QJ.net has posted a guide on how to install Fedora Core 5 on the PlayStation 3. There are also some videos of Fedora Core 5 running on the PlayStation 3.

The C++ standardization committee has set 2009 as the target date for the version of the language standard. And a lot will change. C++09 will include at least two major core features -- rvalue references and type concepts -- and plenty more relatively minor features.

"It's not often that something we classify as a 'really good' feature turns out to be a bit of a sham, but unfortunately, that's the case with Vista's symlinks. Just a couple of days ago, symlinks were our 'big Vista feature of the week', but now, we're not so sure."

South Africa native and current London resident Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical Ltd. and the Ubuntu Linux distribution, told DesktopLinux.com Friday in an interview that widespread adoption of Linux on the desktop - so long-awaited by many people. "Yes - I think Linux will be the dominant platform. It already defines the landscape in the server space (from supercomputers to YouTube). The desktop is just a matter of time."

Now that Windows Vista and Office 2007 have been released to manufacturing, the spotlight is on Windows Server 'Longhorn'. Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president for server and tools sat down with eWEEK Senior Editor Peter Galli at TechEd: IT Forum to give an update on Longhorn's road map, discuss the company's controversial deal with Novell, and give his thoughts on Sun Microsystems' decision to license Java under the GNU GPL. Meanwhile, CNet interviews Bill Gates.

"We have now reached the Release Candidate stage of the FreeBSD 6.2 release cycle. A few significant problems had been discovered during the initial BETA testing and those issues should now be fixed. RC1 is the first of two planned Release Candidate builds. If no more significant problems are reported 6.2-RELEASE builds will be done after RC2."

Gamers lined up by the thousands early on Friday, aiming to be one of the first in the United States to buy Sony's PlayStation 3, the multimedia and video game machine that is key to the future of the beleaguered electronics and media conglomerate. Apparantly the PS3 brings world peace or eternal youth, seeing how bonkers people went.

The second alpha release of Gnash, 0.7.2, has just been announced. Gnash is a GPL Flash movie player and browser plugin that runs on many GNU/Linux distributions, embedded GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, non x86 processors, and 64 bit architectures.

In comments confirming the open-source community's suspicions, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Thursday declared his belief that the Linux operating system infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property. In a question-and-answer session after his keynote speech at the Professional Association for SQL Server conference in Seattle, Ballmer said Microsoft was motivated to sign a deal with SUSE Linux distributor Novell earlier this month because Linux "uses our intellectual property" and Microsoft wanted to "get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation."

"Windows Vista RTM'd a week ago, and now, the beta testers have gotten their swag. If you (actively) participated in the Longhorn Beta program, this is your chance to get a free Windows Vista Business or Ultimate Edition product key. The only requirement to receiving this free product key is that throughout the duration of the beta program you submitted at least one bug - nothing more, nothing less."

Some more news on the Novell-Microsoft deal (I'm starting to suspect the free publicity is all what this deal was for, but anyway). Sun boss Jonathan Schwartz has joined in criticism of the Microsoft-Novell deal, saying it is bad for the open source movement. Following Samba's criticism early this week, Schwartz said profoundly disagreed with the idea that open source software is unsafe without the 'no use' arrangements agreed between Microsoft and Novell.

The potentially historic Microsoft-Novell pact announced last week, whereby Microsoft would grant patent peace to users of Novell's Suse Linux software in exchange for royalty payments paid by Novell to Microsoft, will be dead by mid-March, promises Eben Moglen, the general counsel of the Free Software Foundation. The FSF controls the license that governs the distribution of Linux and many other key forms of free and open-source software. "It will surely violate GPL version 3," said Moglen, referring to the forthcoming version. "GPL version 3 will be adjusted so the effect of the current deal is that Microsoft will by giving away access to the very patents Microsoft is trying to assert."

Red Hat had planned to release RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) 5 Beta 2 on Nov. 21, but engineering finished the job early and the beta is already being released to the company's partners and customers. The release boasts the latest open-source technologies for improved performance, security, and flexibility, according to the company.

"Would you have believed at the end of last summer that Microsoft and Novell would partner over Linux, or that Oracle would create its own brand of Linux? Yeah, I wouldn't have believed it either, but here we are. So, what does it all mean? Rather than make a snap judgement I decided to sit, wait and watch before trying to make sense of it all. Now, I'm ready to give you my two-cents on who are the winners and losers in this post-deal Linux world."