Why Mac open source gets no respect. There are several theories about Why open source hasn't made a huge impact on the Apple faithful.

Top 10 open source apps for Mac OS X. Despite the point made above, here are some excellent applications for the Mac.

Ubuntu's design team: Make it look good, run better. Ivanka Majic, leader of Canonical's design team for Ubuntu Desktop and Netbook Remix, talks about her design team.

Open source database to wean companies off Oracle. EnterpriseDB is touting enterprise level capabilities of its Postgres Plus Standard Server 8.4 database.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says he doesn't get the point of Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems. After expressing surprise and saying he doesn't understand the deal on Monday, he's now more specific: "I have no idea why a software company would buy a hardware company," Reuters reports him saying while speaking to the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. "We don't want to buy any hardware companies."

Isn't it a bit reductionist to call Sun "a hardware company?" Sun has a huge portfolio of compelling software, not the least of which is MySQL. On that front, IBM is also revealing how it will counter Oracle and MySQL in the database wars.

While frugality isn't by any means the only reason a business should consider open source software, it would be foolish to think that the current economic situation isn't making it more attractive to companies. There is often, however, an imposing barrier standing in the way of all-out adoption. The mythical "learning curve" involved in moving to open source isn't half so steep or intimidating as that first step -- where do we go, what applications are best for us, and how do we put it all together and make it all work?

This week, Red Hat and IT services distribution provider, SYNNEX, announced the formation of the Open Source Channel Alliance. The Alliance's aim is to help value-added resellers and solutions providers deliver all the benefits of open source applications to their customers.