Stories of the month: November

Smelly socks, Windows Vista, iPods and the death of the Linux desktop have all been top of the news agenda for silicon.com readers in the last month.

Among the most-read stories of November was the list of PC horror stories, where exploding bananas, WD40 and reversing trucks have all conspired to ruin hardware, leading many readers no doubt to back up their data right after reading the story.

Stories of the month - November

Click on the links below to read the stories eveybody is talking about...

Ten things not to do with your data

The A to Z of security

'Extreme Big Brother fears to become a reality'

Leader: Linux vs Windows - is the battle over?

CIO Jury: The Linux desktop is dead

Second Life bogged down by grey goo

Why the Linux desktop dream is over

Vista release date: 30 November 2006

Half of iPod owners 'will ditch Apple for Zune'

Denial of service attackers face 10 years in jail

Another popular story was silicon.com's A to Z of security, offering a quick lowdown on everything from antivirus right through to zero-day attacks. And if that whets your appetite, have a look at the A to Z of wireless published earlier this week.

Bad news for fans of Linux came in another story which proved popular with readers, explaining why the Linux desktop dream is over. Three-quarters of silicon.com's CIO Jury IT user panel also said they don't ever see Linux being a viable alternative to Windows on the desktop.

And as a Leader column pointed out, Microsoft may now have more to fear from software as a service rather than the much touted Linux desktop.

Vista, being the biggest launch for Microsoft since Windows XP, has also been generating a lot of interest - it seems that many of you can't wait for 30 November - not long now - when the OS is finally unveiled to business customers. So stay tuned for all our coverage on the day.

And if you still haven't had enough, look at some behind-the-scenes Vista photos here.

Meanwhile, back in the metaverse, Second Life has certainly been racking up the column inches almost as fast as it adds new residents - but it's not been without its troubles, facing an attack of 'grey goo' earlier this month.