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Protecting your data has become more important than ever. Let’s look at some options for encrypting Linux file systems.

Last week I talked about some the advantages of Free/Open Source software for us end users. Today developers speak on why they like to use FOSS; I received so many excellent responses that I have split this into two parts, and the second part will run tomorrow.

Ingres has announced it is working with VectorWise to improve database performance through fully exploiting the capabilities of modern CPUs. They are planning to create Ingres/VectorWise, a new product which incorporates the new techniques, for release in mid-2010. VectorWise is a commercial spin off of the, Ingres funded, Amsterdam based CWI (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica) database research team. Intel are supporting the project with engineering expertise and hardware.

Proponents of the open source and proprietary software sectors have clashed over a proposal to support multiple standards for the country's e-government projects. Last year, the Indian Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MCIT) released a draft policy, mandating the adoption of freely available standards in the deployment of the country's e-government projects--estimated to be valued at over US$4 billion.

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.

The achievements of free software are already extraordinary. As well as running most of the Internet's infrastructure, and powering many of its leading companies, free software is beginning to find wide use in the server rooms of enterprises and on the desktops of general users. It is also increasingly deployed in embedded systems, and for mobile phones. But that's just the start: inspired by the ideas of free software, and building on its innovations, a wide range of other movements have been founded that aim to introduce freedom, openness and transparency to some of the most important areas of human activity. This keynote talk, given at the recent Gran Canaria Desktop Summit, explores their impact [.ogg video].

The Dell Thunderbird supercomputer, named MegaTux, has 4,480 Intel microprocessors running Linux virtual machines with Wine, making it possible to run 1 million copies of a Windows environment without paying licensing fees to Microsoft.

Zend Technologies has announced the latest version of its open-source framework for PHP, offering improved support for Microsoft and Novell environments. The changes are part of what Zend called more of a business focus, which encompasses updates to help those building and plumbing web services and enterprise applications into PHP. The PHP specialist is also due to release the latest edition of its PHP development environment, Zend Studio 7.0, which folds in changes added to the framework.

At this weeks Debconf in Spain the Debian Project announced a development freeze in December of every odd year with future releases scheduled for the first half of each even year.

Google translate text: Approximately ten million students in basic education will benefit this year with the delivery of 26 thousand computer labs. The number represents the expansion of the National Program of Educational Technology (ProInfo) whose goal is to serve all urban public schools by 2010. The delivery and installation of equipment are planned to start from March. In addition to being delivered and installed in schools, the equipment will support and guarantee of 36 months. All should be compatible with the new version of operating system Linux Educational 3.0, free software developed by the ministry especially servers to meet the public schools in Brazil, with educational content pre-selected.

Updated: Microsoft and Yahoo made it official on Wednesday. The two companies announced a 10-year pact where Microsoft will power Yahoo search. Yahoo also becomes the sales force for Microsoft’s premium properties. The companies said the search deal will accelerate innovation and bring more value to advertisers and Web users. Yahoo and Microsoft also get to focus on their core strengths. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz says there will be “boatloads of value for our users and industry.” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the Yahoo deal gives Bing the scale to compete.

It has been no secret that we have been working to create our own Linux distribution that is designed to run off a Live DVD/USB device and would provide a standardized free software stack for running hardware benchmarks whether you are a computer review web-site like us, an independent hardware vendor interested in seeing how well their hardware performs on Linux, or just a hobbyist wishing to compare your system's performance against that of your friends. We first shared our plans for this a few months ago when talking about driving Linux-based benchmarking with Sandtorg (a.k.a. Phoronix Test Suite 2.0). We also briefly mentioned this Linux OS again last week when providing a detailed guide to Phoronix Test Suite 2.0, but today we are formally announcing PTS Desktop Live 2009.3 (codenamed "Gernlinden"). PTS Desktop Live is being released as a free download in tandem with the release of Phoronix Test Suite 2.0 on the 4th of August.

You'll learn how to recompile PHP5 with bundled support for GD on Ubuntu to use advanced GD functions for image editing, like desaturation, and so on.

The Debian project has decided to adopt a new policy of time-based development freezes for future releases, on a two-year cycle. Freezes will from now on happen in the December of every odd year, which means that releases will from now on happen sometime in the first half of every even year. To that effect the next freeze will happen in December 2009, with a release expected in spring 2010. The project chose December as a suitable freeze date since spring releases proved successful for the releases of Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 (codenamed "Etch") and Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 ("Lenny").

GNU Generation is a new project sponsored by the Free Software Foundation to involve high school age pre-university students (approximately ages 13-18) in free software. Participants will have the opportunity to get involved with the free software community, and win some prizes! If you have never considered contributing to a free software project before, or if you wanted to but had no idea where to start -- this is your chance!

Just when I was getting a little worried about Ubuntu Server Edition’s ISV (independent software vendor) support, I received a heads up from John Pugh, software partner manager at Canonical. The timely news involved some Ubuntu-Alfresco developments. Here’s the scoop.

You wouldn't let your ISP block Hulu, just because it was in competition with their TV service, so why do you let you cellphone carrier?

IBM announced that is has acquired Ounce Labs, which makes software to scan source code for security and compliance vulnerabilities.

Chess is a recreational and competitive board game played between two players. It is a very popular game, played by millions across the world, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.

If you're thinking of upgrading from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7, why not give Linux a try? Matt Hartley ponders the pros and cons of both platforms, the relative pain of making a change, and the economic incentives for continuing to favor a buggy, insecure platform.