MontaVista Introduces MontaVista Linux 6

             MontaVista Software has announced MONTAVISTA LINUX 6, which the company claims is a revolutionary new approach to embedded Linux development. By delivering Market Specific Distributions, combined with the new MontaVista Integration Platform, MontaVista gives commercial device developers flexibility to design and deliver products uniquely tailored for their target market.

                                                

             MontaVista Linux 6 provides a complete embedded Linux development environment comprised of Market Specific Distributions, development tools, and the support and maintenance required by developers to fully leverage the semiconductor Linux technology and resources from the open source community. This approach to embedded Linux fully aligns the embedded Linux supply chain for the first time. Embedded device developers maintain the quality, control and consistency they require to deliver commercial-ready devices to market faster while having the flexibility to tailor their design to the specific application requirements.

            “In the current market, customers are often forced to make a difficult decision on which Linux technology to start a project with: open source, their semiconductor partner’s Linux technology, or a commercial distribution. That decision always involves making compromises and can be difficult to move away from once development has begun,” said Jim Ready, CTO and founder, MontaVista. 

             “With the release of MontaVista Linux 6, we are taking a huge step forward in aligning the Linux supply chain, giving our customers the flexibility to start quickly, maximise their hardware investment and harness the full power of Linux and the open source community. Our customers no longer have to settle or compromise.”

               MontaVista Linux 6 is comprised of: Market Specific Distributions, MontaVista integration platform, MontaVista Zone Content Server and MontaVista DevRocket 6.

               Market Specific Distributions (MSD) are new Linux distributions, built on a common framework, and optimised for the respective hardware platform and its target market. An MSD is designed to support the full breadth of functionality provided by the semiconductor vendor, be feature compatible with the semiconductor vendors’ Linux technology and provide the value-add features and quality MontaVista is known for. Fully supported by MontaVista, MSD’s may be customised and optimised for the target application, allowing developers to easily create a tailored software distribution that fully exploits the hardware specific features.

              The MontaVista Integration Platform is built on open source technology and allows developers to easily extend and customise their software stack, while maintaining control over the build process With the Integration Platform developers can fetch and integrate code from other team members, outside vendors, or the broader open source community. Since it’s built on open source technology, the Integration Platform supports the standard recipe file formats used throughout the open source community. This flexibility in a commercial solution enables developers to easily customise their software stacks at all levels -- the kernel, device drivers, libraries and applications. Systems developers can consistently build all target-installed software from source – with just one command – and create multiple, reproducible build configurations or perform incremental builds as required.

               The MontaVista Zone Content Server delivers source code and other content to the Integration Platform, freeing the developer from the constant task of searching for new source code and updates. The developer can identify changes, updates and dependencies in his code via the Integration Platform, with the option of incorporating these changes to his build environment.

               MontaVista DevRocket 6 – the newest release of the MontaVista Eclipse-based IDE for platform and application development. DevRocket supports the new MontaVista Integration Platform, and MemTraq memory analysis, along with industry-standard tools for debugging, development and system profiling.

               MontaVista Linux 6 is in use by beta customers today and will be generally available in July 2009.

NVIDIA Submits OpenCL 1.0 Driver For Conformance Certification

                                                

                                 NVIDIA said its OpenCL 1.0 drivers for Windows XP and LINUX have been submitted to the Khronos OpenCL Working Group for certification immediately after the conformance tests were approved. These pre-release drivers are now available to all NVIDIA GPU Computing registered developers

"NVIDIA was the first to provide pre-release drivers to its OpenCL Early Access Program participants in April 2009. NVIDIA remains the only vendor today with software and hardware available for developers to program with OpenCL as well as other GPU Computing environments including DirectX Compute, C with CUDA extensions and other languages," explaines NVIDIA.                               NVIDIA's OpenCL 1.0 drivers will support all GPUs based on the CUDA architecture.               OpenCL is a trademark of Apple Inc. used by permission by The Khronos Group.

                                         

                                    

NVIDIA Releases CUDA Toolkit 2.2

                             

                       NVIDIA has released version 2.2 of the CUDA Toolkit and SDK for GPU computing. The release includes support for Windows 7, the upcoming OS from Microsoft that embraces GPU computing. CUDA Toolkit 2.2 features Visual Profiler, improved OpenGL Interop, Zero-copy, Hardware Debugger for the GPU, etc.

