Welcome From The Chief Editor

Can you believe that it's September already? Just think of it … summer is waning in the northern hemisphere, the hours of daylight are getting shorter, school has started up again, and fall will soon be here, with leaves of deciduous trees putting on their glorious annual display of color. Oh, and T6 just recently made his 10,000th forum post, revealing a heretofore unknown forum user level of "Super Villain." Congratulations, T6. You certainly do help keep us entertained.

Change continues to come to PCLinuxOS, and the rest of the computing world. KDE 4.5.0 was recently released, and 4.5.1 is literally right around the corner. Texstar, true to form, has KDE 4.5.0 released, and is working on KDE 4.5.1 (according to the Twitter posts). Novell is looking to sell out, after battling a foe (SCO) that just wouldn't die. Google grabbed up some of the spotlight as they reneged on their commitment to net neutrality, presumably as a part of their new-found partnership with Verizon Wireless (who has been opposed to net neutrality all along). Meanwhile, Chile has joined the rank of countries officially supporting net neutrality.

This month, The NEW PCLinuxOS Magazine starts a series of articles covering the LXDE desktop environment. Just as we did with KDE 4 and Xfce 4.6.2, we'll take a look at LXDE over the next few months. To kick it off, I've written three LXDE articles for this issue, and start is off with my LXDE: An Overview article. I continue taking a look at LXDE, with my LXDE: The Control Center article. To round out the LXDE articles for this month, I tackle a more advance topic, with my LXDE: Autostart Apps With .desktop Files article. As a bonus, Hootiegibbon walks us through his efforts to resurrect an older laptop that many of us wouldn't give a second thought to, in his Installing PCLinuxOS-LXDE On An IBM Thinkpad 600e article.

Meemaw continues her series on OpenOffice 3.2, with her OpenOffice 3.2, Part 4: Impress article. With the resumption of school, she also takes a look a the use of Linux in education, with her Educational Linux! article. Darrel Johnston takes a look at another alternate operating system, with his Alternate OS: Syllable, Part 1 article. He also spotlights one of the more recent additions from our talented developers to the repository, with his Repo Spotlight: Repository Speed Test article. Muungwana examines the value of Linux's market share, with his Does Linux Market Share Matter? What Matters? article.

Pete Kelly wraps up his article series on the command line this month, with his Command Line Interface Intro: Part 12 article. Ryan Smith joins us again this month to review another game, in his Game Zone: Battle For Wesnoth article. Gary Ratliff continues his alphabetical march through computer programming languages, with his Computer Languages A to Z: Octave article. Dan Malewski returns with a third installment in his article series, Beginner's Guide To Gimp: Part 3. And, ms_meme is back with three entertaining columns this month, as well as Mark Szorady's Double Take & Mark's Quick Gimp Tip.

To round out this issue, I take a look at one of Google's recent announcements to pull the plug on Google Wave, with my Google Wave Waves Goodbye article. We also start a special, bi-monthly series of articles that take a look at some of the Ladies Of PCLinuxOS. To start it off, we get to learn more about Meemaw.

That's quite a bit. Hopefully, it will give you plenty to read over the next month. So, until next month, I wish each and every one of you peace, happiness, serenity and tranquility.

Paul Arnote [parnote]
PCLinuxOS Magazine Chief Editor