Intel's OLPC-killer heads for Vietnamese retailers, Oct 30, 2007

An ultra-low-cost laptop for children will be soon be available for purchase in computer stores in Vietnam. The "Hacao Classmate PC" is based on Intel's Classmate PC design, and will come pre-installed with Hacao Linux, a Vietnamese-language Linux distribution based on Puppy Linux.

Some surprising moves, such as the much-maligned mission statement, can help corporate open source projects work, said Ben Collins-Sussman and Brian Fitzpatrick at the Google Speaker Series.

The UK computer agency Becta is advising schools not to sign licensing agreements with Microsoft because of alleged anti-competitive practices.

Canonical's release of a fresh version of Ubuntu has been met with plenty of grumbles. And now we find some other open source players trying to cash in on Ubuntu's issues.

Saugatuck Technology has noted that at most 20% of software sold in 2010 will be open source. Proprietary software rules! Right?

Over the weekend, my wife and I found ourselves needing to catch up on a couple of missed Ugly Betty episodes. So after a bit of searching, we found that the ABC.com Web site offered the previously aired shows. So we go to the page only to find that its “player” is only supported in Windows and OS X browsers (which included Firefox). I couldn’t believe it. Even using the Firefox plugin User Agent Switcher, I was unable to play the videos.

Vyatta has achieved a major new release of its community-supported, Debian-based Linux distribution aimed at turning commodity x86 hardware into enterprise routers, firewalls, and VPN appliances.

When I downloaded Freespire 2.03 for review, I wasn't sure what I was going to get. The company behind it, Linspire, was in disarray, it had shifted from Debian to Ubuntu for its foundation, and the development of its key feature—CNR (Click 'N Run) download and install—seemed to have stalled out.

The State Services Commission’s championing of open source software in government helped its ICT branch pick up an award in the government category of the inaugural New Zealand Open Source Awards, held in Wellington this month.

iRiver is readying a Linux-based media recorder/player comprised of a detachable mobile unit and tethered docking station. The Unit2's base station offers a DVD/CD player, TV tuner, and PC-style I/O, while the detachable display features a 7-inch WVGA (800x480) touchscreen, WiFi, and USB.

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