Linux has succeeded as a product only because the community that supports it has organised itself systematically to create, share, test, reject, and develop ideas in a way that flouts conventional wisdom. Successful We-Think projects are based on five key principles that were all present in Linux. Earlier I introduced three principles; here are the final two.

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Last week we took a look inside the Linux.com forums to see what readers were talking about and what questions needed answering. Since that visit led to answers for some threads and spawned several new forums users, we thought we'd come back with questions that range from why you have to type in your password for sudo, to how to work with the DjVu scanned image format.

While most basic hardware support for GNU/Linux is improving constantly, wireless support remains dismal. Few manufacturers make an effort to support the operating system, or to publicize what support they have. Moreover, the components of wireless devices change so fast that one version of a device may offer support while a second version doesn't -- even though both versions share the same model number. And if, in addition to functionality, you also want a device with free drivers and no reliance on proprietary firmware, your choices are even more limited. Fortunately, no matter what your preferences, online resources exist to help you find the card that's right for you or get your existing wireless network adapter to work with Linux.

Gentoo has updated cups (multiple vulnerabilities).

Red Hat has updated gnome-screensaver (crash bypassing screen lock).

SUSE has updated Sun Java (many vulnerabilities).

Ubuntu has updated openssh (session hijacking).

Just because OpenOffice.org Basic is designed to automate mundane tasks doesn't mean that you must use it only for serious work. It's a programming language after all, and nothing stops you from using it to write something fun. Today we'll use it write a simple game where you have to guess a word, a letter at a time, from among words you've stored in a Base database. Although this is not a particularly sophisticated game, it contains a couple of string manipulation techniques and a clever trick for picking a random record from a database, which you might find useful when writing your own macros.

Linux has succeeded as a product only because the community that supports it has organised itself systematically to create, share, test, reject, and develop ideas in a way that flouts conventional wisdom. Successful We-Think projects are based on five key principles that were all present in Linux. Yesterday I talked about Core and Contribute. Today, it's Connect.

GREEDMOND, WA -- Bruised, battered, fined, and ridiculed over its fight for OOXML acceptance, Microsoft has decided it's had enough. The company is so angry with ISO that it has decided to form its own standard-setting organization.

HOAXVILLE, USA -- In a stunning and unexpected announcement, Tim O'Really, founder of O'Really Publishing and the O'Really Network, announced today that "Web 2.0 is history, not that anyone ever really understood what it meant, anyway. In its place we offer Web 3.14159265358979323846…"