Red Hat’s CEO, Jim Whitehurst, spoke out strongly recently against the possibility of Linux ever taking over the desktop computers of the world.  His comments may reflect Red Hat’s increasing distance from reality, but I don’t think they’re grounded in facts.  Here’s why.

I like to run the latest software, so every 6 months when a new Ubuntu debuts I upgrade my system. To keep everything running smoothly I like to start with a clean install, but I always find myself repeating the same modifications. Some of these modifications are essential to get certain features to work, one of them is something I couldn’t do without. Here are my five essential Ubuntu modifications.

When Canonical this May launches an online training course for Ubuntu Server Edition, the virtual classroom will include a special guest speaker: Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. Here’s the scoop, and how to attend if you’re interested.

For three years, I’ve been a happy Gnome user. I’m still a happy Gnome user, but I’ve heard some buzz about KDE 4 lately and figured I’d give it a try.

The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization created in 2007 to promote Linux, recently assumed control of the linux.com domain.  This is a good move, as it helps consolidate the image of Linux, making it easier for new users to find and understand the operating system–in other words, it brings greater centralization to Linux, which is badly needed if free software is to become ubiquitous on the desktops of the world.

Now that they’ve had a month to digest the news, most WorksWithU readers expect Canonical’s emerging relationship with Hewlett-Packard to accelerate Ubuntu Server Edition’s momentum. Here are the results of our latest WorksWithU reader poll.

WorksWithU’s sister site, The VAR Guy, is taking a close look at Google Apps, and open source applications running in Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). What works? What doesn’t? What are the financial benefits? What are the hidden risks? To learn more join The VAR Guy Live webcast on April 15 at 2:00pm eastern. Check out these three guest speakers and then register now.

When Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) launches in April, Zmanda — the open source backup company — will stand next to Canonical in full support of the Linux distribution. I got early details from Zmanda CEO Chander Kant (pictured) today during an extensive conversation in New York City.

The cloud isn’t the only new place you will be seeing Ubuntu in the future. You will soon be able to run it on your phone, games console or any device powered by an ARM processor.

I wrote a post a few days ago about the bits and pieces of proprietary software that are still a necessary part of my technological life.  As a follow-up, I thought it might be interesting to look at the other side of the coin, by considering how many people would be able to survive without free software.