01.23.09

Links 23/01/2009: Linux Demand Rises, ASUS Says 40% of Sub-notebooks to Run GNU/Linux

Posted in News Roundup at 6:26 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

• Demand for Linux Surges

  Today, oDesk typically has 175-200 jobs posted per month with the “Linux” keyword in them. A yearly snapshot of this metric shows serious growth.
  Year # of Jobs*
  2006 128
  2007 796
  2008 2014

  *Job openings with “Linux” as a keyword

  Linux jobs are clearly on the rise, but a more interesting piece of trivia is that there are currently 87 open jobs with the keyword “Linux,” compared to 134 jobs with “Windows” and 43 jobs with “Mac.” This indicates a 32% market share for Linux among new jobs, significantly higher than the 12.7% share of the server market and 1-2% share of the desktop market that Linux owns according to Wikipedia. Of course, to suggest that Linux truly has a 32% market share on oDesk is aggressive; many job posters do not specify that they prefer Windows — it’s just assumed. But perhaps this is a leading indicator of Linux’s continued growth on oDesk.

• Darwin at 200 and Linux at 20

  It is in fact an homage to Darwin on his forthcoming 200th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species comes in a week where for the first time it is shown conclusively that a group of Dung Beetles have switched from a dung to a millipede diet, heradling a start of a new species.

  And so, with dung and new species in mind, we look to the future when Windows 7 is released and Linux will be 20.

• Don’t Fear the Penguin: A Newbie’s Guide to Linux

  Getting started with Linux can be an intimidating task, particularly for people who have never tried any operating system besides Windows. In truth, however, very little about Linux is actually difficult to use. It’s simply a different OS, with its own approach to doing things. Once you learn your way around a Linux desktop, you’re likely to find that it’s no more challenging to work with than Windows or Mac OS.

• Quicktime 7.6 fixes security flaws

  Despite the fact that Mac OS/X is BSD Unix beneath Apple’s proprietary eye-candy desktop GUI, Apple doesn’t offer a Linux version of Quicktime. However, Mplayer for Linux handles Quicktime encoded files. Mplayer for Linux is not implicated by Apple’s Quicktime video player security flaws

• Linux, Are You Our Hero?

  Linux powers the largest cloud computing services, hosts most of the world’s web services, inherently protects us from viruses and other malware programs, makes up powerful super computers and runs the humble TiVo. In the most fundamental way, Linux is a hero — a hero that also saves you bundle of cash.

• IBM Helps Businesses, Consumers Weather the Storm With Cost Effective Software

  Lotus Symphony is also a component in two low cost software-based offerings from IBM Lotus, Lotus Foundations and the IBM Open Client (OCCS), the active ingredient in a popular Linux desktop software bundle.

• Using Web Data to Determine the Most Popular Linux Flavor

  There’s a lot of talk around the internets about which (free) Linux distro is the ‘best.’ And while this article won’t opine either way, I do hope to put some perspective on the Linux debate using public data.

• Desktop Parade

  La Repubblica, one of the two major Italian newspapers, has opened a competition for the most beautiful, original personal desktop.

• Being Anti-Linux is bad for your business’ health

  Remember today’s date: January 22, 2009. It may go down in business history as the day that it became clear that proprietary software had been broken by Linux and open-source software.

  First, Microsoft had its biggest layoffs in the company’s history. Yes, Microsoft still makes billions, but, for the first time ever, Microsoft is staggering.

• It’s Time to Customize the OS

  Fortunately this is changing. IT departments are starting to tailor OSs to gain agility, drive down support costs and enhance security. This is particularly true in the Linux environment, where new tools are making the promise of a tailored, fully supported Linux a reality.

  [...]

  Customizing Linux

  Ironically, although Linux is modular and designed to be customized, relatively few organizations take advantage of the capability because of the support issue.

  Linux vendors are addressing that by improving the granularity of their packages to enable buyers to take existing Linux building blocks and apply them in different combinations based on each user’s needs. Linux’s modular architecture is ideal for creating JeOS because it can be easily stripped down and modified.

• VMware developers release GUI debugging tool for GTK+

  VMware’s Christian Hammond and David Trowbridge have released a new tool called Parasite that can hook into GTK+ applications to facilitate interactive GUI debugging.

• LCA2009

  • Congratulations Mr President – Linux Australia goes to the vote

    A new President is about to be inaugurated; yes, Linux Australia’s Council is in the midst of its general elections with the results to be declared at the annual general meeting held as part of Linux.Conf.Au (LCA) 2009.

