Tweakin' Tools, No Threat, and Toddler Terror

Today in Linux news Katherine Noyes tells you how to use Linux tweak tools to customize your OS. In another camp, Matt Nicholson says Linux "never threatened Windows on the desktop." Carla Schroder looks at Tails 1.0 and Steve Marinconz says, "If being a toddler was this terrifying, I'm glad I can't remember it."

Katherine Noyes says you can use the same tweak tools Linux pros use and she will show you how. She introduces users to Unity Tweak, Ubuntu Tweak and GNOME Tweak complete with images. Noyes begins, "Customizability has long been one of Linux’s most compelling features—particularly when compared with proprietary alternatives such as Windows and OS X—but the tweak tools out there today let you refine the OS even further. And if you’re making the migration to Linux on your workplace PCs, tweak tools can help ease the transition."

Matt Nicholson guest blogging at ComputerWeekly.com explained today "why Linux never threatened Windows on the desktop." He says Unix (and clones) only had one chance to beat Microsoft and that was in the late '80s. He figures that was when an easy desktop was needed and Microsoft won the race. He mentions a few advantages of Open Source but then says developers forget they're coding for users and not themselves. He may be right about that last part.

Carla Schroder says anyone can surf anonymously without having to have a computer degree thank to Tails 1.0. After telling readers why they might benefit from Tails, she explains some hurdles and then gets to the nitty gritty. If you like a little more meat in your reading, give Schroder a try.

And finally tonight, Steve Marinconz blogged of a new game coming that will include Linux support and said if being a toddler was as scary as this game portrays, he's glad he can't remember it. He's linked to the player's video and it reminds me a lot of Frictional Games' work, such as the Penumbra Series. It looks really cute and horrifying at the same time. In it you play a two-year-old toddler whose house seems to have suddenly become haunted and who needs to find his mother. It's a first person horror adventure that I'm looking quite forward to demoing as soon as possible.