11.18.08
Gemini version available ♊︎Links 18/11/2008: Flash for GNU/Linux Finally Embraces 64-bit
GNU/Linux
- The Super Windows That…Couldn’t
One of the more bizarre accusations flung by Microsoft at GNU/Linux over the years is that it doesn’t scale. This is part of a larger campaign to portray it as a kind of “toy” operating system – fine for low-end stuff, but nothing you’d want to run your enterprise on.
Sadly, that narrative has been rather undermined by the independent Top500 supercomputing sites ranking. Five years ago, the GNU/Linux family ran 36.80% of the top 500 supercomputers; worse, Windows ran on precisely one supercomputer.
- SAP and Microsoft, Watch Your Back
A lot of large companies are tapping these technologies to good advantage. Walt Disney (DIS), for example, uses Linux open-source software on its animated movies.
- is there a long-term future for the netbook?
The retail impact of Linux in the netbook market has been huge, with many retailers reporting that Linux based netbooks were taking up 40% or more of their notebook class shipments.
- Giving Thanks to Linux and Open Source
- Linux Community’s unoffical mascot taken by Microsoft
Microsoft has now successfully claimed the penguin as their “symbol”. Yep, I see it coming…”What’s the big deal helios? So they use a flock of penguins to advertise.” If those words come out of your mouth, I would make certain they weren’t heard too loudly. Ask yourself this. Why penguins? How many tens of thousands of other animals could they have chosen?
- Internet Café Invaded by Linux Desktop
You may ask why I’m happy about this recent experience. —Well, I really want Linux to succeed, and seeing it now being used in a Windows-dominated Internet café business is a telltale sign that the Linux desktop is geared up for the mainstream crowd. So, cheers to that!
- Linux Makes the Grade
In 2001, Indiana officials at the Department of Education were taking stock. The schools had an excellent network infrastructure and had installed significant numbers of computers for 1 million public school enrollees. Yet students were spending less than an hour a week on the computer. Why?
Shuttling students to and from computer labs and managing their time there restricted computer use so much that, analysis showed, certain students had access cut to less than 35 minutes a week. It was then that state officials knew each student needed a computer, and Indiana’s one-to-one initiative was launched. But how were they to pay for such a huge project that would have cost $100 million a year in software licensing alone?
- Dell’s Linux Ads: Microsoft’s Nightmare Before Christmas?
- The Bizarre Cathedral – 31
- Flickr Uploaders for Linux: Secretive, But Not Endangered Beasts
- Windows App Alternatives For Linux: MSPaint
- Lockheed Martin to Migrate to LynuxWorks’ Latest Operating System and Developer Toolkit for Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) Program
- Power PMAC motion computer provides easy configuration
- Eyeing Open Source OS, VDEL Launches SoftwareUnited
- Open Source Portable Firewall Debuts
- The benefits of Linux in the law office.
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Desktop Environments
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Adobe
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Kernel Space
- Linux 2.6.28-rc5
- Kernel Log: New graphics drivers and Linux versions: Dom0 patches for 2.6.29?
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Linus Torvalds
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Graphics
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Distributions
- [Stalinux:] Coming soon!
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Ubuntu
- Attack Of The Ubuntu Forks
- What the Next Theme for Ubuntu Should (and Should Not) Be
- 101 High Quality Ubuntu Wallpapers
- Customizing Ubuntu to provide stunning looks
- Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 117
- Ubuntu Studio 8.10
- Ubuntu 8.10 Final
- Metacity Compositing Effects in Ubuntu 8.10
- Discovering Ubuntu as a Windows User
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Mint
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Fedora/Red Hat
F/OSS
- XMind goes open source
- oDesk says PHP development outstrips demand for all other programming skills
- Engine Yard Introduces Developer Support for Merb
- Freedom OSS Announces ‘Freedom Open Source Survey’
- ACM selects Motama’s software as the final winner of Open Source competition
- Django 1.0.1 released!
- What’s new in LyX 1.6?
- Open Source BI Fights For Its Share
- Open Source Lets Developers Speed SOA Development Despite Economic Slowdown
- Open Source and Sustainability, Updated
- Way of Life
- Rule #2: Create a community
- Open source questions answered and myths debunked
- Collaboration Is At The Heart Of Open Source Content Management
- Mozilla Thunderbird using Drupal
- Oscommerce Shopping Cart Customization and Integration Services
- Open Source Code For The Virtualized World
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NASA
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OpenOffice.org
- Presenting with Linux – Impress with Success
- Norway encourages use of open source software
- Another day, another Microsoft lie
This time around it’s a study by ClickStream Technologies, which found Microsoft Office, to be far more popular than OpenOffice.org, which in turn was far more popular than Google Docs. What Microsoft doesn’t mention is that ClickStream is headed by Microsoft’s former head of Microsoft Office research. Very independent, eh?
Boycott Novell did some digging about this latest Microsoft study, and found, just underneath the dirt’s surface that ClickStream’s senior research analyst is also a former Microsoft Corporation researcher and strategist for the Office product. If you buy that this study will say anything except what Microsoft wants it to say, I have some early-release, Detroit Lion SuperBowl tickets you might also want to buy. Cheap!
- So you thought OpenOffice.org controlled ODF? Think again…
These news are a week old, but I thought it would be wise to have the dust settle a bit before writing about them.
What was announced last week? The OpenOffice.org project had opened a project called the ODF Toolkit. What this project was all about, really, was to design a toolkit for ODF Documents. It included, obviously, the capacity the create applications producing ODF. But the goal was much broader than that; the ODF Toolkit was and is a piece of the essential “plumbing” for processing ODF documents.
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Interviews
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India
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GPLpedia
MAFIAA
- French music industry wants P2P ban
- Law professor fires back at song-swapping lawsuits (AP)
- Mark Cuban Charged With Insider Trading
- Text: SEC Complaint Against Mark Cuban
Internet/Net Neutrality
Leftover
Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day
Victor Stone talks about music, Free Software, Creative Commons and life at Microsoft 04 (2004)
Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.
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David Gerard said,
November 18, 2008 at 8:10 am
The netbook form factor has a future because they’re real computers that are ridiculously convenient and handy. No-one could use one and think otherwise.
Victor Soliz said,
November 18, 2008 at 2:38 pm
yes, they are freaking awesome.
Unfortunately, it turns out the eee has a deadly battery issue that makes it waste battery when turned off, making it quite useless. It seems this was fixed for later versions, but that made me sure not to ever purchase an ASUS computer anymore. I hope there better netbooks in the future.
Roy Schestowitz said,
November 18, 2008 at 2:42 pm
ARM has got some good things coming. It’s also Intel-free, not just Microsoft-free. It’s more energy-efficient.
David Gerard said,
November 18, 2008 at 3:15 pm
There’s any number of netbook makers, not just Asus. The competition is vicious and effective, and Microsoft can’t take ‘em all out but it can sow the seeds of disaster with $0 OEM licenses it’s not legally allowed to make nontransferable in many countries. And they’ll still use half the battery under Linux. It’s a great time to be a computer buyer.