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Application launchers play an integral part in making the Linux desktop a more productive environment to work and play. They represent small utilities which offers the desktop user a convenient access point for application software and can make a real boost to users' efficiency.

Ubuntu lives in a special place between Windows and Mac OS X reserved only for Linux: more shine than Windows, less than OS X, resulting in a steaming pile of mediocrity. Since I've been involved in the Ubuntu world, I've witnessed countless examples of settling for the middle ground - it works, it does what it's meant to, but it doesn't stretch that extra bit further to make the user experience more enjoyable and hence the customers happier.

Embedded Linux is more popular now than ever, but because of its ease-of-use, flexibility, and, importantly, free licensing cost, developers have taken the mobile OS in a variety of directions. Google's Android, Intel and Nokia's MeeGo, and Palm's webOS are just three Linux-based distros found on mobile device today, with Ubuntu Lite both entering the tablet scene later this year.

Vinux is a remastered version of the popular Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx distribution optimised for the needs of blind and partially sighted users.. It provides three screen readers, two full-screen magnifiers, global font-size and colour changing facilities

My Ubuntu rants hold not a candle to this reasoned, impassioned commentary on what's wrong with open-source software in general — and the Ubuntu project in particular — from Benjamin Humphrey, who just happens to be a Ubuntu contributor. It appears in the nearly never-negative OMG! Ubuntu! blog with the title "Many hands make the light work; few make it shine."

If you have multiple machines in the same workspace, you probably use a KVM to manage them -- or maybe you even have multiple keyboards and mice. There's a better way! Synergy lets you share a single keyboard and mouse between multiple networked machines -- even across operating systems!

Canonical, the commercial presence behind the Ubuntu Linux distribution for servers and desktops, is in business to make money as well as to put out the best free operating system it can. Some businesses won't pay for support, some want basic support, and others (particularly companies making big investments in Linux for the first time) want all the hand-holding they can get. To better address the needs of different sets of customers, Canonical is packaging up its support services in a new way, which it calls Ubuntu Advantage.

Dropbox is a great way to synchronize files across multiple machines. A free basic Dropbox account gives you 2GB of storage, while pro paid accounts give you 50GB or 100GB of storage space. Dropbox works great on desktops; there are clients for Linux, Windows, and OS X. There are GUI tools provided to manage the Dropbox and set it up for these operating systems.

While Ubuntu and its derivatives (such as Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Netbook) are most popular on x86 and x86_64 systems along with a growing presence on ARM-based devices, ports of Ubuntu have been available for SPARC and IA64 architectures too. However, as the quality of these ports have been degrading, the IA64 and SPARC ports of Ubuntu Linux may be decommissioned during the Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" development cycle.

Ever since I have started learning and using Linux, this is something I always thought "was happening" and never knew when it will "really happen". And the thing is called mass Linux adoption. Why is it necessary? How is the likes of Android, MeeGo and Chrome OS is going to change the world as we know it forever?

NPR Logo National Public Radio (NPR), a non-profit membership organisation, has announced that it plans to open source its NPR Android application. Created in 1970, NPR is a privately and publicly funded US media organisation that produces and distributes news, talk and entertainment programming. The NPR app for Android devices was created by Google developer Michael Frederick in his spare time. With the application, users can read, listen or create playlists of NPR stories, share them with friends and live stream audio from hundreds of NPR radio stations.

A simple guide to the many mobile operating systems available. Android, Symbian, Bada, WebOS. The list goes on. The list of smartphone operating systems is growing by the day. Many are open source, a good number are proprietary and some are barely out of beta.

In this post I'll explain how to optimize the screen real-estate for Ubuntu Netbook Edition, increase battery life, replace OpenOffice with the new Zoho Webservice cloud application which comes in the Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx repositories and a lot more!

CIITIX-WiFi is a turnkey solution to your WiFi hotspot needs. Built onto the rock solid stable debian linux, setting up a secure (TTLS) WiFi hotspot is just a minute away. This guide shows how to set up an AAA server (authentication, authorization and accounting) with CIITIX-WiFi.

In which North Korea rolls out its new missile, the FBI works to undermine the CIA, and - who knows - Frank may have found where The Alexandria Project hackers hang out.

You'll find many Linux-based and/or open source options when searching for a Wi-Fi hotspot solution. Whether you're wanting to give away or charge your visitors for the wireless Internet, you should find something that will work. The best part is that most of these solutions are free -- you don't have to spends hundreds on a off-the-shelf hotspot gateway.

Linux Unified Kernel Benchmarked against Wine, the TestApi program mainly operates on file, registry and windows message. TestAll program integrates all the above operations tested.Tests program are coded in MFC.

The wild success of Linux in embedded space would lead to application development on an unprecedented scale for the various mobile Internet devices, which would lead to a renaissance of application development on the Linux desktop, which in turn would lead to the Ultimate Success of Linux on the Desktop and a world where we will finally get to say "This is the year of the $Expletive! Linux desktop."

This year, like every year, KDE will be present at Linuxtag, which is held from 9th to 12th in Berlin. As usual, visitors will be able to meet KDE contributors, chat about KDE and KDE-related topics, get a demonstration of the newest hotness that will be released as part of KDE SC 4.5.0 this summer, learn about the background of the KDE community and the technology it creates and of course just catch up with what's going on in KDE-land -- and that's a lot!

LXer Feature: 07-June-2010

Some of the big stories this week include Google switching out Windows for Linux and Mac, hackers promise a demo of Android rootkit, Linux users vs. Linux Culture, does the Internet make you smarter and a whole lot more. Enjoy!