On Sears.com and Wal-Mart.com — two sites that sell cheap Linux-based PCs — potential buyers post questions like, “Which version of Windows does this have?” and “Can I run Windows applications on this?” While either the Mirus SITLC420 or the Everex gPC TC2502 might be an option for technically savvy people who want to dabble in Linux, these machines are very poor choices for the folks the two stores usually cater to.

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A security researcher and Mac fan has discovered that the latest Apple operating system keeps plain-text copies of user passwords in RAM with no security at all.

I want to hear one more Mac fanboy tell me just how secure a Mac is! I have been saying otherwise for a while now and was ignored, Baldy

 

Mac OS X flaw reveals passwords [News]

Most portable audio players can play music encoded in the MP3 audio format, but some consumers also have music in Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MPC, or even WMA files. How do you change from one format to another when you need to? Here are some of the best audio conversion tools available in Linux. One of the simplest and most elegant ways to convert audio files is by using the audio-convert script. It makes use of Zenity to display GUI messages and windows, but does the rest of its work from the command line.

 

Audio conversion tools for Linux

Give office workers familiar with the Microsoft XP operating system an opportunity to try the same navigational tasks at a Linux-based desktop. Then step back and wait for the reaction. First will come the surprised look. Then questions like “where did the command line go?” will soon follow. That’s the typical scenario Morgan Spencer, public sector industry manager for Novell, often sees played out whenever he participates in Linux displays at enterprise conventions. The government in Munich, Germany, runs on Linux.

Can Linux Stage a Coup D’Etat?

So you thought Vista’s desktop looked slick? Or the latest Leopard desktop is coolest thing after sliced bread? Well you probably haven’t been properly exposed to Linux’s customizability. Linux is so flexiblity is one of it’s strongest selling points. With Linux you can easily even mimic Vista or Leopard totally free! Now I will take you through some of the kewlest, freshest, phatest desktops I have come across.

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When you see this type of headline you just have to stop and see what is going on. Well here is a blurb from Scobles website describing what he found.

Lots of people are asking me questions about what made me cry at Microsoft a few weeks ago.

If I told you “a telescope” you’d make fun of me, right? Tell me I’m lame and that I don’t deserve to be a geek and that I should run away and join the circus, right?

Well, that’s what I saw.

Or, more accurately, the WorldWide Telescope

Okay the thing sounds great right up to the part that says, 2. It runs only on Windows. It’s coded in C#/.NET, you’ll meet the developer in our video and you’ll hear more about that then.
Good idea crap idea with the windows only idea. I’m sure that some kid in china is gonna run home and say mom, dad we need windows so I can see the sky!

Read about the Telescope

Best Buy is just one more PC seller that has turned their attention to Linux. They are now selling three versions of the popular Asus Eee Laptop (in pink, white, and black) on their website. The Asus Eee is expected to sell several million copies this year after selling 300,000 copies lat year.

 

Best Buy Sells Linux

digiKam is a fantastic KDE application used to sort, arrange and manipulate digital photographs. It features: fetching pictures from a camera, cataloguing and complex editing. It also enables you to add comments to photos, tag them and rate your collection.

digiKam uses highly extensible Kipi architecture. Thanks to this, adding new features to the program is a breeze.

The digiKam picture editor is now a really specialized tool. It can be used for basic correction of your photographs. It features a handy tool for eliminating red-eyes effect. It can be used to manipulate contrast, brightness, color balanse, normalizing, rotating, resizing and cropping images. It also enables a few special effects that can be applied on your photos.

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Now I don’t know about you but when I look at my family,friends and business associates none of them jumped up and down thrilled by the B-day event. Not one of them are running Vista and only a couple will even admit that they know of someone that does use it. And now that a 550 plus item service pack has been almost released causing even more problems than it cured, does it look as if anyone really wants Vista? I know I was around during the change from windows 3.1 to Windows 95 and then the 98 years and then XP era did people complain? Heck yes not one of those changes went smooth or was welcomed with open arms, but a year later they were the standard not the scapegoat. I know of quite a few folks that have bought new computers and “downgraded” to XP a option that is starting to fade from the forefront. I have however in the last year helped more people get “that linux thing” up and running due to the fact that they were died in the wool Windows users that just got fed up with the hassles bugs and troubles of Vista. In the last year I have had one customer that has a Vista Machine, one customer and one machine and he even said he had to try Vista and now he is really sorry. Do I see Vista being dumped? I wish, however I do see a lot of new Linux users and for that I have to say thanks Microsoft, you are doing in one year what I have been trying to do for many years, and that is get people to dump Microsoft and try Linux.

BRUSSELS — — The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record $1.3-billion (U.S.) on Wednesday for charging rivals too much for software information.

EU regulators said the company charged “unreasonable prices” until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.

Source: Globe & Mail