If any single program defines the Debian Linux project, that program is apt-get. apt-get is Debian's main tool for installing and removing software. Working with the .deb package format, apt-get offers sophisticated package management that few Red Hat Package Manager RPM-based distributions can match.

KDE has released the first Alpha of what will become KDE 3.4. You download it, read the schedule, look at the planned features, report bugs or help in any other way.

Updates to the production and development versions of Mono have been released. The major features of this release are:

In this article, we will explore the creation of a custom widget for an automotive application using the Zinzala SDK. Introduced in April 2003, Zinzala is a BeOS flavored Software Development Kit for QNX. It has improved since then, taking on small features inspired by the Symbian OS. Because Zinzala brings in the benefits of object oriented programming, it can leverage the quality of your QNX RTOS based embedded products.

This guest editorial by Linux consultant Binh Nguyen is an exercise in "tough love." Nguyen points out key design attributes of Debian that make it one of the strongest and most versatile Linux offerings available. At the same time, he notes several important areas where Debian falls flat. Yet, with a few simple improvements and a more welcoming attitude to new users, Nguyen argues, Debian could turn into the most popular Linux distro around. Elsewhere, Debian Women: Geek feminists in action.

According to a report by the Register, the next version of PalmOS will have "Linux at its core." The Reg suggests that while the core improvements will be open sourced, the top level layers will remain proprietary a la Apple's Aqua interface.

Lee Nackman, IBM VP of Design, Construction, and Test Tools Development and CTO of Rational Software, and Jim Russell, IBM Lotus Software Director of Application Development Tools, explain how IBM is leveraging Eclipse with the Cloudscape Java database and with IBM Workplace Client Technology, Rich Client Edition to become a strong tool for cross-platform deployments.

James Morris, one of the core SELinux developers has a blog entry detailing the evolution of SELinux and how it has worked so far including a recent major performance boost using RCU (Read Copy Update) code in the Linux kernel.

Market share numbers in free software is a rather dubious thing and tend to reflect more often the wishes of the quoter than any true objective measurement. I still dare to claim thought that XMMS has historically been the most used GUI media player on Linux and FreeBSD systems and maybe still is. Still there have been a lot of alternatives popping up all hoping to dethrone XMMS over the years and maybe the time has now come when either there will be no clear leader or someone else will ascend. One of the alternatives I really like is amaroK.

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Apple Computer at "in-line," noting that Apple is "one of the few companies in tech with the ability to consistently innovate and then monetize that innovation."

Xandros Desktop Version 3 features the latest in Linux Wireless & VPN Support, Security, and Drag-and-Drop DVD Burning. Read for more.

For this article, it is accepted that in today's real world, there is little to suggest that worm writers would or could create the same degree of havoc on Linux as they have for Windows. However, that does not mean that Linux is impermeable to attack by the same kind of malicious, worm-writer-minded efforts that plague Windows. So what are the real vulnerabilities of the Linux operating system?

Top Dell executives disparaged the "big iron" approach of building large, powerful servers on Tuesday--a dig at rivals IBM, Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard. Red Hat needs to lower its prices, or risk losing customers to free versions of the open-source operating system, the Dell executive who oversees the partnership with the Linux seller said Tuesday.

Probably one of the most talked about linux distributions in second part of this year was Ubuntu. It is Linux distribution based on Debian Unstable with nice selection of Gnome applications and it fits to one CD. Thanks to financial support from Canonical they have been able to offer free CDs, and that is really nice touch.