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These days, virtualization options are a dime a dozen. VMware, Parallels, Win4Lin and so on. But what about running applications natively on a different platform from what they were originally designed for? Ah, now there is the real question: is their enough demand for this?

With the news of Linspire's CNR coming soon to Ubuntu, and Automatix now offering a limited number of closed source, commercial applications, what possible consequences will this have on the Linux community and open source as a whole?

Last time, we discussed Microsoft, their approach to protecting patents and why the enforcement of this is going to cost them much more than just some market share. Today, we will be taking this a step further by examining what they are losing out on by continuing with their dinosaur approach to creative property.

Portable multimedia players are not necessarily a luxury these days; however, compared to yesteryears, they have certainly improved with additional features and a better user interface. The Archos 704 WiFi A/V player, for instance, is a step in the right direction with a multitude of impressive options, in addition to the standard support for various audio and video formats.

So, this is what we have been leveled to: patent wars. Earlier this week, I learned that the Linux Foundation has a portfolio of patents they own themselves and are quite willing to take Microsoft on in a patent war. And while I support the Linux Foundation fighting the good fight, I believe there are some issues that had better be considered.

Linspire is a company that is never dull in regards to controversy. From their Lindows days to the recent Freespire release day, they have always been in the thick of things. Lately, however, it feels like they have been overly quiet, maybe too quiet. Perhaps it has something to do with people and their expectation of seeing the latest developments of CNR to other distributions.

Now that Dell has entered into the Linux OEM marketplace, we have to consider how this is going to affect other companies that have already been selling Linux-ready PCs for some time now. In short, what Dell is doing is not really news by itself. It is taking an existing concept and simply making it something that has been able to really gain some press. Great for them, but are they really doing anything productive for the Linux cause in the long run?

I could hardly believe the words in this blog piece from ZDNET. Surely, I must have missed something along the way? But rather than bad mouthing yet another “hot air” article, I will look at each point to see where our opinions differ.

Can someone please tell me why software installers that alter the operating system in backhanded ways are still tolerated by so many people?

Ever since the release of Ubuntu Feisty, there has been much happiness going around about the improvements made to the beginner friendly Linux distribution. And as I fully predicted, things were definitely not looking too solid with respect to some of the new functionality built into this release.

From what I understand, the whole point of OLPC is to create awareness of technology in third world countries and empower the next generation with collaboration and other fun uses of technology and the way it can make an impact in a child’s life. OLPC is a non-profit entity, and I admire its efforts. However, with the recent ongoings between Intel and Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of OLPC, I fail to understand the immature bickering between the two.

As popular as they have been in the past, I still have some mixed feelings when it comes to the PR health of really low cost Linux PCs. On one hand, they are fantastic as they allow people access to modern computing that may have otherwise been prevented from switching from an older system or finding access to one, for that matter.

Many years ago, Bill Gates had a vision: a PC in every home. Understandably, this was his vision in part because of his business was heavily vested in this vision for the future. Why? Because he fully believed this would be happening in part through users running his OS, and hopefully, copies of his other software products. Flash forward to today, by and large, his dream has come true.

After getting home from Linuxfest Northwest, I found that I had a lot of decompressing to do. After all, it was Sunday, and Monday was just around the corner. But I must admit that if there is one thing that will keep bringing me back year after year, it has to be the wealth of education that is put at our disposal by those who present each year.

As you may remember from our first piece from Linuxfest Northwest , the presenters are not just talking heads that are paid to come and speak. These are individuals that truly believe in what they are sharing with the attendees, and more often than not, visitors to the convention will come away smarter from the experience.

Like Apple, Dell has a good handle on the hardware side of things. After all, they will be in full control when they are ready to release this round of Linux boxes. However, what has me concerned are some areas where they might not be ready for is the WiFi realm, most noticeably, WPA encryption.

Is there really the level of competition in the open source world that we see in the closed source world? This is something that has been stuck in my mind lately as I have been told so many times by closed source developers that by opening the code you are creating your own competition. Today, I’m here to explore this theory and hopefully prove why it’s false.

Sometimes, I just don't understand what the marketing departments at various companies are thinking. Take Microsoft's Silverlight project, for instance. From what they are saying, it is going to take Flash by the ears and shake the daylights out of it. Fantastic, and from the looks of the promo video, am I to also assume that we will be using translucent touchscreen computers that look like something from iRobot? Perhaps this is a video that is targeting the social and technology climate for its release date.

Let’s face it. AMD is having quite a bit of financial problems in its race against Intel to grab more market share.

With software, there’s room for competition, and the barriers to entry are rather small in a lot of cases. If a developer has a radical idea on how to improve a certain process and solve a problem that’s not met by other software titles, he can spend some time developing a solution, release it to the public, and if it’s good, acceptance will soon follow.