"If there’s one thing I’ve learned about GNU tools development over the years, it’s that attempting to maintain a tools port outside of the upstream tree is A Very Bad Idea! It’s easy to let your private tree fall out of sync from upstream. And the longer you wait to fix things, the more expensive it becomes..."

Linux distros come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but the one thing that is pretty consistent through all of them are the applications you can use. Here are 5 that no self respecting Linux user should ever be caught without.

A hot button topic of late that I've seen rising up in the programming world is the discussion of how FOSS destroys the programming trade. Now on the surface one might think that to be true.

I was working for Digital Equipment Corporation when I first met Linus and facilitated the port of Linux onto the Alpha processor.

You see, you can get e.g. some Ubuntu - a flavour of Debian etc. pp., but nothing really different. Alas there are even flavours of Ubuntu … Anyway you certainly get a glimpse of the problem.

There are two major platforms: Apple and Windows, and Macs generally cost more than PCs. Thus ends the latest propagandistic report. But what about Linux?

Quite a lot of people have given this prospect a thought. Can Linux become a serious player on the desktop market? Can it contest with Windows and MAC - and possibly even overcome them one day? Here's my view.

Well guys here is a bit of a list for you, all based on personal views of course and many of you will no doubt want to throw rotten vegtables at me.