If you have ever dual-booted Linux and Windows like I have, you would know that Amarok for KDE (a GUI for Linux) is far superior to Winamp and iTunes. Since it was only found within Linux, every time I used Winamp I would always wish that I could have Amarok instead because of great features like:

* Excellent support for scripts (plugins)
* Doesn’t support any audio formats (all formats are installed through engines)
* Has a better album display:

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For those that don’t already know, the PS3 supports Linux, and has its own distribution of Terrasoft’s Yellow Dog Linux as well as capable versions of Fedora, Gentoo, Ubuntu. On top of these Linux flavors, there is this cool Japanese man’s guide for Debian that helps homebrewers boot their own custom games, or do many other creative things with a Linux live cd.

Sony has been rather open about the use of Linux on the PS3, even assisting Tuxophiles with access to partitioning tools and a boot loader, making the installation of another OS simple and streamlined. All is not well though, as Sony has blocked advanced usage of the nVIDIA RSX chip (which shares its name with an Acura) and Linux users aim to unlock the powerful graphics processor.

Citing fears of home production or usage of games not originally designed for the PS3 coupled with control issues of with the Blu-Ray player, Sony has blocked the GPU with the PS3’s hypervisor. In other words, the platform that allows multiple operating systems to run on the PS3 also treats any OS besides the main one as a guest OS, therefore restricting access to hardware, in this case the nVIDIA RSX chip.

Although internet petitions barely ever work (the last one I ever did was one for re-releasing Timesplitters 2 for the PS2 as an online-capable game), go ahead and help the cause by signing the petition here.

[Via the Inquirer]

Honestly Microsoft, just give up. You spent the last decade coming up with a feature that can hardly compete with Apple’s five year old Exposé, and now you have a competitor that offers its open source software for free to deal with. Have you ever thought about going back to the drawing board, making something that works, doesn’t rip off your competitors and above all else: doesn’t suck? Do that for me then maybe we can talk. Maybe.

[via Digg]