Linux has been getting a lot of press over the past six months, particularly populist distributions such as Ubuntu. Dell has installed Ubuntu onto its Linux PCs and laptops, and let’s not forget the phenomenally successful Eee PC from Asus, which runs the Xandros distro.

The next version of the Fedora Linux distribution, Fedora 9 “Sulphur”, has been leaked into the public domain due to a misconfiguration in one of the European download mirrors.

Many IT experts will check the date to make sure it is not the first of April when they hear that Microsoft is to support Linux servers in a beta update to its System Center Operations Manager suite for datacentre management. Microsoft’s antipathy to everything open source, and Linux in particular, has always seemed an intractable chasm, just one of those things to get used to in life.

Much like the Asus Eee PC before it, the Linux-based Shuttle KPC K-4500 will impress the tech savvy--especially the Linux comfortable. You can strip it down, expand it, or simply use it as basic day-to-day desktop. You can even put a photo in the removable front panel. Because of its low price, we can also see bestowing this system on a nontech savvy loved one.

The Linux Equivalents to Windows Software series now contains 228 entries, listing the finest Linux software available.

Read about our latest addition: emesene - an open source instant messaging client, a "clone" of Windows Live Messenger.

In case you missed our announcement, also check out our 80 of the Best Linux Security Applications.

With Ubuntu 8.04 now on the streets, it’s time to catch a breather and reflect on just why Ubuntu gets all the hype. Why is Ubuntu the hottest brand in Linuxdom at this time? Why is it the distro most frequently advocated? I posed these questions to readers and LUG members; here’s the feedback from real-life Linux users.

As part of their ongoing alliance, Intel and Sun Microsystems have ported Intel's Linux-compatible multi-core C++ development library to the Linux- and Solaris-compatible Sun Studio. The Intel Threading Building Blocks (TBB) technology has also been made available for the latest version of the Solaris operating system (OS).

Micro/sys has announced the first single-board computer (SBC) combining its StackableUSB expansion bus with an ARM-based Intel XScale processor. Intended as an industrial controller or protocol converter, the RCB1626 runs Linux, has dual 10/100 Ethernet ports, and operates from -40 to 85 degC, the company says.

The first beta-test version of the OpenOffice.org 3.0 productivity suite was released on Wednesday, adding significant features such as improved Mac OS X support and support for the OpenDocument 1.2 standard.