LXer Weekly Roundup for 08-Jun-2008

LXer Feature: 08-Jun-2008 In this week's Roundup we have Essential Thunderbird add-ons, Microsoft Free - One year later, Google Gadgets for Linux, 42 More of the Best Free Linux Games and Could the eeePC end up being Microsoft's trojan horse? We have two LXer Features, a review of the EeePC entitled "Wow! It's PINK!" and the continuation of Herschel Cohen's HTML series "Web Input - Securing Data, Second Level of Defense", also Ken Starks finds out that his Linux box is infected. To wrap things up, in our FUD section we have the SourceForge.net 2008 Community Choice Awards brought to you by Microsoft, at least it sure seems that way, and Novell joins Microsoft in Anti-Linux FUD. Enjoy!

In this week's Roundup we have Essential Thunderbird add-ons, Microsoft Free - One year later, Google Gadgets for Linux, 42 More of the Best Free Linux Games and Could the eeePC end up being Microsoft's trojan horse? We have two LXer Features, a review of the EeePC entitled "Wow! It's PINK!" and the continuation of Herschel Cohen's HTML series "Web Input - Securing Data, Second Level of Defense", also Ken Starks finds out that his Linux box is infected. To wrap things up, in our FUD section we have the SourceForge.net 2008 Community Choice Awards brought to you by Microsoft, at least it sure seems that way, and Novell joins Microsoft in Anti-Linux FUD. Enjoy!

Wow! It's PINK!: Where computers are concerned, I like to think of myself as cool, calm, and technically proficient. I got my first microcomputer (a Color Computer with 16K RAM) in 1983, and before I moved on to a bigger and better machine I'd learned to program it in assembly language. I've given up on learning assembly since then (the chipsets keep changing) but I still build my desktop computers from scratch. So I'm a tad embarrassed to report that when I first saw an ad for the Eee, in NewEgg's Valentine's Day newsletter, my initial reaction was, "Oh, wow! It's PINK!"

Essential Thunderbird add-ons: What's your normal routine when you log on in the morning? It's probably something along the lines of: pour cup of coffee, fire up Thunderbird, check your email, check your other email accounts that Thunderbird can't access, pour another cup of coffee. Well, here are a few Thunderbird extensions that may make your mornings go a little more smoothly.

Windows, IE lose web share to Mac OS X, Linux, Safari, Firefox, iPhone: The trouble with having a huge market share is that the only way to move is down - and that's exactly what's happening to Windows and Internet Explorer, according to an new report. The question is how much further are they going to fall?

Microsoft Free - One year later: In May of 2007 I wrote a post called Open Source and Microsoft Free. Little did I know that this post would show up on Digg, Slashdot, Craigslist, and several other popular web sites and become a platform for both the Linux and Microsoft camps to wage yet another flame war. This whole "Microsoft free" experiment started when a colleague of mine challenged me to eat my own dog food after reading many of my posts about my dabbling with open source technologies. The next day, after a few blue screens of death and various issues with Outlook, I grabbed a Ubuntu CD and installed it on my laptop....at work! From that day forward, I have not used a single Microsoft product at work. It has been one year now and I have survived with Thunderbird and Evolution, Open Office, Firefox, and many other open source replacements for Microsoft products.

How to be a good (and lazy) System Administrator: If you're anything like the average System Administrator, you are understaffed, underfunded, and overworked. By now, you've also gotten used to the idea that no one knows you exist until the mail server goes down, then you're suddenly on America's Most Wanted. In this article, I'm also assuming that you have many servers that you are responsible for. I'm also assuming that you don't really want to work as hard as you are; if you do, you should become a Windows server manager and begin worrying about frequent patches from Microsoft, security vulnerabilities, virus protection, a clumsy user interface, and lack of native scriptability. I'm not saying that Linux is perfect, but there are a lot of things about Linux that just makes it easier to administer.

Could the eeePC end up being Microsoft's trojan horse?: Right from the time the 7-inch model made its debut, there have been any number of positive reviews. With the emergence of the 9-inch model, the praise has grown even louder with the Linux fanatics among the crowd of yea-sayers seeing the device as the one that finally gives the operating system a chance to gain its comeuppance against Microsoft. In truth, the eeePC has many things going for it. The size and weight are major plus factors - it would win over a businessman on those counts alone.

Linux: You Get What You Paid For (When You Bought Windows): If you've been an Open Source advocate for any significant amount of time, you've no doubt heard someone say, with a sneer in their voice, "You get what you pay for". Let it be noted, I really hate that cliche. It does make me think, however, about what you really get when you purchase the license to use a commercial operating system like Windows or OSX.

Using chroot to Recover root Passwords: There’s a system that's on my self, and I've come to realize that I no longer remember the password for this machine. Rather than reinstall the system, I used a much easier method utilizing chroot.

Google Gadgets for Linux: Since releasing Google Desktop for Linux, we've added almost all of our most requested features, like 64-bit support and the ability to search applications and documents. All except one major exception: Desktop Gadgets. Gadget support is not just a single feature, but rather an entire platform for miniature applications. It's a complex undertaking, but we're now putting the finishing touches on the product.

Web Input - Securing Data, Second Level of Defense: My implicit presumption in this series is that break ins are unplanned, opportunistic occurrences. Break in attempts are triggered by encountering an input form. As I mentioned previously, do not give information away needlessly. Moreover, I strongly suggest you consider becoming passively aggressive by making your presentation of the form and its expected input somewhat unpredictable. Moreover, I advise turning your data input into a simple waste of time and effort for those not trained to use the entry way.

42 More of the Best Free Linux Games: In response to our request for users' thoughts on their favorite Linux games, we received, as anticipated, a flood of emails. Hundreds of games were recommended for inclusion in this compilation, with a few people eulogizing at great length why a particular title could not be omitted. To say that strong emotions were stirred by our previous '42 of the Best Linux Games' feature is an understatement!

My Linux Box is INFECTED!: And please...don't tell me "that's what you get for allowing Javascript to run in my browser." I refuse to be intimidated into crippling my computing experience. Extensions like no-script might take care of this but at what cost? No...we fix the problem, not amputate part of the browsing experience for expediency.

The 10 Best Linus Torvalds Quotes: Linus Torvalds - a classic example of the love-it-or-hate-it type of person. Brilliant programmer, of course, and the father of one of the most extraordinary software projects in the world, but sometimes, he can be utterly arrogant any annoying, yet the other moment completely sensible and utterly spot-on in his statements. CBR listed the ten best Linus Torvalds quotes.

SourceForge.net 2008 Community Choice Awards: Hey! You! Are you sick of letting the big hardware companies, tech blogs, and mainstream media decide which open source projects deserve widespread attention? So are we. That's why we created the SourceForge.net Community Choice Awards, and we need your nominations!

Novell joins Microsoft in Anti-Linux FUD: A few years ago, I had really high hope’s for Novell’s forays in to Linux. However; bad move after bad move has left me with no confidence in Novell or their Linux products. I can’t say I was shocked to find this work of misinformation touting the “benefits” of Novell over Redhat and “unpaid” Linux.