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Larry Augustin strives for collaboration. Augustin and James Vera launched VA Research in 1993 with the hope of providing a Linux-based operating system for personal computers. After the company bought out its biggest rival -- Linux Hardware Solutions -- the company changed its name to VA Linux Systems and went public. After several tumultuous years and the purchase of Andover.net, the company's focus morphed into a worldwide, open source software development network.

The Free and Open Source Software Developers' European Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, attracts about 3,000 people every year, and last month marked its eighth edition. With all the hype surrounding free and open source tools the operating system Linux, the Web server software Apache, the Web browser Mozilla Firefox, it is easy to forget the men -- and, occasionally, women -- who develop them. It is their shared passion for software that works the way they want it to that keeps this movement going.

Words like "Google," "wiki" and "blog" were no more part of our vocabulary 10 years ago than they were part of our daily lives. Spare a thought for academics in this new world. They have not only to keep up with their ever-expanding disciplines but they also have to keep pace with technology -- or at least that technology which facilitates and improves the learning experience. Never before have we been in a situation where the learners may be better versed in the technology than their teachers.

The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley is nestled into the Berkeley Hills just off the fire trail where runners from around the area come to take on the brutal 3.5-mile climb. The lab, though, doesn't feel like it's part of Berkeley. It's located a few miles from the iconic Sproul Hall and People's Park, Berkeley institutions that were home to numerous student rebellions during the '60s. It's easy to miss, removed as it is from the school's infrastructure, which dominates much of downtown Berkeley.

Vox populi vox dei -- the voice of the people is the voice of God -- was supposed to represent democracy in action. Until now, however, the true state of democracy was perhaps best expressed by the saying "Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one." The Internet and associated technologies are changing that. "I think there are more voices in the civic sphere now thanks to social media," Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, told LinuxInsider.

Vox populi vox dei -- the voice of the people is the voice of God -- was supposed to represent democracy in action. Until now, however, the true state of democracy was perhaps best expressed by the saying "Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one." The Internet and associated technologies are changing that. "I think there are more voices in the civic sphere now thanks to social media," Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, told LinuxInsider.

SCALE is no Macworld. First of all, the Linux community doesn't have a charismatic marketing genius like Steve Jobs hawking products on a stage with a three-story screen behind him and an audiovisual program to make U2 jealous. No, we've got Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman -- and they're not here. While the folks attending Macworld had the MacBook Air to gawk at, here the oohs and aahs were reserved for a pair of XO laptops spotted outside one of the sessions. There also was a sighting of an Asus Eee PC. Yeah, this is definitely a Linux crowd.

SCALE is no Macworld. First of all, the Linux community doesn't have a charismatic marketing genius like Steve Jobs hawking products on a stage with a three-story screen behind him and an audiovisual program to make U2 jealous. No, we've got Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman -- and they're not here. While the folks attending Macworld had the MacBook Air to gawk at, here the oohs and aahs were reserved for a pair of XO laptops spotted outside one of the sessions. There also was a sighting of an Asus Eee PC. Yeah, this is definitely a Linux crowd.

SCALE is no Macworld. First of all, the Linux community doesn't have a charismatic marketing genius like Steve Jobs hawking products on a stage with a three-story screen behind him and an audiovisual program to make U2 jealous. No, we've got Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman -- and they're not here. While the folks attending Macworld had the MacBook Air to gawk at, here the oohs and aahs were reserved for a pair of XO laptops spotted outside one of the sessions. There also was a sighting of an Asus Eee PC. Yeah, this is definitely a Linux crowd.

Much of the technology world may have been at CES last week, but there was apparently still plenty of time to discuss events announced there and elsewhere on the Linux blogs. Indeed, there's always time to debate the merits of Linux versus other platforms, we at LinuxInsider always say, and most recently the focus on Slashdot was Apple, sparked by an article in Apple Matters titled "Apple Is Killing Linux on the Desktop." No fewer than 1,217 comments had been put forth in the week of discussion that ensued, spanning the spectrum in their reactions to the article's assertion.