Open source software and widespread instrumentation have lowered the costs of producing IT management software. Open source systems management companies are using the free nature of an open source product, coupled with the cheap distribution the Web enables, to boot-strap their businesses.

The Windows share of the US netbook market is a staggering 96 percent. That's up from less than 10 percent of US unit sales during the first half of 2008 when the words netbook and Linux pretty much ran together. Now it seems that the netbook revolution is leaving Linux behind. Is Linux a Dead Man Walking?

The upcoming Fonera 2.0 802.11g wireless router from FON uses Linux as its embedded OS and includes several new features.

The GNOME desktop is alive and well. Despite rumors that everyone and everything is moving to the browser, the desktop is here to stay.

The ill-maintained, feature-limited, and obfuscated driver known as xf86-video-nv driver has a new release out. This is the first open-source NVIDIA X.Org driver update in several months

Although Firefox 3.5 (formerly Firefox 3.1) is still in beta, Mozilla is already developing Firefox 3.6 code-named Namoroka. Slated for an early-to-mid 2010 release, the browser will be marketed as Firefox.next (FX) moniker in a nod to new technologies set to take Firefox to the next level.

fwbackups is a feature-rich user backup program that allows you to backup your documents anytime, anywhere. It is completely free to download and use without any sort of trial or restrictions. In fact, fwbackups is open-source, which means anybody can use, share it and improve it. If you would like to help develop or test fwbackups, see the developer's page.