Mageia has long been what you might call a “best-kept secret” of the Linux world, consistently residing among the top five distributions in DistroWatch's page-hit rankings despite minimal marketing and hoopla.

The distro has only been around since it was forked from Mandriva Linux back in 2010, of course, but after several weeks' delay  the Mageia project on Sunday finally launched the third major version of the free and open source operating system.

Mageia Linux 2 made its debut just about a year ago. Now, Mageia 3 is here, “all grown up and ready to go dancing,” as it was put in the project's weekend announcement.

Mageia 3 is dedicated to the late “Eugeni Dodonov, our friend, our colleague and a great inspiration,” the team added.

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We've seen several Linux tablets emerge over the past year or so, but examples with triple-boot capabilities are much less common.

Enter the Python S3, a tablet released on Monday by Italian Ekoore that can boot three operating systems: Ubuntu Linux, Android, and Windows 8.

“The Python series was born with the purpose of uniting in a single tablet multiple operating systems,” explains the Italian Ekoore website. “The components of this device are the result of careful and accurate selection, to ensure perfect compatibility with all operating systems.”

Ready for a look? Here's what we've got.

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Regular PCWorld readers may recall Cinnarch, a Linux distribution I covered last fall that combined Arch Linux with the relatively new and alternative Cinnamon desktop environment.

Cinnarch was just in beta at the time, but recently the project team behind it announced that they planned to abandon Cinnamon  as a default desktop, calling it “too much a burden to maintain/update going forward.”

Making good on their promise, the team this week announced the birth of Antergos, a brand-new Arch-based Linux distribution that's based on GNOME 3 instead.

'Modern, elegant, and powerful'

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It's been about six weeks since the release of Firefox 20, so assuming Mozilla stays on its usual schedule, Firefox 21 will make its debut on Tuesday.

This next version of the popular open source browser has already attracted attention for the changes brought in early versions to Firefox's “Do Not Track” capabilities, but those are by no means the only interesting additions we'll see.

Several changes and new features are slated to arrive in the final version of Firefox 21, in fact. Here's a quick rundown of some of the highlights you can expect to find.

1. Three 'Do Not Track' options

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There's no doubt that desktop Linux has become increasingly user-friendly over the years, but it's equally true that some distributions focus more on ease of use than others do.

Ubuntu and Linux Mint are two examples at the forefront of this usability trend, but recently I came across another that has put friendliness at the forefront of its goals.

Enter Korora, a distro that “was born out of a desire to make Linux easier for new users, while still being useful for experts,” in the project's own words. Originally based on Gentoo Linux when it launched in 2005, Korora was re-born in 2010 as a Fedora remix with tweaks and extras for additional usability.

Korora recently got a key update to version 18, and it looks intriguing. Here's a summary of what's inside.

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Canonical on Wednesday announced its next moves on the way to market with a Linux-powered phone.

By the end of this month Canonical plans to equip its employees with early versions of its widely hyped “Ubuntu phone” for testing and refinement.

“We should drive as hard as we can to making it so that we can use our phones with Ubuntu Touch as our real daily phones as soon as possible,” said Rick Spencer, Canonical's vice president of Ubuntu engineering, in a Wednesday blog post. “Really eat our own dog food, so to speak.”

'User data is retained'

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Fans of free and open source software (FOSS) may recall a report from Coverity last year that found open source code typically has fewer defects per thousand lines of code than proprietary software code does.

Fast forward to this year, and the news is even more striking.

Following the analysis of more than 450 million lines of software code through the Coverity Scan service, Coverity's 2012 Coverity Scan Open Source Report, which was released Tuesday, concludes that “Linux remains the benchmark for quality.”

'Differing dynamics'

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After more than two years of development, the Debian project on Saturday released the long-awaited version 7.0 of its venerable Linux distribution.

Code-named “Wheezy,” the new release brings several compelling new features, including an improved installer, multiarch support, tools for deploying private clouds, and a complete set of multimedia codecs and front ends that remove the need for third-party repositories.

Now occupying the No. 5 spot on DistroWatch, Debian consistently resides within the site's top-10 list of page-hit rankings. The software is available as a free download to install or take for a test drive. Here's a small sampling of some of the key new improvements.

1. Wider accessibility

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Users of Android, Chrome OS, Linux, and iOS devices may not realize it, but FreeType open source software is used to render fonts on more than a billion such devices. Not only that, but the FreeType project this week got a significant update from none other than Adobe and Google.

