyone.

The SCO litigation against — well, let's be honest, against anyone they can think of — has gone on and on and on. As 2007 drew to a close, it seemed the end was in sight, after the company was forced to seek bankruptcy protection to avoid being thrashed in court — which eventually happened anyway. Now it seems the end may really be in sight.

Canonical is diversifying how it delivers Landscape — a remote management tool for Ubuntu servers, desktops and mobile devices. The forthcoming Canonical moves have clear implications for Ubuntu customers, resellers and managed service providers. Here’s some analysis.

The Linux Mint project has been releasing versions of its Ubuntu 9.04-based Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" distro over the last few months and has now released a final KDE version. Gloria KDE Community Edition offers various ease of use enhancements, and greatly improved installation features.

Mark Shuttleworth has offered to put more Canonical employees on to Debian at the expense of Ubuntu, in a potential compromise with angry Debian developers. The offer is designed to help Debian hit a proposed code freeze date for the next version of the Linux distro in December. Shuttleworth said the diversion would mean "we'll get less done" on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian.

"I find it impossible to believe that nobody in the Fedora-/Ubuntu-/Debian-/whatever-team has ever heard about this."

I was having dinner with friends the other day and we started talking about word processing programs we'd all used in office jobs. "You know, I've been using Word for over 20 years," I said, and immediately felt older than dirt. But it was true.

[While not exactly FOSS news, this is pretty much an obituary for Microsoft Word and all word-processing apps. Best article I've seen in some time - Steve]

Following the article on configuring Urban Terror, a popular first-person shooter game based on the ioQuake3 engine, here is a guide for configuring the original ioQuake3 game, including customisation of cvars, using new maps, weapons and characters models, and more. This guide will also successfully apply to the newer OpenArena game, which is practically ioQuake3 with changed weapons, maps and models.

A new site, UKGovOSS.org, has been launched by Public Sector Forums to encourage discussion about open source and open standards in government. The UKGovOSS.org was created to continue the discussion which started at PSF's Local Government Open Source Conference in April 2009.

After almost two weeks in the Spanish province of Extremadura, the free project Debian appears satisfied with the outcome and promises the next release “Squeeze” will benefit from the meeting.

Using computers doesn't require any kind of special geek talents, just study and a mind open to letting some actual knowledge in. Anyone can learn anything, despite the tireless efforts of the astrofudsters to persuade us otherwise.

I'm at a slight disadvantage in not having read or reviewed the first edition of this book. Based on the reviews of the first edition though, it seems to have been very successful with its readership. This second edition is touted to have been updated with newer techniques for larger projects. I can only imagine that was some of the feedback from people who liked the previous incarnation, but wanted to apply it to broader contexts. We'll see how this edition presents to the first time reader.