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This week -- that's right, seven days, from Sunday to Sunday (12/18 to Christmas Day) -- Larry the Free Software Guy spends a "Week in Limbo" putting the ZaReason Limbo 5440 desktop through paces only he can muster. After two days, he sums up the experience so far in four words: Kid, meet candy store.

With the upcoming tsunami of Linux Mint 12 Lisa articles about to wash up on the FOSS shore, Larry the Free Software Guy goes against the tide to point out that CrunchBang GNU/Linux also has gone through some remarkable and profound changes in its new release, out over the weekend. Not only this, lead developer Philip Newborough not only talks the FOSS talk but walks the FOSS walk: He has decided to leave his job to work on CrunchBang full-time.

Much has been written over the last few days about Linux Mint's meteoric rise in Distrowatch's rankings, seemingly at the expense of Ubuntu's fall. While he thinks Linux Mint's rise is deserved, Larry the Free Software Guy is not convinced these stats are a sound yardstick, and he does his best Jerry Maguire in shouting, "Show me the downloads!"

In an effort to foil crackers attempts to cover their tracks by altering text-based syslogs, as well as improve the syslog process as a whole, two Red Hat developers are proposing a new binary-based tool called The Journal that could replace the syslog daemon in as early as the Fedora 17 release.

One of the most anxiously-awaited Linux releases in quite some time --Linux Mint 12 -- is now available for download on the Linux Mint Mirrors worldwide According to this ZDNet article, some are hoping that this release will be the "Peacemaker" of the recent Linux desktop disputes, between Gnome 2, Gnome 3 and Ubuntu Unity.

As we head into the holidays, thoughts of 2012's Linux shows might take a back seat to more festive activities. But according to Larry the Free Software Guy, the SCALE 10X team is busy working on what's expected to be a landmark show on the expo's 10th anniversary.

While the desktop environment debates continue to rage, Clement Lefebvre and the Linux Mint team have been quietly coming up with UI solutions that will make Linux Mint 12 a hallmark in Linux distros. But more importantly, Larry the Free Software Guy thinks that coming up with these solutions -- by listening to their users and then delivering options -- is what a community FOSS project should really look like.

Larry the Free Software Guy heard what Mark Shuttleworth had to say at the Ubuntu Developers Summit in Orlando recently, and he's right. And he's wrong, not to mention he's off-topic. But that's OK -- those cool Linux power users can give him a pass as soon as he lets them know when Unity will really work.

The SCALE Team is holding a drawing contest for the logo for the SCALE 10X publications and swag, which ends Friday, Nov. 4, at midnight US Pacific Time. The winner gets a trip to SCALE in Los Angeles, including air fare and lodging.

In a world of Brussels sprouts (like) and eggplant (dislike), Larry the Free Software Guy celebrates the fact that we have a lot of choices in the FOSS realm. Fear not, Ubuntu users who view Unity as the digital equivalent of a plate of string beans -- you have a variety of more palatable desktop options with which to use Ubuntu 11.10.

Rikki Endsley offers seven practical reasons to teach children about open source software and get them involved.

Don Parris, author of "Penguin in the Pew," outlines the challenges that today's free/libre software movement faces and contends that the core message of free/libre software should serve to build up, liberate and inspire people.

Quick (and no Googling): What are the release names for Fedora 12 and Ubuntu 7.10? Chances are you couldn't name Constantine and Gutsy Gibbon off the top of your head because those release names, and probably every other one that distros come up with, weren't seared into your subconscious. The moral of this story, according to Larry the Free Software Guy, is that release names, though sometimes fun, are forgotten quickly.

The SCALE team is going the open-source route in seeking a logo for the publications and swag for SCALE 10X. Submit a logo design, and if the SCALE team chooses yours, you're on your way to Los Angeles for SCALE 10X.

Larry the Free Software Guy, a Californian, likes to poke fun at his friends from Texas when it comes to the Golden State's superiority in most things. But he'll eat some crow here with some salt, washing it all down with a Lone Star, on the issue of getting Linux/FOSS into the hands of everyday folks, since Texans lead the way here. Move over, Ken Starks and the HeliOS Project in Austin: TexOS, the Texas Open Source Project, is providing Linux/FOSS boxes and instruction to kids up the road a spell in San Angelo.

In the '60s, John Cooper took the staid Mini and enhanced its performance to make the Mini Cooper. Around the same time, Carroll Shelby took Ford Mustangs and made them a fire-breathing, track scorching legend. In that same vein, some Linux developers are taking mass produced, mainstream distros and adding high performance changes to them, creating pixel-burning distros worthy of racing stripes on the hood and flames on the fenders.

Richard Stallman took time out of his busy schedule to answer the burning question of whether Android is free software. Brian Proffitt says Stallman's 1,439-word Guardian article is one of the longest ways he has seen lately to deliver what should have been an obvious (and 1,438-word shorter) answer: No. However, Proffitt points out that lately that the Free Software Foundation and free software leadership have taken great pains to level broadsides against open source projects and, by extension, open source software in general.

The advent of radio didn't mean the death of live theater, as conventional wisdom at the time predicted. Televisions in every household didn't exactly ring a death knell for movie theaters, despite pundits' predictions. So Larry the Free Software Guy points out to those risking injury jumping on the Linux-desktop-is-dead bandwagon that you're on the wrong side of history.

Development on the free desktop have been instructive over the last few years. First, KDE stumbled and recovered with the KDE 4 series. This year, GNOME and Ubuntu introduced radically new desktops. Although both GNOME and Ubuntu seem to ignore the complaints pouring in from users while they continue on their course, Bruce Byfield wonders: Could the disastrous receptions have been avoided?

After Lindependence in 2008, thoughts turned to bigger and better large-scale events, though they never materialized. Even after a few years, Larry the Free Software Guy would still like to see these mega-events brought to life: Tuxstock (or Fossapalooza, for the younger crowd) and ELVIS: Expanding Linux Venues In the South, among others.