                                   

                      The CUDA Visual Profiler is a graphical tool that enables the profiling of C applications running on the GPU. This latest release of the CUDA Visual Profiler includes metrics for memory transactions, giving developers visibility into one of the most important areas they can tune to get better performance. CUDA Toolkit 2.2 delivers improved performance for medical imaging and other OpenGL applications running on Quadro GPUs when computing with CUDA and rendering OpenGL graphics functions are performed on different GPUs. The release also delivers up to 2x bandwidth savings for video processing applications.

                     Enables streaming media, video transcoding, image processing and signal processing applications to realise performance improvements by allowing CUDA functions to read and write directly from pinned system memory. This reduces the frequency and amount of data copied back and forth between GPU and CPU memory. Supported on MCP7x and GT200 and later GPUs. 

                     Developers can now use a hardware level debugger on CUDA-enabled GPUs that offers the simplicity of the popular open-source GDB debugger yet enables a developer to easily debug a programme that is running 1000s of threads on the GPU, claimed the company. This CUDA GDB debugger for Linux has all the features required to debug directly on the GPU, including the ability to set breakpoints, watch variables, inspect state, etc.

                     This system configuration option allows an application to get exclusive use of a GPU, guaranteeing that 100 per cent of the processing power and memory of the GPU will be dedicated to that application. Multiple applications can still be run concurrently on the system, but only one application can make use of each GPU at a time. This configuration is particularly useful on Tesla cluster systems where large applications may require dedicated use of one or more GPUs on each node of a Linux cluster, said the company.

Android To See 900 Per Cent Growth In 2009

Android is expanding from a low base and is consequently outgrowing the iPhone OS from Apple.
Global Android smartphone shipments will grow 900 per cent in 2009, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics. Healthy support from operators, vendors and developers is driving adoption. Apple iPhone OS will be the next fastest-growing smartphone operating system in 2009, with a 79 per cent growth rate.
Android is a software platform for mobile devices, powered by the Linux kernel, initially developed by Google and later the Open Handset Alliance -- a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders. It includes 48 hardware, software and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.

The HTC Dream (also marketed as T-Mobile G1, Era G1 in Poland) was the first phone to the market that uses the Android platform. T-Mobile is now looking to launch multiple Android-based devices in the second half of this year with three partners.

Tom Kang, senior analyst, Strategy Analytics, said, "We forecast global Android smartphone shipments to grow an impressive 900 per cent annually during 2009. The Android mobile operating system from Google gained early traction in the United States in the second half of 2008, and it is gradually spreading its presence into Europe and Asia during 2009. Android is expanding from a low base, and it is consequently outgrowing the iPhone OS from Apple, which we estimate will grow at a relatively lower 79 per cent annually in 2009."

Added Neil Mawston, director, Strategy Analytics, "Android has fast been winning healthy support amongst operators, vendors and developers. A relatively low-cost licencing model, its semi-open-source structure and Google's support for cloud services have encouraged companies such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, T Mobile, Vodafone and others to support the Android operating system. Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years."

Samsung Electronics recently unveiled the I7500 -- its first Android-powered mobile phone. Motorola is also working on hardware products that would run Android. Sony Ericsson is planning to release an Android based handset in the summer of 2009. Acer is rumored to be releasing phones called the L1, C1, E1, F1 and A1 (unconfirmed) late in 2009.

Firefox To Get Multi-Process Support!

Firefox, the world's second most used browser, by the looks of it will soon receive an update. Mozilla's developers have announced plans to add application multithreading to Firefox, a feature already partially enabled in its main rivals -- IE8 and Google Chrome. The enhancement would allow the software to take advantage of multicore microprocessors to boost responsiveness and also improve browser stability. According to Techtree.com, while little is known about the project itself, we have a roadmap which suggests that we should be seeing a simple implementation of this in action by July this year.

Firefox, the world's second most used browser, by the looks of it will soon receive an update that will add multi-process support.

By multi-process support we re talking about the similar feature seen in Google Chrome and IE8 that runs multiple, separate processes for each tab, which allows the browser to function without issues even when one tab has stopped responding or has crashed. This method of splitting processes increases stability and offers performance improvements as well.

