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Ubuntu Software Center (initially Ubuntu Software Store) was released with Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala and it currently has only a few of the features it was designed for, being just stage 1 out of 4. The Ubuntu Software Center is a graphical utility for package management in Ubuntu. In version 1, it builds on the basic philosophy of Add/Remove Applications with an easier-to-use design. In version 2, the primary goals are to take the place of Synaptic and apturl, and to include ratings and reviews of software. Let's take a deeper look to what we'll have with Ubuntu Software center version 2 and more.

As the weaker forms of wireless encryption fail, migrating to stronger encryption protocols becomes more urgent. Eric Geier shows how to configure Linux clients to use strong encryption to connect to wireless networks.

I received an invitation to get Google Wave and, with serious intent, decided to give it a whirl. After all, I had initial misgivings about Facebook and twitter, but now you can't blow me off of either one with a stick of dynamite. I figured (reluctantly...how many ways to communicate do I really need?) that Wave would be the next big app in my life to consume what little time I don't have. I even wrote a review on Wave a few weeks ago, so I was on my way, right? Wrong. What happened?

Find out how to create, edit and manage important documents with Zimbra Collaboration Suite using Linux User & Developer's indispensable step-by-step guide…

Richard Stallman's strong position against proprietary applications is butting heads with some members of the GNOME Foundation. A call to split with Stallman's GNU Project is being considered.

KDE4 users know Gwenview the default image viewer for KDE, but may not know that Gwenview is one of the best image viewers ever existed. It is fast, quick, modern, shiny, particularly in full-screen mode, and has basic photo editing functions.

Last week, on my opendotdotdot blog, I was praising the Australian government for its moves to open up its data. I was rapidly – and rightly – taken to task in the comments for failing to mention that government's efforts to impose direct, low-level censorship on the country's Internet feed.

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install Xen (version 3.0.3) on a CentOS 5.4 (x86_64) system. Xen lets you create guest operating systems (*nix operating systems like Linux and FreeBSD), so called "virtual machines" or domUs, under a host operating system (dom0). Using Xen you can separate your applications into different virtual machines that are totally independent from each other, but still use the same hardware.

On behalf of the developers of the BusyBox embedded utilities collection, the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) filed suit against 14 consumer electronics companies for violating GPLv2 licensing requirements. The lawsuit covers almost 20 Linux-based products, from companies including Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, and JVC, says the SFLC.

It's not like I actually did anything, but my issues regarding my Toshiba Satellite 1100-S101 laptop from the long-ago year 2001 and its Intel 82830 (aka 830m) video not working all that well in Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) have mostly disappeared.

Evidence of GPL Violations and Copyright Infringement Found in TVs, DVD Players, and Dozens of other Electronic Devices New York, NY, December 14, 2009//Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, and JVC are among the 14 consumer electronics companies named in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed today in New York by the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC). The SFLC is a non-profit law firm established in 2005 to provide pro-bono legal services to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) developers. The suit was filed on behalf of the Software Freedom Conservancy (Conservancy), the non-profit corporate home of the popular software application BusyBox and many other FOSS projects, and Erik Andersen, one of the program's principal developers and copyright holders. The suit charges each of the defendants with selling products containing BusyBox in violation of the terms of its license, the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2).

Linus Torvalds has merged the kernel code for the GeForce-compatible nouveau open source graphics driver as a staging driver into the Linux main development tree – from which kernel version 2.6.33 will emerge in around two and a half months. The 2.6.33 kernel should therefore support kernel-based mode setting on the bulk of Nvidia graphics chips (GPUs/graphics processing units) in addition to existing support for AMD and Intel chips.

Oracle has assured the European Union that the company will continue investing in Sun’s MySQL open source database. That move potentially clears the way for Oracle’s pending buyout of Sun. So what will Oracle actually do with MySQL? Early chatter involves a so-called Unbreakable MySQL plus a potential a specialization within Oracle's Partner Program.

When you say that something is expensive, you have to say also, compared with what? This comparison cannot only be on price. You have to compare value received. What is the value of an education, then? In crass financial terms, you can set a price on education based on the Net Present Value of expected earnings over a lifetime. You can design a government education budget around the NPV of the person's tax contributions over a lifetime, with due consideration for other expected public services.

Canonical recently launched Ubuntu One, a cloud storage service that synchronizes data between computers. In this programming tutorial, we will show you how to use the service to add cloud syncing capabilities to your own software.

Simple access to desktop computing: It's something that myself, among countless others, take for granted every single day. With proprietary operating systems, there are programs readily available for those who need accessibility assistance with their computers. But what is it like for someone who needs accessibility options on the Linux desktop? We often hear how the Linux desktop is ready for the masses, how ready is it for those with special accessibility needs?

The European Union held its meetings on Oracle's acquisition of Sun last week, and the decision should be forthcoming by January 19th. In the meantime, MySQL creator Monty Widenius is calling for a letter-writing campaign to "help save MySQL from Oracle's clutches. At the same time, Oracle has been moved to put up a list of commitments regarding MySQL should the company be successful in acquiring Sun.

Consolidation for everyone is IBM's stated reason for releasing a Linux version of its System z mainframe. The new Enterprise Linux Server (ELS) is a stand-alone system specifically designed for Linux environments. According to IBM, the financial savings can be up to 80 per cent. Furthermore, a "save-as-you-grow" pricing model is intended to facilitate investment decisions by allowing customers to gradually purchase resources at considerably lower prices than that of a complete system.

LuckyBackup is an application that backs-up and/or synchronizes any directories with the power of rsync. Its main features are: backup, safety, synchronization, exclude/only include options, allows custom rsync options, remote connections, restore and dry-run operations, scheduling, profiles and command line mode.It is simple to use, fast (transfers over only changes made and not all data), safe (keeps your data safe by checking all declared directories before proceeding in any data manipulation ), reliable and fully customizable.

Good news for Google Chrome users: the latest version of the browser supports extensions, so you can extend its default functionality by installing extensions from the official extension repository.