I want Linux to succeed because I believe Linux is an excellent operating system, that the GPL is a cool thing, and that open source in general is something worth building upon. But does success for Linux have to come at the price of ripping down Microsoft? No, it doesn't. But, when they try to distort reality with their perceptions, we need to counter their statements with the truth. Not with scathing flames and rants, but with our own calm and reasonable statements. We have to get the word out beyond our little community and into the mindset of the wider public view.

Within the next few days, IBM is slated to open the doors to the new Linux Community Development System (LCDS), giving away free access to a high-end S/390 mainframe with very few strings attached. The aim is to spur development of Open Source applications on S/390 Linux. Many Open Source projects of any size -- can't afford to buy a System/390 or zSeries mainframe to test their code for portability. IBM wants to help small-scale developers test their code on the big iron.

So is 'Microsoft Shared Source' a failed attempt at Open Source? No. It is a demonstration of how far Microsoft are from grasping the entire concept of Open Source. The very language they use to describe 'Shared Source' misses the point of Free Software. To them 'Shared Source' remains about control and 'owning code'. Free Software is about generating revenue from doing work the customer wants and will pay for. It recognizes that much of the software world is now commodity and that proprietary software with all its overheads is in fact not a sustainable business for commodity products.

We acknowledge that, however incrementally, the "average Linux user" is creeping more and more toward the vast middle ground of computer users each day: the onus any desktop project has on it, especially one hoping to profit from migration to Linux desktops, is to provide a compelling set of reasons to make the migration at all. It's clear from Ximian GNOME, though, that the company is building the expertise it needs to provide definitive motivation to make that move, even if small bumps remain.

Craig Mundie of Microsoft is going to make a major speech in New York attacking open-source software -- specifically, attacking the GNU General Public License. I haven't seen the speech it is supposed to be embargoed. But I'm expecting it to be a masterpiece of FUD. You watch; it's going to be a studied and ingenious attempt to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the minds of software users and the public -- and to obscure Microsoft's underlying motives by cloaking them in affected concern for the public welfare.

Linux users say it runs computers more efficiently, proficiently and reliably and it isn't prone to the kind of lockups and system crashes that Windows is infamous for. Yet, for all its pluses, Linux can be daunting to all but the savviest computer users. It's an operating system -- no, a culture -- that's completely foreign, if not downright scary, to many of us in the point-and-click crowd. In Linux land, people talk about "kernels," "distributions" and "open-source software" and throw "installfests," where experienced users help newbies load Linux onto their machines.

"The year's Big Lie is the assertion that Apple has embraced open source software. Sure, Apple's next generation OS X is based on its Darwin project, which is based on the open source Mach operating system. But the embrace is actually a chokehold. Apple's only interest in open source is what it can extract, both in technology and publicity. Despite appearances, Darwin's dependence on free software doesn't indicate that Apple has changed its self-serving attitude towards the community," says Evan Leibovitch.

"I learned from Michael's column Eazel is soliciting payment for its software. It's nothing so formal as setting a price and refusing to ship product until that price is paid, but it's payment nonetheless. The company has set up a PayPal account so that people who want to do so can give the company money. And the message from Eazel is plain enough: You want us to stick around and keep producing "free" stuff, you're gonna have to send us some money. The only thing wrong with it is its Orwellian, Free Software Foundation, convoluted misuse of the word "free," says Dennis E. Powell

"I submit that within this transition period is an excellent time for Linux developers to get their ducks in a row and start really churning out the apps that will attract disenfranchised Windows users, whether they are server administrators or desktop users. In times of upheaval, fortune may favor Linux with more serious looks from serious users," says Brian Proffitt.

In order to take GNOME to the next level, Ximian addresses not only the polish of the overall desktop environment, but the usability issues presented in getting the software onto an end user's machine in the first place. In the first of a two-part look, Michael Hall examines getting and installing Ximian GNOME 1.4 on Red Hat, Debian, and Progeny systems, with a special eye to straightening out a few bugs and snags he found along the way.