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SUSE Linux is one of the better desktop Linux distributions on the market today, providing a functional and aesthetically pleasing environment for the new Linux user as well as seasoned veterans. On thing that puzzles many users is the lack of proper multimedia support in SUSE. The developers have basically crippled it from playing virtually all types of multimedia content that's common on the Internet today. This can be a frustrating dilema for new users, so I have written a short HOWTO to help you get everything in order on your new desktop.

A member of the Apache Foundation open-source community organization says the Sun-led JCP actually stifles competition in some ways.

OSDir.com Weekly Screenshot Tours for March 4, 2005. It was a great week in the OSDir screenshot arena. We installed and captured screenshots of KDE 3.4 Release Candidate, SimplyMEPIS 3.3, SAM Mini Live Linux 2005-1SE, Linux+ Live 2.04, and Kate Linux 1.0.

A recent study by pychologists has revealed a correlation between male finger lengths and aggression. Specifically the ratio of the index finger (second digit) to the ring finger (fourth digit) is inversely related to aggression in males. In other words if you have a short index finger you are more likely to be aggro! How did the researchers determine finger length? No not a ruler! They used the GIMP measure tool to determine length in pixels of fingers from photographs of the subjects. Interesting how entrenched open source software is becoming in the science community. The link above is to a subscription only journal. The story on aggression can be found on Yahoo.

Greg KH announced the first maintenance release of the 2.6.11 kernel, 2.6.11.1. Quickly acting on the recent lengthy discussion regarding kernel release numbering, Greg and Chris Wright have begun to maintain this branch. With each 2.6.x release, they will maintain 2.6.x.y releases available from your nearest kernel.org mirror.

21 new stories have been posted to the web by Linux Magazine.

The latest issue of Linux Gazette is ready for viewing and download at http://linuxgazette.net/

Open source licensing gives you the freedom to deploy software for whatever purpose you want, even to tinker with its internals or to build complex systems with components from different developers. That's great for pilot projects and research, but when it comes to enterprisewide deployment, those same licenses can become a hindrance.

Alacos is a data migration and conversion software company. Alacos is a provider of Windows to Linux desktop and server migration consulting and software. Alacos’ Thin Client Migration Agent is the easiest, most powerful way to migrate data from Windows fat client environments to thin client systems. Alacos provides consulting services for companies and organizations migrating servers and desktops to thin client and Linux environments. Alacos is a business partner of IBM, Sun, Novell, and Red Hat. For more information, visit http://www.alacos.com/

Russ Nelson, the newly elected president of the Open Source Initiative, announced that he was resigning the office, reportedly in part because of accusations of racism.

Issue 2 of the Free Software Magazine contains two articles by KDE promo member Tom Chance. In Guerrilla Marketing he discusses how KDE's promotion efforts compare to those of other Free Software projects while his interview with Bernhard Reiter, conducted at aKademy last year, discusses marketing in government and software freedom on the desktop.

A startup in Santa Clara, Calif. is shipping a Linux-based mesh router aimed at VoIP and video. The Mesh Dynamics Module uses multiple radios -- along with custom real-time Linux extensions -- to create a duplexing backhaul network said to improve bandwidth more than 64 times over conventional mesh technology.

Howard Wen has conducted an interview with Daniel Quinlan of SpamAssassin. In it he explores what keeps Daniel motivated in the face of the unrelenting torrent of spam and new spamming techniques, as well as, what is working - what is not, and what he predicts spammers have up their sleeves next for defeating spam detection.

The Open Source Initiative, a group seeking to become more influential in matters concerning the cooperative programming philosophy, has seen its second change of leadership in less than a month.

A public beta of OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be released today. From the much improved interface through to the inclusion of OpenOffice.org Base the open source office suite replacement not only challenges the proprietary office suites in affordability but is also upping the stakes on the standards compliance and functionality front as well.

How do 250 scientists spend their coffee break at a scientific conference? They use KDE! There was a scientific conference, the Tübinger Perception Conference 2005 (TWK) at the end of February. Many scientists from all over the world joined to take part in the symposia and the poster sessions. Because many scientists are addicted to their e-mail, the organizers installed an Internet Corner with 3 KDE Terminals.

A new version of the Mozilla Firefox browser fixes a flaw that made users vulnerable to online fraud. [A bit late, but nonetheless, informative considering its source. They are telling of the previously released version 1.0.1.]

BURLINGAME, CALIF. - Eclipse will have to deal with its own success and the challenges that success presents, said Lee Nackman, a CTO and vice president at IBM Rational Software who was involved in founding the open source platform.

Linux gadget lovers may find a new mobile phone/handheld computer from Remote Office Access Devices (ROAD) intriguing.

By offering free SSL certificates to open source projects, domain registrar GoDaddy.com is asking, "Will the real open source please stand up?"