As for why the speculation regarding multiprocessor support arose, that is because of a recent project that the Mozilla has initiated. The project is being co-coordinated by Benjamin Smedberg, who is a long time supporter of Mozilla. While little is known abut the project itself, we have a roadmap which suggests that we should be seeing a simple implementation of this in action by July this year.

That being the first phase, there will be three other phases post this, which will deal with the interactions between process types. The third phase will comprehensively test APIs for extensibility, accessibility, and performance. The fourth phase will deal with the final implementation and sandboxing.

Looking at how things are moving now, it would be at least an year from now when we would see a final release version of Firefox with multi process support.

Intel, Novell Team to Push Moblin Mobile Linux Platform

Intel and Novell have announced plans to extend their existing collaboration around the Moblin open-source Linux mobile Linux platform.

The two companies signed an agreement outlining their plans for collaboration, including efforts to promote the adoption of Moblin among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs). Moblin is an optimized Linux platform for delivering rich Internet experiences on Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and other mobile systems.

Indeed, Novell announced it will create a Moblin-based product for netbooks that it will push to OEMs and ODMs. Novell also said it will establish Novell Open Labs in Taiwan to foster the adoption of Moblin and will work with the Taiwan Moblin Enabling Center (MEC), a joint effort of Intel and the Taiwan Institute for Information Industry, to validate designs for Moblin compliance.

Intel launched Moblin in 2007 and incubated the effort until last month when the Linux Foundation became host of the community. Intel continues to contribute key technologies and work with the developer community to advance the effort. Novell began contributing to the Moblin project last October.

Novell joined the Moblin effort in late 2008. Doug Fisher, vice president of Intel’s Software and Services Group and general manager of the company's System Software Division, said, “The combination of Intel Atom processor-based platforms and Moblin-based Novell software will provide even more opportunities for OEMs, ODMs and the broader Moblin community to deliver excellent mobile Internet solutions.”

Novell’s contributions to the Moblin ecosystem include leading the open-source development of key operating system features such as window, e-mail and media management.

“We are extending our involvement with Moblin because we believe that it provides a richer mobile Internet experience,” said Ron Hovsepian, Novell president and CEO, in a statement. “The emergence of such mobile computing platforms as netbooks presents a significant growth opportunity. We believe that Moblin-based Novell software on Intel-based platforms will offer OEMs and ODMs exceptional solutions for delivering a full Internet experience on such devices.”

Wind River Announces Partner Validation Program With Initial Partners

Wind River has announced the Wind River Partner Validation Program with initial partners 6WIND, Continuous Computing, GoAhead Software, Oracle, RADVISION, and Tail-f Systems. Partners in the programme will provide validated solutions based on Wind River's operating systems (VxWorks and Wind River Linux) and partner technologies critical to telecom and networking equipment providers, including embedded databases, high availability middleware, networking protocols and management software.

Wind River and its partners will focus on providing pre-integrated platform solutions for infrastructure equipment being developed for broadband wireless, wireline and enterprise networks. These growth segments include 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), Femtocell Gateway, WiMax, Metro Ethernet, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and enterprise data.

Wind River's software partners will validate the software components and provide testing and commercial support to customers. The primary benefits of such pre-validated solutions are that customers can reduce development, integration, and quality assurance efforts and thereby reduce overall risk while accelerating time-to-market, according to the company.

"Wind River's Partner Validation Program directly addresses the increasingly important business issues of time-to-market and R&D cost savings among our customers," said Mike Langlois, general manager, networking and telecom industry, Wind River. "As part of our efforts to define and enable the networking industry's software reference platforms, Wind River has hand selected industry leading commercial software companies in critical component spaces to create a preferred strategic relationship with Wind River. This is significant because now our customers can spend significantly less time and effort integrating software components to create a carrier-grade product."

Samsung Unveils Android Smartphone!

Samsung electronics has launched the I7500 -- its first Android-powered mobile phone. The Samsung I7500 follows the HTC Dream (also marketed as T-Mobile G1, Era G1 in Poland) -- the first phone to the market that uses the Android platform. Samsung's Android handset features a 3.2-inch Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED) touchscreen and 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, giving users access to Google Mobile services and full Web browsing at blazing speeds.

