Next year is going to be an interesting year for Linux. Or is that Ubuntu? This week, Google proclaimed (inadvertently) that Ubuntu would be more popular than Linux. That certainly seems to ring true if you look at the popularity of searches - Ubuntu goes up, Linux goes down. All of the media hype aside, what does this really mean for Linux, or Ubuntu?

This excellent website allows you to create a floppy disk, USB stick or CD-ROM which you can boot any computer from. It connects to the Internet and downloads a list of operating systems which you can install/boot. This is great because you don't always know which operating system you might need. One day you need Ubuntu, the next you might need Linux Mint. The site also gives you the opportunity to customise it so you can boot a system which is not on the large list of systems preconfigured to boot.

Although ULNG aren't usually ones to get involved with the mobile phone world, we thought it worthy to note that Nokia previewed the N900 Maemo 5 based phone today. It certainly looks to be a real showpiece for how Linux can work very well on a mobile phone but more importantly, trump the market leader in this area, the Apple iPhone.

A lot of great artwork has been submitted to Ubuntu for selection for the upcoming release of the latest Ubuntu release, 9.10 which is due out in October. Most of the really nice artwork goes unseen, so here are a few submissions, plus a first glimpse at what will probably become the boot screen and login screen for Ubuntu 9.10:

Here is a nice animated bootloader which will probably never see the light of day, but here at ULNG towers we think it looks pretty nice:

When Netbooks (the low-cost notebook computer) first came on the scene back in late 2007, Linux was the darling default netbook Operating System which was suddenly given a new customer and a new lease of life - cheap laptops for everyone, bestowed in part by a cheap operating system. Over time, through various unsubstantiated quotes such as a popular OEM saying that Linux netbooks had higher return rates than Windows based ones this reputation was marred slightly. Todd Finch, Dell's senior product marketing manager stated this month that this was not true, at least for Dell.

To be honest, I've never thought that Installing Linux in Linux, especially Ubuntu was ever that tough a task, apparently some fans of Windows disagree, so not to be daded - Mark Shuttleworth and his merry band of men (and women) at Ubuntu have taken up the task to get rid of Add/Remove Software, Synaptic Package Manager, Update Manager and Software Sources. Yep, instead, you get one fisher price screen called the App Centre. "Huzzah!", I hear the Apple 'App Store' fan boys cry!

In the world of large corporates, you need to list your competition with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Every year Microsoft dutifully does this, and it gives analysts a pretty good idea of what Microsoft will be targeting as a major threat to it's business for the future. In the past, Linux has featured on it's competition list only in the Server area, completely dismissing that Linux may be a threat to Microsoft Windows on the desktop.

It had to happen sooner rather than later! Dell presents Microsoft Operating System: Ubuntu 8.04 :)

Well, almost. It looks like Dell screwed up on their website. You can see from the screenshot image of their website that Dell provides a Microsoft Operating system, which just happens to be Ubuntu 8.04.

Firefox 3.5 is out for general release and has been available for download for over a week now but before you rush for the download button - read this review first!