In our Clear Choice test of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0, (we tested RHEL 4.0 Advanced Server, Red Hat’s most robust Linux distribution), we found huge performance gains over previous editions, beefed up security options and vastly improved hardware detection mechanisms.

The PHP Development Team released updates to the PHP 4 and 5 code base, fixing two security vulnerabilities that open the door to Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks Wednesday.

When I first rolled Linux systems into production seven years ago, I have to admit that the “free� part of open source was the main attraction — “free,� as in beer, as opposed to the more abstract “free,� as in speech.

Let there be no doubt that Red Hat the company has become a monster success story. We'll get to Red Hat the investment in a bit, but all the folks who doubted that an essentially free product could be repackaged with services and sold at a premium must feel a bit silly now.

Developers speak of the critical importance of the database in technical terms: Modern, multi-tiered application architectures rely on relational databases to house the company's collective knowledge and to ensure the durability and persistence of transactions.

Regularly as always here are the new GNUstep GUI 0.9.5 libraries. GNUstep libraries can now installed much easier using the one startup tarball.

Sun Microsystems Inc. is already hard at work on the feature-set for the next version of its Solaris operating system, which is taking place on a parallel track to the development of updates for Solaris 10, released at the end of January.

(Solaris 10 JDS 3 Screenshots by OSDir.com)

Don't think taking your passwords with you on a USB drive solves all your security problems. A computer with a surreptitious keylogging program can still capture your passwords.

Use a generic XSLT stylesheet to pull XML data into the popular spreadsheet

ObjectWeb has announced that JOnAS 4.3.4, their open-source J2EE application server, has been promoted as stable. It is the first stable version of JOnAS to be J2EE 1.4 certified.

NOSI’s acclaimed primer describes what open source software is and what impact this type of software may have on the nonprofit sector.

Let's take a break from talking about etch plans to talk about sarge again, shall we?

Asa Dotzler wrote in to tell us that the Mozilla Foundation is testing a patch for Mozilla Firefox that improves popup blocking.

Australian governments are delivering a simple message to the Linux and open source community.

A hack for Gimp to give it that Photoshop feel? Why not? I am someone who happens to feel more at home in Photoshop, but would rather do my work in Gimp.

Adding what is perhaps its most significant member to date, the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has announced that longtime open source opponent Microsoft is joining its ranks, giving Eric Raymond a seat on the Microsoft Board of Directors and agreeing to a sweeping intellectual property agreement this week.

Readers were pretty skeptical of a recent study that found Microsoft Windows to be more secure than Linux.

A new group set up to advance the cause of free and open source software has decided to recruit socialite Paris Hilton into its ranks as a means to gain more exposure.

A package maintainer, or packager, is a person who creates packages for software projects. He eventually finds common problems in these projects, resulting in a complex packaging process and a final package that is a nightmare to maintain.

A discussion about the Rails framework, how to build with it and the benefits of Ruby.

Since the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil has gradually become a beachhead for Open Source, and consequently a thorn in Microsoft's side.

A look at why open source is a good fit for companies needing IT management solutions and what kinds of companies are making the switch.

OSDir.com is Getting the Facts!

So convinced with Microsoft's "Get the Facts" arguments about the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of Linux being higher than Windows we've decided to change the focus of the site to coincide with what we now recognize as the facts about Linux.

What were we thinking?

Henceforth, you'll begun to notice a slight change of tune. None of our stories will continue to hold up to any scrutiny what so ever. We might even throw in some bald face lies about something completely unrelated just to take your mind off of what we're up to.

A donation button will appear over the next week to begin taking up collection for Microsoft's unfair treatment at the hands of the European Union (those filthy immigrants!). We'll be sending a cheque/check to soothsayers Bill and Steve once a week.

Most importantly, as a pledge of support, we'll be moving the site from this pesky Linux server to the Windows Server platform. Please be patient while we update all the service packs, and you Linux miscreants... don't hack up the site before the updates are complete. That's just "not fair!" It takes a long time to do that you know.

We won't be changing the URL or name of the site, but the downloads section will be stripped bare and replaced with all the current spyware and adware removal tools.

We hope you continue to get all your "open source news" with us as we work through this transition, and look forward to serving ourselves in the future.

By reducing hardware, software, and maintenance costs, Userful's 1-Box Desktop Multiplier software reduces the total cost of ownership by as much as 70 percent, the company said.

OSDir.com Weekly Screenshot Tours for March 31, 2005. We had another great week in the screenie department at OSDir, grabbing nice shots of Linspire 5.0, SkyOS 5.0 Beta 8.4, Foresight Desktop Linux 0.6, Conectiva Linux 10 and Turkix 10.0 Alpha

You can add your screenies to the OSDir gallery.

"Through one way or another, open source has made it into mainstream business," says OpenLogic chief executive Roy Kligfield. "We're riding the wave." OpenLogic helps businesses integrate and manage the bewildering variety of open-source software programs available on the Internet.

Writing device drivers is one of the few areas of programming for the Linux operating system that calls for kernel-specific knowledge.

The Mozilla Organization has made Camino 0.8.3 available for download.

My journey with Linux, since 2003, has been a roller-coaster ride with its fair share of bumps. But I have finally settled down with one of the best distros around, Yoper, which stands out for features like usability, available packages, hardware detection, and support.

(Submitted Yoper User Desktop Screenshots)

The advent of open-source software has been hailed as the most significant event in computing since Apple played David to IBM's Goliath.