The Samsung I7500 offers users access to the full suite of Google services, including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar and Google Talk. The integrated GPS receiver enables the use of Google Maps features, such as My Location, Google Latitude, Street View, local search and detailed route description.

Hundreds of other applications are available in Android market. For example, the application Wikitude, a mobile travel guide, allows consumers to access details of unknown sights via location-based Wikipedia articles.

The Samsung I7500 comes with latest multimedia features. Along with supporting a 5-megapixel camera and various multimedia codec formats, the I7500 also provides a long enough battery life (1500mAh) and memory capacity up to 40GB (Internal memory: 8GB, External memory: Up to 32GB) to enjoy all the applications and multimedia content. The phone also boasts its slim and compact design with 11.9mm thickness. It also includes a 3.5mm headphone socket.

The HTC Magic, on the other hand, has a 3.2-inch LCD screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, is 13.6mm thick and has a 1340 mAh battery. It has no 3.5mm headphone socket.

Commenting on the launch, JK Shin, executive vice president and head, mobile communication division, Samsung Electronics, said, "Samsung is amongst the earliest members of the Open Handset Alliance and has been actively moving forward to introduce the most innovative Android mobile phone. With Samsung’s accumulated technology leadership in mobile phone industry and our consistent strategy to support every existing operating system, I believe that Samsung provides the better choices and benefits to our consumers."

The Samsung I7500 will be available in major European countries from June 2009. The company has not revealed pricing for the device.

Motorola is also working on hardware products that would run Android. Sony Ericsson is planning to release an Android based handset in the summer of 2009. Acer is rumored to be releasing phones called the L1, C1, E1, F1 and A1 (unconfirmed) late in 2009.

Dell Putting Final Touches on a Google Android Netbook?

Dell seems to have a Google Android netbook in the works — at least according to software solutions provider Bsquare. Bsquare matter-of-factly announced in a press release that it would be porting Adobe Flash to a Dell netbook running Android as the operating system.

In what seems to confirm the presence of a Google Android–based netbook, Bsquare announced May 6 that it will port “Adobe’s Flash Lite 3.17 technology onto Dell netbooks running Google’s Android platform.”

The Bsquare announcement seems to confirm what many have suspected for months: that Dell and other PC vendors are hard at work creating netbooks and other types of mini-notebooks that use the Linux-based Android operating system.

While an android based smart phone from dell expected for use in china this year, an Android netbook from Dell has so far only been speculated.

The Google Android operating system has proved enormously popular, and Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Asus have all said they were looking to build netbooks that run it.

Android’s success on smartphones has spilled into other formats as well. In addition to its G1 smartphone, T-Mobile palns to release an Android basedhome phone solution and also a tablet styled pc.

Research firm Gartner estimates that worldwide shipments of netbooks will increase by 50 percent, to 7.8 million units, in 2009, while overall computer sales are expected to decline.

The Android OS, complementary to small form factors, is expected to grow as well; research firm Strategy Analytics expects it to gain 12 percent of the global smartphone shipment market share by 2012, as well as show growth in other segments.

Chinese computer maker Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies was hopeful to be the first manufacturer to release an Android-based network, anouncing on April 27 that it plans to roll out an alpha 680 netbook running google android in 3months' time,for $250.

A spokesperson for Dell responded that Bsquared "erroneously mentioned Dell," and that the news release is being recalled. "Dell does not offer an Android-based netbook," she clarified.

Editor's Note: This story has been modified to include a comment from Dell.

