At what point do we accept that – whether we like it or not – closed source applications will eventually have to be let in to this otherwise "open" world? After all, this has already been happening for years, despite the Linux purists kicking and screaming the entire time.

It’s time to look past Windows, even with its huge installed base, as any sort of “gold standard” (as Mark calls it), especially for user interface.

In the past State of Linux articles, I began to explore the areas where Linux use was growing rapidly. Most interesting were the many facets of Linux and overall OSS growth in Asia. In my article on Linux in India I reported that OSS would soon become the key factor in how 500 million children are educated.

One of the things I want to do for KDE 4.2 is a “Contacts” plasmoid: A Kopete-centered plasmoid that displays your contacts status and allows for a quick chat initiation. So far I have two mockups which I’d like feedback on — please comment!

I was recently surprised to discover that many people are not familiar with WINE, what it does, or how easy it can be to make it do it. That, coupled with the recent post-beta, stable release of WINE itself, pushed me to help get the word out.

Linux opportunities in the South African market are increasing but skills are still a significant stumbling block. This is according to Michelle Beetar, country manager for Novell South Africa.

The Wine development release 1.1.1 is now available.

What's new in this release : Fixes for Photoshop CS3 and Office 2007 installers. More progress on gdiplus. Support for Unicode files in regedit. Improved video playback. Many Richedit fixes and improvements Various bug fixes

After a long search, the Linux Foundation has found its community manager for its LSB Developer Network. The Linux Foundation has tapped Brian Proffitt, longtime managing editor of Linux Today, Enterprise Linux Today, AllLinuxDevices, LinuxPR, and JustLinux.