OStatic

What is it about the holiday season? It throws a spotlight on the best -- and worst -- aspects of human nature. It holds true in the open source world. NextStep, a hardware recycling and refurbishing organization in Eugene, Oregon, was burglarized earlier this week. Hardest hit was the organization's Ubuntu Laptop Program. NextStep provides computers, technology and job skills training to Lane County Oregon's under-served residents, and its Ubuntu Laptop Program is a major source of funding for these endeavors.

That's the bad news. The good news is that helping NextStep might be as easy as looking through that box of hardware you've got in your office.

Earlier this year I wrote about the Chumby internet appliance/open source alarm clock. Though Chumbys have been available in the US for a little over a year now, Chumby Industries hasn't been able to officially sell these products internationally.

Chumby Industries intended all along to open sales outside the US, but electronics standards (and approval procedures) vary from country to country, and it's been time consuming. Some international users turned to friends in the States or third party shippers, but now, at least in a few countries, this is no longer necessary. Chumby is available at select retailers in Japan, and a Japanese language Chumby portal was launched last month.

HP has been quirky over the years when it comes to open source. It has been, traditionally, a company that supports open source -- especially in larger enterprises. While large businesses are a major focus for HP -- and it has supported open source in other ways -- a smaller business line of open source products has been a long time coming.

HP is approaching this market with both fists flying. Wednesday, it announced two new open source products, geared to small businesses and educational institutions.

I stumbled upon John Spencer's blog over at ComputerWorldUK. It seems he recently had a hand in deploying a few Eee Box desktops at a local school. Though these boxes run Windows, it doesn't mean they can't run a lot of powerful open source alternative applications along with any required proprietary ones, and he says, in some settings, this is the situation that works out best for everyone. As a Linux enthusiast, he was impressed with Splashtop, the Linux-based, instant-on option shipping with many netbooks.

But it's not only appearing on netbooks. And it's not only Linux enthusiasts who are impressed. I recently built a new computer for my husband and chose an ASUS motherboard. I didn't notice the Splashtop/ExpressGate feature when I ordered it (though I was aware that ASUS was planning to offer models with this feature). After the build, I installed and enabled the Splashtop instant-on mode, mainly for my curiosity. What's happened in the short time since gives pause to wonder.

Year of the Linux desktop? I don't know. Year of the instant-on Linux desktop? The Linux Foundation's Jim Zemlin is on to something.