The naming conventions for Linux distributions are a many-splendored thing: Ubuntu's names are perhaps most well-known, owing to their ear-pleasing alliteration and the sheer number necessitated by the frequency of releases. Debian, too, is well known for naming the versions inhabiting the multi-tiered release system after characters from the Toy Story franchise — even down-to-business Gentoo is in on the games, with the 2008.0 release bearing the codename "It's got what plants crave." Now it's Fedora's turn at bat, with entries open on the nom de plume for Fedora 11.

Just as those of us in the U.S. were preparing to pop our turkeys in the oven, the hard-working fellows at the openSUSE Project — the community organization behind the openSUSE Linux distribution — were lifting the lid on their own creation: a brand new license for openSUSE 11.1 — that doesn't involve a EULA.

There are few places one can go where a gleaming pair of yellow arches cannot be found proudly declaring some variant of "Over 99 Billion Served." Now browser-maker Mozilla has something in common with McDonaldland: As of last week, Mozilla has officially served up their billionth add-on.

Anyone who has been involved with Linux for more than a few minutes is aware that there is a — sometimes blindingly — wide array of distributions available for the end user to choose from. Within the Linux community, there is a certain amount of — good natured, we think — competition among distributions for market share, and that competition heated up last week as Fedora Linux declared itself king of the Linux mountain.

Way back in July, the word rang out that SCO — the arch-villains bent on squeezing every dime they can out of Linux — had been vanquished by the valiant legal team at Novell to the tune of $2.5+ million. Now comes word that the victory is final — or at least, as final as can be expected.

With the advancements in technology available today, you can make contact with just about any place you'd like within a few seconds, thanks to the border-crossing and barrier-smashing power of the Internet. If it's Mars you're trying to reach, though, your best chance is more likely to come on the end of a probe than a DSL line. That may well change, however, as scientists at NASA have just completed testing new technology aimed — quite literally — at blasting the Internet out of this world.

Just a month after the release of Adobe's Flash Player 10 — with, for the first time, full Linux support out of the box — Adobe is back with another surprise: a 64-bit Flash Player — exclusively for Linux.

It's been six months since Mozilla's Firefox 3 leapt onto the scene. In that time, the browser required a tuneup only three times — until Wednesday, when patches for a swath of vulnerabilities upped the count to four.

Just months after losing 10% of its workforce in a mass layoff, and mere days since it came to light that employees were being asked to take unpaid leave to avoid additional cuts, Dell is now facing another loss: Kevin Kettler, the company's Chief Technology Officer, is cashing in his chips and going home.

Mozilla's Firefox browser is unquestionably one of the most popular web browsers on the market — topping 20% at times while the browser-to-beat continues to slide — and certainly so among Open Source users. The release of Firefox 3 in June was a major milestone for Mozilla, but still, nearly six months later, there are those who have eschewed the new for the comfortable, homey, well-worn-in welcomeness of Firefox 2. That will be changing soon, though, as funeral arrangements for the second-era Fox are in full-tilt at Mozilla HQ, and the service is fast approaching.

It was this time last year — almost to the day — that Google revealed their plan for gaining a share of the ever-so-profitable mobile phone market. Though we all thought it would be a true gPhone — designed, manufactured, and marketed entirely by Google — we were nonetheless excited and intrigued by what was actually revealed: Android, an Open Source, Linux-based mobile OS.

Election Day has come and gone in the U.S. — though it will likely linger in the memory for quite some time — but that doesn't mean that all the electing there is to do has been done. No, another election is upon us: the December 2008 election for the Fedora Project has begun!

The Federal Communications Commission — the government agency that generally concerns itself with policing wardrobe malfunctions and the like — took an enormous step into the 21st Century yesterday as its five commissioners voted unanimously to open previously restricted areas of the wireless spectrum for public use.

One of the hottest areas of Linux development these days is in mobile Linux — it seems everyone has their hand somewhere in the Linux-on-cellphones pie. Two of the big players in the field — Google and Motorola — kicked their involvement up a notch yesterday by becoming official members of the GNOME Advisory Board.

It's been nearly a month since the strains of the 175th Oktoberfest died down, but the reasons to celebrate live on. Behind the scenes at the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office), the diplomats are toasting freedom — not with beer, but Open Source software.

The openSUSE Project — responsible for the openSUSE Linux distribution upon which Novell's SUSE line is based — has completed a major transition, more than a year in the making, with the announcement this week that the first-ever openSUSE Board Election is complete.

More and more, it seems the cool thing to do these days is to put Linux everywhere. It's on computers, of course, from the biggest to the smallest, but it's also powering DVRs, mobile phones — even toasters. Now, BMW is planning to take it a step further, and offer up heated seats, active cruse, and a killer sound system — along with your favorite brand of Linux.

Google's Linux-based Android mobile phone platform is the talk of the town this week, as just about everything heretofore unseen makes a grand public appearance.

The KDE Project — the desktop environment preferred by 43% of Linux Journal readers — likes to hear from its users. From annual conferences to IRC channels, KDE is listening — and beginning last week, they have a new opportunity to hear what the people have to say.