On March 10th, Mandriva announced the immediate availability of Mandriva Linux 2009.1 RC1. Though a bit late, we thought it would be nice to please some of our readers and offer them a visual tour of this first release candidate.

A new version of GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), the most popular open-source image manipulation application, is out: 2.6.6.

Last week I found an Ubuntu package repository for the Chromium browser, the open source project behind Google's Chrome browser. I didn't get excited until I saw this post, which shows that the packages do contain a working web browser!

I posted an article about having a Mac-like interface for Ubuntu. However, it is not complete since the Mac style menu is not configured... Then I saw a project called Global Menu for Gnome under the Google Code site.

Today (March 17 2009) Mil Incorporated released the new versions of its powerful security software - Mil Shield and Mil Firewall. The new features introduced in today’s releases include:

* Mil Shield software 6.8:
- Added removing of 22 new Windows and application tracks.
* Mil Firewall software 2.1:
- Predefined rules for most frequently used programs.

If you want a replete, smooth, good-looking desktop prearranged with small people in mind, I can think of no better option. Low maintenance, high usability and visually attractive. I’m probably a little outside the target demographic, but if I was still in the single-digit age bracket, I’d probably think it was a winner.

The term regular expressions refers to a type of search language. You'd use it to search for text strings that match certain defined patterns. So, if you need to search through a document for email addresses, IP addresses, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, etc., you'd define a regular expression.