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It seems to be a very famous question : how can free software developers make money to live. They spend a lot of time and effort on something that they'll never sell.. The problem is : are they supposed to earn money ? If they don't code for money what is their motivator ?

The Reusable Computer Network (ReCoN) builds networks of computers from mini-itx, USB ThumbDrives and older computers. ReCoN uses two Linux distributions to create a powerful network of computers that can be built for next to nothing. The concept is based on the fact that, most homes, schools and businesses now have at least one new computer at their location and they also have a number of older computers they just do not know what to do with.

The most important thing that came to light this year is how much Linux and FOSS drive the computer industry. It's not the oldtime traditional commercial companies that are "driving innovation" as they like to say, and which makes me want to hit something every time I hear it because it's such a big fat fib, but Linux and the FOSS world. So rather than getting all violent, let's take a look at some of the ways that Linux is leaving everyone else in the dust.

Great! Now that java's finally about to be freed, it's losing ground. According to Bill Snyder, Java is losing ground to Ruby on Rails, PHP, and AJAX for web development and being pushed by .Net in the enterprise.

Developers are puzzling over recent clues blogged by a few Microsoft employees regarding a new “Emacs.Net” tool the company is building.

[No, you're not drunk, it's not April Fools' today, but yes, hell just froze over - hkwint]

Whenever people discuss software that they would like to see ported to Linux, they mention desktop publishing (DTP) applications like Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress. But Linux already supports an application aimed at DTP users. Scribus is an open-source page layout program that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Is it a viable alternative to proprietary products for professional production work? For nearly a decade, starting in the mid '90s, my primary responsibility at work was editing and laying out graphics and text in documents. QuarkXpress was the first page layout program I used, followed quickly by various versions of Aldus (and later Adobe) PageMaker. A few years ago, I started to work with Adobe's successor to PageMaker, InDesign.

There's little question that open source software -- and the open source philosophy -- has made giant strides in 2007. As tempting as it can be to just look back and feel good about our progress, it's the right time for the community to take a long look forward and figure out what needs to be done to continue -- and even accelerate -- momentum. To get the conversation started, I've compiled a list of five suggested "to-do" items for open source in 2008. Some of the items are evangelical; some are introspective. All of these things garnered at least some notice in 2007 and are bound to remain at least as important or gain that much more attention in '08. It's not an exhaustive list and isn't intended to be one; it's simply meant to spark further thought.

About a week ago, Joe Barr posted a feature on Linux.com titled "New Alien Arena 6.10 blows away its FPS competition" yet gave no real comparisons with other similar games, regretable since his conclusion was that it "blows away its competition". This was done in the same style as Barr's previous feature, "Tremulous: The best free software game ever?" which described Tremulous but also lacked comparisons and relations to other games. This feature hopes to be a thorough comparison of the major free software shooters.

This is not the usual Linux/Mac fanboy “Microsoft is Dead, Long Live [insert OS of choice here]” rant. Microsoft is a multikajillion (yes, I am a math teacher) dollar giant and it isn’t going anywhere any time soon. However, I think it has some pretty significant obstacles ahead of it in the Ed Tech market which just might have a ripple effect in the years to come. It’s been noted before that I should alert readers to my pro-open source biases, so here you go: I am biased towards open source solutions for education wherever they make practical, financial, technical, and pedagogical sense. You have been warned.

I've spent the better part of the past 2 weeks banging away on 2 LTSP servers for our school district. I find myself lamenting to those around me, and being an otherwise cranky guy as well. This morning it dawned on me that people probably think I'm having such a hard time because I'm using Linux instead of the "norm" -- but that's just not the case.

LXer Feature: 2-Jan-2008

Lately, some articles appeared which stated the open-source way of development didn't bring us any innovation. Jaron Lanier even goes further by saying closed source is the better approach to innovation. However, these people miss a lot of important points and facts about innovation, and therefore the conclusions they make are false. Having read a lot about innovation myself lately, I will try to show that the open-source way of doing things leads to more innovation, and more important, I will give some real life examples showing the closed-source inventions aren't that innovative at all, and pointing to some open-source inventions the other writers missed.

The following guide allows you to wirelessy sync an iPhone with Amarok in Ubuntu 7.10, including adding, editing and playing songs and playlists. It takes less than 10 minutes, and is almost completely graphical, with only 3 Terminal commands for initial set up. Per a lot of my other writing, I’ve added it to the Ubuntu wiki. The guide below is just for iPhone users running Amarok, see help.ubuntu.com for iPhone Touch and gtkpod info. Naturally, it requires a jailbroken iPhone.

So I decided to try an experiment, and participated in the G1G1 (Give 1, Get 1) program from the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project. My 4 year-old is the original target market for the purchase, and I know from experience as the computer geek in the family, (and most of the extended family - sigh), that I would be the primary fount of knowledge for the users of our OLPC. One of the sections of this review will be about how to find out more about the laptop and interface.

TUSDEC has adopted open source software for its entire networking and communication to ensure the safe sharing and transfer of data. According to a spokesman of the company here Tuesday, TUSDEC is perhaps the first ever public sector institution in the country which has embraced the Linux-based software to avoid the problems like hacking and unauthorized sharing of information.

FTP is an insecure protocol, but file-transfer is required all the time. You can use OpenSSH Server to transfer files using SCP and SFTP (secure ftp) without setting up an FTP server. However, this feature also grants ssh shell access to a user. In this article series we will help you provide secure restricted file-transfer services to your users without resorting to http://FTP. It also covers chroot jail setup instructions to lock down users to their own home directories (allow users to transfer files but not browse the entire Linux / UNIX file system of the server) as well as per user configurations.

Marten Mickos sent me an update on MySQL's exceptional 2007. It makes interesting points about open source, generally, while relaying important information about MySQL. Here are excerpts from the message, with his permission

It is sometimes forgotten that GNU/Linux is more than just a desktop operating system. Linux, being a well-engineered kernel, is used extensively and also funded for its important role in several different areas of computing. One needs to look for evidence of growth not only in desktops. Judgment must be based on multiple areas where GNU/Linux gains traction. This ought to cover some disruptive trends that are yet to be reckoned with.

Not long after Linux.com reviewed Roelof Temmingh's powerful online data mining tool Paterva Evolution a few months ago, Temmingh was forced to remove the application from the Paterva Web site because of complaints that some of the methods he used to harvest data were violating the terms of service (TOS) of the services from which the information was gathered. Recently, Temmingh released a completely redesigned version of the tool -- now called Maltego -- and has made it available again as a free-as-in-beer download.

Via CRN we learn that according to Novell’s recent 10-K annual report, the Linux vendor received $355.6 million (R2.5 billion) from Microsoft in terms of the companies’ agreement on interoperability signed in 2006. No wonder Novell execs are feeling pleased with themselves.

With seven stable releases of VectorLinux Standard Gold edition under their belts, the developers of VectorLinux have released the much-awaited VectorLinux 5.9 Standard Gold edition on the 21st of December 2007 to the joy of many Vectorians. Well, in case you are not aware of VectorLinux, it is another immensely popular Xfce-based Linux distribution in the GNU/Linux world. It originates from Canada and focuses on speed, stability and choice. It's designed to run well even on low-resources compatible Intel or AMD x86 hardwares. Other than the announcement of the new release, its website, vectorlinux.com also provide many screenshots of the new VectorLinux 5.9 Standard Gold or just called VectorLinux 5.9. While you are there, you may want to check out its CD store for the Deluxe version.