...cheaper netbooks often lack the performance and security features you'll find in higher-priced models. Fortunately, you can overcome many of these limitations – without spending an extra cent – by turning to open-source software.

While it's pretty painless to convert from commercial office software to an open source version, if you'd like to replace commercial security products with open source counterparts, you'll likely have to do some work. You may need to combine several open source tools to get the functionality you get from a single commercial product.

Some quarters in the software industry still carry a bias against the credibility of open source security applications. Open source network gateway developer Untangle did not expect to find its request for certified testing of the popular open source virus security product ClamAV shunned. When it was, Untangle decided to do its own test.

Netbook desktops in free and open source software (FOSS) are in a state of rapid development. Should a netbook be treated as more as a mobile device than as a laptop? Should developers assume that netbooks are used for light computing such as social networking, rather than for productivity?

Open source tools are viable alternatives to popular closed-source applications and some open source tools offers features or performance benefits that surpass their commercial counterparts.

Cutting costs is crucial for computer manufacturers and the buying public, which explains the flourishing popularity of Netbooks -- mini-sized and budget-priced laptop computers. But how can manufacturers dice the price even further? Hewlett-Packard might have the answer: use Google's Android OS instead of Microsoft's Windows. The combination is perfect for three reasons.

The Eclipse Foundation has published the results of the global Eclipse Community Survey 2009 in The Open Source Developer ReportPDF. The Foundation held the survey from mid-April to mid-May in order to get developer feedback on the tools and software that they use. The organisation wanted to learn how the respondents used open source software and how they interacted with the Eclipse community.

The British Conservative Party was wrong to slate the U.K. Government for its approach to open source, and U.S. outfit Fortify Software has come up with research to prove it. The bottom line: open source is just too risky anyway.

One security outfit which conducted a study into the use of open source software in the enterprise, the results of which are published today, seems to think so. It states that "Open Source Software (OSS) development communities have yet to adopt a secure development process and often leave dangerous vulnerabilities unaddressed."