Yes, you read right, Microsoft will be represented at the next SLUG meeting. More info can be found in the following mailing list email:

I had some old camcorder videos that I wanted to digitize/transfer to DVD and distribute to family. I borrowed an ATI USB 2.0 TV wonder gadget from a friend and unfortunately was stuck with windoze to capture the streams. After capturing all the videos, I switched back to linux to start chopping up the files as appropriate. This is where it got tough.

Ubuntu has become the most popular Linux distribution for new Linux users. It's easy to install, easy to use, and usually "just works." But moving to a different operating system can be confusing, no matter how well-designed it is. Here's a list of tips that might save you some time while you're getting used to Ubuntu.

On Friday, January 18th, Aaron Seigo, President of the KDE e.V. gave the keynote at the KDE 4.0 Release Event in Mountain View, California about KDE 4, presenting KDE to the world and the world to KDE. Aaron started with an introduction to KDE 4, beginning with the history of the project and expressing how far KDE has come in the last 11 years. Then, Aaron explored what KDE is, and what the community is based on - freedom and openness. Freedom to do work, have fun, and connect with others. Further, Aaron moved on to KDE 4, and discussed the near-future plans and ideas. The vision of KDE 4 is based upon three principles: beauty, accessibility, and functionality. He ventured into the many areas that KDE has improved upon, and pointed to the roadmap for the KDE 4 cycle.

We called it Free Software at first. It wasn't until we started calling it Open Source that the punditry line counts began creeping up higher than the code line counts. We had this baby and we were proud of it, and the deep rooted insecurity born of being the ridiculed and utterly misunderstood underdogs made us require the approval of business and Grandma Bessie before we could ourselves be satisfied.

Why is it that we can manage to sway countless hardware manufactures into looking our way yet those who work in other business circles continue to ignore Linux to the point of almost being laughable? Today, we will highlight these companies, just to remind them how their decisions are costing them money.

One of the most FOSS-friendly countries in the world, where Firefox boasts a market share of almost 50%, has just heard about a little visit involving Mr. Gates himself. As I’ve argued for about a year, his retirement will involve a great deal of lobbying, which makes it not truly a retirement per se but more of a role change.

"The latest volume of the magazine Index on Censorship focuses on issues related to free speech online. I'm among the contributors. Here's a snip from the issue overview: «The Internet was supposed to spell the end of censorship – instead governments now have unprecedented possibilities for controlling what we do and what we read. But this is a revolution in free expression that can’t be stopped. Index examines the explosion in communication, the rise in new forms of censorship (and the ways to get round them) and the impact on social attitudes.» ..."