Open to Revisions. "Some religious entrepreneurs have adopted an 'open source' model, where rituals and doctrines can be rewritten as easily as computer code."
posted by homunculus on Jun 11, 2009 - 54 comments

LugRadio is a fortnightly British radio show that takes a relaxed, humorous look at Linux and open source.
posted by finite on Mar 11, 2008 - 2 comments

Ubuntu has quickly become the number one Linux distro for the desktop. Not only is it free, but it has also made Linux easier to use than ever. Now, Wubi enables Windows users to install Ubuntu just like any other application, so you no longer have to mess around with partitions, burning CDs, etc. [more inside]
posted by Foci for Analysis on Jan 21, 2008 - 82 comments

Ubuntu Studio is a Linux distribution focused on creative audiovisual pursuits.
posted by phrontist on May 10, 2007 - 55 comments

Simplicity v. Complexity Torvalds strikes. López Godwins. Torvalds submits patches!
posted by clawtros on Feb 17, 2007 - 51 comments

The world is not flat Like open source/content? Like youtube? You have a choice. According to IBM, the future is open, and according to Linux, this future is inevitable.
posted by localhuman on Dec 30, 2006 - 41 comments

Ballmer: Linux Users Owe Microsoft. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle yesterday, that Linux infringes upon his company's intellectual property. Does this signal preparations for all out war against the open source community? Microsoft's recent acquisition of Novell was seen as an ominous sign. Or perhaps it's a sign that user friendly versions of linux such as Ubuntu threaten sales of Microsoft's problematic new VISTA OS, scheduled for release Nov. 30th for businesses and Jan. 30, 2007 for consumers?
posted by Skygazer on Nov 17, 2006 - 79 comments

Linux®
posted by riffola on Aug 21, 2005 - 27 comments

Think tanks attack Open Source "The Alexis de Tocqueville Institute’s attack on Linux is just the latest in a series of attacks on Open Source by think tanks.....

I was able to detect a common theme to all their criticism. They all seem to be funded by Microsoft. "
posted by troutfishing on Jun 25, 2004 - 54 comments

It comes as no surprise that Microsoft seems to be paying SCO to fight the fight. [via #joiito]
posted by yonderboy on Mar 4, 2004 - 23 comments

The CEO of Ernie Ball talks about how his company left Microsoft for Linux after a licensing fiasco. Sterling Ball: It's just software. You have to figure out what you need to do within your organization and then get the right stuff for that. And we're not a backwards organization. We're progressive; we've won communications and design awards...The fact that I'm not sending my e-mail through Outlook doesn't hinder us. It's just kind of funny. I'm speaking to a standing-room-only audience at a major technology show because I use a different piece of software--that's hysterical.
posted by skallas on Dec 10, 2003 - 20 comments

Take your hands off the GPL and back away from the keyboard... New twist in the SCO vs. IBM and the rest of the known computing universe: it appears SCO's primary argument in their case will in fact be that the GPL is invalid, trumped by US federal copyright law. (Quote redirect from via Inquirer from Wall Street Journal). And apparently, I'm not alone in beginning to think there's merit to the "Microsoft's behind all this!" conspiracy theories, since these "coincidences" are really starting to pile up...
posted by JollyWanker on Aug 16, 2003 - 29 comments

Pakistan government may replace pirated Windows-based systems with Linux "The Microsoft Corporation has already offered over 90 per cent discount to the government but we want to press for more cuts in prices." Is the Linux announcement a bargaining strategy or a serious sign? This June O'Reilly story provides some context, noting a sudden spiking popularity of open source software within the U.S. government, which "actually lags behind other major governments" who are "gravitating toward open source software for a variety of reasons."
posted by mediareport on Sep 6, 2002 - 10 comments

Perhaps AOL isn't that bad. I've never liked AOL, but this recent article makes me want to give the company a big hug. Finally, people are stepping up to the Microsoft juggernaut and deciding to use other means to deliever content and run their own machines. AOL is trying to cut costs by migrating from UNIX and Windows to a Linux environment on the server-side. On the client side, they will apparently be pushing the use of Mozilla instead of their previous default browser, Internet Explorer. This has the potential to impact the web enormously, as AOL's 30 million subscribers will soon be using Mozilla as their browser. Web designers will have to start sticking to w3c specs instead of using MSIE-specific coding, which will hopefully force Microsoft to follow the specs more closely. Begun this browser war has. (via /.)
posted by Hammerikaner on Mar 11, 2002 - 43 comments

What Linux Really Needs: Non profit, public service announcements by a foundation formed expressly for that purpose. Whether you keep up with the OS fray or not, what a neat idea really. Trolls: Slashdot is burning! You're needed over there.
posted by crasspastor on Mar 3, 2002 - 8 comments

Free Radio Linux is about to go online, reading the entire Linux kernel over the internet using the Ogg Vorbis codec. Free as in beer.
posted by j.edwards on Feb 3, 2002 - 15 comments

San Diego Opensource Convention Ends With "Positive Feelings"
The conference included a debate (documented in real time!) between Microsoft open source---what's the opposite of evangelist?---Craig Mundie and the CTO of RedHat Michael Tiemann entitled "shared source versus open source." Tiemann was feisty and "baited" Mundie, who remained cool as a cucumber. I thought we could all benefit from some postgame analysis here... (1, 2, 3)
posted by rschram on Jul 27, 2001 - 4 comments

Can Linux be anything more than a Server/Developer OS without something like Eazel? Will the open-source community be able to do anything productive with its code? Or have we just reached a point where the OS is superfluous?
posted by machaus on May 16, 2001 - 52 comments

The NYTimes has an article on installing Linux for novices. Is Linux really getting mainstream? This article requires a free subscription to be read.
posted by Loudmax on Mar 1, 2001 - 13 comments

Apparently, the conventional wisdom is not quite right. The SDMI's Executive Director says they have "thousands of entries" in their contest to hack the various proposed digital music security schemes. As I pointed out recently in a similar context, the "Linux community" and the population of computer literate, financially motived, non-OS-sectarian hackers are far from being one and the same...
posted by m.polo on Sep 20, 2000 - 6 comments

I am shocked - shocked, I say!- to discover that the Linux/Open Source media would operate using the same sort of shenanigans as the media covering the Evil Empire!
posted by m.polo on Jul 14, 2000 - 8 comments

On a lighter note... Joe Pranevich explains why Linux 2.4 isn't *really* "late".
posted by baylink on May 5, 2000 - 4 comments

Now that Sun's Solaris 8 OS is going to be free, and the BeOS too, I wonder if it's too little, too late. Will we see jumps in their respective shares of the OS market? Or is this a last ditch attempt to compete with Linux?
posted by mathowie on Jan 27, 2000 - 0 comments