The market for integrating Linux machines into Active Directory environments has been heating up in recent months, with both Likewise and Centrify releasing new software that does almost exactly the same thing: make joining a domain as simple as a few clicks or keystrokes.  Of course, the two companies’ offerings work in different ways.  We wanted to know which is best, so we’ve spent the last several weeks testing the competing products.  Here’s what we found.

With Linux Distros taking sides, this week’s announcement that Microsoft promises not to make Necessary Claims against anyone using their patented specifications adds to the confusion. At first glance, this looks like a safe passage for Mono, but as we delve in deeper, we see that not everything is legally in the clear.

The Ubuntu Technical Board recently sanctioned continued use of Mono, the legally ambiguous open-source implementation of Microsoft’s C# programming language, as a component of the default software stack on Ubuntu releases.  At the risk of complicating Ubuntu’s strategy for the corporate market, this move positions the operating system to take a tough stance against patent trolls, which should serve as an example for weaker-kneed Linux distributions.  Here’s why.

Like many multinational corporations, Microsoft has embraced social networking as a means of making customers feel like participants, not just end users, in a Microsoft community.  When it comes to community-building, however, Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle against the open-source world, which was built around social networking before it was called social networking.

The drive to create faster, cooler, and more energy-efficient CPUs has led to a diversification of processor architectures recently, with the venerable x86 facing competition it hasn’t seen in years.  If this trend continues, it will assure Ubuntu and other Linux distributions a substantial advantage over Microsoft, which so far has announced no plans to build Windows for chipsets that are not x86-compatible.

Rumor has it that Microsoft has arbitrarily limited its definition of “netbook” to machines with screens smaller than 10.2 inches.  This move is presumably intended to force more consumers to pay for the full version of Windows 7, rather than buying the less expensive (and less usable) “Starter” or “Home Basic” editions.  But this strategy could backfire by driving sales of Linux-based netbooks, leaving Microsoft out in the cold.

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.

There’s been some speculation (albeit with minimal supporting evidence) that Microsoft is crafting a ’software center’ for Windows that will resemble the package-management system Ubuntu users have known and loved for years.  While I don’t doubt the possibility that Microsoft might try to implement something like that, I strongly suspect that it will fail.  Here’s why.

Slashdot published a story today about a school teacher in Texas who chastised a student for handing out Linux CDs.  It seems she was disturbed by the propagation among her pupils of the idea that any software can be legally distributed for free.

My brother-in-law wants to buy his daughter a cost-effective laptop for her 13th birthday. As I made my recommendations, I realized the terrible bind consumers currently face. He’s frustrated with Windows, too price sensitive to buy a MacBook and vaguely familiar with Linux. Here’s where the conversation went, and how you can help his decision process.