Not content to dominate search and online advertising, two operating systems, and cross-platform browser, Google is now getting into the programming language business as well. Yesterday Google announced Go a brand-new systems programming language. Why does Google need Go? According to the FAQ on the site, Google saw a gap in the existing systems programming languages, and the company decided it was "worth trying again with a new language" that has taken ideas from other systems programming languages as well as scripting languages like Python and JavaScript.

If there's any upside to the lousy economy, it's that it has pushed a lot of people to realize their dreams of starting small businesses or going into business for themselves. Thanks to open source projects like Tryton, small businesses have the tools to run with the big dogs. Tryton is a general application platform that is split into three parts: A client, server, and modules that provide functionality like accounting, invoicing, sale and purchase management, inventory management, and so on. The default set of modules provides much of the functionality any small (or large) business needs to track its money, inventory, and employee's time.

Why one writer can never be exclusive to Linux and open source on the desktop. The file compatibility of the current productivity stack and the lack of some applications matter.

Open source does not work well for bad guys. While some researchers express fear of malware writers using open source to improve their work, it actually doesn't help them.

OpenID implementation works on mobile platforms. Swedish company Accumulate has implemented a version of the OpenID standard for mobile phones.

Atlanta Linux Fest: Top 9 Ubuntu highlights. Many of the standing-room-only sessions focused on Canonical and Ubuntu.

How one Melburnian spent Software Freedom Day. He introduced an audience to Python.