Microsoft will release new versions of its Windows operating system in South Korea on Thursday to comply with an antitrust ruling, a company source said Wednesday. South Korea's Fair Trade Commission fined Microsoft USD 34 million in December, saying the world's biggest software company breached antitrust laws by selling a version of Windows that incorporated its media player and instant messaging services. My take: This will join the ranks as another Windows version nobody bought.

A Microsoft Shared Source license was submitted to the Open Source Initiative for official approval as an open-source license - but it wasn't Microsoft who submitted it. "Someone submitted the Microsoft Community License, one of our Shared Source licenses, to the OSI without our knowledge or approval, but the OSI contacted us and asked if we wanted them to proceed with that," said Bill Hilf, Microsoft's director for platform technology strategy. "We told them that we did not want to be reactive and needed time to think about it."

"The PCLinuxOS 0.93a Full Edition was quietly released yesterday and is the equivalent of PCLinuxOS releases of the past several years. They have recently been releasing scaled down versions to accomodate other tastes and desires, but many folks were looking and waiting for the fully loaded edition. Weighing in at 685 MB, Texstar referred it as the 'Full Monty'. Its code name has been 'Big Daddy'. Whatever the name, I think you'll call it home."

From the AppleInsider forum comes an interesting discovery about ZFS and Apple. A user who has the Leopard WWDC preview searched the system with Spotlight and found a mention of ZFS. He says: "There is no file system bundle for it, nor is there a mount utility or any other one (no fsck, now newfs, etc.). There is, however, a changed vnode.h."

In an effort to promote the adoption of GNU/Linux desktops, SpreadGNOME.org has launched with the goal of being a resource to help spread the word of GNOME to GNU/Linux desktop users and potential converts. It is meant as a place to share ideas to help promote GNOME in the community, and helping those who wish to get involved with GNOME. In the meantime, Builder.au has some shots of the upcoming GNOME 2.16.

"This article shows how to secure a CentOS server using psad, Bastille, and some other tweaks. psad is a tool that helps detect port scans and other suspicious traffic, and the Bastille hardening program locks down an operating system, proactively configuring the system for increased security and decreasing its susceptibility to compromise."

"We are creating a new team within Haiku - a Marketing/Communications (Marcom) team. Koki is leading it. For those who don't know him, Koki is a long time member of the BeOS community. He is fluent in Japanese, English and Spanish. He is also a professional in the realm of marketing with more than 10 years of experience. He will be responsible for website content, starting the Haiku User Groups, WalterCon, press inqueries and marketing materials."

Sony launched on Tuesday the Vaio VGC-LS1 desktop, which serves dual roles as personal computer and TV. The system comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse, as well as with a remote control that can switch the monitor from a Windows-based PC to a TV, thanks to a built-in tuner. With technology similar to a digital video recorder, TV shows can be saved on the computer's 250GB hard drive and burned onto DVDs. Sony has also designed its new computer for space efficiency: Like Apple Computer's iMac, the VGC-LS1's hardware is packed into the back of its LCD screen.

Tim Berners-Lee is the originator of the World Wide Web and was listed byTime magazine as one of the 100 greatest minds of this century. His inspiring work on the Web set the stage for a world of changes in the way people do business, entertain themselves, exchange ideas, and socialize. In this podcast, Berners-Lee talks about his early history with the Web, opportunities and challenges at present, emerging technologies, and his current project: the semantic Web.

DesktopLinux.com has launched its 2006 Desktop Linux survey, asking users of Linux desktops to identify what distributions they use, as well as their choice of windowing environment, web browsers, email clients, and Windows-on-Linux solutions.

The upcoming OpenSUSE 10.2 will feature a new KDE start menu with favorites and integrated search and application browser. It was developed by the KDE SUSE team after doing extensive usability testing on existing start menus - there will be a talk about it at aKademy 2006 next month. Note: The 2nd link has been updated, pointing to an alternative location. It works now.

Even though by now the bug is fixed, many people alerted us about the fact that updates to Xorg in Ubuntu broke X, leaving users with a command-line machine. If you happen to be one of the unhappy few, Ubuntu user tseliot provides the commands to fix your system. In the meantime, others are wondering how such a bug got past testing.

"Puppy Linux is a small Linux live CD distribution that can boot from a CD, DVD, or USB drive; a hard disk is optional. According to the Puppy Linux Web site, Puppy's goals include being Linux newbie-friendly, booting and running quickly, and including all the applications typical users need. The newest version is its most usable yet."

Dell and Sony knew about and discussed manufacturing problems with Sony-made Lithium-Ion batteries as long as ten months ago, but held off on issuing a recall until those flaws were clearly linked to catastrophic failures causing those batteries to catch fire, a Sony Electronics spokesman said. Spokesman Rick Clancy said the companies had conversations in October 2005 and again in February 2006. Discussions were about the problem of small metal particles that had contaminated Lithium-Ion battery cells manufactured by Sony, causing batteries to fail and, in some cases, overheat.