The Dutch government has set a soft deadline of April 2008 for its agencies to start using open-source software — programs that anyone can modify and that work with a variety of technology — the Netherlands Economic Affairs Ministry said Thursday.

"For year-end 2007, we have compiled the Top 5 Most Overlooked Open Source Vulnerabilities encountered during 2007. We came up with this list after reviewing over 300 million lines of code and spending literally thousands of hours of analysis across a wide range of industries - including technology, financial services and government, among others."

For untold thousands of developers around the world, it's not a game. For solution providers and their customers, it's not a game.

But the world of desktop Linux has become increasingly competitive, increasingly important to the IT industry, and increasingly available for anyone to try.

The Iranian computing research center that says it built a supercomputer with Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Opteron processors has removed from its Web site photographs showing a possible link to the United Arab Emirates as a source of the chips. But something that can't be removed so easily are longstanding U.S. concerns about the UAE being a conduit for sending technology to Iran and other banned countries.

Unlike Apple or Microsoft, the Linux community doesn't hold launch events with rock stars when a new operating system is released. Customers don't line up overnight outside retail stores throwing out snappy quotes to the media. But over time -- especially over the past 18 months -- Linux developers have delivered technology to the market that is sound, that is simple and that can do the basic work people need to get done.

Yesterday, the Tweede Kamer (Second Chamber) of the Dutch parliament adopted a plan to switch the country's public sector over to open standards. At the same time, authorities will be called upon to use open source software wherever possible. The 26-page paper from the Dutch Economics Ministry obligates governmental services to provide reasons why they need to continue to use proprietary solutions, such as operating systems or office suites from Microsoft, starting next April; next December, this duty will be imposed upon all public authorities. At the same time, authorities are required to come up with a strategy that includes a timeline for migration to open standards and free software.

What will a child in the UK make of a laptop designed to help children in the developing world? Rory Cellan-Jones brought an XO home to find out.

Find out how to create light-seeking and maze-navigating virtual robots in the Java language using Simbad — an open source robot simulator based on Java 3D technology — to realize the robotics-design concept of subsumption architecture.

Everex is known for its gPC, a low-cost Linux-based desktop computer that it sells through Wal-Mart and other retailers. Everex's newest product, which is planned for release next month, is a Linux-based subnotebook intended to compete with the Asus Eee PC. An anonymous source informed LinuxDevices.com that the Cloudbook, which will be available for $400 next month, is equipped with a 1.2GHz Via processor, 512MB of RAM, a seven-inch screen, a 30GB hard drive, and a 1.2 megapixel camera. The laptop will ship with gOS, the same Linux-based operating system that is featured on Everex's gPC.

The KDE Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the second release candidate for KDE 4.0. This release candidate marks the last mile on the road to KDE 4.0. This release sees increasing participation from distributions, you can download packages for Debian, Kubuntu, Mandriva, openSUSE & Fedora or grab the live CDs from Kubuntu & openSUSE.

Microsoft stirred up controversy last week when it suggested a Linux-based laptop for children in developing nations be redesigned to accommodate Windows. Would that be a good move?

The TuxMobil project covers all aspects concerning Linux on laptops and notebooks. The number of free guides and how-to's has more than doubled in less than three years, and more than 7,000 links to Linux laptop and notebook installation and configuration guides are now listed at TuxMobil.

OrangeHRM , a leading provider of open-source HR Management solution for small and medium sized enterprises worldwide, has announced a partnership with PicassoHR.

Tests of the latest KDE-4-Desktop showed that KDE 4 in direct comparison to KDE 3.5 almost 40 percent less memory consumption.

Alex Brown has now written up a FAQ on the ballot resolution meeting scheduled for February over MSOOXML, "Frequently Asked Questions regarding DIS-29500 Ballot Resolution Meeting", over which he will preside. The FAQ informs us that National Bodies need to send in their list of delegates by December 11, or they likely won't be let in to the February meeting. That is today, folks. Here's what will and won't be discussed: