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It's a decade ago, and this Linux sysadmin pilot fish has survived several rounds of layoffs before he finally gets the ax. But he's not worried -- he has a standing offer to come work for one of his old employer's customers.

It appears that Microsoft may block the installation of Linux and other operating systems on ARM-based Windows 8 devices. If true, Microsoft should back off. When you buy a piece of hardware, you should have the rights to do whatever you want with it, with no technology in place thwarting you.

In a sign that Microsoft recognizes that the future is multi-platform, and not Microsoft-centric, it has signed a deal with China's leading Linux provider to develop and sell cloud-computing solutions for the Chinese market. This is good news, not just for Microsoft but for anyone who is interested in using the cloud. Insider (registration required)

There are few things that sicken me more than patent wars such as the ones raging today in the software industry. I can't imagine a more colossal waste of time, energy and money, particularly when we already have copyright to afford all the protections we need in this area.

A new variation of the Man-in-the-Browser attack makes it all the more important to be as secure as possible when banking online. In this context: Linux good, Windows bad.

Flashback to the early 2000s, when this pilot fish gets his first experience with Linux and finds that it's very useful. But one user doesn't share fish's enthusiasm.

It's easy to be content with your computer installation as long as it keeps doing what you want it to without too much trouble. When frequent problems arise, however, it's hard to remain faithful for long.

One of the best things a Windows user can do for Defensive Computing is to have a bootable copy of Linux on hand. In the old days, this was to rescue a broken copy of the operating system. Now, the much more important reason is online banking. Windows users should never do online banking. To that end, I describe the process of installing Ubuntu 10.10 on a USB flash drive.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

The good news is that Dell is now shipping Ubuntu Light, an instant-on version of Ubuntu, on at least one Dell Windows laptop. The bad news is that Dell isn't telling you this and that their Windows systems can be cheaper than their Ubuntu systems.

We're beginning to see who ends up with Unix and other intellectual property in the Novell deal. Hint: Microsoft did just fine for itself.

Attachmate may be the official owner, but I believe Microsoft is the real power behind the Novell buyout. Here's why.

A new, small scheduler patch may give the Linux desktop an incredible speed boost.

Technically, there are no big surprises in the just released RHEL 6. What's more important is that, with this announcement, RHEL has become one of the two mainstream server operating systems.

Ancient HP OpenMail backup restore request presented a pretty poser. 
I've recently been helping a consulting client restore some ancient data. It struck me that there are lessons here for today's IT operations: lessons to be learned from the mistakes of the past. Mistakes we'll try not to repeat, in The Long View...