Switching My Dad to Linux - Part One, May 13, 2009

The author has talked his dad into ditching Vista and giving Ubuntu a try.

Ready to become a Presto power-user? This batch of tips will put you on the right path.

Several more members of the mobile Linux LiPS Forum are switching allegiance to the LiMo Foundation, this time including board and executive committee members, indicating that LiPS is losing steam.

The CanSecWest security research conference promoters are thinking about giving hackers another shot at hacking a Mac, as well as Linux- and Windows-based PCs.

You don't have to rely on CDs or DVDs to install Linux; you can run a Linux installation routine directly over the Internet.

The European Union's antitrust chief says Microsoft cannot charge licensing fees for software blueprints that it is offering to share with competitors unless it can prove the computer code is innovative.

Webmaster's note: The Washington Post requires free registration

Plenty of tech experts have spent years trying to convince the general public that the Linux operating system is becoming more of a threat to Microsoft's Windows. With the LinuxWorld conference underway this week in San Francisco, there is finally a sure-fire sign that this may be the case: Microsoft won't be there.

Webmaster's note(s): Washington post now requires registration - but just to see the photo of Darl McBride is worth it!

For a small but fervent cadre of computer enthusiasts, the most popular Internet parlor activity over the past year hasn't involved animated dungeons, dragons or warlords.

Instead, it is real-life sleuthing to piece together a business puzzle: How can a tiny, struggling software company based here at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains afford to pursue a legal donnybrook with some of the biggest names in corporate America?

Between the Blaster worm and the Sobig virus, it's been a long two weeks for Windows users. But nobody with a Mac or a Linux PC has had to lose a moment of sleep over these outbreaks -- just like in earlier "malware" epidemics.

Mac OS X's firewall isn't enabled by default either, but it's much simpler to enable. Red Hat Linux is better yet: Its firewall is on from the start.

Out of the box, Lindows includes a Web browser, an e-mail client, instant-message software, a text editor, an MP3 player and some simple games. Most of this built-in software does an admirable job of insulating Windows users from the tricky parts of Linux. But the interface isn't always consistent from one application to another, making the entire package feel like the mishmash of software it is.

International Business Machines Corp., Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and NEC Corp. are to announce Wednesday that they will invest several million dollars to create a laboratory where programmers can test Linux software on the large computer systems that are common in the corporate world.

The author tries his hand at installing Corel Linux and reports: "I was dumbfounded to discover that installing Linux was easy."