Specifically, Google and Adobe on Wednesday released into beta the Adobe CFF engine, an advanced Compact Font Format (CFF) rasterizer that “paves the way for FreeType-based platforms to provide users with richer and more beautiful reading experiences,” as Google put it in an online announcement on the Google Open Source Blog.

The new rasterizer is now included in FreeType version 2.4.12. Though it's currently off by default, the technology is “vastly superior” to the old CFF engine and will replace it in the next FreeType release, the project says.

'Very high quality display'

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Hard on the heels of the news that the Linux kernel itself has now added Chromebook support, other reports this week suggest that the ongoing popularity of devices that use Google's Linux-based Chrome OS operating system will likely continue unabated throughout the year.

We've already seen PC makers including Lenovo, Samsung, HP, and Acer join the Chromebook fray, and now it looks like a slew of new devices based on Web-centric Chrome OS are planned for release this year, including brand-new devices from Asus and Acer.

Specifically, both Acer and Asustek are “optimistic about the long-term prospects of Chromebooks” and plan to launch new models in the second half of this year, according to Digitimes, which cites “sources from the upstream supply chain.”

A flurry of Chromebooks

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Scarcely two weeks after announcing that it would be shutting its doors later this year, the Fuduntu Linux team on Sunday announced that they have decided instead to end the project immediately.

“After monitoring project activity and traffic and also reviewing all of the feedback from the community concerning our EOL, I have decided to end the project effective today,” wrote project team member Fewt in a weekend blog post. “This means that beginning with our last merge from testing to stable, which should happen today or tomorrow, there will be no additional updates to Fuduntu.”

Fewer than 2500 users still have Fuduntu installed, Fewt noted, adding that “the majority of our user base has already moved on to other distributions.”

As the project ends, one final update to those still using the Linux distribution will disable the Fuduntu stable repository to avoid a constant stream of error messages.

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Linux creator Linus Torvalds on Monday released version 3.9 of the Linux kernel, and particularly intriguing among numerous new features and improvements is support for laptops running Google's Chrome OS.

“Whatever the reason, this week has been very quiet, which makes me much more comfortable doing the final 3.9 release, so I guess the last -rc8 ended up working,” wrote Torvalds in the release announcement early Monday.

Adriano Gasparri on Flickr

There are actually several compelling additions in this latest version of the software kernel that's at the heart of all Linux distributions. Here are a few of the highlights.

1. Chrome OS support

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It's been about three months since the release of Fedora 18 “Spherical Cow,” but this week afforded the first glimpse at the next version of the popular Linux distribution.

Arriving just a week behind schedule, the alpha version of Fedora 19, code-named "Schrödinger's Cat," comes packed with several new features as well as an assortment of updated packages.

It's not intended for production use, of course. Rather, the alpha software is available purely for testing purposes. Still, if you want to take it for a whirl to see what's coming in the final release due in July, it's now available as a free download. Here are some of the highlights of what you'll find.

1. Classic desktop options

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Canonical on Thursday announced the final release of Ubuntu Linux 13.04 “Raring Ringtail” for both desktop PCs and servers.

On the desktop side, this new release delivers performance and quality improvements that make it the “fastest and most visually polished Ubuntu experience” to date, Canonical said. Ubuntu Server 13.04, meanwhile, offers OpenStack with high availability as a standard feature along with scalable storage and big data deployment capabilities.

Both versions of the free and open source Linux distribution are now available for download from the Ubuntu project site. In the meantime, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth today also named the next version of the software: Ubuntu 13.10, due in October, will be nicknamed “Saucy Salamander.”

Canonical

No 'smart scopes' yet

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The Web has put a wealth of good information within closer reach than ever before—but as any Internet user knows, it’s done the same for all the heaps of misinformation out there.

Aiming to help news consumers distinguish legitimate original content from repurposed or paid content, the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation on Tuesday launched “Churnalism,” an open-source Web tool and browser extension designed to identify reports that are essentially repackaged press releases or Wikipedia articles.

“Ever wonder if the news story you’re reading is a product of real journalism or just a spin off of another story posted elsewhere?” explains the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation, which focuses on using technology to make government transparent and accountable. “Discover the journalism you can trust and what you should question.”

An open-source search engine

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The first two developer smartphones running Mozilla's upstart Firefox OS went on sale Tuesday morning and then quickly sold out.

Manufactured and sold by Spain-based Geeksphone, the new devices were both described as “developer preview” handsets intended for app makers interested in building and testing applications for Firefox OS.

