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This collection of words is a bit of a rant, I'm afraid. It's about what some call preaching to the choir or more specifically, not preaching to the choir. The Ubuntu Linux crowd prides itself on being a glowing example of the Free Software community at work. Actually, the Free Software community as a whole prides itself on being a model of the ultimate distributed work group, having, through its collective talents, created the greatest operating system of all time, including the software that runs on that OS. I'm only exaggerating a little tiny bit. But I digress . . .

Say you've got yourself a nice computer, be it tower, notebook, or whatever, and it has a dual core 64 bit chip. It's a pretty cool system and it came with Windows 7. After much hounding and friendly ribbing from your Linux-pushing friend, you decide you're going to load up Ubuntu. So you wander over to the Ubuntu desktop site to download your desktop Linux ISO where it tells you that the 64 bit edition isn't recommended for desktop use. You're confused. After all, your computer came with a 64 bit version of Windows. Isn't 64 bits better than 32? Why can't Linux run a 64 bit desktop?

Somehow, somewhere along the way, I'm supposed to have matured and become serious about things. And so it is with Linux. It all started out in fun. I know. I've got Linus Torvalds' "Just for Fun" here on my bookshelf. Says so right there on the front cover. Fun. And it was fun. But as with anyone approaching adulthood, Linux was apparently not taking itself seriously enough. If Linux was to conquer the server room, the desktop, the mobile market, the real time processing world, etc, etc, then it had better clean up its act. Add a little polish. Get serious about business. And it did.

At this year's COSSFEST in Calgary, I (Marcel Gagne) took part in a lively panel discussion titled "The Death of the Desktop", essentially a free-for-all discussion on whether 'the cloud' will kill off our beloved desktop. My fellow panelists included Aaron Seigo, Brad "Renderman" Haines, Adam McDaniel, and Craig McLean. The whole thing was taped and later edited (wonderfully, I might add) to create the video you see below. Warning! A few 'bad words' do occasionally slip in.

I'm going to start this Ubuntu-User blog entry with an apology combined with a bit of an explanation. I'm going to talk about Facebook. Yes, me too -- I'm sorry.You all know what Facebook is, of course.With nearly 3 out of ever 4 intelligent beings in the known universe having their own Facebook page, it's a social networking behemoth. Facebook is so cool and so popular, everyone has either done it, is doing it, or plans on doing it. But a cursory scan of the news will tell you that it's not all rosy for Facebook.

This past weekend (April 9th and 10th), I had the great pleasure to attend COSSFEST 2010 in Calgary. COSSFEST is the Calgary Open Source Systems Festival, a gathering of people whose passion is free and open source software, coming together to share information, exchange ideas, and otherwise talk about all things FOSS. Oh, and drink beer. And eat, too. Yeah, right . . . there's that karaoke thing we'd rather not talk about.

My love for new technology was part of my downfall today. You see, because I so love technology, I might occasionally be a little too trusting of it and perhaps a little too casual in how I deal with it. Consider this foray into Lucid Lynx a cautionary tale.

Seriously, it's 2010. Universal access and platform agnostic content delivery is not only possible, it's what's called a standard and any Web developer worth their hourly rate should be able to produce content that Firefox running under Linux, with the appropriate plugin (yes, I'm talking about Flash right now -- don't want to confuse things), can view.

I know how we'll know whether the iPad is a success or not. That's right. Somebody will port a version of Ubuntu to run on the iPad. For now, let's call it the Ubuntu iPad Edition Remix. If the iPad touches anyone in the open source community, iPadBuntu is right around the corner. You know how else we'll know. Google will release plans for its own Linux-based pad. Let's call it the gPad.

How does any manufacturer justify the price tag they attach to their hardware? As a result of my experience, I now expect to pay no more than $600 for a fully loaded notebook computer. My expectation of what I can get for that kind of money has gone up dramatically. In truth, the single most valuable thing on my notebook is first and foremost the data, quickly followed by the free and open source software tools that let me get my job done.

Clouds continue to dominate my life, as they do (or will) many of yours. While major corporations try to convince us to rent space or resources on their clouds, it doesn't have to be expensive, and some services like Ubuntu One, offer some amount of free cloud storage. But public institutions can get in on the act as well, and seed their own clouds.

Looking for an end to netbook frustration, exploring the life and death of censorship in the cloud (where behind every silver (or chrome) lining, there seems to be big scary cloud), and experiencing the joys of a lucky backup.

Google's ChromeOS is making a lot of, ahem, waves. But what is really hiding under its shiny feathers?

There's a provocatively titled article by Robert Strohmeyer over at PC World that professes "The Future of Linux is Google". But let's be honest though. Without Linux, Google might not have grown into the powerhouse you see today. I'm not saying it wouldn't have been a successful company, just not as successful. Let me explain.

What I talked about was Linux on the desktop, specifically the definition (and delivery) of a user-friendly Linux distribution. To lure the masses from the clutches of Microsoft Windows, you need to provide an experience that is more than just technically superior. Linux has been technically superior for years -- it's a done deal. What you need to do is provide a way to continue doing those day to day things a Windows user takes for granted.

Hear that clock ticking? There are only nine days left to the release of Ubuntu 9.10. It's all very exciting and that excitement was bouncing about inside my brain as I drove my son to school this morning. A little ditty was echoing in my mind along with what I might write about the big event, when suddenly it hit me. No, not another car. I was paying attention. What hit me was a fully formed vision of the future, nine days hence. Sort of like what happens on FlashForward, the series based on Robert J. Sawyer's book. Except I didn't black out. I started telling what I saw in my vision to my five year old son who, sitting quietly in the back seat, quietly ignored me.

This is WFTL Bytes!, your occasiodaily FOSS and Linux news show for Wednesday, July 29, 2009, with your host, Marcel Gagné. On today's newscast . . . an unholy alliance (or a really good one, depending on who you ask), Yahoo turns B-movie monster, Alfresco cosies up to Ubuntu, TUX is in your pocket, and "What are you? Color-blind!"

The secure shell is much more than a simple way to keep your passwords to yourself. For instance, it's possible to tunnel ports you may not have access to (if the machine is behind a firewall) through the SSH port. SSH makes it possible to run remote graphical sessions easily. You can even securely log in without a password. SSH is a veritable Swiss Army knife of OS toys.

This is WFTL Bytes!, your occasiodaily FOSS and Linux news show for Thursday, March 5, 2009, with your host, Marcel Gagné. This is episode 53. On today's newscast . . . Helios goes mano-a-mano for being a Linux guy, car companies looking to Linux, netbooks again (it's been a while), bad support, Microsoft spreading FUD, FOSS people spreading FUD, and a Scale wrap-up.

This is WFTL Bytes!, your occasiodaily FOSS and Linux news show for Monday, February 23, 2009, with your host, Marcel Gagné. This is episode 52. On today's newscast . . . we ask why government isn't saving big with FOSS, what constitutes good personal marketing, who's buddying up to Microsoft, why are things so tough over at OpenSUSE, and who put the ram in the ramma lamma ding dong?