One of the best things that has happened to Linux enthusisasts the world over is the confluence of two big players one in the Linux arena (Ubuntu aka Canonical) and the other in the PC hardware space (Dell). And the end users have already started reaping the benefits.

It's tax time in Australia. Three weeks into the new financial year, now is about the time when people have all their documentation ready to give the government its yearly pound of flesh. But for Linux users there's no joy again.

THERE'S PLENTY of consternation floating around the Steam forums this morning as open sauce geeks get het up over Valve's persistant refusal to port its popular Steam game-delivery client to something a little more penguin-based.

It's a bit later than Linspire had planned, but the company's CEO Kevin Carmony told DesktopLinux that the new commercial version of its Linux distribution, Linspire 6.0, along with the free version, Freespire 2.0, and its revised CNR (click-and-run) software update system, should be out before August.

The Participatory Culture Foundation (PCF) has renamed and relaunched its open-source television platform in hopes of offering an "open, mass medium of online television." What was once known as Democracy Player is now Miro, which functions in mostly the same ways as Democracy Player but with a number of improvements and updates.

Automatix is a program that installs a myriad programs on Linux distributions. It’s quite useful for people that are fed up with the limited options in the regular Ubuntu package manager. However, as helpful as the program may seem, there exists a problematic side to Automatix. It seems to be breaking systems all over the world.

There's been no major improvements in Dell's Linux software support, but there have been small, but handy, improvements in Dell's support offerings. For Dell Ubuntu laptop users, an important addition is the availability of the Conexant modem driver for the Inspiron E1505n and 1420n.

"...As always, we are a non-profit organization and we build this software because we think there’s a chance to bring television online in a way that’s more open and accessible than ever. Companies are battling desperately to control video, monopolize users, and build proprietary distribution systems. It’s a dangerous direction for the future of media."""