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Check out the new Flash Player 9 Update 3 beta, also available in Linux flavor. The most notable features of interest to Linux users: Fullscreen mode works on Linux, and the entire thing has been reworked as a native GTK app that communicates with the hosting web browser using the XEmbed protocol.

"This release is also a milestone for us, as it is the natural successor to Linux 1.3 and is the first time we’ve created packages for Skype 1.4. You can also find it via the public download site, so everybody is invited to enjoy the goodness of 1.4."

SearchInform releases a new software PlagiatInform based on its search technologies.

[Good stuff for writers. - Scott]

This is release 0.9.39 of Wine, a free implementation of Windows on Unix. What's new in this release: Many MSHTML improvements. Several improvements to the sound support. A number of Winsock fixes. Several new supported constructs in the IDL compiler. Many Direct3D threading fixes. Lots of bug fixes.

I'm a big fan of Richard Stallman and his work even though, the first time I interviewed him, he proceeded to criticise my questions before answering them, not a journalistic experience I'd had before. Without his vision and sheer bloody-mindedness in the face of indifference and outright hostility, we would not have the vast array of free software we enjoy today.

Ten years ago, when Metadot founder and CEO Daniel Guermeur was working for a large technology company, he discovered that the Web-based content management systems he was developing were too complicated for his customers, who kept saying they needed a Web-based portal application that was easy to learn and easy to use. Guermeur wanted to provide that, but he was stymied by the closed aspect of the technologies he was developing with: with no access to the source code and long waits for product upgrades from vendors, it would be too slow and expensive to roll out more efficient solutions. So Guermeur started looking at open source.

Microsoft said the company hopes to strike a Linux pact with Red Hat similar to the partnerships it has forged with Linux vendors.

Control what runs on today's PC environments and protect your system with IBM Assured Execution Environment (AxE). This technology requires no configuration and once installed blocks any external, “unapproved programs,” from executing, installing, or modifying your machine.

The RPM Package Manager (RPM), fundamental to an array of Linux distributions and the Linux Standard Base specification, has been on uncertain ground as a project in recent years. The versions of the utility shipped by the various RPM-based distros have slowly branched off in different directions, leading in some cases to stagnation. Longtime RPM maintainer Jeff Johnson took a big step this month toward revitalizing the application by relaunching rpm5.org, a site dedicated to reassembling the divergent RPM developer community and putting together a unified plan for future development.

A lengthy debate that began with a suggestion to dual license the Linux kernel under the GPLv2 and the GPLv3 [story] continues on the Linux Kernel Mailing List. Throughout the ongoing thread Linux creator Linus Torvalds has spoken out on the GPLv2, the upcoming GPLv3, the BSD license, Tivo, the Free Software Foundation, and much more. During the discussion, he was asked we he chose the GPLv2 over the BSD license when he's obviously not a big fan of the FSF.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. -- Believe it or not, on my way to the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit at the Googolplex this week, I realized that I knew at least one more Linux distributor would form a partnership with Microsoft, and that the most likely one was Linspire....... ................ So, who's next? Well, that same morning, I was thinking about Ubuntu as another possible candidate. Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical Ltd., the company behind Ubuntu, had never been as hostile towards Microsoft as some Linux leaders. I mean, this is the Linux leader who's recently said "I'd love to work with Microsoft..."

All modern operating systems are able to run many programs at the same time. For example, a typical Linux server might include a Web server, an email server, and probably a database service. Each of these programs runs as a separate process. What do you do if one of your services stops working? Here are some handy command-line tools for managing processes.

We've seen a lot of top lists of extensions for the popular browser but all of them are focused on the home desktop and most of them mention the same extensions just because they're so good. Well, I've decided to create a short review of the 10 extensions I've found more useful for use within a MS oriented enterprise. If you are locked within the same environment, hopefully you'll discover something you've overlooked.

Financial report and lessons from the Tux500 campaign

One of the challenges you may face when converting an office from Microsoft Windows to Linux is that many people archive their emails in PST files. There are PST tools available, but most of them are commercial, since the PST file format is closed and protected by Microsoft. There are several non-commercial methods to achieve roughly the same goal, and in this tutorial we use IMAP (more specifically, courier-imap) to convert all our emails from PST to the Maildir format. The advantage of this approach is that you also lay the foundation for a new mail system, with all your old emails already imported the day you switch over.

In his Linspire Letter, CEO Kevin Carmony talks about why he decided to make a deal with Microsoft, trading some technological info for an assurance from Microsoft that the Redmond giant won't sue Linspire's Linux customers for "intellectual property" infringement ... comparing himself to Steve Jobs in the process. Nice ... get yourself neck-deep, then compare yourself to Steve Jobs. Even Steve Jobs knows he's a crazy (expletive of your choice). Or should know. Rich, cunning, possessing uncanny instinct, etc. ... but still kind of crazy.

Another one bites the dust. After Novell and Xandros, Linspire has signed away their future as well for a wad of cash in the short term. The reaction of the Linspire community isn't as negative as the Xandrosians but that should be no surprise. The effects of these deals and Microsoft's patent protection racket will be discussed this week at the Linux Foundation summit at Google's Mountain view headquarters.

Virtualization vendor's product allows users to run Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris-based applications on the Mac.

If running Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux have taught me anything, it's the value of Dillo, the little Web browser that could. It loads wicked fast on my older systems, and while it doesn't do CSS or Java, what it does do -- display Web pages and the images on them -- it does quickly and well.

The Baylor College Human Neuroimaging Lab (HNL) uses Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to record and research brain activity. The fMRI scans human brains at work, detecting areas of greater blood flow that indicate which part of the brain is active as subjects perform a variety of activities. The data flows from the scanners to a high-performance 32-node CentOS cluster to be analyzed and returned to researchers in statistical form. HNL Systems Administrator Justin King is a big fan of open source software and frequently writes his own applications when he can't find what he needs in the community. King also takes advantage of commercial open source projects.