Peng’s links for Saturday, 20 September

• DesktopLinux.com: Ubuntu to fund Linux development. Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Ubuntu parent (and Free Software Day 2008 sponsor) Canonical has hired a team of designers to make Linux the most usable operating system in the world.
• Markus Thielman: Flash 10 RC2 for Ubuntu Hardy. Adobe has updated Flash 20 to a second release candidate (aka version 10.0.10.12) with a bunch of new features and bug fixes, and Markus was kind enough to package it and make it available the updated flashplungin-nonfreebeta his PPA. Being in his PPA means that if you’ve added his PPA to your software sources list you’ll get the update in your next upgrade cycle. (Markus’ post was written on Tuesday and I didn’t have it flagged properly for my last links post. My bad.)
• Nick Bauermeister: How to set up Compiz Fusion 0.7.4. With Compiz Fusion’s  update to 0.7.4 earlier this year (available with Ubuntu Hardy) came some new goodies you can play with. Nick once again has an updated post for how to Desktop Effects to get some really cool effects, like using the Desktop Cube and setting up transparencies, as well as making your cube into an aquarium with the Atlantis plugin. Alas, I believe the Desktop Sphere comes in a new version of CF but he still has some great settings. If you are a Linux user and use Compiz Fusion Nick’s post should be bookmarked, whether you usually bookmark pages or not.
• Scott Ritchie: “Native Ports” are not better. Many people love to rant about how using programs like WINE to run apps is bad and how devs should simply port their favorite app/game/whatever to Linux. Scott, being a pretty smart guy, gives the rant a reality check and points out that properly bringing an app to work nativity in Linux is a ton of work.
• Wine HQ News: Wine 1.1.5 Released. Speaking of WINE (WINE Is Not an Emulator), the WINE devs have rolled out yet another update, with “substantial JavaScript implementation” a quite a bit more. If you have WINE HQ on your repository list you should have gotten the update this morning. If you don’t, what are you waiting for?
• Alan Pope: No competition. Have you seen the Microsoft ads with Jerry Seinfeld? They’ve been replaced by ads that take aim squarely at Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads. But those ads remind Alan of something that happened to him at a pub not to long ago.
• Ed Bott: Apple continues to deceive users. You may remember Nanci’s post from March about Apple trying to shove Safari down the throats of Windows users who have installed iTunes and the ruckus Apple got for doing it. It looks like they’re doing it again, and this time they’re not even respecting the user’s decisions on what not to install. Thanks to Asa Dotzler for bringing the matter to my attention.
• Marius Nestor: Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 6 Screenshot Tour. When I wrote about Ubuntu Intrepid Alpha 6 being released yesterday I didn’t know about this, but the good people at Softpedia have once again put together a snapshot tour of how the Ibex is coming along. I would have added this to yesterday’s post but I wanted to make sure all of our readers got this update. Thanks again to sharks from the Ubuntu Forums for letting me know this latest tour was available.

Before I hit the Publish button on this post I wanted to join Matthew Helmke in urging everyone in the United States who are eligible to vote but haven’t yet registered, check out this very comprehensive list of info on voter registration in the USA. Being a republic, the voters here don’t actually make the decisions, we elect people who will make them for us. Do you really want someone else to pick who’s going to make decisions that affect so many areas of your life, especially with the current economic crisis? If you’re a convicted felon you may want to see if you’re eligible to vote again. Some states, including Virginia and Florida, have decided that some felons are eligible to vote again. You may be able to vote again, too, so check with your local Registrar of Voters to see if you are.