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New Arrivals: KDE 4.3, a Firefox Update, Chrome News, and More

by Sam Dean on Aug. 04, 2009

This week marked the release of a number of significant open source applications, platforms and tools. Just today, a new version 4.3 of the KDE desktop environment arrived, and it's getting good marks from early testers. Meanwhile, there were significant announcements surrounding the Google Chrome browser, Firefox, Canonical's tool set, and Phoronix's widely used test suite. Here are more details, and download destinations.

Over 40 Free, Must-Have Open Source Resources

by Sam Dean on Jun. 19, 2009

10 comments

Occasionally, we at OStatic round up our ongoing collections of open source resources, tutorials, reviews and project tours. These educational resources are a big part of the learning mission we try to preserve at the site. We regularly collect the best Firefox extensions, free online books on open source topics, free tools for developers, resources for working with and enjoying online video and audio, Linux tutorials, and much more. In this post, you'll find an updated set of more than 40 collections and resources. Hopefully, you'll find something to learn from here, and the good news is that everything found in this post is free.

OStatic Buffer Overflow...

by Sam Dean on Jun. 17, 2009

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Firefox 3.5, Release Candidate 1 is available now. It's being delivered as an automatic update, and the release notes and download are here.

Google: We want Chrome to grow the Web. Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, weighs in on browser innovation.

Will Google Wave revolutionize free software collaboration? What impact might it have on free software users and developers?

A Mozilla update on open video codecs and quality. How does video encoded with Theora compare to video encoded by YouTube?

Will Ubuntu remain a minor player? It has problems in the channel.

Over 35 Free, Essential Open Source Resources and Apps

by Sam Dean on May. 05, 2009

1 comments

Every so often, we here at OStatic like to round up our ongoing collections of open source resources, tutorials, reviews and project tours. These educational tools are a central part of the learning mission we try to preserve at the site. We regularly round up the best Firefox extensions, free online books on open source topics, free tools for developers, resources for working with and enjoying online video and audio, Linux tutorials, and much more. In this post, you'll find more than 35 collections and resources. Hopefully, you'll find something to learn from here, and the good news is that everything found in this collection is free.

OStatic's 8 Most Popular Open Source Resource Collections

by Sam Dean on Mar. 26, 2009

1 comments

Since OStatic's inception, we've done regular roundups on everything from the best Firefox extensions, to free books on open source topics, to top FOSS applications for working with video and digital music. Many of these are good ways to dive into open source applications, plug-ins and communities that you may not know about. In case you missed any of these or are new to the site, here are the eight most popular roundups we've done, including hundreds of our favorite apps and extensions.

Ask Not -- The Bell Is Not Tolling for Firefox Yet

by Kristin Shoemaker on Mar. 22, 2009

2 comments

Late last week, Sam took a close look at the rapidly changing browser landscape. In one of the posts linked therein, Keir Thomas speculates that Firefox may well have just given up the ghost, what with an alpha version of Chrome now being available for Linux (or, at the very least, Ubuntu).

I don't think it is, nor is it going to be, quite that easy. Firefox isn't without issue -- or momentum. And Chrome for Linux? In all reality, it doesn't exist, yet. Chrome may have a number of advantages over other browsers, including Firefox, on other platforms. But if it's still too early to call this fight on Windows, declaring the superior browser on Linux is pretty much a coin toss.

OStatic Buffer Overflow

by Sam Dean on Mar. 03, 2009

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Ubuntu newbie guide. Pre-installation tips, post-installation techniques, and more.

Open source usability: Joomla! vs. WordPress. A head-to-head comparison of content managers.

What Obama could learn from Mozilla. How can we focus our government on policies, not politics? Mozilla has clues.

The coming merger of netbooks and handhelds. With Android moving into netbooks, should we expect synergy between netbooks and handhelds?

Firefox 3.1: Not coming until the second quarter? TraceMonkey tests and fixes still loom. Will it ship with it?

Over 30 Must-Have Open Source Resources

by Sam Dean on Feb. 09, 2009

8 comments

Periodically, we here at OStatic like to round up our ongoing collections of open source resources, tutorials, reviews and project walkthroughs. These educational tools are a central part of the goal here at the site. We regularly round up the best Firefox extensions, free online books on open source topics, free tools for web developers, resources for online video and audio, Linux tutorials, and much more. In this post, you'll find more than 30 collections and resources. Hopefully, there is something right up your alley here, and the good news is that everything you'll find is free.