The Kubuntu project is the result of the Ubuntu's effort to satisfy the KDE fans of its distribution. The first test release of Kubuntu 5.04 was recently released. You may download an iso or torrent.

OSDir installed Kubuntu and grabbed some nice screenshots for your viewing pleasure. Now you can click the shots to view the unscaled PNGs!

While Sun Microsystems Inc. moves to open-source its Solaris operating system and releases key patents in a nod to the open-source community, the company still takes a rap for hampering open source in other ways.

There's a new mantra in software services: Keep it simple. Corporate software customers are tired of complexity, says Zacks Investment Research analyst Lawrence Orlowski.

Who is the leader of the open source movement? Does it matter? I ask this after reading an Alan Cox interview about Linus Torvalds in which Linus was said to be "a terrible engineer."

Open source licensing gives you the freedom to deploy software for whatever purpose you want, even to tinker with its internals or to build complex systems with components from different developers.

So, now that you've got your Kanotix system installed onto your hard drive, let's take the next steps and get a few administration-type tasks out of the way.

From the simple "ding" of a Linux console that wants to gain your attention, to surround sound in DVDs, audio is an important part of desktop computing today.

Welcome to the Mandrakelinux Community Newsletter - dedicated to keeping you up-to-date with the latest Mandrakelinux-related news and info.

When I woke up, the EU Commission was all set to push for the software patent directive as an A-item on Monday. Great, I thought. What does it take to kill this Computer Implemented Inventions Directive once and for all and make it stay dead?

Aristotle was a confused yet accomplished man. As someone who demonstrated incredible understanding of philosophy, his efforts typically hinged around expressing abstract concepts to people in a language they understood.

Linux vendor Red Hat has signed a master distribution deal with Bell Microproducts Europe in an attempt to develop a broader market for its open-source software.

Torvalds himself never claimed to be more than he is, but tipping points aren't made out of technical reality. They're made out of perceptual change. Thus, it was the legend of Torvalds, not the reality of his actions, that gave Linux the patina of political correctness needed for it to gain widespread public acceptance.

How do 250 scientists spend their coffee break at a scientific conference? They use KDE! There was a scientific conference, the Tübinger Perception Conference 2005 (TWK) at the end of February.

The Open Source Initiative (OSI), a non-profit corporation responsible for the management and promotion of the Open Source Definition (OSD), today announced the appointment of Michael Tiemann as interim president, taking over the position from Russell Nelson.

Luxembourg, which holds the European Union presidency, expects the bloc's ministers to approve on Monday a controversial draft law on patenting software, a Luxembourg official said.

New Scientist reports that a German teen, Nils Schneider, has managed to get Linux working on his iPod by using sound.

The final article in this series describes using the Background Debug Mode provided in Motorola processors.

U.S. BioDefense is trying to use the platform to capitalize on the US$3 billion Stem Cell Research Fund approved by California voters last year.

Last weekend saw the FOSDEM 2005 conference take place in Brussels. Mozilla was well represented with a series of talks in the Mozilla Developers Room.

SCO's lawsuit is floundering -- and now the struggling software company faces regulators' scrutiny and questions about its management

The Linux Cookbook, 2nd Edition: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use by Michael Stutz - A great reference for new Linux users who want quick tips for using various command-line features.

There is one major Linux player who continually flies under my radar. SuSE/Novell. Aside from the dynamic duo of Nat & Miguel I rarely see any articles, reviews, love letters, or many other forms of groundswell support from users. Scooby-doo where are you?

Last weekend we held the first Open Source Software Weekend in Kampala. The workshop was organised by the Uganda Institute of Information and Communication Technology (UICT) and the East African Center for Open Source Software (EACOSS).

What do you expect from a desktop operating system? It should be easy to use, should shield users from technical issues such as hardware configuration, and should be secure and reliable.

OSDir.com Weekly Screenshot Tours for March 4, 2005. It was a great week in the OSDir screenshot arena. We installed and captured screenshots of KDE 3.4 Release Candidate, SimplyMEPIS 3.3, SAM Mini Live Linux 2005-1SE, Linux+ Live 2.04, and Kate Linux 1.0.

Developers, submit your distro.

It may lack an all-in-one solution like Apple's iPhoto, but there are tools that make using a digital camera with Linux easy.

The National Security Agency built a version of Linux with more security tools that its technologists believe could help make the country's computing infrastructure less vulnerable.

Redhat's Michael Tiemann has taken over the reigns of OSI (Open Source Initiative) from newly appointed Russell Nelson.

Imagine yourself making a Pixar movie and not paying a dime for the software needed to do it. That's the premise behind Blender 3D, a free fully featured 3D content creation suite. Open sourced under the GNU GPL since 2002, Blender has grown a lot since then. The current version, 2.36, is a real winner.

FOSDEM is Europe's biggest meeting of Free Software developers and KDE turned out in force at it last weekend. As well as talks in the main track on KDE and KDevelop, the KDE Developers' room hosted a series of other talks. We also ran a stall and still found time for some hacking.