"At the beginning of this month I helped a programmer modifying a Perl program he had written, and gave some advice on the how and why of my modifications. When he asked me how I wanted to be compensated for my help, I asked for a copy of the sixteenth edition of the GNU Emacs Manual [...] But why Emacs, you might wonder? ..."

The Novell “partnership” with Microsoft has been a hot topic in Linux circles since it was announced a few years ago. Recently, Novell and Microsoft introduced a joint-marketing site to promote their collaboration.

A pair of my colleagues forwarded me a pitch today titled, " Disappointing: Facebook Does Open Source like Microsoft." It's an 'interesting' email pitch -- it's a pity I wasn't contacted directly. Essentially what the pitch (which came from Bob Bickel Founder, Ringside Networks by way of PR firm techmarket) alleges is that the CPAL is a poison pill for open source code.

3K Computer is shipping a $300 ultra-mini PC notebook that runs "Genuine CE" Linux distribution from a 4GB SSD (solid-state disk). 3K's RazorBook 400-Mini-Notebook uses a 32-bit RISC-based processor from Chinese processor start-up Ingenic.

Have you ever been in a situation where you realised the frailty of your own existence? It happened to me. I sat thinking this is the end of the line but how little did I realise that I had a saviour alongside me in the form of the free open source operating system called Linux.

The Mozilla project has a long and distinguished history of holding global distributed parties to celebrate major events in the project's life, including at the South Pole. I'm pleased to say that we are doing this again - mozillaparty.com is now open for business

"...Contents:
1. SELF Open Documentary Contest Update
2. SELF Testers needed
3. Pre-conference workshop - July 14, 2008
4. SELF Sprint Sessions during FKFT - July 16-17, 2008
5. Free Knowledge, Free Technology Conference Programme Update
6. Agenda
7. About

I was at another meeting of the Editorial board of the Skibbereen Eagle yesterday. Hopefully you read the outcome of the last one. Some clever clogs suggested that it might be a spiffing wheeze to write something about the possible implications of the much mooted singularity (is that a proper noun, with a capital S?) and what it might mean for the future of both free and proprietary software.