While virtually all computer graphics professionals use Adobe Photoshop to do their artistic work, Photoshop is a pricey and proprietary application. If you're looking to do graphics design on a budget, or perhaps want a software package that is less resource-intensive than Photoshop, check out open source alternatives -- the GIMP, SodiPodi, and Inkscape. Our Take: While these apps are extremely valuable for Unix users, they can't compete in the professional marketplace with Photoshop or Illustrator. They just don't do as much or they don't always do it in an expected way. More here and here.

The plan includes a switch to a quarterly dividend of 8 cents per share and the buyback of as much as $30 billion in stock over the next four years.

Preston Gralla, a well-known technology expert and windows user for a long time, tries Linux after his son suggests it to him. I found his testimony brief but very honest.

Microsoft Corp. has expanded the Source Licensing Program under which its Most Valued Professionals get access to the source code for the Windows operating system. The Redmond, Wash., company said on Monday that all the MVPs within the Microsoft platforms community and living within the 27 eligible countries worldwide will now be able to access Windows source code at no cost.

Opera Software released today Opera's version 7.53 (download here) with added security fix for all supported platforms (Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and MS-Windows). Changelog for each platform can be viewed here. In addition Opera is offering a tool which allows users to make Opera look like IE or other browsers before you delve into Opera's more advanced features: Opera one-click setups.

If you work on large-scale development projects, then you're familiar with the advantages of writing modular code. Well-structured, modular code is easier to write, debug, understand, and reuse. The problem for Java developers is that the functional programming paradigm has long been implemented only via specialized languages such as Haskell, Scheme, Erlang, and Lisp. This article, shows you how to use functional programming constructs such as closures and higher order functions to write well-structured, modular code in the Java language.