"The Firefox OS Developer Preview Geeksphone devices have development versions of Firefox OS and are unlocked so that developers can use them wherever they are in the world and they are updated regularly with the latest Firefox OS build," explained Stormy Peters, Mozilla's director of websites and developer engagement, in a Monday blog post.

Down for maintenance

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Choice has always been a hallmark of the desktop Linux world, where users can select not just the distribution they prefer but also the desktop environment, among virtually countless other features.

Soon, however, the pool of desktop options will get even bigger thanks to a new project that recently launched.

The project, currently codenamed “KLyDE,” for “K Lightweight Desktop Environment,” aims to create a lightweight version of the popular KDE desktop.

'A kitchen sink approach'

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It's been only a few weeks since the Linux Foundation released its report that enterprise use of Linux continues to rise, but on Wednesday fresh data came out that suggests the same is true of open source software in general.

Specifically, Black Duck Software and North Bridge Venture Partners today announced the results of the seventh annual Future of Open Source Survey, which found that open source software has matured to such an extent that it now influences everything from innovation to collaboration among competitors to hiring practices.

"It's been recognized that software is eating the world,” said Michael Skok, general partner at North Bridge Venture Partners. “Our survey points to the fact that open source is eating the software world."

With more than 800 respondents from both vendor and non-vendor communities, the 2013 survey reflects the views of the largest sample in its history. It polled respondents about open source trends and opportunities, key drivers of open source adoption, community engagement, and the business problems open source will solve now and in the future.

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Monday may have brought the disappointing news that Fuduntu Linux will soon close its doors, but another young, up-and-coming Linux distribution appears to be continuing along its upward path without interruption.

Manjaro Linux, a distro I first covered only a few months ago, just released a fresh update, and it's particularly notable for the addition of a graphical installer and other beginner-friendly features.

By February, Manjaro had already reached the No. 15 spot in DistroWatch's page-hit rankings. Today, it's up even further, at No. 10. Here's a rundown of what you'll find in this promising new release.

1. A graphical installer

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Exactly a week after releasing a fresh update to its increasingly popular Linux distribution, the Fuduntu project on Monday announced that it's closing its doors for good.

“Beginning today, no new features will be implemented,” wrote project communications leader Lee Ward in a blog post on Monday morning. “The only exception are those features which are already being worked on. We will continue to provide bug and security fixes until the last day of support, however.”

Fuduntu's last release will be version 2013.3, he added. September 30 will be the last official day of Fuduntu Linux.

A 'classic desktop'

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It was just about two months ago that LibreOffice 4.0 made its official debut, but business users and others more interested in stability than cutting-edge features also have another option from the Document Foundation.

Specifically, LibreOffice 3.6 is currently the version of the free and open source productivity suite recommended for enterprises. On Thursday it got a significant update that fixes more than 50 bugs.

“This new release is suited to the increasing number of organizations migrating to LibreOffice, which is steadily growing worldwide,” the Document Foundation noted in its announcement.

Export and import improvements

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Application development may have once been the exclusive domain of professional programmers, but today a growing number of amateur-friendly development environments invite just about anyone with an app idea to bring it to life.

In the past few years we've seen the arrival of BuildAnApp and Google's App Inventor for Android on the mobile side, for example. An even longer-standing contender, however, is RunRev's cross-platform LiveCode, a recently renamed version of the HyperCard-inspired "Revolution" development system born in the early 2000s.

RunRev

LiveCode has traditionally been available only as a paid development environment, but on Wednesday its maker rolled out the platform's first-ever free, open source version. If you've got a mobile, desktop, or server app idea for your small business, the new LiveCode 6.0 could be the tool you've been waiting for to help make it happen.

Drag-and-drop functionality

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Much of the Linux world may be awaiting the final release of the high-profile Ubuntu Linux 13.04 “Raring Ringtail” later this month, but that doesn't mean the many other Linux distributions are standing still.

The "News and Updates" section on tracking site DistroWatch is just as busy as ever. This week, two popular Linux distributions came out with significant updates that are particularly worth mentioning. One is Fuduntu, my current distro of choice, and the other is PCLinuxOS.

PCLinuxOS 2013.04

Starting with PCLinuxOS, the Texas-based project on Monday announced the release of version 2013.04 of the distro's KDE, MiniMe, and FullMonty editions.

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“Do Not Track” capabilities have been controversial ever since they first appeared in Firefox 4 back in 2011, but earlier this year the battle became even more intense when Mozilla announced that it planned to begin blocking third-party cookies by default.

Two groups representing the online ad industry spoke out in bitter protest, charging that the move is "really little more than one company imposing its will in order to control its consumers’ online experience," as the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) put it.

