This week we're going to have a different kind of poll. It's a bit weird because it includes applications, a Linux distribution (Ubuntu) and a desktop environment: GNOME Shell. But I think it's a really interesting poll. To make it more interesting, we've also added uTorrent for Linux to the list even though the release date is not known yet.

It's become a tradition (and a bit of a running joke) for bloggers and tech pundits to declare that this year (whatever year you're in) will be The Year of the Linux Desktop. So in following with that tradition, I'm here to declare that 2010 will be The Year of the Linux Desktop, but not in the sense that many other bloggers have stated.

Once again, the Linux Foundation Desktop Linux (DTL) workgroup is polling users to find out what desktop Linux really needs. While the foundation folks conduct the poll (and I'd encourage Linux Magazine readers to participate), let me share my top three priorities for the Linux desktop in 2008: Applications, multimedia, and polish.

Earlier today we wrote about the FTC planning to put an end to bribed bloggers. But they might be targeting the receiving end rather than eradicating the problem at its root. Microsoft bribes bloggers not directly; rather, it uses unethical marketing agencies.

Nobody questions whether Mac OS X is ready for the desktop. With GNU/Linux, however, the story is different. For over a decade, columnists and bloggers have been explaining how GNU/Linux isn't ready for the desktop -- and, despite all the progress in the operating system over the last ten years, the arguments haven't changed much.

While the bloggers in my neighborhood seem to be trying to catalog the FOSS users as if we were a species of butterfly or something, I thought I'd contribute to the noise. Only my offering will be a taxonomy of those writers whose mighty corporate paychecks make them columnists while their desire to roll around on the floor with the kids and be cool makes them "bloggers". And then we'll narrow that field down to the ones who turn their attention to open source software.

KDE 4.0 is the innovative Free Software desktop containing lots of applications for every day use as well as for specific purposes. Plasma is a new desktop shell developed for KDE 4, providing an intuitive interface to interact with the desktop and applications.

Microsoft uses its marketing agencies to pay Mac bloggers for Apple poison

THE FTC may not be the most potent of bodies [1, 2], but it may finally make a move to end the bribing of bloggers. Microsoft is a major culprit [1, 2, 3, 4] and an article about intent to take action specifically mentions Microsoft as an example...