OStatic

Not content to dominate search and online advertising, two operating systems, and cross-platform browser, Google is now getting into the programming language business as well. Yesterday Google announced Go a brand-new systems programming language. Why does Google need Go? According to the FAQ on the site, Google saw a gap in the existing systems programming languages, and the company decided it was worth trying again with a new language that has taken ideas from other systems programming languages as well as scripting languages like Python and JavaScript.

Why one writer can never be exclusive to Linux and open source on the desktop. The file compatibility of the current productivity stack and the lack of some applications matter.

Open source does not work well for bad guys. While some researchers express fear of malware writers using open source to improve their work, it actually doesn't help them.

OpenID implementation works on mobile platforms. Swedish company Accumulate has implemented a version of the OpenID standard for mobile phones.

Atlanta Linux Fest: Top 9 Ubuntu highlights. Many of the standing-room-only sessions focused on Canonical and Ubuntu.

How one Melburnian spent Software Freedom Day. He introduced an audience to Python.

One of the best things about technology and its innate hackability (intentional or otherwise) is the endless variety of seemingly mismatched hardware and software that end up working (logically, even) once a hack is finished. The combinations are limitless -- using a stationary bike to power your NetBSD toaster, installing Linux on an XBox 360 -- and range from useful, to potentially useful, to just because I can.

There have been some hacks done to the Nintendo Wii, enabling people to create and test homebrew applications and travel the globe, virtually, via balance board and Google Earth. The Wiimote has been configured to control a few open source applications, such as MythTV. Now, as CNet's Eric Franklin reports, Google software engineer Matt Cutts has gotten his Wii Fit balance board to communicate with his Linux box (he's using Ubuntu) via Bluetooth and roughly 200 lines of Python code.

Red Hat CEO: Money crisis will boost open source.....

80 ways to mix open source and business.....

Microsoft starts distributing open source Drupal.....

Python 3.0 makes a big break.....

Protecode announces pedigree analysis and reporting program for open source.....

A year after acquiring it, Yahoo! is finally using Zimbra.....

Must-have Firefox add-ons, plus plenty more.....

Evaluating the new Linux distros, and the new Python......

Top 10 open source productivity apps.....

OpenOffice.org 3.0 is an incremental improvement.....

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.

When you're working with a commercial software company, it's easy to keep up with their latest news: Between the company's Web sites, e-mail newsletters, conferences, and (increasingly) blogs, you can find out what is happening, and prepare yourself accordingly. Life in the open-source world is quite a bit messier, of course, in that there often isn't any central location or source for news. One of the key tools that the open-source community uses to keep in touch is blogs -- but it's not always easy to find all of the blogs on the subjects that interest you. That's where blog planets come in, providing a one-stop aggregation of many blogs on a particular subject.

Want to learn a new programming language or development framework? Books, magazines, and blogs are excellent -- but a growing number of people are also learning from screencasts, tutorials that combine someone's voice with a video of their computer screen. You can watch the teacher develop in real time, describing the actions that he or she is taking while they take place. There are many screencasts for open-source languages and frameworks, many for free and some for a nominal fee. Screencasts are playing a growing role in my attempt to keep up with new technologies, and you might well find them useful, too.

Alfresco founder: Open source is free as in puppies, but not as in dog food .....

Sun to add Python support to NetBeans IDE.....

Nginx: The other open source web server.....

Oddball open source games.....

Here's how to get into the iTunes App Store on an early basis--good tip...