This year the level of Linux usage in China is expected to double and it will be the home grown Red Flag Linux that prospers. In a very Chinese manner, the Chinese government is encouraging the use of Linux, while at the same time pretending not to.

This is a story about programmers and systems administrators who, by and large, don't want to speak on the record because they're afraid of being fired. They're smugglers who sneak unapproved operating systems into corporate offices without telling upper management.

As chief financial officer of media company Landmark Communications, Ritter watched his company miss out on a golden opportunity to invest in Linux software seller Red Hat way before its successful initial public offering. Now he hopes to catch the second wave of the open-source software trend. Ritter is leaving his Landmark job to become chief executive officer of Great Bridge, a subsidiary that will try to do with the PostgreSQL database software what Red Hat did with Linux.

I honestly think Linux can eventually become the market leader. It has what it takes, but the work is not done. If you're going to win the world, you have to not only build the better mousetrap, but you have to complete it.

Last week's "loveletter" virus attack has left Microsoft open to allegations that its software is insecure. Some security experts alleged last week that the Windows operating system is inherently flawed and that alternatives, such as Linux, could not have been targetted to such dramatic effect.

Red Hat quietly has scaled back its plans to create a Linux and open-source news site, a setback for the company's strategy to diversify its revenue streams and create a dominant Linux Web site.

Linuxcare, the San Francisco-based Linux services provider and currently the open-source community's No. 1 rated soap opera, took a turn for the melodramatic this week.

Adobe FrameMaker 5.5.6 for Linux was released for public beta earlier this spring and it is giving Linux user the newfound ability to create documents via desktop publishing.

With the recent news of the successful lawsuit between Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department, many are wondering what other alternatives exist to the Microsoft regime. One such alternative is Linux.

The Linux Standard Base (LSB) and Linux Internationalization Initiative (LI18NUX) announced that they have incorporated under the name Free Standards Group. The newly formed Free Standards Group was organized to accelerate the use and acceptance of open source technologies through the application, development and promotion of interoperability standards for open source development.