Now Ubuntu 7.10 is making it's way to Dell's XPS 1330 laptop and Dell takes the Ubuntu initiative to Spain.

Starting today, customers in Germany, United Kingdom, France and now Spain can purchase Ubuntu Linux 7.10 with built-in DVD playback on the XPS 1330n (in addition to the previously-released Inspiron 530n desktop system. U.S. customer will have to hold on a week or so.)

Dell thanks the Linux community for the support and states that the purchases and the community's commitment is the driving force behind this expansion. Hope more OEM manufacturers join soon and offer true choice beyond Microsoft stranglehold to their business

With 4.0's release, the technology of KDE4 isn't the only thing we find ourselves at the starting line of. As many of you have probably noticed, a theme for our KDE4 promotion campaigns was also unveiled using the slogan "Be Free".

Nortel CIO Steve Bandrowczak, who joined the Canadian telecoms and network equipment vendor last July, said "more and more CIOs are looking at Linux desktop for reasons of TCO" and argued that the technology "is receiving the same level of attention today as when Linux started on servers."

To continue my look at how non-profits and the free software community can engage, I’ve decided to look at some popular free software products and see how well they fit the need of an average charity—namely my employer. I’ll start with OpenOffice.org.

With no vendor support, Elcot's decision to switch platforms was a daunting task but the opportunity to bypass yearly software licensing fees was an irresistible incentive

This could have been a huge week for the open source industry to cash in on the retail industry. Instead it’s a missed opportunity.

KOfficeSource GmbH will offer professional services around the open source OpenDocument-based KOffice office suite. KOfficeSource GmbH will allow KOffice to be used in companies and organizations that demand high quality support and training for OpenDocument deployment. KOfficeSource GmbH will initially offer the following services to the market: migration and conversion to OpenDocument, consulting around the OpenDocument Format, training on OpenDocument and KOffice, customization of KOffice, custom programming.

Navica's Bernard Golden discusses how commercial open source is its own business model and unique in that it faces two "chasms" -- from Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm -- one involving broad adoption of the free versions of product, and the other involving converting a significant subset of adopters to paying customers.