It’s a general matter of course in any given year that as Thanksgiving draws ever closer, more than a few Linux bloggers begin to wax sentimental about their favorite operating system, often recounting all the many reasons they’re thankful it exists. It is the start of the season of thankfulness, after all. This year, the usual pattern doesn’t seem to have happened.

What a difference a year makes. It used to be that gaming was Linux’s “Achilles’ heel” of sorts, cited by more than a few enthusiasts as justification for their reluctance to switch away from Windows. Fast forward to today, and gaming may well be the focus of more Linux-centered excitement than any other area. How did we get from point A to point B, you may ask?

It’s obvious from the latest U.S. election that our voting system could use some improvement in terms of both enabling and supporting voters and efficiently tallying and verifying a trusted result. Open source offers the technology, as well as the culture and community, to address these challenges, and it may be among the best solutions.

Here in the Linux blogosphere, there are several hypothetical scenarios that most agree would surely make the Earth stand still. Flying pigs, of course, is one of them; numerous others, however, involve Microsoft doing something that promotes Linux. It was perhaps no great surprise, then, to witness the stunned hush that fell over the blogosphere when a recent tidbit of news hit the airwaves.

Well it seems like the dust may finally be settling here in the Linux blogosphere, and Linux Girl is fervently hoping for some long-overdue rest. We endured the launch of Rectangle with Rounded Corners 5; we patiently listened to the endless blaring fanfare surrounding Windows 8′s debut. Is there no end to the autumnal excitement?

To “celebrate” the launch of Windows 8 just a few days before Halloween, activists from the Free Software Foundation played a little trick and handed out some treats at a launch event in New York City. With a costume-clad “GNU” leading the effort, the FSF representatives handed out DVDs loaded with Trisquel along with FSF stickers and information about the group’s new pledge.

It’s no secret that many here in the Linux blogosphere greeted Windows 8 with jubilation — not because they had any intention of using it, but because of the opportunity they think it represents for Linux to capture a greater proportion of mainstream users. That, indeed, was the hot topic du jour last week, but this week the conversation has shifted slightly.

Now that Windows 8 has made its long-awaited and widely trumpeted debut, there seems to be a fresh air of excitement and purpose here in the Linux blogosphere. This, of course, is not to say that many of us here are particularly excited about Microsoft’s new OS, per se. Quite the opposite, in fact: Many of us are excited about the opportunity Win 8 means for Linux.

There just doesn’t seem to be any rest for the weary here in the Linux blogosphere lately, what with the release of Ubuntu Linux 12.10 “Quantal Quetzal” last week and the “Rectangle with Rounded Corners” 5 not long before that. Next up? Well, it’s Windows 8, which officially launches on Friday.

Well it’s been another wild week here in the Linux blogosphere, but this time the cause will come as no surprise to anyone who cares about Linux or FOSS. Last week, of course, was the week that included Oct. 18 — a date most of us have had marked on our calendars for the past oh, say, six months. Why? Because it was none other than the official release date of Ubuntu 12.10 “Quantal Quetzal.”

The Secure Boot saga may seem like it’s been dragging on forever here in the Linux blogosphere, but the truth is that it’s a mere babe in Redmond arms compared with the never-ending Apple v. Samsung drama. It seems safe to say that most FOSS fans are sick to death of hearing about both of them, but recently the always-insightful team over at TuxRadar posed yet another interesting question.

Herbert Lom, the actor who played the twitchy Chief Inspector Dreyfuss in the old Pink Panther movies, recently passed away. Linux fans can surely feel some sympathy with Lom’s character. We may not have Clouseau to grate on our nerves here in the Linux community, but we certainly have something with the potential to be equally annoying: Windows 8 Secure Boot.

With fewer than 30 days remaining until the U.S. presidential election, it’s become more or less impossible to hear ourselves think here in the Linux blogosphere, so loud is the din emanating from the land of stars and stripes. Of course, misery loves company, which probably explains why there’s nary an unoccupied barstool at the Punchy Penguin Pub.

It’s been a momentous few weeks for FOSS fans, not least because LibreOffice — one of the most popular exemplars of free and open source software today — celebrated its second anniversary late last month. Indeed, with 325 active committers over the last 12 months, LibreOffice is now the third-largest free software project listed on Ohloh focused on the development of a desktop application.

“To every thing there is a season,” as the old saying goes, and “a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Can the same be said for Linux distros? That is the question that’s been on many Linux bloggers’ minds. Specifically, “What Distros Have You Used, in What Order?” was the title of the Ask Slashdot post that got the conversational ball rolling, and it was a provocative one.