The old question always used to be if linux will ever be as widely used as Windows. For years there were always comments on how Linux was ready for the desktop and getting more and more popular.

A while back I worked with a couple of students from a number of universities here in Auckland: UoA, AUT, Massey. These were students in various IT fields, which had to do a practical industry project.

Many of you have likely heard of or even used open source software at one time or another, but I’m constantly surprised at how many people are unaware of the benefits and opportunities open source software presents to us, especially being poor university students.

Standards Australia has defended it's decision to abstain from the ISO (International Organisation for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) ballot to approve Microsoft's Office Open XML format as an international standard, saying Australia still has a chance to approve or disapprove the vote.

Many people have argued over the past year that the mainframe is dying out (again), but Saugatuck Technology analyst Charlie Burns and some very telling market trends go against that grain with a 180 degree turn: the mainframe is surging, and it’s all thanks to Linux.

Microsoft proclaimed in 2002 that the "era of 'open computing...'" was "...coming to an end". Just like their proclamations about the Internet 'fad', they could not have been more wrong...

Linden Lab, the creator of online virtual community Second Life, released its viewer earlier this year with a GPL 2.0 license, adding a clause called the "FLOSS exception," which releases developers using certain open source licenses from the requirement that any derivative works be licensed under the GPL.