Linus Torvalds, founder of the Linux kernel, made a startling comment at LinuxCon in Portland, Ore., on Monday: "Linux is bloated." Has Linux failed?

I’ve got a Google Alerts hint set on compiz. A recent trend I’ve noticed is this myth that compiz is bloated.

They played videos in court today, day 4 of SCO v. Novell's jury trial. SCO claims it has a surprise witness, like that surprises anyone that has been following SCO's legal ways. There was a dispute about that, but I gather it will happen eventually.

For some time, we have not heard anything about the patent sellout which Novell inked with Microsoft 11 months ago. Microsoft has since used the deal as the basis for spreading FUD about Linux, with claims that the free operating system could be in violation of as many as 235 patents which Microsoft claims to own.

Microsoft's slanderous claims about the popularity of GNU/Linux are echoed by its crowd and refuted by professionals

SCO has filed its First (Non-Substantive) Omnibus Objection to Claims [PDF], which I gather is where a company tries to shuck off any claims they think they can.

Novell has filed a Notice of Appeal in its antitrust litigation against Microsoft. That's the case about its WordPerfect claims. Despite Microsoft prevailing on its motion to dismiss, for technical reasons I'll explain a bit in a minute, I want you to read what the judge said Microsoft did to Novell

Novell today claimed to have more certified software partners than rival Linux providers. The chest pumping represents Novell’s latest thinly veiled attack against Red Hat. But take a closer look at Novell’s claims and you’ll see why Red Hat may take issue with some of Novell’s statements.

Some distributions of the open-source operating system are bloated, but Puppy Linux, Knoppix, SLAX, NimbleX, and -- yes -- Damn Small Linux will get you up and running fast.