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IBM and Canonical are introducing an Ubuntu Linux-based distribution and related cloud services for netbooks and thin clients in Africa. The IBM Client for Smart Work works locally or via "VERDE" virtualization to make IBM's Lotus-based software "affordable to new, mass audiences in Africa," says IBM.

Open source continues finding favor in both large enterprises and small companies. But while the nature and types of deployments may vary wildly, many have at least one thing in common: The bottom line. Cost savings from Linux and open source has long been a key selling point of the movement. But according to a panel of enterprise users and analysts speaking at the LinuxCon conference, it's a consideration that spans the gamut from massive, multimillion-dollar implementations to far smaller organizations.

Ubuntu's 9.04 release will be out next month. We look at a few of the best new features.

Wallpaper clocks are inherently wallpapers itself which can show live time and date with nice integration. You won't get an idea what it really is until you see it for yourself. Let's see how could you install wallpaper clocks in Ubuntu. I have included some screenshots as well. Check it out.

This tutorial describes how to install and configure Snort intrusion detection system (IDS), ACIDBASE (Basic Analysis and Security Engine), MySQL, and Apache2 on Ubuntu 9.04 using packages from Ubuntu’s Synaptic Package Manager. Snort will assist you in monitoring your network and alert you about possible threats. Snort will output its log files to a MySQL database which ACIDBASE will use to display in a graphical interface in web browser.

Does Linux desktop even need to be popular? There are, shall we say, differing options among the open source cognoscenti gathered in Portland, Oregon this week for the annual LinuxCon. For the last eight years, we've been told it's the year of the Linux desktop. Yet penetration figures have remained somewhere in the region of 0 to 1 per cent. The top brass at the Linux Foundation don't seem particularly interested in desktop uptake these days. They prefer to press towards successes in end-user device and mobile phone markets rather than worrying about turning hearts against Windows and OS X.

Speaking at a forum in Silicon Valley, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said that the delay while European Union regulators consider whether to approve Oracle's acquisition of Sun is costing the latter company US$100 million a month. He also insisted that the Oracle would maintain MySQL and outlined an ambitious future for the combined companies.

The father of the open-source OS calls his baby "scary" and "bloated," Sony gets down with the indie (distribution) kids, and we learn how the Netflix Prize was won in today's odds-and-ends roundup.

The KDE project's Sebastian Kügler dreams of a desktop that melts, like silk, into the Web. In a writeup to KDE developers he promotes Project Silk for better Web integration.

For years Microsoft has been spreading lies and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about Linux in the hopes that they can keep Linux from being widely adopted. Their latest round of lies is the anti-linux propaganda used in training some Best Buy and Staples employees. My opinion is that the reason Microsoft uses these tactics is because their software is so bad that it cannot stand on its own merits.

Backed by Microsoft, IBM, and three other outfits beckoning developers into the sky, Zend Technologies has unleashed an open source API for fashioning PHP apps that float on multiple clouds. Zend calls it the Simple API for Cloud Application Services. The idea is to offer a single programming interface for file storage, document database, simple queue, and other application services offered by the likes of Amazon, Rackspace, and, yes, Microsoft.

Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, has made it clear that he is not prepared to spin off Sun's MySQL business in an attempt to placate the European Commission investigation of competition issues with Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun. The deal has already been approved by US authorities and Ellison thinks that the European Commission will follow saying "I think once they do their job, they're going to come to the same conclusion".

A few developers have tried to discern the goal behind Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation established just a week ago. A legal advisor for the Linux Foundation has made some recommendations to what he considers the foundation's faulty organizational structure.

Sure, programmers (especially operating systems programmers) love their specifications. Clean, well-defined interfaces are a key element of scalable software development. But what is it about file systems, POSIX, and when file data is guaranteed to hit permanent storage that brings out the POSIX fundamentalist in all of us? The recent fsync()/rename()/O_PONIES controversy was the most heated in recent memory but not out of character for fsync()-related discussions. In this article, we'll explore the relationship between file systems developers, the POSIX file I/O standard, and people who just want to store their data.

Here we are on Day Two of the Linux Foundation's Linuxcon, and it sure looks like the face of Linux is still a bearded one, despite the Linux Foundation's grand claims of Community. Perhaps they have a more limited definition of "community."

If you need a quick web server running and you don't want to mess with setting up apache or something similar, then Python can help. Python comes with a simple builtin HTTP server. With the help of this little HTTP server you can turn any directory in your system into your web server directory. The only thing you need to have installed is Python.

A better way of identifying exceptional individuals in our communities using the methods of Linux and other free software projects, harnessing the collaborative intelligence of many.

Lots of people comment but I have a solution for the ever-growing Linux kernel waistline.

“The Gutsy Geeks” radio show (www.gutsygeeks.com) landed an exclusive interview with Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, Ltd., founder of the Ubuntu Project.

There ain't no such thing as a free Windows 7 upgrade. At least that's what it is starting to look like for the majority of people, despite the 'free upgrade' vouchers that are being handed out with new computers as part of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option scheme.