Well, the holiday season is upon us once again, and that means it's the beginning of what, for many geeks, is a time of unnatural, enforced, repeated and prolonged socialization. Yes, it can be an uncomfortable time for those of us who aren't perky, extroverted cheerleader-types, and we here at LinuxInsider are no exception. So it was with great relief that we came across a few posts in the blogosphere that promised some welcome, Linux-inspired distraction. Another group photo? Sure, we'll be right there! Ha.

In January, James Whitehurst became president and CEO of Raleigh, N.C.-based Red Hat. The 41-year-old came to the software company, which sells and services the Linux open source computer operating system, from Delta Air Lines, where he was chief operating officer and had worked on, among other projects, development of the discount travel Web site Orbitz. At Red Hat, Whitehurst, a native of Atlanta and 1989 graduate of Rice University, will be part of a collaboration between the company and IBM to develop a personal computer that doesn't rely on Microsoft software.

The battle of the operating systems is intensifying in Nepal, and it looks like free open source software like Linux is emerging as a viable alternative to commercial software. People usually are only too happy to grab anything labeled "free," but free and open source software was finding it difficult to make much headway against the commercial giants. Ironically, it was the fact that pirated Windows operating systems are cheap and sometimes come free with the hardware that made it difficult for FOSS to have a following.

The Utah-based SCO Group has been cleared to appeal a court ruling that might lead to a revival of its dispute with IBM over copyright claims to the freely distributed Linux operating system. Utah Federal Judge Dale A. Kimball has signed a final judgment in a case involving Novell, in which he had awarded Novell $2.5 million for some of the revenues SCO obtained in licensing the Unix computer operating system. The judgment is the latest development in the case that began in 2003 when SCO sued IBM saying the Unix code that SCO claimed to own had been the basis for code placed in Linux.

About eight months ago, the owners of a sporting goods company contacted their attorney, Doug Wolf, a partner at Wolf Greenfield. It seemed a company was using the firm's logo and trademark without proper authorization. Setting the matter right should have been a straightforward task for Wolf -- except for the fact that the intellectual property theft was happening online, specifically in Second Life. The client didn't even know who was controlling the avatar who had set up shop using its trademarks.

Opera Software has thrown open the doors to reveal the final version of its popular Opera Mini 4.2 browser for mobile phones. The 4.2 version has been in beta the last few weeks, and now that Opera Software has opened a new server park, users of the browser in the United States should see a 30 percent speed boost. This release is the first version officially available for Google's Android mobile platform -- and the T-Mobile G1 smartphone. It's also the first Web browser alternative to the built-in browser on the open Android platform.

Copyrights are perhaps the most common type of intellectual property (along with trademarks), and are the first stop when it comes to protecting software-based products. This is because copyrights, which protect a particular expression of an idea, exist automatically upon fixation of an author's work in a tangible medium of expression. This means that a graphic designer's works are protected the instant they are drawn on paper or saved on a computer. A software programmer's works are protected the instant they are saved to disc.

Part 1 of this two-part series on five of the boldest decisions made by technology companies this year explores the launch of Hulu and Amazon.com's decision to go DRM-free with its Amazon MP3 store. Now, for the three remaining genius strokes in the E-Commerce Times' lineup of bold decisions that changed the technology landscape in 2008: Salesforce.com's launch of its Force.com platform; Google's launch of the Android mobile platform; and Apple's launch of the iPhone App Store.

"Cloud computing is not magical, but it is more economical, more easily scaled and more easily managed," said Lance Walley, chief executive officer of Engine Yard, a hosting and infrastructure support company for Ruby on Rails applications. It's getting more so, too. That's because it's so practical, more applications are sure to appear every year. "It's like running your own generators or buying power from the public grid," Walley said. "What this will do is make more apps appear and prosper than would have before."

Thanksgiving may still be around the corner, but already Linux users have something to be thankful for. Yes, Adobe apparently saw the writing on the wall at last, and last week released a 64-bit version of Flash for Linux. The righteous have been rewarded! The news made no small splash on the Linux blogs, as one might expect, with geeks far and wide praising the new technology. Indeed, once the geeks started expressing their enthusiasm, there appeared to be no end to the gushing of love.

