Some issues facing the open source community are difficult to explain to outsiders, but some are problems the whole world faces. One issue most people care about is the right to vote. What does the right to vote have to do with open source software?

PHPWomen.org recently held an article-writing contest on their Best Practices Forum. Authors of the two winning submissions each received copies of Zend Studio for Eclipse, a 1-year subscription to Linux Pro Magazine (which is called Linux Magazine outside North America), and the opportunity to feature their articles on the magazine websites. Congratulations goes to Gerard Sychay for his winning submission!

For many people, the summer is an ideal time to go on vacation. Summer of 2008 was also a productive time for Amarok developers.

Mobile phone vendor Openmoko announced that they are publishing the schematics for the Neo 1973 and Neo FreeRunner mobile phones.

Linux Pro Magazine's Editor in Chief, Joe Casad, sat down with Ubuntu's Community Manager, Jono Bacon, at this week's LinuxWorld in San Francisco.

Attracting both new and experienced Drupal users, Drupal Camp Toronto is home to a thriving community with global reach.

Charly reports from LUG Camp in Flensburg, Germany. The fact that Charly got wet has nothing to do with absent mindedness, but much to do with the sheer wetness of the event.

LinuxWorld Conference & Expo is next week at the Moscone Center in San Franciso, California.