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Grasshopper LLC Tuesday announced the first release of its PageStream desktop publishing application specifically designed for the LinuxPPC distribution. PageStream is also available for Mac OS, Windows, and Amiga variants with a large assortment of features and a 20-year history, Grasshopper said.

"PageStream is a high-end publishing package that, like an onion, has many layers," Dan Kilroy, a spokesman for Wisconsin-based Grasshopper, told DesktopLinux.com via email. "Basic functions like pages, text, and drawing can be 'opened' into more customizable, user-controlled functions.

It's hard not to see money and corporate politics at work here. After all, less than two months ago Microsoft was also trashing the inexpensive MIT computer—and suggesting that a cell phone should take its place. Intel has also been a hater, and in December an executive dismissed the new computer as a gadget. The biggest rivals of Microsoft and Intel (AMD, Google, and Red Hat) are all substantial contributors to the new project, which does not use Intel hardware or a Microsoft operating system, and doesn't stand to make anyone a pile of money (though it will be a commerical venture). still, you would hope that such tech heavyweights as Microsoft and Intel could lend some assistance (or at least stop the usual FUD) for a project of this magnitude, but that's apparently too much to ask.

The new service, which is currently in beta, will be available to all UK Yahoo Mail customers today and users will be given a choice as to whether they wish to try out the new service when they next log in. Highlights of the new beta version of Yahoo! Mail include increased speed and features such as a reading pane to instantly view messages, an RSS reader which you can either chose to subscribe to Yahoo's own news feeds or input your own URL and support for both Firefox and Internet Explorer as standard.

15 and 16 July 2006 the Crystal Space team, together with the Center of Learning and Knowledge Management and Department of Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering (ZLW/IMA) at the university of Aachen (Germany) will hold the very first Crystal Space Conference. During those two days developers and users of Crystal Space will talk about technical and artistic issues related to developing 3D games using the Crystal Space framework.

[Ed.: Has link to conference registration site.]

COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology) is an international open standard of good practices for IT governance, security, and control. It is a framework that produces a verifiable audit of IT processes across the enterprise that can be used both internally and by external audtiors. With the high profile of the Enron scandal and the subsequent passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, business and especially IT managers' concern for governance standards and means of providing verifiable audits for both internal and external use, awareness of IT governance functions is at an all-time high. COBIT, many believe, provides a means of achieving these goals for the enterprise.

[Ed.: 24 monitors, 30 million pixels, 12 Linux servers, $40,000 LCD]

“Other schools and institutions have built power wall displays, but what makes this one unique in that ours is reconfigurable and can be curved around the user,” North said.

Running Linux or Windows CE, the PC has a 72mm x 55mm touch screen, 64MB SD-RAM and up to 1GB storage in a built-in SD memory slot. The device has batteries built into the strap and can give up to six hours productive time. Full GPS is built in, as is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and the device is controlled via a stylus and touch screen. A speaker is incorporated as is stereo sound via headphones. [Now that's my kind of watch. - sharkscott]

It's a lot easier to make the leap from Windows to GNU/Linux on a desktop machine (or even a server) than it is a laptop. Laptop computers are far more likely to contain unsupported unique or proprietary hardware than desktop machines, so laptop computers in general can be difficult to get your favorite free software operating system onto. Confused as to what distro you should use, or what computer you should buy? Here are some tips to make your decisions easier.

The Chairman and President write: In the days since Research In Motion (RIM) announced a final settlement agreement that ended a lengthy and complex patent battle...we have also heard broad concern expressed about a patent system in obvious need of reform. Who knew that patent litigation and the subject of patent reform could ever become such mainstream topics of conversation?

They took out full page ads in eight U.S. newspapers on Tuesday. Next? A Linux server for Blackberry would work.

HP has announced that it will be providing the nonprofit organization World Vision U.S with various hardware, including ProLiant blades running Linux.

There's been some discussion lately about whether Ubuntu is suitable for Linux beginners. If you raise this issue, someone is sure to tout a script called Automatix as the solution to any perceived notions of the user-unfriendliness of Ubuntu. Automatix automatically installs a laundry list of applications, plugins, and utilities that are supposed to turn a barebones Ubuntu install into desktop perfection. That sounded like something I should try.

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Debian Project considers GNU FDL conditionally free
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While no official announcement has yet been made, an online meeting between Mark Shuttleworth and his team voted in favour of the six week delay for Ubuntu's Dapper Drake, setting the new release date as 1 June.

Partnership with Japan's Leading Open Source Technology Integrator Further Extends JBoss Middleware into Japanese Market

I know many of you are still reluctant to phase out your NetWare servers in favor of Open Enterprise Server (OES) or SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). So we won't talk about that today. Rather, I'm going to ask you to take a look at the systems on your users' desktops. More than likely, they're running some version of Windows. Is that really the best use of your (always limited) licensing dollars?

BIRT, which turns two in August, is the lovechild of enterprise reporting specialist Actuate (which donated code and full-time technologists to the effort) and the open-source Eclipse software community. BIRT is a J2EE-based reporting solution that plugs into the Eclipse IDE. Like Microsoft’s SSRS offering, BIRT combines an embeddable reporting engine, report lifecycle management capabilities and a client authoring tool.

"I'm not a Microsoft hater," says Kerry Miller, a network engineer and PC services manager for the bank. "I just believe in the right tool at the right time..Only about 15% of the servers are on Linux," he says. "But the work is pretty important, supporting 100% of the users. It's not that we have a lot of Linux boxes, it's that the Linux boxes are in pretty strategic spots." ["in pretty strategic spots"- So in other words, they only use Windows where it does not matter if it crashes. - sharkscott]

A small, US-based professional services and consulting company specializing in embedded Linux reports that its revenues grew by an order of magnitude in 2005, while its staff size tripled. Embedded Alley Solutions CEO Pete Popov says the company was also able to increase its level of profitability during the year.

Second S2 title coming to a Linux Client near you

"We received tremendous support from the Linux community for our first title, Savage: The Battle for Newerth," said Marc DeForest, co-founder and lead designer of S2 Games.

Our audio expert checks in with some of the core Linux audio projects to see what's new.