Thanks to GIMP FX Foundry, you can now equip GIMP 2.6 with 117 additional scripts that can work some spectacular extra effects into existing graphics.

Even admins get bitten by the gaming bug. Frets on Fire lets you train for an air guitar competition. Or try the free business simulation clones Transport Tycoon, Simutrans, or OpenTTD.

Clement Lefebvre has released new version of Linux Mint (Codename Gloria) available for download. This version includes a new menu and a reworked packet manager.

Viennese developer Tilmann Singer has programmed a wiki that is in continual edit mode. The current Tilswiki 0.8 also provides versioning.

Nagios Enterprises founder and Nagios maintainer Ethan Galstad has admitted to development bottlenecks in his project and recognizes that Nagios developers want a stronger participation in the Icinga fork project. Nevertheless, he's disappointed that Icinga didn't engage with him before they struck off on their own.

MySQL founder Monty Widenius and the Finnish MySQL services and support company Percona have joined forces to create the Open Database Alliance. The intention of the new consortium is to protect the open source status of essential MySQL components.

The first alpha release of the successor to Ubuntu 9.04 is available for download. Ubuntu 9.10, code-named Karmic Koala, includes Kernel 2.6.30 and GNOME 2.27.1.

The Swiss company Synthesis AG, which specializes in synchronizing PCs and mobile Linux devices, has released its SyncML Client library source code to the community under GPL.