HOUSTON, TX – May 1, 2008 – Belltown Media, Inc., publisher of the award-winning monthly magazine Linux Journal, has announced the winners of its annual Linux Journal Readers' Choice Awards. The 2008 winners appear in the June issue, with awards presented to vendors and organizations in 34 categories, ranging from favorite software development tool to favorite Linux laptop.

Linux Journal's annual Readers' Choice Awards take the pulse of the Linux community, allowing readers to choose their favorites in a number of categories, and write-ins also are accepted. The voting took place during the months of January and February and was open to everyone. Nearly 6,000 individuals voted for their favorite Linux solutions – one of the biggest turn-outs in Linux Journal history. Winners include:

FAVORITE PRIMARY LINUX DISTRIBUTION OF CHOICE: Ubuntu
FAVORITE DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT: GNOME
FAVORITE WEB BROWSER: Firefox
FAVORITE E-MAIL CLIENT: Mozilla Thunderbird
FAVORITE OFFICE PROGRAM: OpenOffice.org
FAVORITE COMMUNICATIONS TOOL: Pidgin
FAVORITE AUDIO TOOL: Amarok
FAVORITE MEDIA PLAYER: Mplayer
FAVORITE GRAPHICS/DESIGN TOOL: The GIMP
FAVORITE DIGITAL PHOTO MANAGEMENT TOOL: digiKam
FAVORITE TEXT EDITOR: vi
FAVORITE LINUX GAME: Frozen Bubble
FAVORITE VIRTUALIZATION SOLUTION: Vmware
FAVORITE BACKUP SYSTEM: Simple Linux Backup
FAVORITE BACKUP UTILITY: tar
FAVORITE DATABASE: MySQL
FAVORITE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE: C
FAVORITE SCRIPTING LANGUAGE: Python
FAVORITE LANGUAGE CONSTRUCTION TOOL: Flex
FAVORITE SECURITY TOOL: SSH
FAVORITE LINUX SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TOOL: Eclipse
FAVORITE PACKAGE MANAGEMENT APPLICATION: Apt
FAVORITE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION TOOL: OpenSSH
FAVORITE CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: WordPress
FAVORITE WEB SERVER: Apache
FAVORITE LINUX-FRIENDLY WEB HOSTING COMPANY: GoDaddy.com
FAVORITE NETWORK OR SERVER APPLIANCE: Avocent Cyclades ACS Console Server
FAVORITE LINUX HANDHELD DEVICE: Nokia N800
FAVORITE LINUX LAPTOP: ASUS Eee PC
FAVORITE LINUX DESKTOP WORKSTATION: Dell
FAVORITE LINUX SERVER: Dell
FAVORITE GREEN LINUX PRODUCT OR SOLUTION: Vmware
FAVORITE LINUX BOOK: Linux System Administration by Tom Adelstein and Bill Lubanovic
FAVORITE LINUX JOURNAL COLUMN: Cooking with Linux by Marcel Gagné
PRODUCT OF THE YEAR: ASUS Eee PC

“In an industry conceived, created and driven by peers, an accolade from the community is the highest compliment you can get,” said Linux Journal publisher Carlie Fairchild. “The Readers' Choice Awards, like Linux itself, come from actual users. A vote from Linux Journal readers places your product in an elite category– that of the very best in our field.”

Linux Journal's 2008 Readers' Choice Awards are featured in the June 2008 (#170) issue, available on newsstands internationally May 1. For further information, please contact publisher at linuxjournal dot com.

About Linux Journal
Linux Journal is the premier Linux magazine, dedicated to serving the Linux community and promoting the use of Linux world-wide. A monthly periodical, Linux Journal is currently in it's fourteenth year of publication. Linux Journal may be purchased at all major bookstores and newsstands and may also be ordered by calling 1-888-66-LINUX (5649), sending e-mail to subs at linuxjournal dot com or visiting http://www.linuxjournal.com/.

About the Publisher
Belltown Media, Inc. is the leading provider of integrated information and media in the open source marketplace. Media offerings span print and on-line, custom publishing, e-newsletters, and other web-based services. Belltown Media is based in Houston, TX with offices throughout the United States.
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Carlie Fairchild is the publisher of Linux Journal.