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This week's 5 links include Vint Cerf on cloud standards, if process is killing developer passion and a cartoon on mobile development run amok.

Common wisdom has held for years that Linux is superior to Windows when it comes to security issues. But now that open source is growing in popularity both on the consumer side (think Android phones) and the enterprise side (Linux runs the 10 fastest supercomputers in the world, for example, according to Wikipedia), it's time to push past the adage and look again at the whole "which is safer" issue.

[Common wisdom..if users have any know Linux is by its design and not just its licensing and user-base is more secure, period. - Scott]

Even though in the beginning of the default email client session at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Budapest, it looked like it's certain that Evolution will stay as default in Ubuntu 11.10, towards the end of the session things changed and it was decided to stay with Evolution for now BUT switch to Thunderbird as the default email client in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot as long as it integrates with the desktop.

LinuxCertified, Inc. announced its next two day, hands-on course that provides substantial practice with key tools and capabilities available to developers of Linux based applications and system software. The course shows attendees how to use development and debugging tools and how to make use of many Linux system calls and library routines.

Google just launched an encrypted search portal which is a Godsend for people on public networks since there is a lot that can be gleaned from your search queries. For doing your protected searches, however, you have to go to a different portal which I linked to above. Now, the omnibar (the address bar in Google Chrome) also serves as a search box but searches on the normal google portal by default. Here is a simple, few seconds process to switch it over to encrypted search.

On June 15, Samsung and Acer will release the first consumer-oriented Chrome OS laptops, or Chromebooks as Google likes to call them. Both hardware- and software-wise, these netbooks are nothing special: You can download Chrome OS's open source brother, Chromium OS, for free -- and at around $400 for a Chromebook, you would certainly expect some better hardware than what Samsung and Acer are offering.

Released in March 2009, Linux-Libre is in a sense a grandchild of the already established distributions gNewSense and BLAG. Though, UTUTO-e , a Gentoo based Linux distro, is credited to have removed licensed linux source code for the first time, Linux-Libre improves considerably on the entire process and is more pro-active in its features.

The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook. Vergrößern Google has announced that Samsung and Acer will be making the first Chromebooks; instant-on, always-connected laptops that run the company's open sourced and Linux-based Chrome OS. As well as being available for purchase, Google is offering companies a subscription plan at $28 a month per user, which includes a Chromebook and online services, and a $20 a month subscription offering for educational users. UK pricing for subscriptions will be announced closer to the 15 June launch. The machines are enhanced production versions of the CR-48 notebook which Google gave away to interested parties late last year.

"NSA recommending Vista for home security is merely a reflection of the reality of monopoly in the retail space," said blogger Robert Pogson. "In the USA probably as few as 2 to 3 percent of users use GNU/Linux, so a recommendation is almost useless." Those who are serious about security "are already aware of SELinux, a product of the NSA. The NSA is merely recommending that folks move on from XP, a poor OS poorly supported by M$."

A full review of Lubuntu 11.04, including a gallery of images.

Creating special tables in Scribus is not a straightforward task. The controls are scattered, and few users are likely to decipher the necessary steps or their necessary order without help. However, each step in creating a table of contents (TOC), index, or frame is simple in itself, and, once one is added, you can edit the result exactly as you would the contents of any text frame.

In case you haven’t heard about it yet, the Internet Society (ISOC) is planning an IPv6 “test flight” with some large organizations, on June 8th, 2011. The event will last for 24 hours and is intended to raise awareness about the impending migration to IPv6.

This is a biased post. Biased towards FREE people using the FREE internet! And certainly against the blogging policies of being neutral, but no harms! Everyone is changing the policies; Microsoft is being altruistic supporting its ultimate rivals – the open source community; and hence changing its policies. If the IT tycoons are changing their policies then why not tiny bloggers!

You might think that Netflix is uninterested in dropping Microsoft's Silverlight and moving toward an HTML5 solution for its streaming-video service. But according to Netflix cloud architect Adrian Cockcroft, the company is very much interested in moving beyond Silverlight and broadening its base to include Linux users.

For anyone wanting to join John Bridgman's team to work on the open-source Radeon graphics drivers for Linux, there's still openings...

Samsung has announced the Series 5 Chromebook – a thin, 12.1 inch Chrome OS laptop. Google's Chrome OS is the company's take on a cloud-centric operating system that will compete with Windows, primarily in the mobile computing market.

Can you name your motherboard’s chipset off the top of your head? What about NIC type? If not, how would you go about finding it? Could you do it from the command line? As with a lot of Linux software, there are many ways to go about this. Some tools are built right into any Linux system, others might require a separate download. Today we’re going to cover several of the ways to view your hardware details in Linux, including the pros and cons of each.

This lightweight distro could be the perfect match for your netbook or for that old computer you’ve refurbished. Find out why Mark Shuttleworth has seen fit to welcome Lubuntu into the official Ubuntu family…

Don't like Unity? You want to use your old classic GNOME desktop in Ubuntu 11.04? Look no further, we have the tutorial for you. It's easier than you might think!

Wine is software I both love and hate. I love the fact that Wine exists. I hate the fact that it is necessary for Wine to exist.