In the Linux world, the Holy Trinity of Linux conferences is undoubtedly made up of the three major international conventions: the Linux Symposium, linux.conf.au, and the Linux Kongress. LinuxJournal.com had on the scene coverage of the second of these grand Linux events, and now is the time to begin thinking about the third.

If proprietary software is the proverbial dam, Open Source is the raging torrent pushing to break through — one might even continue the analogy to identify certain figures in the proprietary world as the little boy with his finger in the hole, with more nefarious intent, of course. More and more cities, countries, and even continents are embracing Open Source with open arms — and, given the analogy above, snorkels — and as of last Thursday, one more municipality has been fitted for fins.

Just over a month ago, Breaking News brought LinuxJournal.com readers the story of Riccardo Calixte, the Boston College computer science student targeted by heavy-handed investigators for the capital offense of being a Linux user. Now it's time to update that story, and for once, with a victory for the forces of freedom.

Until September 20, 2007, nobody had ever sued anybody for violating the General Public License (GPL) — not a single company, project, or individual developer in the license's then-eighteen year existence. This momentous first, settled in a mere month, was only the beginning — the beginning of a landslide of litigation large enough to make Apple's lawyers cry.

Among the biggest challenges for Linux developers — and one of the reasons we, at least, hear most often for not switching to Linux — is that Linux device support isn't as complete as some other operating systems. The reason for this, of course, has nothing to do with the abilities, inclinations, or availability of Linux developers — the reason Linux lacks support for many devices is because the device manufacturers refuse to provide the drivers, data, and design specs necessary for Linux compatibility.

Everybody loves the wild and wacky names that end up gracing releases of the various Linux distributions throughout the year, even if some of them — we're not going to name names, that might hurt our karma — have gotten a bit more bizarre of late. Among the more interesting processes for picking release names comes from the Fedora Project, where unlike most other distributions, the new name must share a unique link to its predecessor. Its time then to put your thinking caps on, as the race to make that most creative of links is underway.

Conflicts in the Open Source world — as in the proprietary world — are hardly a surprising phenomenon. Indeed, our community can't even agree over what to call one of its most popular projects — a fight we have no interest in entering, particularly not here. What is perhaps more surprising is when these disputes escalate like a deleted scene from Fatal Attraction — escalate so far that the powers-that-be must intervene.

When the Linux Foundation acquired the Linux.com domain from SourceForge earlier this year, it vowed to relaunch the site as more than just a go-to place for Linux-related news. The new site went live this morning and it's sporting enough bells and whistles to make any Linux enthusiast proud.

Nobody really controls the Internet — untold numbers of servers located in hundreds of jurisdictions simply can't be policed by any one individual, organization, or government. What is controlled, however, is the assignment of IP addresses and domain names — a function that is carried out by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers through the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. That control is set to expire later this year, and ideas on who should take it from there are already beginning to circulate.

The saga of SCO v. Linux, known variously as SCO v. Novell, SCO v. IBM, SCO v. Everybody and their Mother, may be coming to a close. Yes, we know this comes as a shock — if anyone needs a moment to compose themselves, or, you know, dig out a case of Dom, we'll wait — but it may well happen faster than any of us ever expected.

There are awards, and then there are awards. The Oscars may hold audiences captive for a night, but the Nobel Prize is an award forever. The Open Source community has its share of awards as well, and award season would appear to be upon us, as two of the largest have opened nominations.

If there's one fact of life for large companies, it's that small companies and individuals are going to sue to try to get a piece of your much bigger pie. As corporate pies come, Google has a pretty big one, and they've had no shortage of suits over the years from those looking to get their knife in the company's pie-pan. Such is the case again, as according to reports the search giant has been served with a lawsuit over its use of the name "Android" for its popular mobile phone platform.

At the beginning of the year, many analysts predicted that, given the economic climate, this would be the year for mergers and acquisitions. Indeed, they were right: acquisitions are up in everything from banking to technology, with the latter category perhaps best represented by Oracle's surprise snatch of Sun Microsystems just a few weeks ago. The buying, at least from where we're sitting, looks primed to continue, and Open Source companies are no exception, as was aptly demonstrated this morning as it was revealed that Open Source vendor Hyperic has been acquired by the likewise Open Source SpringSource.

Financial troubles are an ever more common reality as the economic climate continues to venture through the monsoon season, and not-for-profit organizations are no exception. Such appears to be the case for the GNOME Foundation, the forces behind the venerable GNOME desktop, as the organization's 2009 budget is finalized and thoughts — and worries — turn to 2010.

Thanks, in large part, to a little company called Standard Oil, Open Source isn't necessarily the first term to come to mind when one thinks of the name Rockefeller. However, that's exactly the term Mr. Rockefeller's great-grandson, Senator Jay Rockefeller, is pushing in Congress — attached to a bill to strengthen Open Source in health-care.

Last fall, T-Mobile became the first wireless provider to offer a handset based on Google's Android platform: the T-Mobile G1. And the world rejoiced. Now, some six months after that debut, Samsung has jumped in the game with its own Android offering.

It's that time again, ladies and gents — time for the biannual release of a new Ubuntu version. This time it's the Jaunty Jackalope, officially Ubuntu 9.04, rolling off the line, and bringing with it a fresh new set of features users have been longing for.

In September, for the second year in a row, Linux developers from all over will pack their pipe wrenches and low-slung trousers as they prepare to descend on Portland, Oregon to get down to business. Though the packing can wait a few more months, now is the time for developers interested in sharing their love of digital fittings and flanges to get their name on the list.

Sun Microsystems — and what would happen to it — has been in the news for some weeks, amid rumors, then negotiations, then rumors, again, concerning the flailing company's future. The now-infamous IBM purchase and its spectacular failure earlier this month exponentially increased speculation — speculation that was put to rest this morning when it was revealed that database-giant Oracle will be adding Sun to its solar system.

One of the nice things about Linux — but by no means the most important — is the enhanced security that comes along with running it. That doesn't mean Linux never runs into security issues, though, and this week, the vulnerability in question centers around a nifty little service called udev.