OStatic

Computerworld reported today that the Linux Foundation plans to add another conference to its events repertoire -- LinuxCon.

LinuxCon is targeting both developers and users, and will ideally foster new lines of communication between these two groups. Unlike some past Linux Foundation events, which were invitation only, this conference will be open to anyone who wishes to attend.

Datamation's Matt Hartley revisited the timeless issue of Linux and uniformity-- the infamous question of choice. On one side of the argument, people say that the number of options available is what makes Linux great. The other side says that the array of choices holds Linux back.

Both sides have valid points. Uniformity shouldn't mean giving up options, and choices shouldn't be a scapegoat for what ought to be an expected (but not necessarily painful) learning curve.

This week the GNOME Desktop team officially released GNOME version 2.24. This release incorporates numerous bugfixes and impressive new features, including the first release of the GNOME Mobile Platform.

The GNOME Mobile Platform will naturally be of greater interest to developers, and the GNOME team is preparing to make virtual machine images of various mobile platforms available for improved testing.

The Linux Plumbers Conference may have ended last Friday, but the discussions -- and one discussion in particular -- will be analyzed, deconstructed, and argued for quite a bit longer.

Greg Kroah-Hartman's assertion is that Canonical doesn't contribute significantly to kernel development and the packages that make up the core of a Linux system. Canonical CTO Matt Zimmerman responded to this assertion. It seems at that point, much of the community, developers and users alike, took to examining their particular parts of the open source elephant.

Herein lies the problem.

The openSUSE Project recently announced the availability of openSUSE 11.1 Beta 1 for wide scale testing and bug squashing. This development release is available in x86, x86-64 and PPC architectures as a DVD disk image (liveCDs are not available for the current beta).

The 11.1 beta provides a decently solid look at where the final release is heading. As with any development release, there are known bugs that vary in severity and new or updated features that the development team is encouraging users try out, in order to find and resolve any bugs and suggest changes and improvements.

The Digital Divide -- there isn't a nation where it doesn't exist, yet it seems so relative. In one place, a child going online via dial up using a PII seems at a disadvantage. Elsewhere, that child has a tool that could change his life. The opportunity to learn not only facts, but how everything fits together is platform independent. The PII is just as valuable as a new laptop costing thousands. Both are meaningless if children can't access all they offer. Any technology costs money.

Open source has much to offer here. Lower costs, good support for old hardware, and software that can be modified to individual needs. OLPC champions low-cost laptops for every child. Userful takes a different approach.

This week, Canonical opened sales of legal multimedia codecs and DVD playback software to all Ubuntu users, regardless of whether the distribution was pre-installed on a purchased system or downloaded gratis from an Ubuntu mirror.

Fluendo handles the bulk of the codecs using the GStreamer framework. CyberLink offers DVD playback through a Linux version of its PowerDVD software.

It feels the most positive word that can be applied to this announcement is bittersweet. There are many more colorfully negative words that are applicable, as well.

Matt Hartley at Datamation recently suggested promoting open source adoption -- using a very different venue. He suggests mall kiosks as a potentially effective way to spread the word about open source software, and how it can work for the average computer user.

This is a fascinating idea. User groups could reach several different demographics, populations that might never have heard of Linux, never mind understand the joys (and trials) of using it.

It's an idea with real risks, Hartley admits. With realistic expectations, it could also be wildly successful -- even as a business model.

On Monday, Michael DeHaan cast his net into Debian/Ubuntu waters, seeking out those who might be interested in packaging and maintaining the Red Hat-centric installation/provisioning server, Cobbler.

DeHaan states that recent additions and improvements added to Cobbler's development branch are shaping the project into a viable alternative to Debian's FAI (Fully Automatic Installation) package.

Mark Shuttleworth, the man at the helm of Canonical and Ubuntu, went into greater detail last week about his thoughts on making future Ubuntu releases more user-focused. In the past, Shuttleworth has made no pretense that he feels Apple has, historically, offered a superior user experience.

Shuttleworth's comments have elicited striking reactions, ranging from enthusiastic support to concern about what innovation really means.