"The kernel is huge and bloated," said none other than Linus Torvalds during a panel at LinuxCon, triggering a discussion that's still generating heat in the blogosphere. Every time a new feature gets added, the problem gets worse, he reportedly said. The question of bloat in Linux "reminds me of a classic Canadian vs. American rivalry," Montreal consultant and Slashdot blogger told LinuxInsider. "We have better beer than the Americans; that's brilliant, but we have the second worst beer in the world."

The LiMo Foundation, a consortium dedicated to creating an open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices delivered a one- two- punch to the mobile industry Thursday. First, Morgan Gillis, executive director, announced that consortium members are "moving into full commercialization mode" and all operator members on the LiMo Board have "reaffirmed their intent to bring LiMo R2 devices and associated services to market during 2009/2010." Operators that intend to bring these handsets to market include NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefonica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.

Red Hat, a software distributor behind the Linux operating system, said Wednesday its fiscal second-quarter profit grew as companies opted for its products amid the economic downturn. For the quarter ended Aug. 31, the company earned $28.9 million, or 15 cents per share, up from net income of $21.1 million, or 10 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 12 percent to $183.6 million from $164.4 million. Its adjusted earnings were 20 cents per share in the latest quarter after adjusting for stock compensation and amortization expenses.

Should computers be intuitive, requiring little to no learning or thinking? For that matter, is it even possible for them to be so? "Nothing is intuitive," said Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack told LinuxInsider. "Think about it: We have to be taught to use a toilet, how to use a fork and how to drive. Why do we expect computers to be some magic thing that does not have a learning curve?" On the other hand, "I don't see why they can't be intuitive," argued Slashdot blogger drinkypoo. "I don't think that study and learning should be required for consumer-oriented platforms."

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison can be a wellspring of newsworthy comments. Little wonder, then, that for close to an hour on Tuesday, IT journalists were rapt as he ruminated on the subjects of the day in an interview with Sun Microsystems' Ed Zander at the Churchill Club in Silicon Valley. Ellison didn't deliver any of his trademark colorful zingers, but he did give shareholders a heads up concerning his own future -- he plans to stay at Oracle's helm for at least another five years -- along with some insights into his company's pending acquisition of Sun.

Linpus Technologies on Tuesday released Linpus Linux Lite 1.2, a new version of its consumer Linux software based on Moblin version 2 that's been enhanced with improved social networking applications and power management capabilities. The first version of the Moblin v2-based technology was released earlier this year. Linpus's Moblin v2 Enhanced Version bolsters the Moblin user interface for improved delivery of key online information.

Amid all the talks, workshops and training sessions now under way at LinuxCon, attendees hoping to get an up-close look at some of the latest open source technologies were not disappointed. A wide variety of products are being demonstrated by a diverse set of vendors in the technology showcase at the Linux Foundation's first annual LinuxCon event, which runs through Wednesday in Portland, Ore. The diversity of the companies participating is a testament to Linux's increasing acceptance, said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation.

Sex is a sensitive subject in virtually any industry or profession, and FOSS, it appears, is no exception. Indeed, a recent article by Datamation's Bruce Byfield, "Sexism: Open Source Software's Dirty Little Secret," has set off a conflagration on the Linux blogs. It's been difficult to see any other topics, so high have been the flames and so thick the smoke. "Sexism is systemic in FOSS, and has been for years," Byfield wrote.

In the latest phase of its battle with Intel for the notebook and netbook markets, ARM has unveiled two new 2GHz capable Cortex-A9 dual core processor implementation. These give silicon manufacturers a way to develop high-performance, low-power Cortex-A9 processor-based devices, ARM said. However, it looks like this battle will only take place in the Linux corner of the market. Microsoft has said Windows 7 won't run on these processors. The most important thing about the announcement is that it was not about finished processors -- ARM announced two Cortex-A9 MPCore hard macro implementations for the TSMC 40nm-G process.

There are many ways to celebrate software freedom, such as by choosing to use Linux in your daily life. This Saturday, however, is the day to loudly proclaim your fondness for FOSS, for it's Software Freedom Day once again! That's right: In a few short days, geeks and nongeeks alike will get their party on and celebrate our favorite cause with events scheduled around the globe. Whether you're in Iceland or Brazil, there are celebrations planned near you. It's time to pay homage to all that is FOSS!

