oth Microsoft and Redhat have found their Achilles' heel, the community in which they live. Microsoft has spent vast amounts of wealth and plenty of muscle to bully every other kid on the block that it didn't already own or could buy.

With Red Hat Software's acquisition of Cygnus Solutions last week, the company has established itself as the largest open source software company in the industry, and the firm is now setting its sights on the handheld computing market.

Lynx Real-Time Systems, Inc., has announced an open-source product and support services initiative that is intended to extend the Lynx real-time operating system (RTOS) - and Lynx as a company -- into the emerging embedded Linux market space.

With a painless install, flaws fixed since the beta version, and a good GUI, Corel's Linux distribution has much to offer. But beware: it also can slow to a crawl and annoy geeks with it's Windows-like, made-for-the-average-user design.

While sitting in my pajamas reading the Monday morning news announcements about the recent Red Hat-Cygnus Solutions merger, two thoughts ran through my sleep-starved mind.

Browsing through ZDNet's feedback - as you do - a while back, I lighted on the now standard debate on the merits of Linux and related Operating Systems versus those of Microsoft Windows NT.

I've been disappointed by Corel in the past, so when I downloaded their Linux distribution I wasn't expecting much. Boy, was I in for a surprise. This may be the Linux distribution that finally gets Windows off my computer. I may even pay money for it.

Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system, spoke with Mitchell Martin of the International Herald Tribune at Comdex about the future of his invention.

The Linux Business Expo, held at Las Vegas this past Comdex week, impressed many attendees with its diversity and with the enterprise IT focus of many of its 72 participating vendors and service providers.

The Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore's Information for Development Centre and FreeOS.Com are looking for champions who can take up the cause of localising Linux in Indian languages.