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Linux is full of awesome apps, both open source and proprietary. People new to Linux might be used to Windows or Mac OS X apps that aren’t available on Linux, and don’t know about available alternatives. Even seasoned Linux users tend to find new and useful software quite often.

When I first started using Linux, back in the mid-late nineties, a typical Linux installation was roughly four to five CDs and wound up installing applications geared toward scientists, programmers, HAM radio operators, and more. The kernel was built for a small sub-section of hardware it actually had support for (which included a lot of hardware most people didn't have). The typical resources needed to run Linux were quite small. The first machine I ran Linux on was a Pentium II 75 Mhz processor with 56 MB of RAM and an unsupported WinModem (which was eventually swapped out for a US Robotics 36.6 external modem).

In January 2014, Github removed the rug in its office's waiting room in response to criticism of its slogan, "United Meritocracy of Github." Since then, the criticism of the idea of meritocracy has spread in free software circles. "Meritocracy is a joke," has become a slogan seen on T-shirts and constantly proclaimed, especially by feminists.

A new release of this venerable Linux distribution is always good news - and if you want to avoid systemd, this PCLinuxOS release could be your new best friend!

Two years on, switching from a MacBook Pro to a Chromebook was the right answer for this geek.

Finding the right desktop can be a deeply personal experience. In this article, I’ll explain why I decided to make the switch to the MATE desktop and the reason behind using an Ubuntu base.

The crystal ball has been vague and fuzzy for quite some time. Every pundit and voice has opined on what the upcoming year will mean to whatever topic it is they hold dear to their heart. In my case, we're talking Linux and open source.

Mathew Miller joins Randal and Joe to talk about the release of Fedora 21. Fedora 21 is an operating system based on Linux and developed by the community-supported Fedora Project.

The number of Linux distributions is declining. In 2011, the Distrowatch database of active Linux distributions peaked at 323. Currently, however, it lists only 285. However, exactly why the decline is taking place and how much it matters remains unclear.

Our main repository packages.linuxmint.com isn’t currently able to serve connections to everybody. This can result in errors, timeouts and delays in apt-get, and in your update manager.

For years now, we’ve been told about the dangers of how various types of malware like worms and other threats were going to catch the growing Linux user base off guard. As of the year 2014, nothing remotely close to this has happened. Malware exists, but for desktop Linux users, it’s a non-issue.

It may have started as a media center for the original Xbox, but KODI (formerly XBMC) has since evolved into a full-fledged application with a huge library of add-ons generated by diehard fans and users. Available on pretty much every platform you’d want to install it on—Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS, and more...

Over the past couple of years there has been talk of mobile-desktop convergence from various mobile and desktop OS providers. As a general concept, this sounds fantastic! Unfortunately once we dive into things a bit deeper, it appears this is easier said than done.

It is now possible to upgrade the Cinnamon and MATE editions of Linux Mint 17 to version 17.1.

Microsoft this morning has released an app for Android smartphone users called Torque that allows you to shake your phone in order to perform a voice search, similar to Google’s “OK Google.” The difference is that instead of waking up the app with a standard keyword command, it’s the shaking motion that instead does the trick.

Using the "less" Linux command to view the contents of files downloaded from the Internet is a dangerous operation that can lead to remote code execution, according to a security researcher.

Google's Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps are a lot of things—they're fast, they're convenient, and they're available on both iOS and Android—but you couldn't call them "powerful." Even the Web versions of Google's productivity software are pretty basic compared with the feature-stuffed behemoth that is Microsoft Office, and the mobile apps are minimalist by comparison.

The days of counting on Microsoft to deliver first and best on Windows are gone. Will Windows 10 bring them back next year?

In a major expansion of its open source efforts, Microsoft announced today that will open up Visual Studio and .NET to developers on all major platforms. It starts with the open-sourcing of the core .NET server stack, a new free and full-featured Visual Studio edition, and preview versions of the next generation versions of Visual Studio and .NET... which can be used to build iOS and Android apps.

Ziliang Guo has announced the release of ReactOS 0.3.17, the latest version of the free and open-source operating system intended to be binary compatible with application software and device drivers made for Microsoft Windows NT 5.