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Encrypted private directories are the one thing that would get me to upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10 this October.

Microsoft, makers of most of the computer software in the world, tried to kill it with words, and Intel, maker of most computer chips, tried to kill it with dirty tricks. Of course, they don't admit to being attempted murderers. And when I introduce you to Intel's lovely spokesperson, Agnes Kwan, you'll realise how far their denials go. But the truth is the two mightiest high-tech companies in the world looked on Negroponte's philanthropic scheme and decided it had to die. Yet, 3½ years later, the laptop is clinging on to life.

Some websites need to handle data securely and assure the end-user they are a) secure and b) who they say they are. The traditional way to achieve these is via Secure Socket Layer. Firefox 3 changed what happens when a self-signed SSL certificate is encountered. It’s a change which has caused some concern and much discussion. Should we only trust certificates signed by third parties? Are there cases where using a self-signed certificate is valid? Should users be informed or warned and how strong should the language of that notification be? Is it possible a simple solution is already available but has been overlooked in all the flan-flinging? I think so. If you've ever been confused about browser security, Ryan Cartwright explains the issues. Read the full story at Freesoftware Magazine.

Linux and Unix humor from the unique perspective of the bastard operator from Hell

BackTrack is the most Top rated linux live distribution focused on penetration testing. With no installation whatsoever, the analysis platform is started directly from the CD-Rom and is fully accessible within minutes. This tutorial will show you how to install and use BackTrack 3 Final directly on your Hard Disk. You will use the BackTrack Installer and you will see how to configure LILO in order to make the DUAL BOOT possible.

This document describes how to install a Postfix mail server that is based on virtual users and domains, i.e. users and domains that are in a MySQL database. I'll also demonstrate the installation and configuration of Courier (Courier-POP3, Courier-IMAP), so that Courier can authenticate against the same MySQL database Postfix uses.

Zock is a new piece of free software for organizing betting games. It is a “betting office” targeted at cliques of friends or co-workers which would like to organize a betting game for a sport event. Right now, it needs testers. If you are interested in using it, read on. Read the full story at Freesoftware Magazine.

VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Embedded designer Paul Thomas is showcasing a tiny, open-sourced computer at LinuxWorld in San Francisco this week. Would-be “Linuxstamp” enthusiasts can obtain pre-built boards for the hefty sum of $120 directly from Thomas, or they can download the design for free and build it themselves. The Linuxstamp is an extremely simple hardware design, consisting of six integrated circuits (processor, flash, RAM, serial-to-USB, ethernet PHY, and power conversion) plus a bunch of passives.

Linus seems to be saying some pretty reasonable things lately, but the people who interview him keep crediting him with creating an "operating system" called "Linux".

PCLinuxOS Magazine, August 2008 (Issue 24) is available to download. You can find it at the PCLinuxOS Magazine website. If you'd like to be informed immediately about our releases, please signup for the Magazine-Announce mailing list .

This Law.com Legal Technology piece on how awful Linux is for law firms strikes me as the funniest piece of FUD I've read in a long time. If you loved Rob Enderle, you don't want to miss it. Here's just one sentence to give you an idea: "Meanwhile, a Linux DIY installation like a DIY auto repair, is extremely complex, convoluted, time consuming and often dicey, something a lawyer may not want to bet his or her practice on." Legal Technology should really be ashamed to publish such biased inaccuracies. Perhaps they don't know. Lawyers do tend to be Windows users and in my experience not so cutting edge in the tech department.

[Above are PJ's comments. This news pick links directly to the article she's commenting on. - Sander]

This document describes how to enable and configure Compiz Fusion on a Mandriva One 2008.1 Spring GNOME desktop with an NVIDIA graphics card.

A report by the Standish Group indicates that adoption of ‘open source’ has caused a drop in revenue to the proprietary software industry by about $60 billion per year. That’s not a huge amount of money compared to what has been lost though the misselling of mortgages, but it is still a lot. The report identifies the value of these ‘open source’ products to be about 6% of the world market for software. Unfortunately, the Standish Group doesn’t believe in openly sharing its research, instead selling it for $1,000… Read the full story at Freesoftware Magazine

There are time when I want to let my geekiness out and I want the world to know about it. I decided to share with you my favorite collection of Linux t-shirts that you also might like. Please share you ideas for healthy geeking in the comments.

[I thought that with all the talk about Linux T-Shirts that this was an appropriate article to post. - Scott]

People in most markets Lenovo serves, including Singapore, China and the UK, will be offered the company's new IdeaPad netbooks with either Microsoft Windows XP or a Linux OS, but users in Australia won't have that option. Australian and US computer buyers will only be offered Windows XP on Lenovo's IdeaPad S10, according to Lenovo.

My father was one of those old school guys when it came to adopting computer technology. He managed to build and run a successful company, and retire in 1998, without ever actually having a computer in his office. It was just never an absolute necessity for him to do his job. During the early years of the Internet, it took him a while to get his mind around the business model. Back in the go-go dot-com days, he would look at the IPOs and say to me, “Am I missing something, or are these guys selling one dollar bills for 80 cents? How is that a sustainable business?”

It painted a picture of Open Source software as being a minefield of grumpy litigious geeks who want to cash in with fat lawsuits, and no clear guidance for how to stay out of trouble. Oddly, this all seemed to come from a most unlikely source, the director of the Gnome Foundation, Stormy Peters. Even unlikelier, it was from her talk at LinuxWorld, which hardly seems a good venue for spreading misinformation of any kind, let alone old moldy misinformation...As usually happens with stories like these, reader comments were a mixture of "Die evil FUD-sucking scum!!" and "Er, it seems rather unlikely that Ms. Peters said these things."

This is a simple howto on changing your log on screen. This will also work with other distros. This is a very easy way to add more eye candy to your Linux system. I do everything under Gnome GUI so let's get started. Please read the agreement at the bottom. First off you will need to get some new login screens. I go to http://www.gnome-look.org to get mine. Just look to the left side under content and click on GDM Themes. Pick one out or pick a few out, that's totally up to you. Next we need to open the Login Window Preferences screen so we can add our new theme or themes. Click on System->Administration->Login Window:

Both StarOffice 9 and OpenOffice.org 3 will offer an office suite of tools compatible with Microsoft Office. Both are based on the same code base, and both will be native on the Mac, no longer requiring X11. Sun's Louis Suarez-Potts explained the key differences to TMO and what the customer should know before selecting one or the other.