Microsoft said it will send out seven security bulletins on Tuesday as part of its regular monthly patching cycle. Four of the alerts are for problems with the Windows operating system, and another covers both Windows and Microsoft Office. The last two relate to Office and Windows Media Player respectively.

Apress' open source series of books recently unveiled Mark Mamone's "Practical Mono", a book targetting new .NET developers. We take a quick look at the book below.

"With the success of the iPod and Apple's bulging bank balance, the time has never been better for Apple to grow itself through acquisition. The thought that Apple might be interested in purchasing the struggling PDA manufacturer Palm has been floating around for a while. Steve Jobs even tried to purchase the company in the late 90s, according to the San Jose Mercury News. However, the rumor has recently gained some traction with the call by multiple investors for Palm to sell itself. Also, some key Palm employees, such as co-founder and former company president Donna Dubinsky, have previously worked with Apple."

Chip firm Intel has told customers close to its plans that a combination of the Conroe next gen chip and the 965 chipset will be good to go for when Microsoft Vista arrives. And it has a new 'platform' to play with. Averill Pro will be introduced in the third quarter with Conroe, the Q965 Express chipset but matched with 'Averill Fundamental', which will use the Q963 Express and the Pentium D chip. Intel now estimates it will be able to shift more than two thirds of its desktop processors to dual core by year end.

"Microsoft may not make flawless software, but its proprietary strategy is hard to fault. In particular, Microsoft has mastered desktop lock-in, undermining users' confidence in any alternatives and creating a slew of minor difficulties that irritate those who do switch. Two themes dominate the stories I hear about the tribulations of using and adopting non-Microsoft business desktops: the difficulty in finding compatible hardware and the stranglehold Microsoft Word has on users. In the last week, IT pros have shared their experiences with these two adoption inhibitors. They're representative of other stories I've heard."

"The third International Forum on Free Knowledge brought together many groups and individuals interested in the development of free software worldwide to the city of Maracaibo. One reason Venezuela choose to host this event is because starting in January (2006), their new free software law, directive 3.390, comes into effect, which mandates all government agencies to migrate to free software over a two year period. I was invited to speak about Telephonia Libre: the use of free software in telecommunications."