Although the final CGI for the new Discovery Series: Into The Universe with Stephen Hawking, was created with Maya, Blender was used for pre-vis and concept tests.

It's been a while since we here at OStatic checked in on FLOSS Manuals, an ambitious effort to produce free, online documentation for open source software. Here are some of the details on what's new there.

Does money make the FOSS world go round? Perhaps. Making money is what gives people and projects "the option of continuing to be free, as opposed to 'selling out' or abandoning the whole thing just to pay the bills."

What is Linus Torvald's secret to managing the Linux development community? And is it a secret that can be applied elsewhere? Glyn Moody looks at how to become Linus Torvalds

I’ve spent the past week or so away from computers, I came back to updating my systems today, and I received a nasty surprise.

It is time once again for our $100.00 (USD) Coolest Linux Workspace Contest. Today's entry comes from Brian, a Federal employee with the United States Army, and working in a network evaluation lab.

Listen. I get it: Ubuntu is an excellent Linux distribution. The latest version, Ubuntu 10.04, is great, and I certainly see why there are several Linux distributions based on Ubuntu such as Kubuntu. But do we really need two new Ubuntu desktops, Unity and Light? Can Canonical do everything that it's already doing while adding more work to its load?

Lately I have been hearing criticism about embedded Linux and how fragmentation, as represented by the many flourishing Linux projects such as Meego, Android and webOS, is bad and dangerous for Linux; these critics suggest that fragmentation will hinder Linux’ ability to compete with companies like Microsoft and Apple. I disagree, which is not surprising.