Interview with Mark Shuttleworth: The Business Ecology of Ubuntu

OpenBusiness took the opportunity at MiniBar to interview Mark Shuttleworth and he took us on a space ride through the Ubuntu galaxy Open Source land. Using our new, sophisticated Edirol R-09 MP3 recorder Mark told us about Ubuntu’s unique business model – being absolutely free to use – but making a revenue in the surrounding ecology.[… read full story]

Fedora-based Berry Linux sports 3D desktop

Berry Linux 0.80, a Fedora-based live CD for the desktop with support for the Japanese and English languages, was released this week by its Japan-based project team. The distribution incorporates a 2.6.20.7 kernel and includes a default KDE desktop and support for 3D desktop effects with AIGLX and Beryl 0.2.0, the team said.

[… more At desktoplinux.com]

PCLinuxOS launching hardware certification program

The PCLinuxOS Hardware Database (HWDB) collects user-submitted reports on the compatibility of various hardware with the PCLinuxOS distribution. Now its founder has announced a plan to begin a hardware certification program for personal computer manufacturers.

The certification team plans to test computer models with the latest version of the distribution and, if it proves compatible, allow the manufacturer to add a “Certified — Works with PCLinusOS” label to the computer’s packaging. Initially, the team plans to perform certification testing without vendor participation and report results unsolicited to manufacturers.

Requirements for being PCLOS-certified are not yet fleshed out, but the general yardstick has been defined as “out of the box” compatibility with prebuilt systems. According to HWDB founder Jeremiah Summers, “the assumption [is] that the performance will be as the manufacturer intended when the device was designed, or that the manufacturer has provided drivers that come with an installer that is easy to use while still not degrading any performance for the hardware.” Summers will work with volunteers from the PCLOS community on the certification program.

Preliminary plans are to designate two levels of certification. Silver certified hardware manufacturers will be those whose hardware works with PCLOS, but which have demonstrated no recognizable effort to maintain compatibility, and may not even realize that their hardware is compatible. To be certified as Gold, a manufacturer will have to demonstrate active support of the Linux community by distributing necessary device drivers and striving to maintain compatibility.

[… more At Linux.com]

New Feature from Google: Google Themes

i have to say, i really like the new themes that Google added to their personlized homepage/startpages… actually, i’m kinda shocked, since it just seems so “un-google”… if you know what i mean.

 

one of the guys here said that it’ll actually change the image based on your zip code/weather… so if it’s sunny outside where you live, you should see a “sunny” pic… if you hit it at midnight, then you should see a “night” version, etc… havent seen or tested it, but it does sound pretty slick.

p.s. i wonder if you have the Google Desktop installed, will it monitor your keystrokes and surfing habits to dynamically generate related images for your google startpage? if so, i wonder what kind of image it would generate for me when i’m surfing around on Maxim and other…. ummm…. sites. *ahem*

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