Introducing the first Android prototype, Jan 14, 2008

A small software developer on Monday plans to unveil a suite of applications — browser, camera, games and more — based on the new Google-endorsed operating system, Android.

Microsoft on Monday announced a collaboration with Xandros, a small Linux distributor, the latest in a string of deals between the world's largest seller of patent-protected software and the open-source community.

In an effort to spur adoption of Solaris, Sun Microsystems has begun a project code-named Indiana to try to give its operating system some of the trappings of Linux.

It came out earlier this week that Dell will soon offer computers running Linux instead of Windows. Not all of its machines, obviously — the company wants to stay in business — but Linux will be an option on at least two desktops and one laptop models.

Attention, tourists: Forget about stumbling on cobblestone and fumbling through guide books in stifling heat. Entrepreneurs in the Spanish city of Cordoba have devised battery-powered sightseeing cars with computers that talk.

Open-source operating systems will not spread unless users have applications to run on them. As Linux matures and customers more seriously consider adopting it and its cousins, developers are constructing programs that increase the operating system's appeal.

"Being a convicted monopolist apparently doesn't keep you from getting knighted," says Linux consultant and advocate Bruce Perens. "I suppose monarchy and monopoly go well together."

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has preliminarily rejected a Microsoft patent on a system for recognizing computer files, a victory for "open source" advocates who believe computer programs and improvements should be freely shared.

Microsoft now has the right to appeal — and has vowed to do so — setting the stage for what could be long-running negotiations.

A couple of weeks ago there was a big announcement in the computing world: Linux Standard Base 2.0 was released.

Huh? you might ask. If you don't use Linux or don't know much about it, you probably didn't notice and you probably don't care. But this is important — although, as you'll soon see, not quite as important as some folks have made it out to be.

Shares in Red Hat, a leading Linux distributor, fell 9% Tuesday after its CFO resigned just days before a quarterly earnings report, even though the company said it expects to post a better-than-anticipated fiscal first-quarter profit.

Red Hat, which provides update and support services for the Linux operating system, said strong sales of subscriptions for its software update service would boost its fiscal first-quarter profit to more than $10 million.

The open-source Linux operating system is just one of several choices for desktop computers, enterprise servers and other common implementations. Sometimes it is chosen, but often it is not.

But at the high end of the computational power range — in supercomputers built by national laboratories, NASA or the Defense Department from clusters of processors — Linux is rapidly gaining ground on Unix as the operating system of choice.

We tested five Linux desktop solutions: Libra Computer Systems Ltd.'s Libranet 2.8.1 Flagship Edition, Lindows.com Inc.'s LindowsOS 4.5, Lycoris' Desktop/LX, MandrakeSoft Inc.'s Mandrake Linux 9.2 and Xandros Inc.'s Xandros Desktop OS Version 2-Deluxe Edition. None proved to be the clear front-runner. Rather, three of the solutions — the ones from Lindows.com, Lycoris and Xandros — proved evenly matched and ideally suited to replace either Windows or Macintosh systems with ease.

The other two Linux offerings — from Libranet and MandrakeSoft — are viable desktop replacements but don't offer the same level of automation and graphical tools as the other solutions. Lindows, Lycoris and Xandros are good choices for casual business users, while Libranet and Mandrake are solid matches for agency IT staffers and software developers.

As never before, corporate customers are turning to Linux software instead of Microsoft Windows to run big business operations.

Now, if only they could get the word processor's basic "cut and paste" feature to work.

At the LinuxWorld trade show here this week, advocates said the next big challenge for the loose-knit "free software" movement is to create a reliable way to run desktop computers and perform mainstream office tasks.

Microsoft and IBM have squared off in dueling ad campaigns that underscore the rising threat Linux poses to Microsoft, the No. 1 software maker.

Last week, Microsoft launched its first paid ad lambasting Linux, the computer operating system Microsoft executives have long derided. Such barbs have done little to slow Linux's swelling popularity.

The SCO allegations have hit hardest among businesses that were already wary of using open-source software, says Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik. Aggressive technology adopters are too far along with Linux to let SCO stop them, says Sam Ockman, CEO of Linux hardware maker Penguin Computing. Linux users in other countries have paid scant attention to the legal battles, says Turbolinux, a software maker that does business mainly in Asia.

SCO is making headlines because it has pulled off an unusual feat: It has made nearly everyone in tech, and nearly every corporation that buys technology, spitting-nails mad at it. I say nearly everyone because Microsoft likes SCO the way the U.S. liked Saddam back when Iraq was at war with Iran. The enemy of my enemy is my friend — that kind of thing.

IBM and Threshold plan to challenge Pixar Animation Studios, creator of Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and Toy Story. Pixar, run by Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, has reigned as the undisputed king of computer-generated (CG) films.

IBM's system at Threshold will also run Linux, throwing yet more weight behind Linux's position in Hollywood, at the expense of Sun and Microsoft. Threshold used to run on Microsoft's Windows.

A Linux victory in Munich would be a stunning blow. So Ballmer visited Mayor Christian Ude to assure him Microsoft would do what it takes to keep the city's business. Documents obtained by USA TODAY show Microsoft subsequently lowered its pricing to $31.9 million and then to $23.7 million — an overall 35% price cut. The discounts were for naught.

On May 28, the city council approved a more expensive proposal — $35.7 million — from German Linux distributor SuSE and IBM, a big Linux backer.