Fedora may not be the prettiest Linux distribution (that honor belongs to deepin), but it is still the overall greatest such operating system. Why? Well, not only is it the best representation of what a Linux distro should be (thanks to its focus on truly free and open source packages), but it is fast, modern, and very stable. Not to mention, it showcases the best desktop environment, GNOME. It should come as no surprise that the controversial father of Linux, Linus Torvalds, chooses Fedora as his daily operating system.

Today, following a fairly short beta period, Fedora 30 is officially here! The most exciting aspect, for workstation/desktop users at least, is the update to GNOME 3.32. Of course, that is hardly the only notable update -- the DNF package manager is getting a performance boost, for instance. In other words, this is a significant operating system upgrade that should delight both existing Fedora users and beginners alike.

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There are too many Linux distributions these days. While it can be argued that having too much choice is never a bad thing, the truth is, having so many distros causes resources to be spread too thinly. There is a lot of redundancy and waste, and eventually, the chickens will come home to roost -- we will see Linux-based operating systems begin to drop like flies.

Linux Mint is alive for now, but infighting and feelings of defeat have many users worried about its future. Sadly, another Linux distribution, Scientific Linux, really has died. This operating system was based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and maintained by some significant members of the scientific community, such as The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and CERN. While current versions (6 and 7) will continue to be supported, future development has permanently ended, with the organizations instead turning to CentOS -- another distro based on RHEL.

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If you're thinking of learning a programming language, there are certainly plenty to choose from -- and Microsoft has just added a new one for you to consider. Inspired partly by TypeScript and partly by Node.js, Bosque is an open source language which tries to keep things simple.

Microsoft says that one of the main aims with Bosque is to create code that is simple for both humans and machines to read, eliminating "accidental complexity".

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With the Linux Mint development being severely strained, and the future of that particular operating system being in slight doubt, many Linux "haters" are seemingly taking pleasure. Hardcore fans of Microsoft Windows will point to the Mint situation as proof that Linux (and open source ideology overall) doesn't have a future on the desktop. Thankfully, these negative people couldn't be more wrong. Regardless of what happens with Mint, Linux still has a bright future -- not only on mobile and servers, but desktop too. Maybe that success will be Chrome OS or Android. Whatever. The point is, the open source Linux kernel cannot be stopped.

As people are concerned about Linux Mint, another distro has been gaining in popularity. While not new, the attention it gets has been growing lately. Called "MX Linux," it is based on the excellent Debian Stable and uses the lightweight Xfce desktop environment by default. If you are intrigued by this newly en vogue distro, I have good news -- a new version is available for download. While not a major release,the 18.2 ISO is chock full of changes, fixes, and of course, updated packages. If you hate systemd (as many do), I have good news -- it is not enabled by default (although it is included).

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Nintendo is the king of the "Kart Racing" genre. While there are many imitators -- some of which are very good -- Mario Kart remains the best. And no, it is not just about mascots, although it does help having Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong and such. Actually, the real magic is the gameplay -- solid controls and well-designed levels. The Mario Kart franchise is consistently excellent.

The problem? Mario Kart costs money and, emulators aside, only works on Nintendo consoles. If you want to get your kart racing on, but you don't want to open your wallet, you are in luck! SuperTuxKart is an excellent clone of Nintendo's game, featuring popular open source mascots. Best of all, the open source game is not only cross-platform, but totally free! The upcoming SuperTuxKart 0.10 will even introduce network multiplayer play, and now that version has reached Release Candidate status. And yes, you can download and play SuperTuxKart 0.10 RC1 now!

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Vulnerabilities in open source code represent a risk for businesses, but the process of reporting them is cumbersome and that can leave software open to risk.

Without a standard for responsible disclosure, even those who want to disclose vulnerabilities responsibly can get frustrated with the process and turn to public lists or social media, where bad actors can easily find the details before fixes are created.

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The Kodi Foundation has long been a supporter of open source software and today the developer announces that it has joined the Linux Foundation as an Associate Member.

The Linux Foundation is a non-profit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux and open source in general, and providing support for the open source community as well as sponsoring Linux creator Linus Torvalds, and maintaining the linux.com website.

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More and more organizations are moving to a cloud-native, microservices architecture. But doing this at scale can be challenging as businesses lose the ability to trace, debug, and ultimately manage rapidly proliferating services.

New company Tetrate is aiming to shake up the microservices networking market by combining the best of open source technologies with enterprise-grade extensibility, scalability, and performance.

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An industry group made up of 22 members is launching a Continuous Delivery Foundation (CDF) to develop, nurture and promote open source projects, best practices and industry specifications related to continuous delivery.

Founding members of the CDF include the Linux Foundation, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Red Hat, CloudBees and the Jenkins Community

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Microsoft has long been a champion of closed source ideology -- it made its billions thanks to it. Historically, the company was against open source, publicly bad-mouthing projects like Linux.

Under Satya Nadella's leadership, however, Microsoft is a very different company. Not only does it support open source and Linux, it actually contributes open source code. In fact, Microsoft is one of the top contributors. Today, the Windows-maker announces that it is taking its commitment to open source ideology even further. How? By making its Windows Calculator program an open source project on GitHub. Yes, really.

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Open source breaches have increased by 71 percent over the last five years, while 26 percent of companies have reported a confirmed or suspected web application breach in the past year alone according to a new report.

The study from open source governance specialist Sonatype also shows 41 percent of executives admit their company doesn’t follow an open source governance programme.

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Linux Mint is one of the most polished and beautiful operating systems. As more and more people reject Windows 10, Mint becomes a very attractive alternative. Looks aside, it is a stable and reliable Linux distribution too -- it provides an overall excellent user experience.

Unfortunately, the great looks of the Linux Mint operating system do not carry over to its website. What I’m trying to say is, the Linux Mint website is ugly and outdated. In the grand scheme of things that doesn’t matter much, but it could be a turnoff to new users.

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Believe it or not, Google Summer of Code 2019 will be the 15 year anniversary of the open source student program. If you aren't familiar, this is a program where Google pairs university students with open source organizations to work together over the summer. Yes, I said working together -- the students don't just observe, they get to actively participate in important open source projects! How cool is that?

Today, Google announces all the organizations that have been accepted as GSoC mentors, and the Linux community is very well represented. In fact, two of the most significant Linux distributions -- Fedora and Debian -- are both participating. In addition, one of the most important Linux desktop environments, GNOME, is taking part too. Even KDE and The Linux Foundation are in the mix! With all of that said, Google Summer of Code is not a Linux-only affair -- open source is the overall star of the show.

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HUAWEI makes excellent products -- its laptops, tablets, and smartphones are some of the best. The company wisely focuses on beauty in technology, crafting devices that don't just work well, but look attractive too. The Huawei MateBook 13, for instance, is one of the most beautiful laptops I've had the pleasure of using. Its products are not just skin deep, however, as they are also backed by high durability and performance.

The company is hoping American consumers will also be interested in its wearables, as today, it reveals the previously announced HUAWEI WATCH GT is finally coming to America. While not the company's first smartwatch to hit the USA, it is definitely the most intriguing. It runs an open source operating system called LiteOS, and battery life can apparently reach two weeks. No, that is not a typo -- two weeks! It focuses heavily on health -- it can monitor fitness and sleep. Best of all, it is compatible with both iOS and Android, so it won't lock you into either platform.

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More than half the code found in commercial software packages is open source, but if it isn’t properly tracked businesses might be in the dark on the number of vulnerabilities and license compliance issues that exist in their applications.

Software supply chain specialist Flexera has released a report looking into the state of open source license compliance, based on analyzing data from 134 software audits.

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