First of all, I don't run Compiz because I see it as no more than a resource-wasting annoyance. Sure, it looks cool, but it doesn't help me with productivity in any way. Secondly, I keep multiple windows open at all times, so I rarely see my desktop and it was good to see that GNOME shell includes a window switcher which can be accessed with the traditional Alt+Tab hotkeys.

gNewSense 2.3 is derived from Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04) and has a comprehensive list of software pre-installed for your enjoyment. I chose GnewSense as it proudly contains 100% free software.

This isn’t so much a review, just a rambling discussion on what comes to mind for me about Ubuntu after using it on my laptop for three months or so. I decided against writing a conventional “review” of Ubuntu… seems like there are enough of those, so I don’t see the value of it.

But I do see some value in a rambling discussion on the subject, so here goes.

Scribus is the leading open source solution for desktop publishing (DTP); it supports professional features like press-ready color separations and PDF output, as well as every media file type under the sun

So you've been playing around with alternative OSes for a while and you reckon you've got this Linux thing mastered. Maybe you're tried Mac OS X and found it a bit too restrictive (or expensive); perhaps you've kicked the Hurd's tyres and thought you'll come back to it when it's something more than just a clever name.

Midori’s approach is the lightweight but still comfortable web browser. The portable web browser is based on WebKit which is also used by Google Chrome and Safari. This guarantees great page rendering speeds. One of the greatest benefits of the web browser is its low resource usage.

VirtualBox is a free, powerful and versatile virtualization program which is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows hosts, and can virtualize many different Operating Systems. VirtualBox was originally developed by Innotek, but was purchased by Sun and renamed Sun xVM VirtualBox.

Gimp has been know for two very important things, being a pretty good image editor and having one of the most controversial UI with the use of multi-windows, but that might change very soon.