Features

• Motorola Atrix 4G mightiest smartphone yet?

  The Motorola Xoom was the most advanced tablet that we got to try out at Mobile World Congress. Other tablets, including the HTC Flyer, certainly look promising, but the Xoom is the launch device for the Google Android Honeycomb OS - the version of Android developed specifically for tablets - and the devices on show at MWC were fully working ones used for live demonstrations.

• For an old or slow PC, try Puppy Linux 5.2

  There's no doubt Canonical's popular Ubuntu Linux distribution gets the majority of attention in the Linux world these days, but there are myriad others equally worthy of consideration.

• Motorola Atrix hints at a virtualized, cloud future

  Motorola announced the Atrix smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show, and while many have been concentrating on its 4G connectivity and clever desktop dock that lets it run a cut-down Linux desktop on a full-sized monitor, nearly everybody has missed something very important.

• 5 things Linux does better than Mac OS X

  Were it not for Windows' long-standing installed base and overwhelming market dominance, it seems unlikely that anyone would argue seriously for the merit of the operating system, plagued as it is by high prices, security problems and vendor lock-in.

• Galaxy Tab will soar on Android's key strengths

  As the details of Samsung's Galaxy Tab are gradually revealed, it's becoming increasingly clear that many of the tablet's most desirable features derive from its use of Android--or Linux, that is--which, after all, is the basis for Google's winning mobile operating system.

• Chrome patches show the power of open source--and Google

  Google's patching of vulnerabilities in its open source Chrome Web browser last week wasn't so much notable in itself; Microsoft, to be sure, is forever issuing patches for the many bugs that afflict its products.

• Mobile apps security: Apple iOS v. Google Android

  The Apple iOS, which runs on its iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, has a flaw in how it reads PDF documents that makes it easier to hack. This flaw is exploited by JailbreakMe, a one-click site that makes it easy for anyone without any real tech skills to hack into their own iPhone.

• 11 free Linux apps your business needs now

  Despite the wealth of free applications out there, many small business owners continue to spend an inordinate amount of their all-too-scarce resources on software.

• Is Linux really harder to use?

  Not surprisingly, the misperception that Linux is harder to use than other operating systems is also one that competing vendors routinely use to scare potential new users away from Linux.

• On strengths of Linux, Android will win mobile contest

  Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which mobile operating system is fairest of all? That's a common question, given the many contenders in the mobile arena--and the well-publicized glitches that have recently come up.

• Jolicloud 1.0, a Linux distro in progress

  Jolicloud 1.0 is a new edition of Linux aimed at non-technical netbook users.

• Linux tablets, where are you?

  Apple has long had a history of being arrogant. But, more often than not, they've been able to back it up by the quality of their products.

• Windows, Mac or Linux: It's not the OS, it's the user

  Who's got the safest operating system? Apple, Google, Microsoft? According to one security expert, what really matters is who's using the OS.

• Open source helps Facebook achieve massive app scalability

  People all over the world spend a total of eight billion minutes a day on Facebook. Some 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared every week, 400 billion Web pages are viewed every month and the site logs a staggering 25TB of data every day. David Recordon, senior open programs manager at Facebook, talks about how the social networking giant uses open source tools to achieve its massive app scalablilty.

• Open-source hardware takes steps toward gadget mainstream

  Open-source software is one of the great success stories of the past few decades. The Apache HTTP Server is the world's most popular Web server, Linux has more than held its own against Unix and other proprietary operating systems, and Mozilla's Firefox browser has given Microsoft's Internet Explorer strong competition over the years.