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I do not honestly care which OS each of you choose to run. For some of you, it will be Windows, others OS X. And for a growing number of the remaining minority, your OS of choice will be one of the Linux flavors available today. But how would you feel if Microsoft Windows was powering the voting booth in which you were to select important elected officials? Would you, knowing of Microsoft's past security record, feel confident that using this OS and not being allowed to inspect the code, feel safe knowing that these machines could very well help to dictate the future of your perspective countries? Don't feel guilty, I don't really like it either.

As my week progresses, I'm seeing entirely too many utopia articles, such as this one. And while much of the article is spot on, especially with those who would rather play in traffic that use Vista, the problem of wireless Internet connectivity and popular media codecs very much remains in disarray.

Before everyone goes to arms over the title, consider this: Linux options are much more than just the desktop environment. Linux remains largely entrenched in the server realm, along with substantial growth in the mobile markets as well. The big question that remains is why we are seeing this? Over the past few months, I have seen ample speculation bouncing back and forth as to where the attraction is with other projects, and after some searching, it appears that the answer is not what you might think.

For sometime there, I generally figured that once the next revision of the GPL came about, all of these deals that are being made with Microsoft will eventually be put to bed. I was also delighted to see Mandriva standing against the alleged patent violations that Microsoft brought up time and again. They clearly state that they, like other Linux distributors, are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But this kind of backbone becomes a moot point when other companies are all but lining up to gain Microsoft's blessing.

These days, it seems like OS transparency is more necessary than ever before. Luckily, there are plenty of great virtualization options to choose from when you need to run another OS, without actually having to install it along side your existing operating system. Today, we examine each of these options and review their abilities in a rapid fire round.

Not too long ago, I subscribed to a Linux magazine for beginners called Tux. Fantastic magazine, but the last I heard they were "headed out," so to speak, due largely to a lack of funding. However, unlike bigger publishers, which include Linux Magazine, Tux was special because they were giving away the magazine in the PDF format. That's right, they provided a free copy of their magazine in hopes of generating enough revenue in ad sales alone. Unfortunately, it did not work out so well for them to that degree. This got me thinking, though - could it be that their advertising model was flawed?

This just in: it's an Ubuntu future. Think I'm nuts? Take a cold, hard look around. Even though I'm a fan of other delightful distros like Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux, there are other honorable mentions, such as Fedora (a fine distro) and OpenSuSE. At the end of the day, however, Ubuntu has won the hearts of common users. And that is not my opinion, this is simply a matter of numbers.

There has been some controversy about this, so hopefully today, I can clear the air. Yes, in order to benefit from Zonbu, you will need a subscription. But when subscribing, please understand two very important factors:

Everywhere I turn these days, I continue to hear how “Novell” sold Linux users down the river. And while I partially agree with this perspective, I do differ with those who say Xandros did the same thing. Xandros is simply looking to make sure that fluidity between the Linux desktop and Windows desktop is as smooth as possible.

I have been hearing a lot lately about how Windows Vista is being said to be more secure overall than the popular Linux distros in the market today. After soaking this in and having a chance to think about it, I can come to only one conclusion: Microsoft must believe that vulnerabilities are worse than actual, in motion exploits being used against exiting operating systems.

Standalone backup solutions are always a great alternative to effortlessly backing up necessary files in case disaster strikes, and it usually strikes at the worst possible time when you forgot to update your backups over the last weekend. However, things aren’t so bad these days. With the rise of online backup services and terabytes worth of storage space in third party devices with complimentary applications, there’s no reason to lose any data now.

What defines an online operating system? In my neck of the woods, it would have to be the applications it comes with. The biggest problem I see at this point with online operating systems is that they have you emulating what you already have access to, thus canceling out any shot of providing added value.

What used to be created by a team of open source programmers is now being done by one or two programmers. I have seen this trend happening with a few different projects recently and found myself wondering if this is what is needed to get more, viable applications in the market - faster.

When I first heard about Zonbu, I was skeptical. After all, much of it sounded too good to be true. But after carefully reviewing it, I found that Zonbu may have hit upon a niche market that to this day is largely ignored.

Let's face it; some distributions have better controls for handling display issues than others. Two that do it right out of the box that come to mind include Fedora (Red Hat) and OpenSuSE (Novell). Each includes tools that minimize the need to do what I gleefully refer to as the “Xorg dance.” Basically, these options mean you are going to be spending more time exploring what these distros have to offer, yet less time wondering why your resolution looks completely off.

With the war raging on between various Web 2.0 companies, I’m still trying to fully grasp why I need to care one way or the other when it comes to the different online operating systems out there. Today, the one that has the best shot at even being looked at seriously appears to be EyeOS. Today, we will be looking at their latest offering and what it can do for you.

Since starting on my quest for a flawless wireless support with Ubuntu Dapper, and then finally understanding the level of support to be expected with the Ubuntu distro itself, I've come to the following conclusions.

Do you think you are safe with Firefox? In general, I would agree with you. But at the same time, I would also point out that there is a fairly sizable security concern that may be addressed, as effectively as some security experts might like. It's called the Firefox extension.

In the past, I have always found it comical when companies have found themselves buying into the need to protect their content with DRM because of the pressure from the music and movie industries. Well, it seems that Netflix is no different, but I have to ask: is the DRM protection really needed in their case for online movie viewing? Personally, I think there is another way to protect the content and do so without traditional DRM headaches as well.

It's wild, but for a company that has continuously pointed out their lack of interest in getting into the desktop market, Google sure has been pushing the application side of things awfully hard lately.