It was meant to be an escape, a break from the day-to-day routine, a fantasy world where 13-year-old Missouri high-school student Megan Meier could retreat from reality. But when Meier began corresponding with 16-year-old Josh Evans on her MySpace page, it rapidly turned into a nightmare. Instead of the sweet, flirtatious communications she had hoped for, he started telling her "everybody hates you" and "the world would be a better place without you in it." Twenty minutes later her mother found her hanging in her cupboard. She died the next day.

In December 2007, Palomar Pomerado Health broke ground on a 600-bed hospital in Escondido, Calif. Just two months later, officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony, allowing patients, staff and others to tour Palomar Medical Center West and play with new technology deployed throughout the facility. No, this wasn't the most rapid hospital construction in history. The ribbon cutting took place in Second Life, a 3-D, virtual world that exists entirely on the Web.

I've been using a T-Mobile G1 for about a month now, and while it's the best phone I've ever owned (yes, I bought it), I haven't yet found myself saying "I love this phone." I like it plenty, don't get me wrong, but like any device, it's got things about it that are frustrating and other things that are pretty cool. The G1 is the first phone to use Google's Android software stack, though by no means the last or the only. Others are said to be in the works from the likes of Motorola and LG. This one is an implementation of the HTC Dream.

Mozilla has advised Firefox customers not to try add-ons classed as "experimental," such as the recently released China Channel, because they could cause computer problems. Firefox add-ons allow users to personalize their browsing and add additional features, and because Firefox is open source, many of these add-ons are thought up by third-party developers. Add-ons classed as "experimental" are those still being tested, although they are available for public use. However, Mozilla does not recommend users downloading such add-ons unless they are very technically minded.

Everything's going open source nowadays. Why not government? That's precisely the question that some analysts and consultants are asking, along with citizens themselves. President-Elect Barack Obama has begun to implement a bit of open source thinking with his Presidential Transition Project Web site, which allows citizens to send in comments, ideas and suggestions for public policy, as well as apply for jobs within the Obama administration. And others in and around government are likely to follow his lead in enacting what might be called "Legislation 2.0."

A patent represents a grant from the United States government to an individual for the exclusive right to make, use, import, sell, and offer to sell an invention. In order to obtain a patent, an inventor must prove that the invention is new, useful, and not merely an obvious improvement over what was already known. Inventions that may be patented include machines, articles of manufacture and methods of operation. Video games, virtual worlds and other types of software can be claimed as all three of those types.

It's a small wonder that the Linux operating system remains vibrant in multiple industries and is poised to make a dash for more consumers' desktops, considering how often misunderstandings get in the way of its advancement. For instance, Linux was not immediately recognized as a real OS in the way that consumers and business owners viewed the Apple computer or IBM PC in the early days of computing. Linux was available in too many confusing distributions. Even today, many non-Linux users misunderstand the open source model.

That blur you saw at the edges of your vision just now? That would be the Internet continuing to move at light speed to your cell phone and other mobile devices. So Adobe's argument is, how can anything move that fast without Flash? The company is staging its MAX 2008 conference in San Francisco this week, and Adobe is putting the spotlight on announcements focusing on its market-dominating Flash Web media platform. The news item getting the most early attention is a deal with mobile microprocessor technology company ARM.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who are the greatest geeks of us all? That question -- posed in an Australian iTnews article, "The Top 10 Greatest Geeks of All Time" on Monday -- sparked quite a discussion in the blogosphere last week, garnering more than 1,300 Diggs and 280 comments by Friday. Who was top of the list? We'll give you a hint: He's the father of our favorite operating system. Other notables on there? Richard Stallman in 9th position, and Paul Allen at 10.

A virtual affair is ending a real-life marriage in southwest England. Amy Taylor filed for divorce when she discovered her husband cheating in Second Life -- an online community where players adopt personas called "avatars," mingle with others and teleport themselves into a series of artificial worlds. "I caught him cuddling a woman on a sofa in the game," Taylor told the South West News Service press agency. "It looked really affectionate. He confessed he'd been talking to this woman player in America for one or two weeks, and said our marriage was over and he didn't love me any more."