Last week, we completed the 3rd Annual Desktop Summit. If you missed the event you can read several accounts online like at Linuxplanet or there were several great blogs tracking the event. There are even audio recordings available via BitTorrent as well as videos. Here are my highlights and lowlights. HIGHLIGHTS Learn more about Dark Horizon Lore 1) Dark Horizon Lore - The gaming zone at the Summit saw the debut of Lore, a first-person shooter battle between Mechanized Assault Vehicles. Distributor and developer GarageGames is "carrying out a bold mission" to make game development practical for those without a massive budget. And best of all, the games are cross platform - Microsoft Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and now even game consoles. Linux needs more games! Lore is one of the best ever and adds to other popular titles like ThinkTanks and Marble Blast. 2) Alacos - Many people want to migrate to Linux to avoid high software costs, viruses, and spyware, but what about all the data from their old computer? Newcomer Alacos was showing off their Linux Migration Agent, which quickly moves your email, documents and settings (icons, bookmarks, favorites, backgrounds, etc.) from virtually any Microsoft Windows version to Linux. It's an invaluable tool for upgrading and will soon be available to home users for $39.95. The network version can handle huge corporate migrations and boasts remote migration management plus automatic pre-installation of a desktop Linux OS on each machine. Learn more about Switchvox 3) Switchvox - This VoIP company debuted showing off their powerful and cost-effective Linux-based PBX system. They've combined the power of Linux-based Asterick software with a brilliant point-and-click interface for any small-to medium-size enterprise to use as a phone system. It offers huge cost savings for those in need of a digital phone system. Terrific stuff! 4) MP3tunes - A consumer-friendly (Linux-friendly!) music store debuted. This store gives you a music locker so you can keep track of all your tracks and they're all in high-quality 192k MP3 format so they will work on all computers, players and devices. The site got clobbered with the initial surge of users, but should have caught its breath by now. Plus we got the chart ranking system working, so you'll see what people are buying if you browse the charts. I've included a list at the bottom of some of the great songs I've found. Take a minute and listen to my faves and let me know what yours are! 5) Novell and AMD - It is great to see some well-established companies move beyond Linux on the server and support the Desktop Summit. AMD talked about Learn more about AMD their 64bit strategy and Novell distributed the latest SuSE software. I personally invited every major technology company - yes, even Microsoft. I think many are still crystallizing their strategy when it comes to the desktop. All see the wave building though. 6) Win4Lin - Win4Lin announced their new company name (formerly known as NeTraverse) and publicly previewed for the first time their Win4Lin Home product at the Summit. Their Home Edition allows you to run Windows applications on Linux operating system for only $29.95! 7) Fantastic speakers - Mitch Kapor, Doc Searls, Brenno de Winter, Chris Pirillo, Mitchell Baker, and many more. You'll find links to their audio here as well as a link to Chris Pirillo's hilarious presentation. LOWLIGHTS: 1) The weather - San Diego, known for its temperate weather and 320 days of sunshine a year, let us down. So much for the "February is a great time to invite people to San Diego - let's have the Desktop Summit then" strategy. 2) Summit's wireless net - I guess it's not a good idea to get a bunch of PC-minded people and 30 vendors sharing an 802.11 network. 3) Missed Rob Glaser - RealNetwork's Helix technology is coming along nicely. Unfortunately, the much anticipated presentation from Rob Glaser was thwarted by travel woes. Bummer, because I enjoy Rob's infectious energy and passion. Rob had a substitute, Rob Lanphier, give his presentation. Here are some of the great songs I've discovered at MP3tunes. Listen to them and let me know if you love 'em, hate 'em or have found better ones.

Album My favorite songs Ebulition, Strange Condition - Thick guitar driven rock with great lyrics. Try Passing By Lost In My Head, Nicole Gordon - I'm a softy for rich female vocalists. Love Is A Light Out There, I-94 - This album is charting in Top 40 on MP3tunes with the help of popular "Walls Around You" Walls Around You Cathedral, Rubenstein - This electronic down tempo album is ideal for late night working music. Whole album is quality, but "Wired Angel" and "Cathedral" are extra good. Wired Angel Cathedral Getting On, Megan Fogerty - Piano driven folk that my wife is fond of. "Getting On" shows off her talent. Getting On

-- Michael

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