Theo wrote a letter at large to the open source community urging us to take a stand. In the letter Theo provides information on how to contact Intel and helpful hints on how to explain benefits of open documentation to any vendor.

"This tutorial shows how to install and configure the Zenoss network monitoring tool on a Ubuntu 6.06 system. Zenoss is a free open-source tool that allows you to monitor servers, applications, networks, power, etc. regarding their configuration, availability, performance, and so on. It can also alert you by email if it finds inappropriate actions."

"All technical reasons (alternative configuration system, alternative decorator, xinerama...) for this fork are incorrect and I know that at least Quinn Storm is aware of this, based on a phone conversation we had last week. With a few notable exceptions, most of the code I've seen going into what is now beryl is not high quality code that would be considered for compiz."

"Virtual Bridges, a provider of enterprise and SMB solutions using virtualization for business, announced today the release of Win4BSD Pro Desktop Win4BSD Pro Desktop runs as a FreeBSD/PC-BSD application and allows users to run Windows applications and desktops with seamless ease on the BSD platform. The company also announced that it will be releasing Win4BSD Virtual Desktop Server, a FreeBSD-based desktop consolidation server, during October."

From the kernel to the shell, Windows Vista is a very different OS than XPSP2. How so? Here, Charles interviews Architect Nar Ganapathy whose team of highly skilled engineers write the Windows IO system, driver frameworks and related technologies. So, what, exactly, is new in Windows Vista with regard to IO? What does it mean, exactly, to users and developers? Tune in. Learn.

Microsoft Windows will not suffer irreparable damage on the server side at the hands of the Linux operating system over the next five years, Gartner analyst George Weiss told attendees at the Gartner Open Source Summit. In fact, in terms of worldwide server operating system revenue, Linux would come in below both Windows and Unix by 2011 in spite of its enormous growth, he told attendees in a session entitled "Enterprise Linux: Has it Arrived?"

Apple has released Mac OS 10.4.8. Improvements were made in printing, the Finder, iTunes, Preview, networking, and much more. There's a delta update to be used to update Mac OS 10.4.7 to 10.4.8, and a combo update to update earlier versions of 10.4 to 10.4.8.

"Castle Technology and RISC OS Open Ltd are pleased to announce plans for the opening-up of RISC OS source code. This step is a further major landmark in the development of the highly respected software platform. A primary objective is to bring RISC OS software to a wider community and to encourage growth in both the RISC OS user base and the developer community. This will be augmented by more rapid development of the software base and removal of critical barriers to use, normally associated with proprietary platforms."

Symantec has previously complained that Vista's PatchGuard kernel-protection technology might limit Symantec's ability to protect the kernel with its own software. But what do other security vendors think? Yesterday Sophos' Ron O'Brien told BetaNews that "Nothing about the way PatchGuard works would hinder Sophos' architecture for an enterprise security suite. In fact, he argued, if Microsoft wants to use its own methods to close off the kernel, that's a good thing."

Sony has finally bitten the bullet and issued a worldwide recall of all Sony-manufactured lithium-ion batteries used in notebook computers. Earlier in the day, Lenovo/IBM joined the ranks of Dell, Apple, and Toshiba in issuing a recall for all Sony batteries that ship with their notebooks.

The popular distribution formerly known as Mandrake will include in its next 2007 release Transgaming’s Cedega engine to play mainstream Windows gaming titles out of the box. For those not familiar with Transgaming the company has worked for years on a WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) derivative to empower Linux users to run Windows games natively on the Linux desktop. In the meantime, CrossOver beta 2 has been released for Linux.

After Dell buying Alienware, HP has now bought VoodooPC. "Even though you may not know it, there is one thing about HP that makes them stand out among the rest: serious innovation. Backed by a USD 3.5+ billion dollar R&D budget, HP labs was generating an average of eleven unique patents a day. We're not talking about 'supply chain innovations' either; they are sitting on a treasure trove of product innovations with massive potential. For me, getting a ticket into HP Labs would be like Charlie getting a ticket to Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory. I was relentless... Yes, HP was/is the company that both my brother and I agreed is the perfect match for Voodoo."

ExtremeTech was able to get an exclusive peak at Intel's newest quad core processor, the Core 2 Extreme Quad E6700. After running through the gauntlet of 3DMark and content creation tests, among others, the quad core CPU boasts impressive performance results, particularly in video and 3D tests. According to the article, video creators and 3D animation artists should probably start saving up.

Debian adheres to a strict interpretation of what is Free Software and what isn't. The Firefox logo is trademarked, so Debian doesn't consider it to be Free and will not include it as part of its distribution. Mozilla claims that using the Firefox name without the official branding is a trademark violation. Furthermore, Mozilla claims that if Debian runs any patches to the version of Firefox included with Debian distros, it has to run them by Mozilla first for approval. What all this ultimately could mean is that the Firefox name is wiped from the face of Debian and its offshoots. Debian developer Eric Dorland confirmed to internetnews.com that Debian will re-name Firefox and that the re-naming process could be completed as soon as next week.