end users

Simon Says...: "The best thing end-users can do is ignore OpenOffice.org at Apache until the dust settles, and switch to LibreOffice instead."

Canonical is looking into selling proprietary software like Adobe's Photoshop and Apple's iTunes within its distribution, Ubuntu.

This would undoubtedly be helpful for certain end users wanting to switch to Linux, but is it good for free software in the long run?

Ghacks: "PackageKit is a background service charged with updating and installing software on your computer. But because PackageKit itself is just a background service it requires a front end so that end users can take advantage of the system.

One very powerful front end is KPackageKit."

Information Week: "As my colleague Alex Wolfe noted, Linux hasn't made a dent in the desktop after years in the wild.

The climb looks all the steeper now that Windows 7 and new versions of Mac OS X have arrived. I can think of a few other reasons why Linux hasn't achieved more than a fractional marketshare with end users, and they aren't pretty."

KDE.news: "KDE Official NewsThe KDE community today proudly announces the immediate availability of KDE 4.3.2. As with any minor release, there are no new features but a strong concentration on further polishing the 4.3 series, which has been widely received as a release suitable for end users of all sorts."

There are a plethora of opportunities for geeks to meet and greet one another throughout the year: linux.conf.au, Linux Congress, OSCON, Linux Plumber's Conference, LinuxCon, the list goes on.

There is one, however, where the focus is purely on the customer, so-to-speak — the end user. The conference in question, aptly named the End User Summit, is quickly drawing near, and the Linux Foundation is wondering who wants to be there.

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Free Software Magazine: "Is free software really capable of serving end users or not? This issue has political consequences, which is part of what makes it important: either free software is “minor league” or it's “major league”."

On the Weblogtoolscollection.com site there's an interesting post talking about something that should concern members of (or those considering becoming members of) the WordPress community - it seems that there's not a lot of love to go around.

Microsoft is calling for the adoption of an Information Card system that provides end users with direct control of their digital identities.

In the world if IT security, it's a well-known secret that end users in Windows processing environments put themselves at risk whenever they check their MySpace and Facebook pages, or shop for plane tickets, computers and other goods and services -- all while at the workplace.