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n a letter written to the SEC obtained by BusinessWeek, lawyers from Facebook counsel Fenwick & West wrote that the company "anticipates that it could in the future have more than 500 holders" of restricted stock. In the 10-page letter, Facebook argued that there's no need to meet the SEC disclosure requirements, since only insiders are getting the equity, and they're not paying for it.

Once considered by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer as a plague on all software and the work of the devil, open source software is now accepted with open arms by Microsoft, even evoking their active support.

When you spend one half of your life using Windows, switching to Linux can be a little bit confusing at first. Just like any other new thing in your life, it may need growing accustomed to it. While Linux may look similar at first, there are some things you need to know before you embark on your Linux journey.

The main factor working against the growth of open source software in Asia has been the ready availability of pirated versions of Microsoft's software. However, open source advocates are gaining traction in places such as Nepal, where Linux is growing in popularity.

As someone who has been following Microsoft for over 25 years, I remain staggered by the completeness of the Vista fiasco. Microsoft's constant backtracking on the phasing out of Windows XP is perhaps the most evident proof of the fact that people do not want to be forced to “upgrade” to something that has been memorably described as DRM masquerading as an operating system.

I started an open source software project a couple of weeks ago, sort of. It's about as minor as something like this gets -- at least for now. But even at that scale, it's become a learning experience. The project is a page template for the Movable Type blogging platform, one which lets you crosspost recent entries to a LiveJournal account as well. I came up with it because the crossposting plugins I'd seen for Movable Type all seemed rather top-heavy, and I wanted to come up with something on my own that would let me learn about how to create such things -- and learn a little about the mechanisms involved. (Figuring out LiveJournal's posting protocol alone cost me more time than putting together the guts of the template itself.)

Knowing when a GNU/Linux distribution is free used to be simple. If all its software had licenses approved by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) or the Open Source Initiative, then a distribution was free. Otherwise, it wasn't. However, the release of the GNewSense distribution a few years ago has complicated the situation, pitting idealists against pragmatists and sending some distributions scrambling for a compromise that is unlikely to satisfy anyone. The GNewSense team was the first to point out that the Linux kernel contained proprietary firmware blobs, and that many kernel drivers depended on external proprietary blobs, and has dedicated itself to producing an operating system with all this material removed.

UNIX is being attacked by Linux from the top and bottom ends of the market. The signs are that it is losing the battle on both fronts. A couple of weeks back I wrote that Linux is becoming increasingly capable of doing the less-demanding tasks that UNIX has historically been asked to do, so there is less and less need for UNIX. That explains its falling share of the server market.

Running an open source company is not like running a proprietary company. But how different should it be? Does the difference include publicly beating your breast about mistakes both real and imagined? Sridhar Vembu is not afraid to find out. The CEO of AdventNet, creators of the Zoho online suite, has quickly become one of the industry’s biggest advocates of total transparency.

I have a confession to make. There's no software on earth I can't make dance and sing... except for photography programs. Whether it's Adobe Photoshop CS4 on a Mac or GIMP 2.6.3 on Linux, I'm a klutz. So, when I need to make my holiday photos look halfway decent, I try my best with easy to use photo programs like Photoshop Elements 7 or Google Picasa. While I'd like to see more Adobe programs, on Linux with Google's new release of Picasa 3 for Linux now here, I'm in no hurry to see Photoshop Elements on Linux.

Linux fans who have been waiting for Linux to come the iPhone and iPod Touch need wait no longer – the breakthrough has finally been made, years after Linux found its way onto earlier iPod models. There’s a way to go before the project is mature, with plenty of things, including touchscreen support, yet to come. Still - Linux on the iPhone is here, at last!

After Wayan previously compiled the extensive G1G1 2008 Buyer's Guide I thought it would make sense to follow up with a list of recommended accessories for your XO, just in time for Black Friday.

So what can new users do with the command-line while enjoying the GUI? There is a multitude of applications that do the same jobs as their graphical equivalents, but are not dependent on X. Using them is just a matter of learning a few simple commands. You’ll be up and running in no time!

Bright and golden California summers have given way to a vivid fall landscape also bright and golden - but with a chance of rain. It's Thanksgiving in the state, and tots are already awaiting the arrival of Saint Nick, who's annual roll-out could mean a shiny iPhone if they've been good, or maybe a Zune duct-taped to a RAZR phone if they've been extremely naughty. With the holiday spirit in mind, we return to the Computer History Museum in Googleton Mountain View for a very special edition of This Old Box.

[I had never seen that one before..how far we have come.. - Scott]

The financial crisis enveloping the world will probably hit sponsorship funds for the forthcoming Australian national Linux conference, but registrations for the event, which begins on January 19, 2009, have been strong, says the man who holds the purse string.

Install Xen Server package and booting openSUSE 11.1 RC1 Dom0 went pretty smoothy, however attempt to start vm-install either via YAST command center or from command line just brought up frozen blank window.

An interesting take on Linux usability testing for the mainstream :) This Saturday's over-sized slice of, possibly funny, Linux humour comes to use via ITKnowledgeExchange. It's actually a review of an original article entitled "Linux: The Girlfriend Test" from TechRadar.com.

The commercial unified communication solution Unison is now available in a free, "sponsor-supported" version whose revenue comes from embedded advertising.

Earlier this year we shared that Valve's Source Engine is coming to Linux after receiving some information that pointed in this direction. In addition, a year ago Valve Software was publicly looking for a senior software engineer to port Windows-based games to Linux platform. There have long been rumors and hopes among Linux users that Steam games would become natively available for Linux, but we have additional confirmation that Valve Software has ported their Steam game client to Linux. In Valve's most recent title, Left 4 Dead, there are shared Linux libraries shipping alongside this Windows game client.

With everyone thinking about what they are thankful for, here are some things not to be thankful for.