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Unlike some people, I'm not a Mac or a PC guy - I'm a Mac and a PC guy. There's room for both options in this world, and there doesn't have to be a bitter rivalry between both sets of users. In fact, I think you're only firing on all creative and productive cylinders if you use both (or all three, if you include Linux).

iTech Media announced today that it was acquiring Mad Penguin, a popular Linux and open source online magazine, for an undisclosed sum.

If you are the kind of person who believes in the phrase "More is Good," then get ready to be bogged down by the impressive new set of features that Linux kernel 2.6 boasts. Since the very beginning, Linux is known for its stability, and kernel version 2.6 continues the saga.

Recently, there have been more and more indications that Microsoft has shown a growing interest with the concept of open source software. Still not yet wanting to give up any kind of control over development, they started off slowly with the release of their open source tool set known as WiX.

Just a decade ago, not many people were aware of the revolution coming along their way. Ordinary people were thrilled with the new features that Microsoft Windows 95 provided and Linux was still the choice of geeks. Fast forward 10 years: Even ordinary people carry extraordinary piece of hardware with them.

Imagine if you will, a world where your ideas and perhaps, even your own creative works became part of the OS of tomorrow. Consider the obvious advantages to an operating system that actually morphed and adapted to the needs of the users instead of the other way around.

With the advent of mobile Internet age, it is not uncommon to find even common people with sophisticated devices. Thanks to the mobile revolution, the prices of both the devices as well as the services are coming down.

The open source revolution has shaken the slowly crumbling foundations of closed source software, and while it hasn't taken over completely just yet, the tide is beginning to turn in its favor. Your normal everyday user may not really understand or appreciate what open source means, but that doesn't mean that they're not experiencing the effects of it.

Now that we know more about Mac OS X Leopard, the battle lines are clearly being drawn between Apple's offering and the one that's sitting in Redmond somewhere.

[Interesting perspective in the ever-running debate on MS vs Apple. GNU/Linux is mentioned only incidentally - dcparris]

I have been reviewing Xandros off and on since 2004. They are a great company with some serious misconceptions as to what the home user needs. I'll get into that soon enough, but let's get right into the review itself, shall we?

FreeBSD, perhaps the last OS that is really open to discovery as the Linux adoption rate continues to climb. With this belief in mind, I decided to take the OS known as PC-BSD for a spin. After all, their website was pretty clear that PC-BSD was designed with the 'casual PC user in mind.'

When ZDTV (later renamed TechTV, then G4TechTV and finally G4) first broadcasted its signal across the airwaves, I was intrigued by the ongoing enthusiasm that was expressed for a little operating system called Linux. Mention was made of the OS on The Screen Savers, Call for Help, and pretty much every other program on the network.

[Very strange editorial. One try with Red Hat, circa 1998, followed by one try with Mandrake "a few years later", and then this writer dismisses GNU/Linux as not worth the effort: "I haven't installed another distribution of Linux since that time [...]"!

As much as I dislike Microsoft Windows, and despise the consistently unethical behavior of Microsoft, I have at least given each version of MS Windows a chance to show me that it is not as untrustworthy and antagonistic to the user as the previous versions. In each mutation, MS Windows has become less trustworthy and more antagonistic toward the user, even as it became more filled with "features" and eye-candy.

If I followed this author's model, I would be rejecting MS Windows based on experience with MS Windows 3.0 and 3.11. Likewise, I could dismiss Apple based on the shortcomings of the Apple II and Lisa, compared to a commodity PC with Kanotix or SUSE or Debian GNU/Linux today. I just don't understand the purpose of the article. -- grouch]

When it comes to open source operating systems, most people consider Linux the only choice. This is simply not the case. No, there is one operating system known as BSD that has gone largely ignored by the mainstream world.

The opportunities available to children today are much more varied than they've ever been before. In the past, it seems like there were a handful of respectable occupations and as long as you stayed practical and fit within that mold, you were set. These days, more emphasis is placed on being what you want to be, and kids are encouraged to think freely and creatively about what they want to do with their lives.

Paranoia is becoming more common these days, and if you let yourself be engulfed by it, there's definitely not a shortage of things to be concerned about. We know that the governments have the technology to monitor our lives (wiretapping, satellites, other stuff we have no earthly idea about), but regular users are also using certain tools to invade our privacy.

[Hmmm... all that secret code. Wonder what else they're keeping secret? Never mind that, just replace your non-free OS with a libre OS, and you won't have to worry near as much about whether your software vendor is spying on you. - dcparris]

In a move that could potentially prove my theory explained in my previous Google OS article here at OSWeekly.com, the evidence is stacking up that the GDrive may in fact be much more than a silly rumor. As I mentioned previously, Google has no intention of creating a Google OS - we've already provided it for them with existing means. Each one of us.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about how Red Hat is working towards becoming the standard for the desktop market here in the U.S. In addition to that, I have just learned that Novell is working to front a full scale assault on Microsoft's Vista as they ready their own Linux distribution, SuSE 10.1 and that super-cool xgl feature based on OpenGL.

Is net neutrality a threat to the birth of viable online operating systems? Some believe so, while others feel that the neutrality of the Internet is not even in any sort of danger.

Recently, I have been pondering why is Firefox so darn popular? This is a question that I honestly ask myself sometimes, often while browsing the web from within the browser itself. The real trick is that there are so many different ways to answer this.

Over the years, I've had a number of people asking me what I believe the problem was with further migration over to Linux by the public at large.