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I've known Bruce Steinberg since we met online, so long ago I don't remember. I'm guessing it might have been back when SCO was still a leading Unix company and Bruce was its VP of Marketing Communications. Or it might have been through Usenet, or some other pre-Web online service.

In this article I've selected what I consider to be some of the past year's outstanding achievements in the world of Linux music and sound software. It's not really a "Best Of 2007", it's just my personal choices for what I found most interesting and significant in the past year.

From KDE to the OOXML controversy to video drivers: a gaze into the crystal ball for free (as in free speech, not as in free beer) software.

Here's a walkthrough gallery of screenshots from Dyne:bolic 2.5.2, codenamed Dhoruba, released one month ago.

When you buy a new PC or a MAC you'll get a fully localized copy of Windows/MacOS in your language but what about Linux distributions? If Linux vendors want to penetrate the newbies market, they must provide fully localized ISO images, there are no excuses. This is my point of view.

...Unlike previous years, where we focused on pure computing horsepower, this year we wanted to develop a machine that is small and quiet and runs on an open-source operating system...

The aim of the new 'xvmc' branch is to deprecate origin 'xvmc-i915' branch with lot of cleanups and new framework inside driver to add supports for more hardware media decode drivers in future. It also has changes that affect users. The most notable is that the origin libI915XvMC.so is replaced by a single libIntelXvMC.so entry to be used on different chipsets for different hardware decoders.

When you think of a new computer you want to buy, odds are that you set your sights on a new Windows or Mac system, but it may be a good time to consider a Linux machine. Recently, I’ve been using two very low-cost systems—one a desktop and one a notebook–that come loaded with Linux and nothing but free, open-source software. I wouldn’t recommend either of them as the sole system for a dedicated web worker, but the notebook in particular is worth considering for a number of purposes.

Open source has been predicted to be one of top IT business models to watch out for in 2008. According to Made Wiryana, Academician, Lecturer, and open source expert, disappointment in Windows Vista coupled with great responses and high expectation to low end machines that come bundled with the Linux operating system and the rising interest in green IT, has made many think positively about Linux.

Red Hat announced the availability of two new North American training offerings that are delivered by open source technology. Red Hat will offer virtual training to students in remote locations and Live Access Labs that allow students access to remotely hosted Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. Through Red Hat's virtual training, remote students will be offered live, streamed Web delivery of Red Hat training courses. Virtual students will register for courses as though they were live students, but will receive course books and kits prior to the start of the class. Courses will initially include eight to 10, 4-hour sessions delivered over two weeks.

The news that AOL is ceasing to support its Netscape browsers is not only the end of an era, it is the end of a story that encompassed just about every major trend in the rise of the Internet as a mass medium, and that was crucially important for free software.

The first stage of developing the nation operating system in Uzbekistan on the basis of Linux has finished. The project has been initiated by the Uzbek agency on informatization and communication and the Center for training and supporting young programmers.

The Firefox Web browser community has created thousands of wonderful extensions that make surfing and working with the Internet fun and productive. While many extensions are homes runs, here are a few that just don't make it out of the ballpark. The object of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is to write a 50,000-word novel in a mere 30 days. That's stressful enough without being constantly reminded of how far you're falling behind, yet that's just what the Nanowrimo Meter does. Most writers won't want a reminder of their cumulative lack of progress. Unless, of course, you're the type of writer that can churn out 11,554 cogent words in two days. If that's the case, we should talk

Sure, it’s been said before, but this time it’s true: 2007 was undoubtedly the year which saw Linux go mainstream. Linux has long accepted as a server platform and a playground for tweakers, hackers and the adventurous, but 2007 saw major events which entrenched Linux on the desktop. Let’s look at what happened.

Open wisdom-of-crowds software movements have become influential, but they haven’t promoted the kind of radical creativity I love most in computer science. If anything, they’ve been hindrances. Some of the youngest, brightest minds have been trapped in a 1970s intellectual framework because they are hypnotized into accepting old software designs as if they were facts of nature. Linux is a superbly polished copy of an antique, shinier than the original, perhaps, but still defined by it.

[More "Linux doesn't innovate" FUD, but this one not so badly articulated as the rest. - Sander]

There's one thing for certain: Now is an exciting time to be a KDE user. The much anticipated launch of KDE 4 is slated for January 11th, 2008. This is a major revamp of the look and feel of the KDE desktop, with the inclusion of a built-in compositor (think eye candy) and something called "plasmoids" (little functional widgets embedded into your desktop). It's a lot of new bling aimed at improving the desktop experience. Will it? More importantly, will it for you? What would make you choose KDE over GNOME (or vice versa)? This week we take a brief look at KDE in both its 3.5.x and 4 incarnations, and outline a few rules of thumb on choosing your desktop environment.

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 71 for the weeks December 16th - December 29th, 2007. In this issue: Dell adds DVD playback, Ubuntu Live Conference proposals, Hardy Alpha 2, a community approach to commercial training, Kubuntu 8.04 LTS status, Full Circle Magazine Issue #8, new Kubuntu members, IRSeek, a new Official Ubuntu Book, and much, much more!!

One common misconception about open source software is that it can be changed by anyone and is less secure; however, most open source is strictly governed. For example, the Apache Software Foundation has tight configuration management controls for developers. Its products are so good that most major software vendors include some Apache software in their products including Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Sun.

EEI Corporation, one of the Philippines' leading construction companies, has opted to shift to Linux for their operating system (OS), joining several other industry giants in the country who have already turned to open source. The firm initially used proprietary systems for both OS platforms and various application packages utilized in its operations. However, due to increasing costs of licensing, the company started considering open source applications in order to minimize expenses.

I’ve always wanted to install Ubuntu on my Mac. So I decided to give myself little christmas present and finally get it done. Here’s my experiences with running Linux on Intel Mac. Other than small inconveniences with Compiz/OpenGl games and sleep mode not working, everything works like a charm. According to Ubuntu wiki sleep should work with custom kernel but I decided to skip it. Ubuntu boots pretty fast so it’s not that big deal especially with machine that’s most of the time just a portable workstation. Installation with all configuration trial & errors took about three hours.