HTC Smartphones with Google Android Heading North to Canada

The Google Android operating system will make an appearance on smartphones launched in Canada in summer 2009, according to Rogers Wireless, one of the largest wireless carriers in Canada. Rogers plans to release the HTC Dream smartphone and the HTC Magic smartphone, both of which use the Linux-based Android operating system, in the coming months. Google Android, the search engine company's open-source operating system, will appear on smartphones launched in Canada starting June 2009. The smartphones, HTC Dream and HTC Magic, are being released in that country by Rogers Wireless, one of Canada's largest carriers. The HTC Magic features a touch-screen, while the HTC Dream interface can be navigated via both touch-screen and QWERTY keyboard. Android, which originally made its debut in August 2008, is predicted to be running on around 12 percent of global smartphone shipments by 2012. On April 27,Google launched the google android 1.5 SDK, based on the "Cupcake" branch of the Android Open Source project. The Android 1.5 SDK included APIs for new and improved features such as home screen widgets, home screen framework and speech recognition framework—all of which could potentially come in handy as the operating system's relationship with smartphones continues to evolve. Android also seems on the verge of becoming a regularly used operating system in mininotebooks, aka netbooks. "On the netbook side, there are a number of people who have actually taken Android and ported it over to netbook or netbook-similar devices," Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, said during an April 16 earnings call. "We're excited that that investment is occurring." Companies from T-Mobile to Acer and Dell are planning laptop-focused applications for the Android OS, although Google faces not-insubstantial competition from Microsoft, which is reportedly designing a version of windows 7 for notebooks. The upcoming rollout of Android on smartphones isn't the only exciting IT news to come out of Canada this week. On May 6, palm anounced its much anticipated palm tree will be available in canada, on the Bell Mobility network in the second half of 2009. In the U.S., an update to Android 1.5 software will be pushed wirelessly to T-Mobile USA G1 smartphones on an as-yet-unspecified day the week of May 11. According to reports, this update will feature an onscreen QWERTY keyboard and easier uploading of photos and video. Editor's Note: This story has been updated with new information about an upcoming Android 1.5 update.

Ebooks

AIIM Utilises MIKE2.0 Open Source Methodology

AIIM is using the MIKE2.0 open source implementation methodology as the core organising principle for its new and improved ECM training programme. The MIKE2.0 methodology will be used in both the Specialist and Master tracks as a guide for defining and deploying ECM systems. MIKE2.0 (Method for an Integrated Knowledge Environment) is an open source methodology for enterprise information management that provides a framework for information development.

According to Bob Larrivee, director, AIIM, “MIKE2.0 is a collaborative effort to help organisations focus on the data and information needs of the business. Many of the business problems faced by organisations today around compliance, lack of customer insight, poor change management and cost are the result of failing to focus on these core data and information needs. Using MIKE2.0 as the framework to construct our new ECM training programme will help organisations deploy content technologies more efficiently and effectively.”

The five phases to the MIK2.0 methodology are:
Phase 1 - business assessment and strategy definition blueprint
Phase 2 - technology assessment and selection blueprint
Phase 3 - information management roadmap and foundation activities
Phase 4 - design incrementally
Phase 5 - incremental development, testing, deployment and improvement

Larrivee continues, “The iterative approach of MIKE2.0 that divides the development and rollout of an entire system into implementation cycles — defining and prioritising portions of the system for construction and deployment — ensures higher levels of success. Each iterative step has feedback mechanisms to evaluate results and initiate improvements on future implementation cycles, ensuring the project remains focussed and delivers the expected results. Successful implementations and user acceptance is what we seek in ECM and what MIKE2.0 delivers.”

AIIM was founded in 1943 as the National Microfilm Association and later became the Association for Information and Image Management. AIIM is also known as the Enterprise Content Management Association.

LPI Launches Revised LPIC-1, LPIC-2 Linux Certification Exams

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), a Linux certification organisation, has released new versions of the LPIC-1 and LPIC-2 certification exams. These new exams are available worldwide in English, German and Japanese through the Prometric and VUE testing networks. Chinese, French, Portuguese and Spanish versions of the LPIC-1 exams will be available through LPI Master Affiliates at special events and training partner exam labs.
"This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Linux Professional Institute, and these revised exams are an excellent example of our ongoing commitment to the industry," said Jim Lacey, president and CEO, the Linux Professional Institute. "During this process, we undertook wide and transparent consultation with enterprise, IT professionals and the Open Source community to determine the best placement of exam content within our programme. In addition, we focussed on mission-critical technologies, both evolving and established, that will continue to be part of the necessary skill set of a Linux professional."

G.Matthew Rice, director, product development, who led the revision effort, said, "This global effort has meant that our exams are much more sensitive to non-English exam candidates and include a greater amount of questions around localisation, internationalisation and accessibility issues. For those involved in our programme since the beginning, this is an accomplishment of particular significance on our 10th anniversary."

