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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.

Ubuntu Open Week continued today with a number of presentations aimed at developers and software engineers. As mentioned before here, the week consists of IRC get-togethers online on a whole range of different topics, many of them pertaining to the new release of Ubuntu.

As the event continued, there were also sessions that offered inside looks at teams within the Ubuntu community and how they work together to create server software and manage security.

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.

The tech community moves one step closer to a clearer picture of just how widespread the use of open source software is with today's launch of the Open Source Census by software vendor OpenLogic.

The Open Source Census bills itself as the first collaborative, global project to count the number of installations for each open source software package. What can we hope to learn from the information collected? Apparently, quite a lot.

Jack Wallen wrote a great article over at Tech Republic outlining 10 things you need to consider when choosing a Linux distribution. He says though fundamentally the same, the various distros are not created equal and it behooves users to take a look at some key issues when deciding what flavor of Linux is right for them.

Among his recommendations, Wallen suggests that users should decide if their preferred distro meets their needs in terms of security, hardware, and the community support it offers. He makes great points, and there are more.

As we posted earlier, Marketcetera announced this week its secured $4 million in Series A funding to develop a software stack designed to automate financial trading. While Marketcetera might be one of the first open source companies to aim for the specialized world of Wall Street trading, it's not likely to be the last.

Between the continuous flow of venture capital funding toward open source projects and Wall Street's apparent readiness to embrace the open source philosophy, Marketcetera's new cash infusion looks to be just the tip of the iceberg. What does all this point to?

Small business owners and freelancers typically have a need for word processing, spreadsheet, or presentation software -- and sometimes all three. Commercial software collections like Microsoft Office and Apple iWork are useful but pricey. Fortunately, OpenOffice.org is a great, and free, alternative.

Once you begin using OO.o, you'll find there are lots of things this handy suite of apps can do besides just create a letter. Let's have a look at how to make OpenOffice work for you.

Chumby Industries announced this week it has secured $12.5 million in Series B funding that will allow the company to accelerate growth of the company, and expand and broaden the Chumby Network to other screen-based Internet connected devices. (Chumbies are Wi-Fi connected gadgets that receive news and entertainment streams based on an open platform and a modified Linux kernel.) This is great news for Chumby fans who will hopefully soon see some new features and improvements to their gadgets.Along with the post above, it also shows that venture capitalists, who have been talking about supporting the open source community for a while now, are willing to put their money where their mouth is.