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Microsoft is set to launch Office 2010 Starter -- a stripped down and ad-supported (but totally free) version of Office 2010. Is this Microsoft's response to OpenOffice and Google Apps? Or is this an opportunity to get PC buyers to "try then buy" complete Office suites? Here are some thoughts.

AT&T announced plans to launch five Android devices from Dell, HTC, and Motorola in the first half of the year, as well as two Palm WebOS phones, say reports. In separate announcements, AT&T and T-Mobile said they had completed upgrades to provide HSPA 7.2 service across their 3G networks, says eWEEK.

One of the big advantages of The GIMP is the fact that it can be easily extended with new functionality. So with sufficient addons (particularly plugins), you can achieve a lot of functionality found in other editors. Here are 5 usefull plugins for Gimp, 1- Watermark : A hidden watermark to protect your photos. and last 2- autosave : Periodically saves any open files in the current GIMP instance.

The $20 Centon Craze 4 GB "MP3 player" I picked up a month or so ago is billed as only playing MP3 and WMA files. Well, I neither have any WMAs nor want to have them, but I decided to test which other audio formats, freedom-loving and otherwise, this cheap little device can handle.

RawTherapee is undisputedly the number one Linux program for reworking digital images into RAW format. With the license change the program becomes free software.

Contributors to the WebKitGTK+ project recently gathered for a hackfest to improve the open source HTML renderer's integration with the GTK+ toolkit. They added some cache control APIs, improved support for HTML5 video, form persistence, and other features.

The LISP (LISt Processing) programming language is relevant to OLPC's XO laptop because, like an iPhone or smart phone, it has very limited resources and is not a full sized computer. The LISP community came up with software for biology called BioBike. It is 3 things..

There was a long time that I was looking for a way to put away my old CRM server! But why? Because I had installed a virtualization environment with Xen and all my servers are turned to small VPS on a nice pretty infrastructure. The base point was that the CRM had a USB/Lock and there was no way to take the lock under a virtualized VPS. This tutorial shows how you can set up a USB-over-IP server.

HP announced three netbooks using Intel's N450 "Pineview" processor that support SUSE Linux: the Mini 210, Mini 2102, both with 10.1-inch screens, and the Mini 5102, which offers 10-hour claimed battery life. Meanwhile, at CES the company unveiled a prototype Qualcomm Snapdragon-based Android "smartbook," says Engadget.

How does any manufacturer justify the price tag they attach to their hardware? As a result of my experience, I now expect to pay no more than $600 for a fully loaded notebook computer. My expectation of what I can get for that kind of money has gone up dramatically. In truth, the single most valuable thing on my notebook is first and foremost the data, quickly followed by the free and open source software tools that let me get my job done.

Jaspersoft CEO Brian Gentile, like many of his open source peers, has some lofty goals for 2010. With the help of SaaS and on-premise partners, Gentile says Jaspersoft — which specializes in business intelligence software — can grow 50 percent and generate positive cash flow in 2010.

Some people think the iPod and iTunes are podcasting and portable, digital music. Others chafe at the restrictions placed upon the user by Apple. Count me among the latter.

A little over two years ago, the world — or at least a whole lot of geeks — waited with baited breath for the revelation that Google would be entering the mobile phone market. The eventual announcement proved a curveball, however, as what the search giant unveiled were plans for an operating system, not a handset. Now, that curve has finally straightened.

My blog entry earlier this week noting the silent passage of the 100 day mark for CodePlex sparked a call from the Foundation's PR firm, and an opportunity for me to spend an hour on the phone with Sam Ramji, the interim President of the Foundation, and Foundation Deputy Director Mark Stone during which we covered a lot of ground.

On the way to GNOME 2.30 and Moblin 2.2, the Clutter project has released a new developers snapshot version of its 3D toolkit with many improved details.

We're getting close to the last stops on our tour of NLEs for Linux. This week I've focused my attention on two editors, both of which surprised me in many ways.

I've once again had issues with expired Debian keys and remedied the situation by following the instructions on the Debian Wiki.

From its humble beginnings back in 1991, Linux has grown at a rapid rate. International Data Corp. (IDC) pegged Linux operating system revenue growth at 23.4 percent in 2008. IDC projects that by 2012, Linux operating system revenue will cross $1 billion for the first time, reaching as much as $1.2 billion. Not bad for a free operating system.

OAuth is an open protocol that enables users to share their protected resources among different Web sites, without risking exposure. OAuth is an ideal candidate for mashing up today's social networking Web sites like Twitter. The first part of this series gives an introduction to OAuth, followed by an example of the development of an OAuth-enabled desktop Twitter client. The second part of this series demonstrates how to develop an OAuth-enabled Web Twitter client, which will be migrated to Google App Engine (GAE) in the third and final part of the series.

But then I realize the significant absence of credit for the underlying operating system that made these extreme and complex computer generated graphics possible.