Key exam changes include the following: new content, SQL data management, accessibility, localisation and internationalisation, data encryption, more troubleshooting and security, udev device management, more logical volume management and IMAP/POP, amongst others.

Why Wait For Windows 7? Get Ubuntu For Free!

Ubuntu, the most popular competitor of Windows operating system, will be available for free download . The latest version of Ubuntu is called Jaunty Jackalope, or simply Ubuntu 9.04.

The massive failure of Windows Vista left users angry and desperate for an alternative. While going for Mac is like buying a new piece of land and then build a house on it, what about PCs? Once upon a time, PCs belonged to Microsoft's Windows operating system, but times have changed now. Things are becoming obsolete. PC world is being taken over by GNU/Linux, though at a slower pace. You have heard of the good old rabbit-tortoise story, right? To give users a fresh breath of free air, Canonical is releasing its latest version of Ubuntu operating system which can run on your current PCs and even Macs. There are many advantages of using Ubuntu or any other GNU/Linux operating systems. The number one priority is freedom. Here you will not be bound by heft end-user licence agreement which will make you a 'pirate', a 'thief' if you give a copy of the software to your brother or a friend. We as humans are programmed to share. Sharing is the basis of our intelligence, but some proprietary companies want to curb this very human trait -- and convert us into their customers. But that's where GNU/Linux sets you free. Here once you download or get a copy of Ubuntu, you are free to replicate it and give it to as many people as you want.

Windows or Macs may cost you bomb, but Ubuntu, like most of the GNU/Linux operating systems, comes for free. You will not have to pay a single penny to get the copy. What's more, if you don't have a good download speed and you want to try Ubuntu, you can order it from their website and they will send it to you for free. Click here to order a free CD.

Now, let's see some more features. The biggest threat in Windows world is viruses. In GNU/Linux world, you will feel much more secure than sitting in a fort. GNU/Linux systems are secure by design and interestingly; you would be able to use those CDs/DVDs or other media which carried viruses. In Windows world, the moment you connect them to your machine they will damage something. The same viruses will be helpless and harmless in Linux world.

In Windows, you only get the barebone operating system -- you have to buy rest of the stuff to make your PC useful and that may cost you additional 20k. In GNU/Linux world, you get a complete system. With Ubuntu 9.04 version, you will get Open Office Suite -- a powerful alternative to MS Word; and you will also get GIMP -- a free alternative to Photoshop. Then you will get Pidgin which will enable you to chat with Google, MSN, Yahoo! users at the same time. This is just the beginning -- there are games too which you can play on GNU/Linux machines. In addition to that, if you have a good Internet connection, you can download and install many free software. Installation on GNU/Linux is now much more easier than Windows. If on Windows, you have to make six clicks to install your software, on GNU/Linux just two clicks will do. Also you must have noticed that your system gets slow over a period of time. In GNU/Linux, the more you use a system the faster it becomes.

And coming to additional software, you can listen to music through Amarok which is far more advanced than Windows Media Player. Then there is VLC which enables you to play any movie format. You have GTKpod and GpixPod to sync movies and images to your iPod. Would you believe that there are more than 22,000 software packages in the Ubuntu repository which is being backed by the mother of Ubuntu, Debian?

Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop Edition delivers a range of feature enhancements to improve the user experience. Shorter boot speeds, some as short as 25 seconds, ensure faster access to a full computing environment on most desktop, laptop and netbook models. Enhanced suspend-and-resume features also give users more time between charges along with immediate access after hibernation. Intelligent switching between Wi-Fi and 3G environments has been broadened to support more wireless devices and 3G cards, resulting in a smoother experience for most users.

Jane Silber, COO, Canonical, says, "With every release, we see Ubuntu Desktop Edition make significant steps forward in appealing to mainstream computer users. With access to the latest office productivity suite, support for Skype and Adobe Flash, and faster boot times, we're confident that Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop Edition will see more people join millions of others and make the switch to an open platform."

Who would want to use Windows when there is Ubuntu? The operating system will be made available today for free download. Click here to download Ubuntu. But remember the latest version 9.04 will be made available late in the evening. So wait until it is available.