HAPPY BIRTHDAY WORDPRESS !
On Tuesday, May 27th, WordPress turned 5 years old. Wordpress team is having a party in San Francisco. You can get the full details and RSVP on Upcoming.org or on Facebook.
And I was surprised to see a new Wordpress's screenshot on safari or firefox browser on MAC (probably.. the screenshot seemed so)
Thank you Wordpress team for such a nice opensource blogging platform ! Long Live Wordpress !
Last week Ubuntu released Hardy Heron. Before upgrading I was on Ubuntu 7.10. Last week, there was an update notification to upgrade to 8.04. I have also used Mac4Lin theme with Ubuntu.There is some problem with the latest kernel on Ubuntu, some crashes and Mac4Lin dosen't work nicely on Hardy Heron.
Good thing about the upgrade is , you can still select the old kernel i.e 2.6.22-14 during boot.And for Windows users, Ubuntu 8.04 has Wubi which allows users to install and uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows OS application.
Below are some screenshots and reviews:
Some of the sites which reviewed the latest Ubuntu release.
eWeek's review:
Canonical has marshaled the best of what the open-source world has to offer in Ubuntu 8.04, a Linux-based operating system that's capable of mounting a serious challenge to Microsoft Windows on mainstream desktops and notebooks. During my tests of Ubuntu 8.04, both in its final form and in a series of test releases that led up to the official launch April 24, I've been impressed enough with the distribution to award it the eWEEK Labs Analyst's Choice designation.
If you've flirted with the idea of switching your desktop operating system to Linux but never took the leap, the time is now. This week's release of Hardy Heron, an Ubuntu release that will be supported until 2011, offers a freer, more productive space for work and play than ever before.
[ Ubuntu ] [ Get Ubuntu ] [ Request Free CD ]
Ever felt irritated by using different players for different video players.. then try Miro, this will play every video format you've ever
heard of, and many you've never heard of as well.
Special features :
You can subscribe to video RSS feeds, podcasts, and video blogs, download and save videos from YouTube, find TV shows, and play high definition, full screen videos. You can even download BitTorrent files directly from Miro.
Six Apart announced the beta release of Movable Type 4, a much anticipated upgrade to a blog
platform that has two distinct user bases - consumer base and Enterprise. Movable Type Open Source, or MTOS, is the open source project that will consist of a GPL-licensed version of Movable Type 4.0, to be released in Q3 2007, and resources for the already large community of Movable Type developers.
Its already late but never too late..to stay in the competition of these blogging platforms, they had to open source it..anyway..better late than never …
The MTOS distribution will be available for download / checkout later this summer at www.movabletype.org
To learn more about the open source project, visit its website http://www.movabletype.org/opensource/.
Mozilla has now updated Firefox to 2.0.0.4 and released to the general public. This update includes security fixes, stability improvements and enhancement to Firefox's ability to block popups.
Users have already begun to see the upgrades right from on Wednesday, May 30th. We upgraded our browser on 30th only..
[ Download Firefox 2.0.0.4 ]
Third party extensions including the widely used toolbars from Google, Yahoo, Ask, Facebook, LinkedIn, as well as social bookmark extension from Del.icio.us and two anti-hacking add-ons, the Netcraft Anti-Phishing Toolbar and the PhishTank SiteChecker all put users at risk of having their browser infected with malicious code.
Unlike almost all of the extensions hosted at Mozilla, the foundation that created the open-source Firefox browser, these commercial extensions check for updates from servers controlled by their respective corporate overlords. And they fail to check for extensions from servers with SSL certificates, which most users know as sites that start with https://.
one security extension, the McAfee SiteAdvisor add-on that warns users when they are about to visit a site known to host untrustworthy downloads or malicious code, correctly uses an https:// extension for updates.
UPDATE: Reader Johnny writes in the comments that the SiteAdvisor add-on is actually not safe:
Unlike the research suggests, McAfee SiteAdvisor is actually worse than any of these other major extensions. It periodically downloads completely unauthenticated code from McAfee's server, which it then executes with the same privileges as your browser.
Not only does this backdoor allow McAfee to do whatever they please with your computer, but a hacker can run any malicious code on your system without you ever noticing by simply spoofing the URL http://www.siteadvisor.com/download/safe/safe.js
More on the vulnerability from Ryan Naraine and Brian Krebs.
Canonical and Dell are pleased to announce a partnership to offer Ubuntu 7.04 on select desktop and notebook products. This is a great news for all Ubuntu users..
The idea of offering pre-installed Linux on more Dell systems initially started with a discussion and survey on IdeaStorm, Dell's popular online customer forum. In that month-long online survey, more than 70 percent of the respondents said they would use a Dell system with the Linux OS for both home and office use if it were available.
The Round Rock, Texas-based company said that it received more than 100,000 responses in the survey, which ended March 23.
Dell is now making Ubuntu Linux available through a partnership with Canonical, the commercial, European-based sponsor of this open-source operating system (OS).
For those who donna what Ubuntu is : Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'humanity to others' or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. The Ubuntu distribution of Linux, their site proclaims, "brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world."
Check it out ! Dell has a placeholder for Ubuntu at dell.com/ubuntu.
Note : Dell has also decided that, as a matter of policy, open source drivers from kernel.org will be used whenever possible for Linux desktop and notebook computers.
PN : "Dell recommends Windows Vista™ Business." is pasted on almost every webpage of the Dell.com website.
[ Ubuntu ] [ Dell website ]
Adobe Systems plans to open-source Flex, its development framework for building Flash
and Apollo-based applications.
What is Flex ?
Flex is one of a growing number of alternatives for building so-called rich Internet applications, which sport an interactive front-end interface. Using the development framework, programmers create an application that can run within Adobe's Flash Player or Apollo, its "player" for desktop applications.
What the package includes:
The company said it will open-source the Flex software development kit, which includes a compiler and libraries designed to speed up development. It plans to continue to sell Flex Builder, an Eclipse-based development tool, and Flex Data Services, server software for accessing corporate databases.
The company chose to create an open-source project for the Flex software to garner good ideas and contributions from developers outside Adobe, said Jeff Whatcott, vice president for product marketing at Adobe's enterprise and developer business unit.
The move is also meant to appeal to open-source developers who shun closed-source and proprietary products. Adobe already offers the Flex software development kit for free and provides the source code.
"For some people, (open source) is a philosophical requirement, a sign of integrity and trust in a vendor," Whatcott said. "This will close that gap and address any lingering doubts they have about our openness and commitment to community."
via [ adobe ]
Hugh MacLeod asks, if open source is so great, where are all the open source billionaires?
If Open Source software is free, then why bother spending money on Microsoft Partner stuff? I already know what Microsoft's detractors will say: "There's no reason whatsoever. $40 billion per year is totally wasted."
This, however is not a very satisfying answer, simply because it doesn't quite ring true. Otherwise there'd be a lot more famous Open Source billionaires out there, being written up in Forbes Magazine or wherever. And Bill Gates would've been ousted years ago.
PageAddict is a Firefox extension that will help you monitor your Internet addiction. Once you install it, choose PageAddict from the Tools menu to display a summary of the time you've wasted on each web site for this day, and a graph of your web…
Its really cool, you will actually know what to do and what not too.. i mean if you are spending more time on something very less useful , you will know your stats ! It might help you make yourself better. This could be very useful to monitor children's browsing habits and what steps to take to put them on to track !
I really love you pageaddict 
Become Better with pageaddict ! njoy
[ Download add-on / Alternate Link ] [ Firefox Add-ons ] [ pageaddict ]