Business turns to Linux in economic downturn: survey, Mar 30, 2009

More than 50% of IT executives in a recent survey said that they were planning to accelerate Linux adoption in 2009.

Like any worthwhile operating system, popular Linux distributions define themselves not just by the default desktop manager in use, but also by the software elected to be included out of the box. This said, not all of the most important applications are always included in the popular distributions like Ubuntu or Fedora.

Here is a short list of books that users - from newbies to gurus - can download and read at their leisure: from introductions to Linux, books on implementing open source in schools and in Africa, to books that defined the evolution of free software.

Microsoft and TomTom said Monday that they have settled their respective patent infringement suits, which raised patent issues with everything from file system patents to the General Public License for open source software. Once you read the press release the next natural question is: Who caved?

If anything, Linux works the hardest for the hassle-free experience of any of the operating systems. Each alpha, beta and RC is passed through thousands of hands before it ever gets anywhere near an end user. Each line of code is mulled, every aspect of the operating system considered - by that I mean that unlike the revolutionary three years jumps of Windows or Apple’s OSes, Linux is in a constant state of evolution.

Novell has been advertising it's Linux platform with the slogan: “Your Linux is Ready”, which is also apt for their current line of desktop offerings. The latest of which, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11, began shipping 23 March.

This week's poll is about desktop Linux: the challenge is to build a clear picture of where desktop Linux can fit, and if so how to make best use of it.

JBoss CTO Sacha Labourey is leaving Red Hat. Labourey had been at JBoss for the past eight years, nearly three of which were under Red Hat's ownership. Labourey's departure comes over two years after JBoss founder Marc Fleury left Red Hat in 2007.

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