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The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that Adobe Systems Incorporated is joining the Foundation. Adobe is joining the LF to collaborate on the advancement of Linux as a leading platform for rich Internet applications (RIA) and Web 2.0 technologies.

Linux has succeeded as a product only because the community that supports it has organised itself systematically to create, share, test, reject, and develop ideas in a way that flouts conventional wisdom. Successful We-Think projects are based on five key principles that were all present in Linux. Here are the first two.

The GNU/Linux Matters non-profit, which is dedicated to Internet Freedomware advocacy, has completed a full re-design of its translation system. Now, with new translations of GetGNULinux.org and increased linking, it wants to find 1,000,000 Windows visitors over the course of one year. There are many ways to participate.

An Information Week article published last week appears to position Microsoft as trying to do something right when it comes to open source. And it positions the open source community as being not quite ready to make nice after past insults, threats, and abuse. Speaking for myself, I am always ready to see what somebody has to say when they say they want to work with the open source community. Unfortunately, Microsoft seems to be continuing its campaign of defining open source on its own terms, terms that violate the basic principles of our community.

It’s no small secret. I hate Microsoft. I think they are the most vile and corrupt corporation in the tech industry. Their monopoly hampers innovation and they favor litigation, corruption and marketing tricks to maintain their position over simply creating great products. I have read and heard many people claim Microsoft is changing, improving, and the evil Microsoft of the pass is fading; I strongly disagree with this view, and it takes no more then a cursory look through Microsoft’s actions in 2007 to see why.

According to multiple observers, Microsoft's OpenXML is on its way to becoming an ISO standard. The three sites that have been following the International Organization for Standardization re-vote on the OpenXML standard—Command Line Warriors, Open Malaysia and ConsortiumInfo—are all reporting that, barring some unforeseen circumstances, OpenXML will become an ISO standard. Since none of the authors at these sites is pro-OpenXML, it seems a foregone conclusion that Microsoft was successful in its OpenXML standardization efforts.

There hasn't been much of a stampede to implement Internet identity management in the consumer space. Microsoft's Passport was the first serious attempt. OpenID is the second, and as far as I know those two are it. Passport is like a zombie; it never quite dies, but isn't really alive either. It just shambles along, dropping body parts here and there, and often forgetting its own name.

Learn how to develop complex applications consisting of many components and Web services using BPEL V2.0. This article describes how to combine the Eclipse BPEL plug-in for development of processes and Apache ODE for their execution.

You can do your part to help tackle such global issues as disease control and climate prediction simply by volunteering your computer's resources to solve complex computational problems. The concept, known as volunteer computing, benefits universities and research institutions around the world, who conduct projects that often have humanitarian goals, such as predicting and controlling the spread of malaria in Africa.

Adobe is joining the Linux Foundation as part of an effort to show its commitment to Linux. It sure sounds all fine and nice, but there is still is a major problem in my view. Adobe does not lead with Linux, it barely stays even with Linux. Adobe's product releases for Linux

It was one security embarrassment after another for Apple the week of March 24. It began at the CanSecWest show, where the annual hacker contest challenged attendees to compromise a Vista system, a Ubuntu Linux system and a MacBook Air. The first day was reserved for preauthentication attacks and would have netted $20,000, but nobody took the prize.

How well does the BBB protect PC buyers, given that blanket statements like "prices subject to change at any time" are staples of print and web advertising? In my case, not at all.

I put out a list of open-source business influencers recently, knowing full well that it would cause some controversy. Few lists can be all-encompassing, and somebody is bound to feel slighted. You receive an award and go to thank the folks who helped you along the way with your project and you're bound to leave somebody out.

I have been covering Microsoft for over 25 years - I've even written a few books about Windows. During that time, I've developed a certain respect for a company that just doesn't give up, and whose ability to spin surpasses even that of politicians. To be sure, Microsoft has crossed the line several times, but it has always worked within the system, however much it has attempted to use it for its own ends. No more: in the course of trying to force OOXML through the ISO fast-track process, it has finally gone further and attacked the system itself; in the process it has destroyed the credibility of the ISO, with serious knock-on consequences for the whole concept of open standards.

ThemesWiki.org is a new website designed to provide users with comprehensive, free guides for designing Web Themes and Templates. This site intends to ease the web design process by providing tutorials for a large number of systems at a common location.

my wife Mitchie, also known as Hamidah. After ordering the parts for it some 3 weeks ago, the last of those parts finally arrived on Friday at noon, and with the help of our small one (she would report that the other way round; more to that later), I assembled the first ever ZaReason Mambo system, which Mitchie will keep and use for accounting.

Linux user groups across the region are ramping up efforts and activities this year to raise public awareness of open source and attract more members. The Beijing Linux Group (BLUG), for one, had a particularly busy year in 2007 and has no plans to slow things down this year.

Nowadays, Web browsers can act as front ends to many other kinds of applications. For instance, if you want to browse and open the files on your hard drive from within Firefox, turn to the Firefly extension.

Welcome to this year's 12th issue of DistroWatch Weekly! Debian-related happenings form the dominant topic of this issue. The feature story is an interview with Chris Hildebrandt, one of the main developers of the increasingly popular sidux distribution. How do the developers of this project test and stabilise Debian's unstable branch? And who is behind the seductive artwork and theme that graces its fast and cutting-edge desktop? Read below for answers. In the meantime, the Debian Installer team releases the first beta for Lenny, while Ubuntu unveils its own beta of the upcoming "Hardy Heron" Long-Term Support (LTS) release. But it isn't all about Debian. In the news section, Novell hints at an upcoming release of SUSE Linux Enterprise 11, the Fedora board votes to remove pointers to the Fluendo codecs, the PCLinuxOS community releases a GNOME edition, and NetBSD celebrates its 15th birthday. Finally, don't miss the new distribution section where you'll find SliTaz GNU/Linux - at just 25 MB, it has to be the smallest desktop live CD ever created! All this and more in this week's DistroWatch Weekly. Happy reading!

Yesterday the long awaited and somewhat delayed WordPress 2.5 was released. Today, I updated my installation today and though I had a few problems the upgrade to the new version was definitely worth it.