Microsoft has filed for a patent for ‘Time-Based Licenses’ and the application abstract reveals this to be a method and system for “issuing a number of different types of time-based licenses associated with software products”.[So if you can't make your Windows payments on time they turn your computer into a paperweight and/or make it illegal to use? - Scott]

On Thursday night I downloaded and installed Linux on my laptop. My son suggested that Ubuntu would be a good option as her reckopns it is probably the implementation that is most complete. As it says on the website - "Linux for humans".

andLinux is a complete Ubuntu Linux system running seamlessly in Windows 2000 based systems (2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 7; 32-bit versions only).

andLinux uses coLinux, a port of the Linux kernel to Windows which allows andLinux to run almost all Linux applications in Windows, without modifications and comes in two flavors: KDE and XFCE.

A list of 6 Plug-ins / Tools To Improve Rhythmbox media player .

This tutorial describes how you can install Apache2 with mod_fcgid and PHP5 on Mandriva 2009.1. mod_fcgid is a compatible alternative to the older mod_fastcgi. It lets you execute PHP scripts with the permissions of their owners instead of the Apache user.

There are certain Linux distributions, those so called rolling distros, generally don't break after you update regularly. But some bleeding edge distributions (like Fedora) general break or behave badly.

Jaunty was miserable. Bugs in the Intel drivers meant that DVD playing stopped working, sounds would occasionally lock up, and things were just painfully slow. Karmic to the rescue.

Part of my motivation when I made the big switch from Slackware to Ubuntu was a desire to step out of my comfort zone and give something different a try. And while I've warmed up to Ubuntu - heck, I even like it at times! - I'm still cold on Gnome.