How Sun's StarOffice came to be unleashed on the open-source community, what StarPortal is, and what it all means for developers.

Oracle and IBM have decided to embrace the platform. Support from two such influential companies surely will make Linux a more tangible and widespread option for businesses.

Oracle is continuing its support for Linux with the rollout of its Forms Developer 6i RAD package. When coupled with Forms Server 6i, Linux developers can build and deploy highly scalable Internet database applications with Java-based user interfaces.

Red Hat Linux 6.2 was awared "Editor's Choice - First Place" for server distribution by Linux Magazine and "Best Distribution" for the third straight year at the recent LinuxWorld Conference & Expo.

People send me stuff, I put it together and test it a lot, when I think a new 2.2 is ready I send it to Linus who then reviews the code to see if there are problems or changes he doesnt like.

The chief policy statement of the free-software movement, the GNU General Public License, is finally getting some traction among commercial vendors outside Linux companies.

Linux seems to be on a crash-course with the emerging market for wireless devices, a convergence that Linux advocates think could dramatically improve the process of developing software to run on handheld computers and wireless devices.

All of the major Unix vendors have flirted and batted their eyelids at Linux. They've supported Linux ports to their proprietary hardware, and they've open sourced valuable intellectual properties, but the two worlds were still essentially separate.

Bob Shimp, senior director of Internet platform marketing at Oracle, affirmed Oracle's long-term commitment to the Linux platform.

The dot-org pavilion was an oasis of community outside the corporate din at the recently concluded LinuxWorld Expo.