A worm that takes advantage of what some security experts have called the most widespread Windows flaw ever has started spreading, fulfilling the predictions of many researchers.

Open source advocates have launched a new website targeting open source Linux in government. Known as Government Forge, the new website will be a place where members of state and local governments can find open-source software. The site also aims to foster a forum to create jobs, projects and demand for Linux professionals, the site's founder said. Government Forge will provide coverage and listings of articles, libraries, and tools. The site has a commitment to providing a place for government to find, and implement, 100% standards-compliant open-source software.

If you're following the ongoing SCO vs. Linux story, you'll be interested to learn that late yesterday, IBM filed a legal counter-claim against the SCO Group. According to an article at CNET, the IBM 45-page document court filing accuses SCO of violating the GNU General Public License (GPL) under which Linux is released, of violating four IBM software patents, and of interfering with IBM's business by attempting to terminate IBM's license to AIX. The IBM complaint asks for monetary damages, as well as an injunction preventing SCO from shipping software which, IBM says, violates IBM patents.

PCBuyer's Guide has updated their 'OS Shootout' comparing the "vendor-supplied" capabilities of Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows XP and Linux side by side. The verdict: Linux is emerging as a strong contender.

"One of my non-Linux-savvy friends asked me the question, what's significant about Linux for her? The fact that she would ask this question, combined with a note from Phil Hughes, got me to thinking--is Linux finally ready for the desktop?
"In 1998, I bought my wife a computer. It was a surplus Dell 486/66, into which I stuffed 32MB of RAM and an ET4000 video card (the VGA module had fried, but otherwise the computer was good). Add an NE-2000-clone NIC, and it was ready for the home LAN.
"She insisted on Windows, because she was a secretary at the time and wanted to keep up her chops at home. I grudgingly dropped Windows 95 on the box. This lasted about three months, until the registry ate itself twice in as many weeks. At this point my wife exhibited her penchant for resembling a Sea-Bee in the audio spectrum and told me to install Linux. Grinning to myself, I grabbed a Red Hat 5 CD and set to work. Netscape and Solitaire were installed, and the audio feed from her end of the table quickly subsided from NC-17 to PG. She's never looked back, and I thought to myself, surely Linux is ready for the desktop..."