What drives users to try Linux, only to fail to make it work for them in the long haul? Once you get past the fact that there is no concrete way of tracking desktop Linux usership and all indications based on existing trends indicate that there are potentially millions of us worldwide, it would seem that while some fail to stick with it, others are making it work.

ODF support in Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 is a fail, fail, fail, and fail

I'm sure we have all seen error or fail messages while ubuntu is starting (server or desktop version). Because Ubuntu really loads fast sometimes we don't have enough time to actually read what module fail to load or what is causing errors.

Two companies that pay Microsoft for Linux remain close to Microsoft and fail to attract positive attention

You should backup many things: the files in your home directory, configurations files in /etc, (and there are many excellent graphical tools to do the job) but one of the simplest and best things you can do is to backup your boot master boot record (MBR).

At the LinuxCon conference (Webcast from Portland), Intel's Dirk Hohndel, chief Linux and open source technologist, gave what I thought was one of the best versions of the 'how to be successful in open source' talks I've ever heard.

When I talk to organization X (fill in your favorite health care entity, government or medical society) they never fail to utter the dreaded statement: "We are vendor neutral." followed by a dramatic long pause.

I started playing the CD and rocking out and left the parking lot only to realize that mplayer found it necessary to pause every five or so seconds for about two or three seconds. Since I'm driving there really just wasn't anything I could do about it, so I had to listen to choppy audio all the way home.

It didn’t take long before one of the active Songbird developers forked Songbird into a new Linux-first project called Nightingale. But already this project seems to be unstable enough to make one believe it will fail before it takes flight.