So last night I went and saw Terry Gilliam's latest film- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Simply put, the story follows a couple of guys in the early 70's, who acquire an amazing amount of drugs, and go to Las Vegas for a bit. Hit the link below to read my review.

Tuomas Lukka has written a feature for us on a real problem- you've heard MSs Analogy arguements in their defense (Forcing Coke to ship a can of Pepsi with each 6 pack for example). Tuomas explains how this finely crafted piece of PR is flawed, and attempts to propose an alternative Analogy that better explains the situation. This is a good one folks.

Mike Hughes has written an editorial on Computers and L-12 Education. Mike is a High School Student, and experiencing the problems first hand. He talks about the restrictions placed on the computers by his school, the social issues related to technology and education. It's a difficult issue, and one that I bet most of us can relate to. Read what he has to say, we won't solve this, but we sure can't make things worse *grin*.

Bruce Perens sent us a bunch of info about the status of the Linux Standard Base System. I'm running it as a feature to get some feedback on it. The LSB is definately one of the most important issues facing Linux these days; especially if we want it to continue to grow. Bruce also says "We would like to discuss the following proposal in BOF sessions at both Linux Expo and Linux Kongress. Nothing about the proposal is cast in concrete until after those meetings."

Ed has written us a little diddy on the various Open Source Licenses with some commentary on each of them. This is important stuff to read, especially for those of us in the audience who aren't crystal clear on the differences between them. This writeup specificly talks about how a business will most likely consider each license for their usage.

Jeff Breidenbach has written an editorial on something he feels would significantly assist the Open Source community- a single place to get the infrastructure necessary to develop open applications. All the tools are available, but they need to be provided in an easy way so that companies, as well as anyone else on the net can get started without to much duplication of effort. Read what he has to say about it by hitting that link right there.

Maciej Stachowiak has written an editorial on MP3s, and the major problem with the format. Now I'm not a huge MP3 freak (althought I have d/l 'em, play 'em, and bought many CDs because of 'em :) but I know a lot of you folks are, so read what Maciej has to say and let's hear your voices on the issue.

Well we don't do it much, but I try to occasionally post reviews of Geeky movies, and today we have one of Deep Impact by Evan Vetere. A word of warning- he's extremely brutal so if you liked the movie, you'll want to stay away from this review (and I haven't seen it, so I have no comment, although if it's this terrible, I have got to see it).

Eugenio Sanchez has written an editorial on what he thinks about Corel's recent announcements relating to Linux. Specifically, He talks about how the NetWinder is the first "Linux Computer" and why this is important. Interesting reading.

Jim Dennis has written an open letter to Dell, and cc'd over here so Slashdot readers can see what he has to say, and comment on it. It's an article about the recent ZDNet article where Dell Computer is quoted as saying that they have no demand for Linux.

shock has written an editorial on what he considers to be the Achilles Heal of open source software- his arguement is that "normal" applications (accounting, office suites, etc) will lag behind because they aren't as sexy for a programmer to get involved with (as opposed to the kernel, a web browser, The Gimp etc). Hit the link below and read what he has to say about it.

Ok folks after the recent hub bub on Slashdot over the iMac release (check out that story... 300+ comments) Benjamin Shive sent me a bunch of points in response to most of the criticisms that occured in the comments. I would consider one personally (it would end up being an X-Server in my living room :), but it would be nice if it was a couple hundred bucks cheaper. But these things are designed with a different audience than most of us hardcore techies. Anyway, Ben has covered the issues pretty well, so if you were partaking in the flamefest yesterday, it's probably worth reading this.

Stan Seibert has written a piece addressing a very key issue in the Linux community. In the beginning there was Linus. Back then, 100% of the users contributed to Linux. As it grew, the percentage of programmers dropped as the number of 'end users' grew. This will only continue as Linux grows. This is great because it means that proves that Linux is more than just a hacker's OS. But the growing number of users unable to actively contribute puts more pressure on developers (email pleas for help, bugs discovered, feature requests etc). The Linux community needs to adapt to this in order to succeed. Hit the link below and read what Stan has to say about it.

Ok, I'm warning everyone right up front that this is the sort of editorial that might raise a lot of eyebrows, and might start tempers going. Kevin Forge has written a piece on the Crusher App- an application that is superior to its rivals. Specifically, he talks about the Crusher App, and why Oracle is staying away from Linux. What Kevin suggests strikes me as quite possible, not necessarily with Oracle, but with other companies as well, and that's why I'm posting it. Its a major obstacle for Open Source to overcome. Read Kevin's bit, and let's hear what you have to say.

After the success of yesterday's Package Discussion, I've decided to open another can of worms up today. Making Money on OpenSource is a hard thing to do. Companies can't pay their programmers without cold hard cash, and programmers can't eat without cash. Hit the link below to read a very interesting bit written by Eric W. Sink of CSFactory, Inc.. We can't all write books about software and live off that, and we certainly can't all support others and make a living. How can programmers feed their family in a world where they give away what they do for free? Hit the link below to read more good stuff.

ABeZ has written an editorial on a topic that is very dear to my heart these days- the Evils of Advocacy. Sometimes Linux users go to far in their efforts to support their idealizes free universe, and that very advocacy is what is preventing Linux from being the Mainstream Alternative that we know it can be. My biggest fear for Slashdot is that it is amplifying the problem instead of helping. Hit the link below to read ABeZ's words on the topic. Its a bit rough, but its important to read.

Shaleh has written an excellent editorial on hardware support under the the free *nix OSs, and discusses what we can do to increase support, and promoting open specs. Highly recommended reading

Mike Haas has recently installed KDEB4 and written an excellent review of it. KDE is far ahead of gnome right now in terms of ease of use and flexibility, and is worth a look for almost anyone with time to download it. Anyway, for more details about KDE, read on...

Jay Bloodworth has written a nice editorial on Linux, and its use in primary education. He talks about pros, cons, and what needs to happen to make Linux and Education go together hand and glove. Follow the link below and learn more...

Kendall Koning has written in with a mini editorial that everyone should read. In addition, read The Linux Advocacy Mini HOWTO, On many occasions, Linux users appear to be more of a mob than a team. I've fallen prey to this more than a few times in the thousand articles I've posted on these pages. Its something that we all need to work on if we want Linux to truly be mainstream.