Most PHP developers will use a text editor to build their sites, hand editing the bulk of the code to add everything from the basic database interface to the top end user-level interface and functionality. In general it is not the best of environments and often leads to developers getting bogged down in the minutiae of the process, rather than focus on the functionality of the application they are developing. Part of the reason for this is the comparatively disjointed nature of development; you edit the code in a text editor but can only really access the content through a web browser. Qcodo aims to simplify the development of the core of your application by allowing you to build the application definition and have the code written for you, freeing up you (or your developers) to work on the functionality and interface sides.

Zope is a web application server, based around and closely modeling the Python programming language. It's open source and has a very rich development environment that makes it easy for people to develop extensions and enhancements for interfacing to different products and services. Zope is one of those projects that I reluctantly call forgotten. It's not the right term, but with some additional explanation you'll see where I'm coming from. Zope is not, in any way languishing (quite the opposite), but it is a technology and application that people simply use and deploy web sites and applications - often forgetting the significance of the environment in which they are deploying their application.

Greg Nawrocki has some interesting comments on open source's new target: systems management.

He argues that projects like Globus and Xen could lead to new range of open source based system management projects.

One of the common arguments against Open Source and Linux is that much of it is all too new and unproven. A key part of the Open Source market is the Perl programming language, and yesterday Perl celebrated its 18th birthday. At 18, Perl predates Windows (but admittedly not DOS) - even when wider adoption of Perl occurred at Perl 4 (21/3/1991), and Linux (1992). Even Linux is 13. As to maturity of the products, would companies like Amazon and Bank of Canada use Perl ? (check out MasonHQ's pages on users of the HTML::Mason module for a complete listof users of just one module.

Ubuntu is fast becoming a popular choice for people wanting a capable Linux-based desktop environment. I like it (although I admit to using Gentoo because it appeals to my development needs). Although I generally recommend Kubuntu to most new users. Ubuntu is popular because it comes pre-configured with a lot of the applications that people need, right there, out of the box. Well, off the CD. Or DVD. Ubuntu is also available both as an installable version, so you can place it on your hard drive, and as a Live CD, so that you can try it out before you install it.

Alex Scoble argues that Security is not about the application, it's about a process and being vigilant, proactive and responsible about what you do.

I agree entirely, but I think I'd go a bit further and say that security is more just a process: its a state of mind.

It's not just about constantly being vigilant, it's about never trusting anything, no matter what application, or environment you are in. That goes way beyond computing into other areas as well, because today you never know when that piece of information about you will wind up being used in a computing environment. Your card may be skimmed at a checkout and then used online; giving out your DOB to anybody but those that really need it is daft. Answering the phone and giving security details is equally silly - the information you just provided over the phone could be used to login to your bank account online.

Computer religion is just as polarized as any other facet of human existence, and even if you use the same OS, there's usually something else you can find to argue about. In the Linux world, once you've got over the argument about using Linux, and then which distribution to use, the next argument is usually which desktop environment to use. As I've explained before, there are loads of choices if you want them, but the majority of Linux users employ one of two solutions - Gnome and KDE:

• Gnome is about usability, accessibility and ensuring that the user can do and understand what they need to. Sometimes this is at the risk of more complex functionality. Gnome instead concentrates on providing a rich foundation of basic features.

Yesterday I commented on the issue of forcing users to update their systems to help eliminate the threats from worms like Blaster.

A few people have commented and pointed out the flaw to my argument - that updates break some environments and that forced updates in the business world would be a bad idea.

They are right, of course, but I did state in my post yesterday that I don't see computers within organizations and with well defined policies on updating their machines and keeping them up to date as the big issue; it's the home users and small businesses that are the most likely culprits for continuing to distribute worms in this way, and therefore the people who should be forced to update.

Two years on, and apparently Blaster Worm still prevalent in the wild.

The article looks at some of the reasons, but many of them relate to people re-installing the OS and then not updating and the large numbers of individuals not updating their systems from Windows XP SP1 to SP2.

How do you get people to update to the latest version and protect their machines?

In a large company where they have policies and use the functionality of Group Policy and Software Update Services to force individual clients to be kept up date. Ironically, these organizations are usually the ones with firewalls and email filtering that probably means these types of attacks do not make it through in the first place.

According to Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett, the new $100 laptop, designed to be used by children and adults alike in the developing world.

To quote from the article and Mr Barrett:

"Mr. Negroponte has called it a $100 laptop -- I think a more realistic title should be 'the $100 gadget'," Barrett, chairman of the world's largest chipmaker, told a press conference in Sri Lanka. "The problem is that gadgets have not been successful."

Sadly I think he's right - the article goes on to explain that people want to be able to run PC applications - and again I think this is right. People want compatibility with the other millions of computers out there, not cut-down computers that have limited compatibility with other machines (except, maybe, for browsing the Internet and sending email) and the software they run.