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Sometimes, privacy and open-source can seem like an odd mix. People who prioritize openness and transparency in their software might appear less likely to obsess over the privacy of their data. But in a reminder that rock-solid privacy standards and open-source software are not mutually exclusive, the GNOME community has announced a new campaign centered on making the GNOME desktop interface “one of the most secure computing environments available.”

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth is focused on JuJu, a solution for deploying cloud services. JuJu is already mature and useful, but Ubuntu developers envision expanding on it in major ways in 2013, as evidence from mailing archives and Canonical announcements.

Canonical claims to be readying an “earth-shattering announcement” on the first day of business in 2013 –January 2, that is. What can we expect next from the company behind the widely popular Ubuntu Linux distribution? Read on for some wild, yet informed, speculation.

Amid the Microsoft Office 365 vs. Google Apps war, a surprising victor is popping up on many government contracts. The frequent winner: VMware’s (NYSE: VMW) open source email platform, called Zimbra. For channel partners, this is the latest proof that you gotta get beyond the hype to truly understand what customers want for their private and public cloud applications.

Amid all the mainstream hype about Windows 8, Surface tablets and Apple iPads, the Google Chromebook strategy quietly marches forward. If you check a local Best Buy retail story, you might even see Chromebooks (cloud-centric laptops) on display near the Apple section. But how are Chromebooks attracting channel partners and corporate customers? David Hoff, CTO of Cloud Sherpas (a top Google Apps channel partner) offers his perspectives. Here they are.

Both Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) are building their public clouds on OpenStack, the emerging open source platform for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). But that doesn't mean the public clouds will be identical. Here's why.

Support for touch-enabled devices traditionally hasn’t been high on the list of Linux kernel developers, who tend to focus their energies on more traditional computing platforms. But if all goes according to plan, future versions of the open source operating system may come with significant touch support built in, according to developers. And if that happens, it could have major implications throughout the channel.

As we noted last week, the Linux Foundation‘s list of major Linux-related accomplishments over the last year centered on advances in embedded and mobile platforms. Still, there were desktop and cloud achievements as well. Here's some perspective.

Canonical has released an official “Ubuntu Advocacy Development Kit.” It offers everything developers need to spread the word about Ubuntu. But will developers embrace the message? Christopher Tozzi offers insights on The VAR Guy's website.

Synnex, a major distributor of technology products, is promoting Digium Asterisk, Red Hat and Open-Xchange open source solutions to its partner network. And it soulds like partners are embracing the open source message. Here's the evidence.

Oracle has no plans to offer MySQL as part of the company's public cloud PaaS (platform as a service) strategy for ISVs, the company confirmed at Oracle OpenWorld. Here are the details.

Digium Asterisk, the open source IP PBX and potential Microsoft Lync competitor, will make cloud services and managed services noise in October. That’s good news for partners and customers, many of whom are exploring hosted PBX services and collaboration services. Here's the update.

If you’re like me, you have an excessive number of old PCs lying in your basement or in a storage room. Time to throw those old PCs in the recycling bin? But what if you can’t bear the thought of saying goodbye to those machines forever? Fret not: Using a few open-source tools, you can immortalize those retired PCs as virtual machines without having to hold on to the actual hardware. Here's how.

Deploying a fully open-source groupware suite on a Linux server became a little easier recently with the release of ClearOS version 6.3, which sports full integration with the Zarafa Collaboration Platform. Here’s the scoop, and how it affects the open-source channel.

Red Hat‘s own OpenStack distribution, based on the open source OpenStack framework, is for building and managing public, private and hybrid IaaS clouds. Here's how.

In most cases, “online tours” fall short of seeing the real thing. They’re convenient, but I can’t imagine many people buy a house or choose a college after only visiting them virtually. But when it comes to picking an operating system, online previews can work quite well, as the Ubuntu team’s online tour site exemplifies. If you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s worth a look — even if you don’t use Ubuntu.

MATE, the open-source desktop environment whose name no one is sure how to pronounce, is now nearly a year old. Many of us never thought it would make it this far, but the interface has held own against competitors like Unity and GNOME Shell. But does MATE have a long-term future in the fast-evolving world of desktop Linux? Here are some thoughts.

Microsoft’s Windows 8 is taking some heat in the world of online games. Both Valve (builder of the Steam gaming platform) and Blizzard (World of Warcraft) appear to be criticizing Microsoft's Windows Store strategy, and Valve is hedging its Windows bets with a Linux strategy. Why should business partners care? Here’s the update.

What are Red Hat‘s top four priorities for its fiscal year 2013? Sure, driving adoption of key technologies (virtualization, cloud and storage) is one top priority. But what are the other “big three” focus areas? And where do partners fit into the Red Hat conversation? Here are some clues,

GNOME, the project responsible for what has been one of the open-source world’s most popular desktop interfaces for well over a decade, is teetering on the edge of crisis mode. Here's a reality check.