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Xandros, the leading developer of easy-to-use Linux solutions, today announced that it is shipping Xandros SurfSide Linux. The new desktop product comes with free Skype-to-Skype calling worldwide, and a Plantronics USB headset combo, "ready to plug in and call." Xandros SurfSide Linux is available for purchase in retail stores and from the Xandros web site for a list price of USD $99.95. As a special limited-time offer, it will include a bonus voucher for up to 120 minutes of free SkypeOut calling to any phone number in the world.

Does Intel want to be "the man behind the curtain" for Desktop Linux?

Folks in the media and at the Mozilla Foundation may have been moderately surprised after IBM began encouraging employees to use Firefox last week, but to dedicated users of the open source browser, it was just another day on the Net.

The first development release of Ubuntu Linux 5.10, code name "Breezy Badger", is now available for testing. Colony CD 1 is the first in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Breezy development cycle, as images that are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD-build or installer bugs, while representing very current snapshots of Breezy.

Screenshots are available.

If you're interested in following changes as we further develop Breezy, have a look at the breezy-changes list. Bug reports should go here.

Until now Cuba's state computers have exclusively used Windows. That may be all about to change. The Cuban government daily Juventud Rebelde is reporting that Cuba, which already has 1500 computers using Linux, is working on a legal framework that would allow the replacement of the Windows system throughout the Cuban government.

The LPI certification event held yesterday at LinuxWorld South Africa saw candidates writing 111 exams.

Long-time Linux advocate and a keynote speaker at the first LinuxWorld ZA conference, Jon "Maddog" Hall told conference delagates that the real value of open source is not captured in a total-cost-of-ownership calculation.

As a Romanian and IT fanatic, I've watched the rise of Linux and open source from a different point of view than most. Romania went through a revolution in December 1989, and since then many things have changed, including computers and the way they are perceived by a country that is better known for its Dracula figure than its IT involvement. We have our professionals -- people that are hired by foreign companies to work in different sectors of the computer industry. We have our software firms that produce quality software, such as BitDefender. Last but not least, we have our Linux user groups, and now a magazine dedicated to Linux and open source software.

MontaVista Software this week is expected to launch an offering for carriers interested in deploying Linux-based servers and appliances. The vendor's MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition (CGE) 4.0 is based on the latest Linux 2.6 kernel, and was built to the specifications of the Carrier Grade Linux working group - a multi-vendor effort led by the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL), which outlines specifications for high-availability and fault tolerance for Linux-based systems running in telecom environments.

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.'s CIO said last week that the exchange will scrap its proprietary SuperMontage order entry and execution system in favor of an open-source system from electronic broker Instinet Group Inc., which Nasdaq agreed to acquire last month.

The Firefox browser comes pre-configured with lots of great search tools, but it's also highly customizable, allowing you to push your online experience to new and fun extremes.

Cuba will gradually switch to the open-source Linux operating system for its state computers, eliminating its exclusive use of Microsoft Windows, the government daily Juventud Rebelde reported on Tuesday.

IBM's recent acquisition of software development firm Gluecode will give a huge boost to the open source community, industry experts have predicted.

Synaq plans to showcase the "clear cut" advantages open source software offers businesses, irrespective of their size.

Last week we covered what Linux software RAID is good for and not good for, and hardware RAID vs. software RAID. In a nutshell it's about getting good performance for just the cost of ordinary inexpensive drives and controllers, and either increasing uptimes or speeding up performance, or a bit of both. It is not a substitute for the usual sensible failsafes like regular backups, power protection, and terrorizing users into following ... I mean "enforcing sane security policies."

"Linux itself has been ready for the desktop for years," said Mike Ferris, Red Hat's product marketing manager for Enterprise Linux. "It's just been waiting for the market to catch up."

LQ Radio has interviewed James Turner and Dee-Ann LeBlanc, former editors for LinuxWorld Magazine. In the interview, they go into what exactly led up to their decision to leave Sys-Con, their comments on the Free Software Magazine interview with Fuat, exactly who ended up stepping down and where some of them have found new homes. The line between blogging and journalism, and the expectation of privacy that bloggers and journalists can expect is also discussed.

Switching over to Linux has been a gamble for many business people. They ask, "Who is going to support this thing?" That question has been the killer for many would-be Linux migration projects. In spite of distribution vendors and consulting firms offering a plethora of support services, companies have still been reluctant to change. Even if the new system had ultra-slick support tools built in, the disruption caused by retraining the operations staff in the Linux way of doing things was just too much to handle. QCD Microsystems hopes to overcome this migration barrier with their Interstructures product.

The first Linux World Conference and Expo to be held on African soil is being held in Sandton with keynote speaker Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu Linux

A new initiative by the two companies seeks to replace Solaris with Linux in the hearts and minds of users.