OStatic

People attending day three of Ubuntu Open Week today were treated to a full day of of some of the most diverse sessions yet. We've been following the event this week, which consists of IRC sessions on many topics.

Today, from a Q & A session featuring Community Manager Jono Bacon, to a look at how to produce podcasts in Ubuntu, there were all sorts of cool things to learn about during the course of another busy program at the online conference.

On the heels of our prediction, open source Java is quickly heading into Linux distros. Sun Microsystems, Canonical and Red Hat have announced the inclusion of OpenJDK-based implementations in Fedora 9 and Ubuntu 8.04 Long Term Support Server and Desktop editions.....Microsoft is using open source to extend systems management to Linux.....Sun Microsystems' chief open source officer, Simon Phipps, discusses his company's move to 100 percent open source software development.....Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth weighs in on MicroHoo.....

If you want to learn more about what it's like to be a part of an open source community but can't figure out where to jump in, Ubuntu Open Week is a great place to start. The yearly event features online meetings via IRC, where people with all levels of experience gather to hear presentations from other community members on a wide range of topics from triaging bugs to how to produce podcasts with Ubuntu. Have a look at the Ubuntu wiki for a complete schedule of events and be sure to check back here each day as we take a look at the day's highlights.

As we posted last week, the new 8.04 version of the Ubuntu Linux distibution is out. Code-named Hardy Heron, it has new features, whole new applications, long-term support and more. This week marks the kickoff of Ubuntu Open Week--a series of IRC tutorial sessions that span a range of different topics for contributors and users. Look for updates here this week from the event. In the meantime, with the Open Source Census already showing Ubuntu as the top Linux distribution in its early results, open sourcers are serving up tutorials, reviews and discussions. Tuxmachines.org has a good roundup of examples, including screenshot tours. Here's more on what you can uncover.

Star Wreck Studios, based in Finland, has built an open source platform that gives anybody the chance to make a film at no cost.....The new 8.04 version of the Ubuntu Linux distibution is out. Code-named Hardy Heron, it's available with long-term support.....Bill Gates is drawing some criticism for some allegedly incorrect comments about open source licensing.....What does Microsoft's new Live Mesh mean for open source?.....Looking for free, open source disk encryption software? TrueCrypt is for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.....

Spring is in the air and that can only mean one thing: several popular Linux distributions are getting ready for their next releases. Which distro improvements may be meaningful for you?

Let's take a look at the upcoming versions of Fedora, Ubuntu, and openSUSE to see what's new, what's improved, and what will be worth the wait.