Apple's iPad was hardly the first tablet to appear on the scene, but it is unquestionably responsible for the recent spike in tablet development. Now it looks as if Ubuntu — the Linux distro everybody loves to hate, but uses anyway — will be entering the field as well.

Neelie Kroes is no lightweight when it comes to open v. closed software. She spent six years as Europe's head trust-buster, and in that time, collected billions from proprietary software makers who sought to corner the market with their closed-source wares. When she spoke, big software — and everybody else — listened.

If we compiled a Top 10 list of contentious subjects on the web, Adobe's Flash would no-doubt be on it, and indeed would probably be a heavy contender for #1. Though there are many charges against it, its total lack of 64-bit support was one it was headed towards resolving — until last week, when its beta disappeared.

When Google announced the initial release of WebM — its collaborative drive to create a new open video format for HTML5 — there was much excitement within the Open Source community. Amid the excitement, however, was concern about the project's licensing, concern that quickly led to calls for change.

Among the crown jewels of the annual conference season is the relatively young but wildly successful LinuxCon put on each year by the Linux Foundation. For those who will be in Boston for this year's event and are wondering what they'll be seeing, the details are now available.

Each of us has our own particular reason for using Linux, whether it's for the freedom, the features, the fascination, or the geek factor. For enterprise users, the reasons to choose Linux include stability, scalability, specialization, and support — and the option to stay on their current systems for as long as possible.

If you weren't able to score an invite to last month's Collaboration Summit in San Francisco, or just didn't have the time to go, you don't have to miss out on the high points.

Supporting Open Source projects is something that is surely close to all our hearts. What better way to support our cause than while buying all manner of gadgets and geekery?

It's doubtful that anyone really likes having to upgrade, but at some point it has to be done. For those particularly adverse to the upgrade — like enterprise users, with good reason — there are extra-long windows, but eventually even those windows close. Last week, Red Hat announced that the oldest of its supported platforms has officially entered the homestretch.

When Sony announced — at the eleventh hour — that it would be disabling the popular "Other OS" feature of its PlayStation 3 console, the reception was anything but positive. Now the outrage has moved from the digital picket line into the courtroom.

Each January, someone proclaims that finally, this year will be the Year of the Linux Desktop. Whether or not that ever comes true is a matter for another time, but what is certain is that 2010 is shaping up to be the Year of the Linux Phone.

Part of the excitement of attending a major conference is listening to industry leaders share the goings-on and goings-forward of the biggest names in the game. If you've been waiting to hear who will be on the dais for LinuxCon, listen up.

If you know a thing or two about Android, and a free trip to the next TED conference is your kind of thing, then the app developers at Snaptic may have just the contest that you've been looking for.

If you've been sitting on the fence, trying to decide whether this year's LinuxCon is a trip you want to take, today is a good day to take the plunge — a plunge that will save you $100.

It's widely known, at least within geekdom, that the number of available IP addresses is on a collision course with the number zero. The depletion of the IPv4 address space, and the necessity of migrating to the next-generation IPv6, has been discussed ad infinitum in geek circles since RFC 2460 was published in December 1998.

Whatever your political affiliations — or lack thereof — may be, it's surely good news to hear that the government is giving back, and doubly so when that giving is to the Open Source community.

There will always be people who can't help but engender dissent, and there will always be those who betray their allies. This sad reality is on display in the Open Source world this week as another of the community's foremost commercial supporters is merrily thrown under the bus.

It was inevitable that as soon as Apple's iPad hit the market, every other device manufacturer on the planet would scramble to develop their own. Slightly more surprising, however, is the rumor currently swirling that Google is just inches away from launching its own gPad.