Mozilla appears undaunted, however, and on Friday its free and open source Firefox 22 browser appeared in the early, pre-beta Aurora channel as planned, complete with the auto-block privacy features that were so hotly protested.

Mozilla

Three options

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Ubuntu 13.04 “Raring Ringtail” may have technically hit beta 1 a few weeks ago, but at the time there was no beta release to test and try out. Rather, the only variations with actual beta images to see were Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu Cloud, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu.

Users hungry for a taste of the next main release of Canonical's popular Linux distribution can now get their fill, however, thanks to a second beta release that just came out, complete with software to download and take for a spin.

The final version of Ubuntu 13.04 is due for launch on April 25, and we've already learned that it will receive support for the newly shortened period of nine months rather than 18. In the meantime, this last beta version of the free and open source operating system is available for download on the Ubuntu site. Here's a rundown of some key highlights.

1. Goodbye Wubi

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Even as the job market has remained generally dismal for much of the working world over the past few years, there have been a few notable exceptions.

Not only have those in IT generally faced better prospects, but the outlook for those with Linux skills has been even brighter. Year after year, surveys conducted by the Linux Foundation and others have found increasing demand for Linux know-how, as talent-hungry companies have struggled to fill such positions.

Earlier this year, IT careers site Dice reported that salaries for Linux professionals underwent a huge leap in 2012. Not long afterwards, the latest Linux Foundation report uncovered a increasingly pressing need for Linux talent.

SUSE

To investigate this trend a little further from the hiring end, I spoke recently with Michael Miller, vice president of global alliances, marketing, and product management at Linux vendor SUSE. Miller works closely with SUSE's engineering team, so he has plenty of insight into the Linux jobs market.

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Hard on the heels of Canonical's decision last month to halve the support life for non-LTS releases of Ubuntu Linux, the company late last week announced that three versions of its popular Linux distribution will reach end of life in May.

Support for the server version of Ubuntu 8.04 Long Term Support (LTS) "Hardy Heron," the desktop version of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS “Lucid Lynx,” and both desktop and server versions of Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot” will end on May 9, Canonical announced in a blog post on Friday.

Anyone still using these packages should be making plans to upgrade to a newer version.

Ubuntu 8.04 Server

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Late last year Mozilla revealed a new private-browsing feature that was in the works for an upcoming version of its Firefox browser, and that's just what appeared in Mozilla's Final Release channel on Tuesday.

Specifically, Firefox 20 made its official debut with a desktop version for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and a mobile version for Android.

“Firefox includes a new enhancement to private browsing that allows you to open a new private browsing window without closing or changing your current browsing session,” explains the post officially announcing Firefox 20 on the Mozilla Blog. “You can shop for a birthday gift in a private window with your existing browsing session uninterrupted.”

A new download panel in the Firefox toolbar, meanwhile, makes it easier to download files with Firefox by allowing users to monitor, view, and locate downloaded files without having to switch to another window, as shown in the video below.

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Linux fans may recall the GNOME project's announcement late last fall that it was planning to drop its "fallback" mode aimed at systems incapable of 3D rendering and to deliver a brand-new "classic" mode instead.

Sure enough, last week saw the launch of GNOME 3.8, and there among numerous major new features and enhancements was the promised GNOME Classic traditionally flavored desktop.

Specifically, GNOME Classic retains all the underlying technologies from the current GNOME 3 Linux desktop environment but adds many popular features from the well-loved GNOME 2. Also incorporated are a variety of community-created extensions.

“GNOME 3 is elegant by default and extremely configurable by design,” said Karen Sandler, executive director of the GNOME Foundation. “The release of GNOME Classic is evidence of the ability to customize GNOME through extensions and demonstrates how our developers have listened and responded to feedback from the community.”

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Digital currency Bitcoin has had an exciting few years since its introduction back in 2009, complete with security problems, online heists, a perceived association with the drug trade, and a recent distributed denial-of-service attack.

At the same time, even as many remain mystified by how it works, the payment alternative has enjoyed rapidly growing acceptance among online businesses and, particularly in recent weeks, surging popularity and value.

Expensify

At the time of this writing on Monday, the last price listed for one Bitcoin was a whopping $103.90 on exchange Mt.Gox. For perspective, it closed at $34.59 one month ago. Last month it hit $1 billion in total value.

Last week, open source Bitcoin gained yet another pledge of support. Small-business expense reporting service Expensify announced that it has added the virtual currency as a reimbursement option for its 1.4 million users across 200,000 companies.

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