In the TLWIR series, I take a hard look at the 8 most compelling stories in the realms of Linux, GNU, free software, and open source in the past week. This week is no different. There were great stories abound demonstrating more than ever that Linux has truly arrived. From Meego to Mint to Miro to the U.S. DoD, Linux and free software are literally everywhere.

Which GNU/Linux distribution a person prefers is a very individual choice. Some people like distributions that give them total access: the freedom to do whatever they want. Others want a desktop OS that will hold their hand if they run into problems.

For the last decade, I've regularly seen complaints when we harder-core software freedom advocates spend some time criticizing proprietary software in addition to our normal work preserving, protecting and promoting software freedom.

Don’t misunderstand me, as I’m not preaching the value of proprietary codecs. Despite Theora's shortcomings with rendering speed and overall playback quality in comparison to proprietary alternatives, this does not mean that all open source codecs are loosing ground in the fight for your video viewing freedom.

McKesson, Android and G1 hit by patent trolls .

Why patent trolls or puppets like Acacia (and Microsoft) do manage to cause harm to Linux, even when their case is altogether bogus

There are two stories posted on Linux Today that I knew I was going to rant about as soon as I saw them: Nominum Solves Kaminsky Attack, and Novell's iPrint Open to Attack, Say Researchers. What do these stories have in common? I was thinking perhaps institutionalized delusional thinking and incompetence, but maybe I'm being too harsh.

I embrace the uniqueness of the free software and open source communities, and this edition of TLWIR focuses on some of the finest examples of that which differentiates our way of thinking.

The software freedom community should minimize its use of programming language infrastructure that comes primarily from anti-software-freedom companies, notwithstanding FaiF (Free as in Freedom) implementations.