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I was doing some research on a paper I am writing about open source usability practices when it hit me..

Remember I told you I've noticed that people who don't support Microsoft's agenda end up the victim of smear campaigns? The New Zealand Open Source Society is reporting that an employee at Microsoft recently sent an email to one of the technical bodies advising an NB involved in the OOXML ISO process, smearing a man's reputation, Matthew Holloway, apparently to undermine his technical input which was critical of OOXML. Standards New Zealand was took the claims so seriously that they responded to parties who received this email. The New Zealand Open Source Society has all the gruesome details, and the reason I'm highlighting it here, aside from wanting to help undo a wrong, is because NZOSS request that if the slur, or others like it, has spread to other NBs or advisory bodies that you please direct them to the defense of Mr. Holloway's good name and reputation by Standards New Zealand on that page.

The second release candidate, codenamed Aceras, for Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring (2008.1) is now available.

In the last week quite a few ideas have risen to the top of Brainstorm that point out that could improve Ubuntu in small, but important, ways.

A web-friendly and easy to maintain version of Eclipse has been penciled in for delivery two years from now. E4, as it's being called, has been pegged for 2010, with a working concept prototype ready for next year's EclipseCon.

Birmingham, UK, March 17 – Packt Publishing today announced that its donations to Open Source projects surpassed the $100,000 mark. Following its first donation to the phpMyAdmin project in April 2004, the company has gone on to provide sustained support for over thirty different open source projects.

Just as Microsoft Paint is included with every Windows installation, so KolourPaint has been part of the kdegraphics package since KDE 3.3. This simple raster graphics editor works well not only in KDE, but also in Xfce, GNOME, and Fluxbox. Although it started out as a clone of Microsoft Paint, KolourPaint has grown to include more features than its proprietary inspiration. KolourPaint provides tools for image manipulation and icon editing as well as the typical "fingerpainting" that Paint is well known for. KolourPaint's and Paint's interfaces are nearly identical, but hidden behind a simple interface are several advanced features that make it a great graphics editor.

Do you fully understand the OSI model? Are you comfortable with subnetting? Do you understand UNIX permissions? By the end of this article, anyone involved in IT at any capacity should be able to create at least a simple command line tool.

Thingamablog is a cross-platform GPL blogging application that lets you create, update, and maintain multiple blogs from the client side. Thingamablog even acts as its own FTP client when you're ready to publish or update your blog with new content. The software is easy enough for beginners to use, but sophisticated enough that veteran bloggers will appreciate it too.

Bruce Perens, as you are probably aware, is one of the louder and best-known protesters against the Microsoft/Novell deal. He continues to focus on this issue, which he has not forgotten. He wants to keep Microsoft out of the OSI’s board as well, possibly preventing an effect akin to that of companies like Novell inside the Linux Foundation.

The Hans Reiser murder trial resumed here Wednesday with the defendant fumbling on the witness stand. "Are you just making these things up?" Alameda County prosecutor Paul Hora asked at one point. Hans Reiser underwent a second day of grueling cross-examination by Hora who claims the Linux programmer killed his wife, Nina Reiser, amid a bitter divorce and custody battle over their two young children. The defendant had spent nearly five days on the stand under direct examination before it came to an abrupt halt at noon Tuesday.

The new software lets content providers encrypt FLV and F4V audio and video files and then set access policies for them. Basically, DRM technology is now being applied to Flash and broadcasting firms will now be able to enforce access requirements and expiration dates to content, even after it has been distributed, to make sure it isn’t reused or passed on without permission.

Making changes to your existing infrastructure is fraught with decisions. What's the best way to consolidate servers? How can we better manage the resources we have? How will the changes we're planning impact service and performance? Sandbox environments only provide theoretical information. Vendor solutions can number into the dozens, so it's easy to get overwhelmed. The Computer Measurement Group (CMG) understands that, so for more than 30 years it has been amassing a huge database of knowledge so you can learn from the successes -- and failures -- of others.

How do you handle requests from your employer that you ethically disagree with? Mass emails, software piracy, content stealing, etc.

[I figured since he asked for input I would let you all give him some - Scott]

For far longer than any of its developers would care to recall, Wine, the best program to use in Linux to run Windows applications, has been in development. Now, at long last, Wine 1.0 is scheduled to be released.

An experimental new design for Linux's virtual memory system would turn a large amount of system RAM into a fast RAM disk with automatic sync to magnetic media

Dr Stephen Lucey joined Becta in 2000 and is now their Executive Director (Strategic Technologies). Becta is the Government organisation with oversight of all things ICT in UK schools. Apart from being a general advocate for ICT in schools, it is charged with providing strategic leadership, technical direction and advice on obtaining best value.

Given this reality, how is it possible for Linux ever to be substantially less expensive than Windows? (Over the typical corporate time period.) - Anton Phildor (poster on ZDNet)

The security vendor has warned of multiple critical vulnerabilities that affect its products as well as various iterations of Linux-archiving software.

With the final release 167 days away and an alpha version available, it's time to look at OpenOffice.org 3.0's new features: view multiple pages in Writer, notes in the margin, Microsoft Office 2007 file format support, Solver in Calc, new visual theme in Calc, native tables in Impress, more columns in Calc, error bars in charts, performance improvements, real native Aqua Mac support, and more.