Shutter is probably the most powerful screenshot application for Linux, and the main reason for this is that it comes with tons of configuration options for the final process of taking a simple screenshot. And why not, considering there are people out there who need to take a screenshot of a single window or a desktop region instead of fullscreen only, like the GNOME default screenshot program.

KDE for Linux comes with plenty of customization options that exist on all distributions, adding to the uniform beauty of KDE. All of the great customization options can be found in the System/Desktop Settings area, where you can quite literally tweak everything without needing to install a separate program to do the job, as is often necessary with the GNOME desktop.

Ubuntu is probably the best known desktop GNU/Linux distribution at street level. However, Linux and free software come in many different flavours, and the adventurous user goes in search of wider options, other distros and new desktops.

Like other OpenOffice.org applications, Calc has several dozen options in how it is formatted and operates. These options are available from Tools -> Options -> OpenOffice.org Calc. Thanks to OpenOffice.org's habit of sharing code between applications, some of the tabs for these options resemble those found in other OpenOffice.org applications.

In the past several days, rumors have surfaced that Dell would not be offering extended warranty and CompleteCare hardware support options for its Ubuntu Linux desktop and laptops. And indeed, if you went to Dell's Ubuntu PC buying site, you'd find those options missing.

Here you can see the default login screen for Ubuntu 8.10. You simply add username and password and you have access to the Desktop. Simple, however, as you will see there are many options that can go with this login process. If you will go to System/Administration and select Login Window you will find that you have a lot of options available for login.

Desktop customization in Linux is very flexible; from the ultra-modern KDE and GNOME window managers to with the likes of Fluxbox and AfterStep, there's a Linux desktop to suit everyone. Jack Wallen covers some of your Linux desktop options.

These days, it seems like OS transparency is more necessary than ever before. Luckily, there are plenty of great virtualization options to choose from when you need to run another OS, without actually having to install it along side your existing operating system. Today, we examine each of these options and review their abilities in a rapid fire round.

Last year, word swirled in the air that Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) would be the next big PC vendor after Dell (Dell) to add support for Linux on desktops. So far the official word remains muted, in the realm of "we're exploring options, we'll make an announcement when the time is right", but the guesses now center around HP providing SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop as its distro of choice.