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While the current economy presents challenges, the upcoming So Cal Linux Expo looks to be be very successful.

On January 5, Doc Searls asked What would you use Exchange for? A good question and based on the number of comments, it is generating a lot of discussion. As someone currently embedded in a primarily Windows environment, I want to know where the enterprise management tools for the Linux desktop are?

This article explains how you can protect your piece of digital content—whether it be documents, audio tracks, video clips, or cropped images that end users can download with their favorite browser.

We are preparing to release Phoronix Test Suite 1.6 "Tydal" later this month, which is our largest and most significant update to date. Phoronix Test Suite 1.6 has quite a few changes internally as well as a number of new features and added tests. While there are over 200 changes making up this release codenamed Tydal, in this article we are sharing some of the most significant work in this forthcoming release.

In addition to moving forward with the Windows 7 public beta, Microsoft says the beta no longer has a 2.5 million user limit. It begs the question: With demand so hi for the beta, is Microsoft really losing momentum? Not if beta testers are an indication.

It seems that much drama roils behind the OpenOffice scenes, with some saying it's a dying mess thanks to Sun's mismanagement. Then there is Go-OO, which could be a sneaky attempt to implant nasty Microsoft technologies into an important FOSS software suite. Bruce Byfield heroically attempts to sort out the whole mess and figure out what's really going on.

The Linux Foundation (LF) is now accepting 60-second video entries for its "I'm Linux" contest, which spoofs recent Apple and Microsoft commercials. The winner will receive a free trip to Tokyo to participate in the LF's Japan Linux Symposium in October 2009, says the nonprofit group.

Want to know who the major contenders are in the virtualization space?

I took Ric Storms' suggestion to remove the Opera Flash plugin from my OpenBSD 4.4 installation to see if that will keep the Opera Web browser from crashing either itself or the whole of X and leaving between two and four errant processes running in its wake.

The New York Times has published an interview story on Mark Shuttleworth, apparently made during Canonical's Ubuntu Developer Summit last month at Google's Mountain View headquarters. Ashlee Vance, story author, appears to view Ubuntu -- despite many successes -- as the flashy but flawed plaything of a quixotic billionaire.

Code::Blocks is a complete, cross-platform integrated development environment for C and C++, built using the wxWidgets toolkit. Code::Blocks is available on Linux, Windows and OS X, so you may find it useful on Linux if you switched and are already used to it or an IDE like Dev-C++, for example.

In my last post I wrote about the premature failure of my Sylvania g Netbook. I also noted that the dealer, J&R Music World of New York City, offered an immediate exchange. I called to follow up this morning and I should have my replacement on the way very shortly. I also am being reimbursed for the shipping and insurance charges to return the netbook. In addition the price has dropper by $40 since I ordered mine and I am, in fact, receiving a $40 credit as well.

This last Christmas, I refurbished and installed computers for two of my children. As we still have a pile of old games in a drawer, I wanted to provide multi-boot systems. This was much easier and more satisfying than the last time I set up a Linux/Windows dual boot system (with LOADLIN.EXE, which I can’t really recommend today). I also wanted to test out the current state of FreeDOS (a GNU GPL-licensed operating system that emulates parts of MS-DOS 3.3 and MS-DOS 6.0). I did try installing ReactOS 0.3.7 instead of Windows on one of the systems, but I ran into installation problems I couldn’t work around (a topic for a later column, perhaps), owing no doubt to the immaturity of the (“alpha”) software. Read the full story at Freesoftware Magazine.

Bluefish, long-favored among DesktopLinux editors, has come out tops in a "shoot-out" between seven different text editing software packages for Linux. Evaluated in the context of HTML authoring, Bluefish is praised for its broad multi-language support, built-in reference material, and ease of use.

Sander dared us all to top the story of "Why Windows 7 will crush Linux". This is my submission - but not without a grain of truth.

LinuxQuestions.org is proud to announce that voting for the 2008 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards is now open. The Members Choice Awards allow the Linux community to select their favorite products in a variety of categories. Awards will be given out in 26 categories this year, including Server Distribution of the Year, Desktop Distribution of the Year, Browser of the Year, Office Suite of the Year, Desktop Environment of the Year and Database of the Year. The polls will close on February 12th. This is the eighth annual LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards. Last years winners include Ubuntu, Firefox, KDE, OpenOffice.org and MySQL.

Fonality, a small provider of open source unified communications software originally based on Asterisk (the IP PBX), is expected to announce a distribution deal with Tech Data on January 12. This is the latest in a growing list of channel wins for Fonality, and it reinforces Asterisks’ growing momentum among solutions providers. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

Search giant Google releases test version of Chrome 2.0 browser for Windows but says Linux and Mac users will have to wait until later this year for native versions for those platforms.

The Firebird project publishes the following roadmap. During this year, Firebird users can expect more supported releases (2.1.x and 2.5.0) and the first alpha of FB 3. Many new features are planned, as described in the roadmap.

Fedora Project Leader Paul Frields has named the winner of the Fedora 11 naming sweepstakes...and the winner is: LEONIDAS. Leonidas (and his band of over 300) beat out Blarney, Brasilia Claypool, Duchess, Euryalus, Indomitable, and Zampone as names for Fedora 11.