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Linux in the newsRecommended Reading Linux: this year's silver lining? (The Register)Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, thinks 2009 will be a good year for Linux. ""Even though 2008 was in recession, the Linux platform did well, and it is growing faster than other platforms," Zemlin told us during an interview. "Linux definitely has critical mass, and you use Linux ten times a day and you don't even know it. So in 2009, we expect to see a bit of growth. It is not going to be a boom year for anybody, but at the end of the day, Linux is positioned to do well.""
Felten's 2009 predictionsHere's Ed Felten's predictions for 2009. "(6) Questions over the enforceability of free / open source software licenses will move closer to resolution."
A look back at the open source victories of 2008 (ars technica)Ryan Paul reflects on the best of 2008. "The past year brought some exciting advancements for the Linux operating system and open source software. Open technology continues to become more pervasive and the Linux kernel is now widely used in a multitude of mainstream products ranging from set-top boxes to mobile phones. With 2008 coming to a close, we wanted to take a minute to look at some events of significance to the open source software community."
Linux at Work Palm needs Nova to shine (San Francisco Chronicle)The San Francisco Chronicle looks at another entry into the Linux-based mobile phone space. Palm is expected to unveil "Nova" as a replacement for Palm OS on both phones and mobile internet devices. "Palm is poised to make what some analysts are calling its last stand at this week's Consumer Electronics Show, where it is expected to introduce its long-awaited Linux-based operating system. [...] Code-named Nova, it will power a new generation of smart phones and potentially other devices. The move is Palm's best chance to get back into the smart phone market, which it pioneered with its Treo handsets and later ceded to companies such as BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion and Apple with its iPhone."
Resources Recording the Linux desktop -- the hard way (Computerworld)Over at Computerworld, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols tries to find a way to make screen videos in Linux. One of the main issues he ran into was creating videos in a format that Windows and OS X would handle. "After a number of attempts, I finally found my answer in Google Code: WinFF. Despite the name, this is actually an open-source front end to FFmpeg that works with both Linux and Windows. This program, by Matthew Weatherford, solved all my video conversion woes. It's straightforward, easy to use (once you have the appropriate video codex libraries installed) and does the job. Best of all, the program understands all the various flavors of AVI, so converting my OGVs into basic Microsoft-compatible AVIs was a breeze."
Linux Gazette #158 is outThe January edition of Linux Gazette is out. Articles include Gnuplot in Action, by Philipp K. Janert; Joey's Notes: Sendmail and Dovecot e-mail on RHEL 5, by Joey Prestia; Our monthly column of basic Linux advice and education; Using Hyperestraier to search your stuff, by Karl Vogel; Getting Started with the Exim Mail Server, by Neil Youngman; plus the usual features.
Reviews The November Cornucopia: One Month In Linux Audio (Linux Journal)Dave Phillips looks at audio software for Linux. "This week I'm your straight reporter bringing you news of of updates, upgrades, and new releases in the world of Linux audio software. Development in this world is continuously productive, so I'll present only a selection of the Linux sound and music applications and utilities announced in the month of November in the year 2008."
Social Semantic Sense for the Desktop (MIT Technology Review)MIT Technology Review takes a look at the NEPOMUK Project. "People naturally group information by topic and remember relationships between important things, like a person and the company where she works. But enabling computers to grasp these same concepts has been the subject of long-standing research. Recently, this has focused on the Semantic Web, but a European endeavor called the Nepomuk Project will soon see the effort take new steps onto the PC in the form of a "semantic desktop."" (Found in KDE.News)
Everyone's free Linux: DeviceVM's Splashtop (ComputerWorld Blog)Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols looks at Splashtop. "Splashtop is a mini-desktop Linux distribution that's based on the 2.6.20 Linux kernel. Currently, Splashtop comes pre-installed on pretty much all ASUS motherboards and on netbooks and laptops from ASUS, HP's high-end VoodooPC division and Lenovo. Rumor has it that Splashtop and similar baked-in desktop Linuxes, like Dell's "BlackTop," aka Latitude ON, will soon be appearing from other PC and motherboard vendors. I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if DeviceVM makes some new partner announcements at this week's CES (Consumer Electronics Show)."
6 best personal finance apps for Linux (TechRadar)TechRadar takes a look at personal finance applications for Linux. The article looks at five free applications (GnuCash, KMyMoney, Buddi, Grisbi, and JGnash) as well as the Moneydance 2008 proprietary solution. "This kind of software is all about the data; getting it in, getting it out and doing useful things with it. In terms of getting data into the package, there are three things we need. We want software that makes it easy to add items to the spending side because you'll be less likely to update your ledger if doing so proves annoyingly difficult. [...] We want filters that will import transaction data downloaded from our bank account and allow easy reconciliation between local and remote records. Finally, we want to be able to set up periodic transactions that can be added to the ledger at certain points each month to deal with things such as mortgage payments."
Miscellaneous Android netbook is a possibility (Inquirer)The Inquirer looks at Google's Android OS on the netbook. "Matthäus Krzykowski and Daniel Hartmann who run an outfit called Mobile-facts claim that it took them just four hours to compile Android so that it works on a Asus EEEPC 1000H."
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