Ubuntu developers recently announced a new system that will make it easier to brand third-party applications with Ubuntu imagery in Ubuntu 9.10.  While decorating the desktop with benign images of a Koala may not hurt anything, Ubuntu should be careful not to take the branding too far.  Here's why.

Addressing a new danger that the GIMP gets replaced by Mono, by default

With Linux being used as the foundation for numerous smartphone and mobile internet devices, it is tempting to suggest that this movement is going to open the doorway to desktop Linux. Tempting, but not accurate.

The FOSS ecosystem is messy. There are thousands upon thousands of projects, from slapdash learning attempts to high-polished commercially-supported applications. There is redundancy and overlap. All of this splendid chaotic ferment is exactly what makes FOSS so strong.

Everyone that uses Linux has his or her own reason for doing so. Some prefer it outright, others may be sick of the politics surrounding other operating systems. I have been using Linux since around 2002 and it has been an incredible journey.

Jo Shields writes well and this is a well written piece that articulates the position of a software developer who clearly likes what Mono has to offer. What strikes me with these posts is how technical and abstract the position of the developer is.

Traditionally, any mention of marketing has the average member of the free and open source software (FOSS) community reaching for the garlic and crucifixes. Yet, despite the baying of mobs with pitch forks and torches in the background, the topic of how FOSS presents itself to the world at large has started to be raised in blogs.

The general concensus about Google releasing the first offical developer previews of Google Chrome for Linux (and OS X) ~9 months after announcing the browser for Windows is that it seems late. The expectation has now become that Linux and OS X should be supported alongside Windows from the start.