  • Building A PC Case From Spare Shampoo Bottles

    A feature of Linux.conf.au 2009 in Hobart is Batteries Not Included, a tech-influenced art event — and one of the more striking installation ideas is the Frank Zappa Project, a garbage bin for collecting plastic shampoo bottles from delegate hotel rooms to be recycled into casing for machines built as part of the OLPC project.

  • Live from Down Under: Report from Linux.conf.au 2009

    For FOSS fans, there’s no better place to be this week than Hobart, state capitol of the Australian state Tasmania. That’s where Linux.conf.au 2009 is being held through Saturday, January 24.

• Kernel Space

  • Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit

    The third annual Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit will take place from the 8th to the 10th of April in San Francisco, California at the Hotel Kabuki. The goal of the event is to bring the players in the Linux ecosystem together to discuss current Linux development issues.

  • Open source identity: Linux founder Linus Torvalds

    Linus Torvalds is a regular visitor to Australia in January. He comes out for some sunshine and to attend the annual linux.conf.au organised by Linux Australia. He took some time out to speak to Rodney Gedda about a host of topics including point releases, filesystems and what it is like switching to GNOME.

• Distributions

  • Red Hat

    • Ext4 to be standard for Fedora 11, Btrfs also included

      According to current plans, version 11 of Fedora, which is expected to arrive in late May, will use Ext4 as its standard file system. That’s what the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo) recently decided, following a heated discussion in an IRC meeting. If however Ext3′s successor encounters big problems with the pre-release versions of Fedora 11, the developers will dump that plan and revert to Ext3.

    • Interview: Chris Morgan on Jopr

      JBoss Operations Network (JON) recently became available as an open source solution through the Jopr project. (That’s pronounced “jopper.”) We interviewed Chris Morgan from Red Hat’s JON group to learn more.

  • Ubuntu

    • Ubuntu Server Edition Gains ERP, Business Applications

      I spotted a guide earlier today that shows IT administrators how to install Openbravo’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software on Ubuntu. Frankly, the guide extends beyond my technical knowledge. But it signals an important milestone: True business applications are finally coming to Ubuntu Server Edition and its desktop counterpart.

• Devices/Embedded

  • GCI Deploys Industry-Leading VOD Analytics Solution with Concurrent

    Concurrent (Nasdaq: CCUR), a worldwide leader in real-time Linux-based computing technologies, announced today that GCI (General Communication, Inc.) (Nasdaq: GNCMA), an Alaska-based cable operator providing voice, video and data communication services to residential, commercial and government customers, has selected Concurrent to provide video-on-demand performance data collection, warehousing and analytics. GCI will utilize Concurrent’s services and solutions, including ReportOne(TM) and Operational Intelligence (Oi)(TM) from Concurrent’s Everstream(TM) line of data collection and management tools.

  • HyperSpace: More like impulse power

    The software uses a Linux-based environment, and comes in two versions: HyperSpace Dual creates a dual-OS environment for your system — when you’re using HyperSpace, Windows is not available. In order to use Windows, you have to shut down HyperSpace.

  • Sub-notebooks

    • The Netbook Newbie’s Guide to Linux

      You’re going to look a bit weird on the bus holding your NetBook sideways, but you get a nice, readable full-size page, and at 15MB for the full illustrated versions of both Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking-Glass, you can carry a good stock of books before your netbook fills up.

    • CrunchEee 8.10.02 released

      CrunchEee 8.10.02 has been released. CrunchEee is an ASUS Eee PC specific version of CrunchBang Linux.

    • HP Posts Specs for Four New Mini 1100 Models

      Earlier this month HP launched its Ubuntu’d Mini 1000 Mi, and even more recently, several 1100-series netbooks starting appearing on the company’s website, but there weren’t any details to speak of.

    • Smart unveils new Linux software

      Smart Technologies has unveiled its Smart Notebook 10 software for the latest core distributions of the Linux operating system.

    • Netbooks Open Linux Window at BETT

      In the UK the Fizzbook is launched with Windows XP but Linux will be available later.

      [...]

      On the same stand a large screen showed off the design appeal of the latest Ubuntu. This includes multiple windows rotating or rescaling. As this is better understood some Netbook users may return to Linux. Asustek Chairman Jonney Shih has predicted that about 60 percent of Eee PCs to be shipped in 2009 will have Windows XP.

  • Phones

    • Mobile Tech Minutes: ShopSavvy for Android phones

      One of my favorite apps for smartphones is the great program ShopSavvy for the Android platform. It is one of the most used apps I have and it runs on the T-Mobile G1 Android phone. In this video I show why the program is so useful and let you see for yourself why I like it.

