In the first podcast, Jim Zemlin of the Free Standards Group sounds off on the Linux desktop, free standards, and being the Switzerland of Linux-land. Jim has done a lot to make freestandards.org the leader in the Linux standards arena. Listen to Jim clarify the difference between open standards and open source: Jim Zemlin podcast.

Jeremy Allison is a household name among the open source-aware, having co-founded the SAMBA project, continuing his role as a lead developer there, and currently serving as one of several rock-star developers now employed by Novell. In this podcast, Jeremy Allison explains why *all* software is going free and why it's all due to the GPL. You also g

***You can always catch the latest LinuxWorld podcast at linuxpip.org/lwpodcast.rss ***

To many of us in the world of Linux and open source, it seemed pretty clear that open source development and the democratization of software - not to mention commoditization - was turning software as product development into a 2-way street. The trend was away from nice snazzy development kits that software vendors would release every 6 months and transforming into open development processes. This required giving something of value to prospective developers in the hopes that they would find a

This is the first in a series of podcasts I'm releasing that I've uncreatively called the LinuxWorld Podcast. In this first installment, you'll hear Bill Weinberg, of OSDL Mobile Linux Initiative fame, wax rhapsodic on everything you ever wanted to know about mobile, embedded, and real-time Linux - and then some! He gives a great rundown of the challenges for Linux in these markets, including power consumption, security, and creating common API's to spur 3rd-party development. Enjoy!

Did you see any keynotes at LinuxWorld Boston, and you'd like to relive the moment? Or did you miss them entirely, and you wish you hadn't? If you want to see Nicholas Negroponte discuss the $100 laptop (again and again) and Bill Hilf give you details about Microsoft's interoperability, then you can either watch the video or simply listen to the audio at the following links:

This year's Boston expo will showcase some new wrinkles that we've added for our attendees' viewing pleasure.

Looks like OSTG is looking for people to vote for their favorite SourceForge.net project. Should be fun when they announce the winners at LinuxWorld Boston in April. I'm really happy to be working with OSTG on the .org Pavilion. They will be doing some fun stuff in the Slashdot Lounge. Look for Robin Miller, Rob Malda, and some others at the lounge area in the .org Pavilion.

As we get closer to LinuxWorld Boston, we've started sending out newsletters giving people a heads-up on the show. Following is our newsletter all about the mobile Linux stuff we've added for Boston.

Looking for something to do the day after LinuxWorld Boston? Go to FUDCon! (FUDCon! is a name that lends itself to an appended "!". In fact, I don't think I can type FUDCon! without the "!"!) In all seriousness, it looks like a lot of fun with some interesting talks to boot. I think I'll drop by.

Bill Gates inexplicably goes after a charity designed to help poor kids in developing countries get a bead on technology and computing. One could probably argue about self-interest coloring one's views, I suppose. Oh yeah, here's the article.

Here's my contribution to the perennial debate/food fight about open source and free software: Free-dumb, Free software, and free beer!

It seems to me that choosing the term "open source" eight years ago de-emphasizes the very thing driving open source adoption: freedom.

Microsoft's Bill Hilf, for those who don't know, will deliver a keynote address at LinuxWorld Boston on Thursday, April 6, at 9 am. It's interesting to see the following in a Computerworld (New Zealand) article about Mr. Hilf:

"We've been in open source software for years"
"We draw a barrier between cooperating with the [open source] process and competing with the products."

In an effort to be more in tune with our attendees, we're letting you fill out the birds-of-a-feather sessions. Just give us your info and the topic idea, and we're ready to roll. There will be a sign-up sheet at the show, too, for those that suddenly feel the urge to discuss project FOO with likeminded individuals.