One of the nice things about the open source movement is it gives us choices. The Wine project has been around for years and lets users run supported Windows applications under Linux. I got an interesting update of where Wine is at from a talk at Linux.conf.au today.

If the Gimp isn't enough for you, you may be interested to know that you can now use Wine to run Photoshop on Linux. The Code Weavers project, maintained by Dan Kegel, supports CS2 and CS3.

This tip came from a talk by Leslie Hawthorn, Google's head of open source programs. Google sponsorship helped fund the development, and there's more in the pipeline. They are also working on getting the speech recognition software Dragon Naturally Speaking working under Linux as well.

Leslie said Dan Kegel had also been working on getting iTunes to work under Linux as well. "He purchased Kraftwerk's Autobahn on iTunes!"

Wine's been lower profile in recent years, it was good to get an update on its progress. I used to recommend it to gamers who didn't want a Windows PC just for games. Have you used Wine? If so I'd be interested to hear what you thought of it.

Linux.conf.au 2008 has kicked off in Melbourne, and there are a number of sessions which look like they'll make interesting stories for Lifehacker. Tutorial on how to make your own open source DDR mat anyone? :)
I'll be cherry picking the most Lifehacker relevant stuff and posting it here - but if you're interested in Open Source in general, you can read my updates at The Open Source Report.
I'm also very pleased to report that I'll be posting a Lifehacker interview with Linus Torvalds this week as part of my LCA coverage. Permit me a small squee. :)
Ok, I'm off to a session on the OLPC now.

Linux.conf.au 2008 kicks off in Melbourne at the end of the month, and the event will be capped off by Open Day, a free event showcasing a bunch of cool homebrew tech inventions, gadgets and toys.

This year's Open Day is being held on Saturday, February 2 at Union House at the University of Melbourne's city campus. There will be over 40 exhibits about everything from movie making, 3D virtual gaming, robots and digital music exhibitions.

Previous Open Days have showcased some pretty impressive homebrew tech experiments and gadgets. Last year Australia got it's first hands on look at the OLPC computer at Open Day, and I heard that Linus Torvalds was spotted puttering around on an open source Segway - I don't think you can get any more nerdy if you tried. :)

The aim of Open Day is to offer a fun and educational day for families, kids, students or anyone with an interest in the latest cool geek projects. There will be demos, talks, competitions and opportunities to talk to the creators of all the tech on show. Best of all it's all based on open source technology so anything you like you can get involved in yourself.

I will be there reporting for Lifehacker, but if you're in Melbourne - and especially if you have kids - come along and check out Open Day. Further information is available at the Open Day website.