""My main criticism is that people dismiss the idea too quickly," said Martin. "There's evidence to suggest that a lot of users find it scary and shy away from it because they don't think they have the in-house skills to deal with it." According to the report, 13 percent of Australian small businesses were not even aware of the existence of Linux. "In this day and age, you'd think that some people had been hiding under a rock to hear a figure like that," she said."

How stupid do you have to be - open-source marketing sucks (Firefox aside). When people pushing open-source open their minds to how the rest of the world thinks, then they might get somewhere.

"Sometime this year when AIR becomes truly cross platform (Mac, Windows, and Linux) it's going to open up a whole new world to designers: Linux... But there's a problem, Linux applications are damn ugly. They have this kind of semi Windows 95 feel to them that gives some geek cred but isn't at all pleasing to the eye. Take a look at the Rhythmbox Music Player (the design of the site is a perfect representation) that is default player for MP3s. That's developer art at its finest."

Thank god someone agrees with me publicly. Of course, he got attacked for saying it though - what else did you expect?

"KDE released a significantly revamped version of its Linux graphical interfaces software on Friday, incorporating several features that also appear in Windows Vista and Mac OS X. Among new features in KDE 4.0 are an enhanced start menu called Kickoff, new ways of viewing widgets and applications, a revamped file browser, and a new look to some entertainment applications. "

Very nice. There are still some rough edges (the start menu doesn't fit in with the task bar for example), but it's one step closer. The best Linux UI platform so far I reckon.

"Canonical Ltd., the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, today announced the availability of its Ubuntu JeOS (Just Enough Operating System) edition. Ubuntu JeOS (pronounced "Juice") is an efficient variant of the popular desktop and server operating system, configured specifically for virtual appliances... ISVs looking to develop virtual appliances will have a compelling platform in Ubuntu JeOS, an OS optimised for virtualisation that greatly reduces the complexity and maintenance overhead normally associated with general purpose operating systems."

Cool move - but why is the download link so hard to find!

"Forget about geeks not getting dates! The Linux Users Group at Washington State University put their clever minds together and came up with the nerd exchange... “You can buy a nerd and he’ll fix your computer, help you with stats homework, or if you’re really adventurous, take you to dinner,” the group president said. The group is soliciting help from sororities in an attempt to spruce up their image. Unfortunately, no one has taken the bait and they have yet to put their epic challenge to the test."

LOL... right. If the guys were smart, they'd get the last laugh by installing a timebomb when 'fixing' other computers, which only gets disabled when they get what they want :)

"Fiire, a company which manufactures and sells modular media boxes and remotes aimed at unifying your media center has a few items it'd like you to see. The whole shebang is based around the FiireEngine, a $799 box that acts as a central hub to your media world... The Engine is meant to be accessed through the company's FiireStations ($499-899), set-top boxes or wallmount units that stream media from the FiireEngine to any location you want..."

Great idea, and given Microsoft's botched their MCE release so badly it's not funny, but seriously, could the box look anymore tackier? Looks like some crappy plastic generic case with a sticker slapped on. The UI looks awful too, but maybe these guys fixed that in their version...

"If you think doing five months of hard time in the slammer for uploading a feature film to the internet is tough, try using Windows for nearly half a year when your heart belongs to Linux. Unfortunately, this heartbreaking scenario is indeed true, as the "ex-administrator of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker" is now being forced to use an operating system in which the US government can install monitoring software on... Of course, his alternative seems to be just living out the sentence without using a PC at all, but c'mon, we all know that ain't happening."

LOL, damn it, life must be hard :)

Wow, compiz has come a long way. This stuff is awesome - yes, that 'paper airplane' in the pic is actually a window flying back into position. Linux definitely has a massive lead on any other OS in this area.

The problem though is that they're not following through with the actual window UI. It's still dog ugly, and stuck in the past. Look at how long the list of options is in the config app in the video also. Sigh. This is like an Audi R8 with a 1.5L engine :(

"If there is any one big problem with kernel development and Linux it is the complete disconnection of the development process from normal users. You know, the ones who constitute 99.9% of the Linux user base... To top it all off, the enterprise users are the opposite. Just watch each kernel release and see how quickly some $bullshit_benchmark degraded by .1% with patch $Y gets reported. See also how quickly it gets attended to."

It's the hacker mentality, and it drags Linux and many other open-source projects down. Usability is another part that gets no where near the attention needed to conquer the desktop.