A large majority of Debian and Ubuntu systems are affected. To correct the problem, you'll need to not only update OpenSSL, but also revoke and replace any cryptographic keys and certificates that were generated on the affected systems. From the Debian security advisory:

Affected keys include SSH keys, OpenVPN keys, DNSSEC keys, and key material for use in X.509 certificates and session keys used in SSL/TLS connections. Keys generated with GnuPG or GNUTLS are not affected, though.

For most people, this boils down to your ssh server's host key and any public key pairs used for remote ssh authentication. Any keys or certificates generated on the affected machines for SSL/https use also need to be revoked and regenerated. It's pretty ugly, really.

As far as teachable moments go, there's probably a lot to think about here. Software developers have this weird natural tendency to want to fix and reengineer things that aren't even broken. I'd go so far as to say that the desire to reengineer is inversely proportional to a programmer's familiarity and understanding of the code. I think it comes from our intense desire to make sense of things. It's the guru who's able to channel that hacker urge into solving new problems instead of creating new bugs out of old solutions.

DSA-1571-1 openssl -- predictable random number generator
OpenSSL PRNG Debian Toys (more discussion of the problem here)

The Ubuntu Unleashed blog has a simple guide for getting Safari to run in Ubuntu. You basically install the Windows version of Safari under WINE, copy over a few core Windows fonts to your WINE install and it just works. You can even install the flash plugin.

I'm not positive that I wouldn't feel a little dirty running closed software on a Linux desktop, but considering Safari is still my preferred browser under OS X (much to the embarrassment of some of my coworkers), I can understand why this could be cool for a lot of folks.

Howto: Install Safari on Ubuntu with Flash

Hans sent us a link to HowtoForge's guide to installing and using the Ubuntu Tweak utility.

Ubuntu Tweak is a tool that lets you change hidden Ubuntu settings, for example: hide or change the splash screen, show or hide the Computer, Home, Trash, and Network icons, change Metacity, Nautilus, power management, and security settings, etc.

It's only applicable for the Gnome desktop, but it's a really convenient tool for tweaking your computer's splash screen, desktop and hibernation settings. There's nothing here that you can't do via other settings management programs or config files, but the interface is simple to use and it collects a lot of Gnome's system settings in a single application.

Tweaking Hidden Ubuntu Settings With Ubuntu Tweak - [via] Link

The latest release of the Mac4Lin project brings the Leopard look and feel to Linux. There are a number of steps you need to go through to get your GNOME desktop and GTK-based apps all looking consistent, but when you're done, the makeover is quite convincing. The only giveaway is that menus remain attached to each window, instead of displaying at the top of the screen when a window is active.

Infra Red Dude wrote a thorough guide for installing Mac4Lin and tweaking all of your applications. He covers everything from upgrading your fonts and system sounds to changing the GRUB splash screen so that your Linux box boots with the Apple logo.

Mac4Lin Installation Guide - Link
Mac4Lin project - Link

Rockstar released a few of their classic games as a free download, including the original Grand Theft Auto series. The games are distributed as Windows executables, but you can still enjoy a little top-view criminal activity in Linux by running them under WINE.

Revive your Inner Carjacker: GTA2 on Linux - Link
Rockstar Classics (download the games here) - Link

Google Desktop is now available for Linux. Unfortunately, it's not open source, and it's about equivalent to version 1 for Windows, so it won't provide all the extras like desktop gadgets.

That said, it's still a desktop alternative to find and grep, and you can search your Gmail while offline - Link

I'd love for you guys to talk some about using Linux as an alternative to Vista. Personally I'll be using Linux with Beryl to get all those nice graphical goodies OS X and Vista user have and I'll have DirectX 9c support using
Cedega.

I know several people running this setup. I can't find any game I'd be
interested in playing that won't run under Cedega and it will run
faster to boot.

I haven't used Cedega, but it appears to be a closed-source fork of the WINE project with a more developed DirectX layer. So, like WINE, your games aren't being emulated, but are running natively on the Cedega libraries. This means that DirectX 9 games will play as fast under Linux as they do in Windows. It's peculiar, but according to some benchmarks, they actually appear to run faster than under Vista!

It's a subscription based service ($5/mo), but they are supporting a huge list of games that have been tested to play on the platform. Seems interesting, and worth checking out if you can't get your favorite game running under WINE.

And do try WINE first--it's no slouch. There are a lot of great games like Half Life and Counter Strike that will play nicely. I've included a link below for installation instructions, so give it a shot if you haven't already.

Are you a Linux gamer? Are we finally reaching the point where gaming is as good or better under Linux as it is in Windows? Tell us your experiences in the comments.

More reading:

• Beryl - give Linux desktop effects like OS X Expose and Vista
• WINE Gaming: Steam, Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Counter Strike Source and 1.6
• Transgaming's Cedega - commercial WINE fork with improved DirectX support
• Linux Has Game - Linux gaming overview at bit-tech.
• Cedega 6.0 Performance Preview (benchmarks against Vista, XP)

If you have a dual-headed nVidia or ATI card, the binary-only TwinView and BigDesktop drivers (respectively) will probably perform well, but if you don't fall into either of these camps, there are still options available.

Xinerama is a standard X extension which will work with just about anything, but you give up that ability to do OpenGL direct rendering on the second screen. For many uses, this may not even be an issue. If you need the 3d support on both monitors, however, a subset of open source drivers are supported by the MergedFB driver, which does support 3D direct rendering on both screens.

Check out the dual monitor howto on the Ubuntu Forums. It covers all four options and should be relevant for any current Linux distro -Link.