fossforce.com: About a week and a half ago, I was nearly taken-in when an item appeared on The Register that tied recent Linux desktop woes to behind the scenes moves by Microsoft to enforce patents against GNOME. Supposedly, GNOME was violating Redmond’s patented designs of the Windows 95 desktop, most specifically the Start Menu and the Start button.

theregister.co.uk: There never will be a year when Linux conquers the desktop, because desktop computers are going to merge into tablet-style touch-driven devices and disappear. But desktop Linux was getting close, until Microsoft derailed it a few years back. The GNOME project’s recent release, GNOME 3.8, served to remind me of the significance of Microsoft’s actions.

mjg59.dreamwidth.org: There's now no shortage of Linux distributions that support Secure Boot out of the box, so that's a mostly solved problem. But even if your distribution supports it entirely you still need to boot your install media in the first place.

linuxinsider.com (blog safari): Last week we saw our favorite operating system named the "benchmark of quality". Now, the cheerfest continues with no less than a confession from a Windows kernel developer that Linux development is better. Could it get any better than this?

datamation.com: In this article, I'll be offering my own comparison between Ubuntu and Windows, explaining where each has its strengths and which OS offers something better overall.

networkworld.com: This post is coming to you courtesy of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. While I could tell you I thought it would be cool to use Ubuntu Linux as my primary desktop OS for a while, I would be lying. The fact is I don't have a choice.

• Microsoft is lagging Linux
• Anonymous MSFT developer admits Linux is faster than Windows
• Dear Microsoft: Windows 8 Is Great

itwire.com: Six months have gone by since Windows 8 hit the market and it looks like Linux distributions - at least the better-known ones - are still struggling to ensure that they can live side by side with this operating system.

computerweekly.com: The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has taken a direct potshot at Windows 8 development.

wired.com: Microsoft Open Technologies is a bit of an odd duck: It’s an independent subsidiary set up to push open source efforts by the world’s most famous proprietary software company. Last week, Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc. quietly turned one year old.

extremetech.com: After gaining just 0.4% of the PC market in February, Windows 8 positively exploded in March, gaining another 0.5% of the market — an astronomical growth rate of almost 20%.

• Beware of Windows Blue
• Is Windows Blue Microsoft's next step in killing the desktop?
• No Windows desktop mode!? No!

arstechnica.com: A Spanish group that represents open source software users has accused Microsoft of using an "obstruction mechanism" to prevent buyers of Windows 8 computers from installing Linux-based operating systems.

Also: Ultimate PC security requires UEFI

zdnet.com: I've just bought a new Aspire One 725 Acer sub-notebook/netbook - here's my take and my adventures loading it with three different flavours of Linux.

phoronix.com: In our benchmarks of Microsoft Windows 8, we have found that Intel's Windows OpenGL driver is generally superior to that of their open-source Linux graphics driver. Some progress has been made, but in today's testing Linux has a ways to go.