Businesses don’t buy operating systems. They buy applications. With that fact in mind, Canonical is gradually expanding its online store for Ubuntu Linux applications. It’s a smart move — but solutions providers will need to keep their expectations for the store under control. Here’s why.

The OpenOffice.org 3.0 desktop database application offers new features that make it better than previous versions, but it still lags behind what Microsoft Access offers. Among the key concerns is OpenOffice.org Base's limited file support for Microsoft Access database files.

Mandriva is co-ordinating an international Install Fest for the new Mandriva Linux 2009 release, on November 22nd, 2008. If you are involved with a LUG or other community group and would be interested in running a local event as part of the Install Fest, Mandriva will provide professionally pressed One CDs and other material.

It looks like there will be no theme overhaul in Ubuntu 8.10, but a number of nice themes and concepts have been proposed. I've been using one of these themes, called Dust.

From the beginning it seemed like a long shot, but Psystar has only made it clearer and clearer that they are determined to prove Apple's locking of Mac OS X to their own hardware is a violation of anti-trust laws.

The Linux kernel is flexible, and you can even modify the way it works on the fly by dynamically changing some of its parameters using sysctl command.

According to the open source industry group FOSSBazaar, there are plenty of organizations that view using the software as risky. But the group maintains that concerns about open source stem from often poorly understood legal issues that could be overcome with some education.

When it comes to gaming engines, the open source world has plenty of options to offer. But they're not always tapped by game developers, especially ones who deal with online games.