So you think companies sell $1bn in Linux support contracts a year worldwide? Think again. That isn't going to happen until 2012, and maybe not at all if the trends of using commercial distros without paying for support continue apace.

The Linux Foundation, which is something akin to the marketing arm of the open source operating system kernel and its related systems software, has today released its second report detailing how the Linux 2.6 kernel is evolving. The report reveals how it is coding the changes in the kernel and what companies are sponsoring the programmers who are making the changes - if any.

Network communications go through "channels" called ports. You can restrict which ports are available ("open") for network communications, creating a barricade to unwanted network intrusion. Firewalls do this job for you.

Do this at your own risk. Modify the default Ubuntu sources.list only if you understand what you're doing.

When Linux.com first launched, we knew that as feature-packed as the site was, there were some additional features we wanted to add to the site when the time came to make Linux.com even better. That time has come.

We're going to take some inspiration from Apple's new iPod Shuffle, and only offer the bare minimum of controls. One button for selecting your music, another button for play and pause, and a third button for skipping to the next track.

Lean back with a bagful of popcorn. In his blog Maddog writes: "Secondly, have posted two videos of wild Brazilians saying "Linus we love you, Linus we need you".