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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc. said on Wednesday it launched iTunes Plus, a new copy protection-free music download service featuring artists with EMI Group including Coldplay, The Rolling Stones and Joss Stone.

[Here's one for digital freedom - dcparris]

BOSTON (Reuters) - A foundation that owns rights to much of the code behind Linux software has decided not to carry out threats to punish Novell Inc. (NOVL.O: Quote, Profile, Research over a deal with Microsoft Corp, a person familiar with the matter said.

Lots of news from Dell about Linux lately. A few weeks ago, Dell said they planned to preload Ubuntu Linux version 7.04 on three new PCs, two desktops and a laptop. Desktops were expected, but the laptop was a nice touch. So many laptop parts are customized many Linux distributions have trouble running on them.

The Scientific Linux team last weekend released its Live CD 5.0 for i386 and x86_64 architectures, following on the heels of its Live DVD 5.0 release earlier this month. As is expected from a live CD, Scientific Live CD 5.0 boots and runs the distribution directly from the CD, according to spokesman Urs Beyerle.

Mobile phones based on Linux operating systems are set for strong growth over the next few years, according to a report from market watcher Strategy Analytics.

Handheld device maker tries to bridge gap between smartphone and laptop.

From black to red: Novel has turned a year-ago profit into loss as the impact from its controversial distribution and patent protection deal with Microsoft fades.

Thursday 31st May is the first ever Google Developer Day, with more than 5000 developers at 10 locations around the world taking part.

LXer Feature: 31-May-2007

After a month of absence I visited Distrowatch again, and found out I definitely missed something. A new Gentoo-based almost Ubuntu-like* distribution - called Sabayon (an Italian dessert) Linux - seemed to have appeared almost out of nowhere recently including a full-blown portal website. This is even more true if you know Sabayon Linux only has three main developers.

"Let's give this a spin" I thought, and I was stunned: "How did these developers make the most progressive but still stable desktop I have ever seen, with out-of-the-box 3D-desktop experience and tons of applications - all fitting on a LiveDVD?"
Soon, the distribution reached its preliminary goal of surpassing Gentoo at Distrowatch and became the fastest growing distribution of the last few months. To those who don't know Sabayon Linux yet, I'd say: "If less is more, than Sabayon Linux is most at least".

So far so good, you may think, but Sabayon Linux' main developer - Fabio Erculiani - sees an even bigger future for Sabayon Linux, after funding issues are resolved. Time to find out who are behind this user-oriented distribution.

[*In my opinion it's better, but to those who haven't tried Sabayon Linux yet, think Ubuntu, but more complete and more progressive - hkwint]

SEC document shows that Microsoft is entitled to receive key technical documentation from the Linux distributor -- even if that documentation is not generally available to open source software developers.

Effective immediately, Serenity Systems International will be distributing a GA version of OpenOffice.org 2.0.4 to all users who ordered the Support Agreement for OpenOffice.org product. This version has been compiled to run on IBM OS/2 and eComStation as a native application. OpenOffice.org version 1.1.5 will no longer be distributed.

Not since SCO has there been a company so reviled by the open source community as Novell following its deal with Microsoft. Already there are some clear signs of the negative effects of that anger: senior coders have left the company; Novell has posted a loss for the most recent quarter; and there are calls for a boycott of Novell products to say nothing of imminent changes to the GNU GPL that might well nullify the entire Novell-Microsoft deal. Some people are rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of Novell crashing and burning completely, but such a development could actually turn out to be one of the worst things to happen to free software.

Mark Shuttleworth has flown into space on a Soyuz TM-34 and founded Thawte Consulting that later sold to Verisign for over $500 million, but he is now known most for being the founder and leader of the Ubuntu Linux distribution. In addition to Ubuntu he also established HBD Venture Capital and is involved with several other free software projects. Earlier today we had spoke with Mark Shuttleworth to discuss the latest happenings in the Ubuntu world including Dell shipping Ubuntu PCs, getting open-source drivers from hardware vendors, and what is coming down the road for Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon.

It's important for everyone to understand that the issue of mutual respect for intellectual property rights was an important one for not just Microsoft, but for every participant in the industry, Microsoft stated.

This is the third in our series of video segments from our interview with Professor Eben Moglen. The way he tells it, there are lots of reasons to feel sympathy for Microsoft.

Maintaining an installed base of Linux machines can be a harrowing experience for an administrator. This tutorial is the first in a two-part series that shows you http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/l-dw-linux-lockdown1-i... and why to lock those machines down to streamline the associated support and administration processes. In this tutorial, you learn how to remove the interpreters from the installation base system.

If you use a traditional desktop like GNOME or KDE, a keyboard-controlled desktop with a minimum of utilities may seem like stepping back 10 or 15 years in the history of interface design. Why bother, when traditional desktops are easy to use and RAM and disk space are so cheap nowadays?

RPM Package Manager (RPM) relaunched under rpm5.org with a roadmap towards RPM 5.0 http://rpm5.org/ -- 2007-05-29 -- at its 10th anniversary and together with a new roadmap towards version 5.0, the project environment of the popular Unix software packaging tool RPM Package Manager (RPM) was relaunched under the domain rpm5.org by the newly formed RPM project team, further on lead by RPM's primary developer Jeff Johnson.

- Revenue grows year-over-year, driven by continued strength in Linux Platform Products - Improved profitability on a non-GAAP basis

KWin, KDE's window manager, has been around since KDE 2.0 (replacing KWM in KDE 1.x) and has grown to be a mature and stable window manager over the years. For KDE 4, however, there were a few people rumbling about visual effects, and perhaps KWin was feeling a little envious of its younger cousins Compiz and Beryl.