    • Using Linux to Leapfrog the Competition

      The Palm Pre, described as a phone that’s “always thinking ahead,” debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this month. The phone is running Palm’s all-new Linux-based webOS platform. The form factor is downright sexy with a 3.1′ 320 x 480 multitouch display with accelerometer-sensed widescreen browsing and a full pull-out qwerty keyboard. It includes 802.11b/g WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and 8GB of built-in flash storage. There’s a 3MP camera with LED flash, a mass storage-friendly microUSB plug and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There is also a wireless charger.

F/OSS

• Open-Source Mobile Telephony Goes Legit

  While big business may be crowning open source as the king of server-based computing, most enterprise movers and shakers vehemently deny any such moves in telephony. Yet, open source in telecom is long past its debut and is, in fact, already in play in much of the Fortune 500. So why is open source a legitimate option in enterprise computing but bastardized so much in telephony?

• LCA2009: Why ODF should be the chosen one

  It is difficult to know whether Louis Suarez-Potts, community manager at OpenOffice.org, was conscious at any point today of the irony of criticising proprietary software while making a presentation using a MacBook.

• German engineers punt ‘open source’ OLED-clad car

  With the Geneva Motor Show on the horizon, German engineering services provider EDAG has released a preview of what it hopes will be one of the stars of the 2009 Swiss auto gathering: the “Light Car – Open Source”, a concept it is describing as “visionary and courageous”.

• European Commission approves update of EU public licence

  The European Commission approved an update of the European Union Public Licence (EUPL) on 9 January. Seven clarifications were made in the licence text, not changing the original meaning.

  The Commission validated version 1.1 of the EUPL in all official languages of the European Union.

  The text was changed slightly to clarify the licence, say sources involved in the process. For example, regarding distribution and/or communication, article 1 was changed to include application service providers (ASPs) and software as a service (Saas).

• Desktop Parade

  Too many technology consumers see the software world in black and white — in other words, Windows and Mac. However, some startups are leaning on open source software to power their products, often regardless of the platform the user is standing on.

  [...]

  “I support open source because it’s good business. We didn’t have to do anything to get the games ported to Linux. Volunteer coders did it for us,” Rosen said.

• Browsers

  • Firefox 3.1: Thanks For The Memory!

    Firefox 3.1 is currently in its second beta release, and it already looks great. In fact, it looks set to deliver a lot more than one might expect from a typical “minor” software-update release.

    InaTux.com recently posted a good summary of some frequently-overlooked new features coming in Firefox 3.1. One of the most important of these under-the-hood tweaks will streamline Firefox’s memory usage, allowing it to run faster and far more efficiently.

    Firefox 3.0 already delivered major improvements in memory usage; most notably, it fixed a number of persistent, and often very annoying, memory-leak bugs. This time around, the changes in Firefox 3.1 will focus on the browser’s normal memory usage, which according to this December, 2008 blog post already requires just two-thirds of the RAM that Firefox 3.0 requires for normal Web-browsing operations.

  • Web browser interoperability: FSFE welcomes EC’s decision and offers support

    On the 16th of January the European Commission DG Competition reported that it had issued a statement of objections regarding Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer (IE) to the Windows Operating System product family. This action builds on a complaint originally submitted by Opera, a European company involved in web browser development.

    Free Software Foundation Europe welcomes the European Commission’s decision and offers its support in the coming anti-trust investigation. As stated previously in a letter to the European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, anti-competitive behaviour is unacceptable, whether it occurs as ‘tying’ products with dominant market segments, or in circumventing standards and fair access.

Leftovers

• Google calls for UK copyright reforms

  Google today called for UK copyright reforms that allow individuals limited use of copyrighted work in order to create new content.

  “Fair use” laws in the US – which cover use of music for sampling, for example – were included in the 2006 Gowers review of UK intellectual property but have not been incorporated into British law.

• Intellectual Property Harmonization: TACD Recommendations, a Difficult Convergence

  The Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue last week hosted a conference entitled “Patents, Copyrights and Knowledge Governance: The Next Four Years”, gathering IP lawyers and economists from all over the world.

• EU Copyright Extension: Help MEPs Hear the Other Side

  From reading the official European Commission documentation on its proposed Copyright Term Extension Directive, one might believe perpetuating performer copyrights from 50 to 95 years in Europe is a charitable policy with no ill effects at all. That’s certainly how Commissioner Charlie McCreevy would like it to appear, as he pushes for the Parliament to vote on the Directive in March of this year.

• Whistleblower: NSA spied on everyone, targeted journalists

  “The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications — faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications,” Tice claimed. “It didn’t matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications.”

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

John William Templeton looks at Free Open Source Software and African American culture and innovation 01 (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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