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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.

According to a talk by Benchmark Capital's Rob Bearden at this week's Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), the nature of open source business models are changing. He says open source companies should strive to become the enterprise standard in their market space in order to effectively monetize their commodities. He also notes that if companies are willing to embrace the idea of making money off their open source projects, then they might be rewarded with an infusion of venture capital cash.