GroundWork Open Source, a provider of commercial open source systems and network management software, has launched MonitoringForge, a hub for IT administrators and developers interested in open source monitoring tools. The new site aims to encompass the monitoring space as a whole, as opposed to focusing on specific products or applications, said Tara Spalding, vice president of marketing at GroundWork Open Source. It is the first open source portal to focus on monitoring.

When Motorola announced its Android-powered Cliq late last week, it took what many view as a critical step toward regaining its former prominence in the mobile phone arena. "Motorola was the No. 1 handset maker in the 1990s -- they lost that position to Nokia and have been trying to recapture the market ever since," said telecom analyst Jeff Kagan. "They did well with the Razr a few years ago, but never had anything else to follow up." Over the past several years, Motorola fell to No. 3 and then No. 4 in the market.

One of the best things about being part of the Linux community is that things are never boring. Take last week, for example, when some anti-Linux screenshots were leaked from a Microsoft ExpertZone training course for Windows 7 retail salespeople. Money just can't buy entertainment like that, which is why Linux Girl practically fell off her chair when, just a few days later, word came out that Redmond had launched its own open source foundation.

On Friday, Microsoft announced the CodePlex Foundation, which will support the open source community. The foundation is initially being funded by Microsoft and will be temporarily headed by departing Senior Director of Platform Strategy Sam Ramji. The CodePlex Foundation, according to Redmond, is a 501 C6 nonprofit. The 501 C6 statute exempts commercial organizations from paying taxes as long as no private shareholders or individuals get any of the net earnings.

Motorola unveiled its much-anticipated first Android phone on Thursday, together with a new service it calls "Motoblur." The phone, to be called the "Cliq" in the United States, will be available from T-Mobile later this year. It will be marketed as the "Dext" abroad. Motoblur is a system that syncs contacts, status posts and messages, among other things, from various sources, including social networking sites and email, and delivers all of these to the device's home screen automatically.

Maybe it was the fires raging in California. Or maybe it was a way to blow off some steam before summer came to its unofficial end. Whatever the cause, there's no doubt Linux bloggers were in the mood for some spirited debate in recent days. One might even argue, in fact, that more than a few posts out there in the blogosphere were designed to do just that -- start a fiery discussion. Did they succeed? You bet your flame-retardant keyboard they did.

Open Invention Network announced Tuesday that it acquired 22 Linux-related patents that Microsoft recently sold to the Allied Security Trust. OIN consists of a group of companies -- including Microsoft rivals IBM, Sony, Red Hat and Google -- that have been girding themselves for a legal fight over Linux. OIN acquired the patents to ensure that they wouldn't eventually be sold to a company or entity that wasn't interested in promoting the Linux platform. The purchase price of the patents was not disclosed.

Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC on Tuesday announced the Tattoo, the latest in its line of Android-based handsets unveiled this year. The Tattoo is also the second smartphone equipped with the HTC Sense user interface. It integrates several Google mobile services, including Google Maps and Gmail, and it gives users access to the Android Market. Europe will get the HTC Tattoo in October, and the device will be rolled out to other markets later. The Tattoo measures about 4.17 by 2.17 by .55 inches and weighs just under four ounces, with a battery.

It may be an increasingly FOSS-friendly world out there, but that doesn't mean Linux doesn't still face challenges and opposition. Case in point: Sony's recent decision to discontinue the option to install GNU/Linux on its new PlayStation3. "I was more than a little disappointed, since this is a big hit to low-cost supercomputing, wrote the Linux Foundation's Brian Proffitt on his blog last week. Indeed, researchers have apparently clustered multiple PS3 machines to achieve a relatively inexpensive approximation of supercomputer processing power.

The current economic recession may be pummeling companies around the globe, but amid all the dire reports and grim statistics littering what can only be compared to a bloody battlefield, one oft-cited exception appears to be still standing tall: free and open source software. That's what the common discourse seems to suggest, at least, and there's some anecdotal evidence to support it. For its fiscal quarter ending May 31, for example, Red Hat reported an 11 percent increase in revenue over that earned in the same quarter a year ago.