02.13.09

GNU/Linux

• ABC.com limits video content to Windows and Mac users

• 10 Reasons to Use Linux-Based Virtualization

  Here’s the list of 10 reasons in reverse order (Actually there’s no particular order except for the number 1 reason).

• My Computer, A La Carte

  Why don’t we have something similar for Windows? Granted, Tomas Matejicek, the Slax and Linux Live scripts maintainer, is in a unique position to build this kind of automation. Any Linux distro maintainer is, for that matter, because Linux-based applications tend to follow well-defined conventions for file locations and naming conventions. Where applications diverge from convention, the applications are easily alterable through configuration files or recompiling.

• Linux saves the human race

  Mark the day my friends, for today’s the day goodwill ceased being intangible and took its material form. Bask in the glory that is the GoodWill PC!

  Anybody who’s been following the travails of the GoodWill PC knows it’s been something of a rocky road. When I was first tasked with scrounging a PC for free I was full of hope, convinced that they were ten-a-penny and I need only flash an amiable smile at a stranger for heaven to open up and shower me with PC bits.

• 2008 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Award Winners

  Desktop Distribution of the Year – Ubuntu (35.36%)
  Server Distribution of the Year – Debian (25.55%)
  Live Distribution of the Year – Ubuntu Live (23.43%)
  Database of the Year – MySQL (58.10%)
  Office Suite of the Year – OpenOffice.org (93.03%)
  Browser of the Year – Firefox (75.89%)
  Desktop Environment of the Year – KDE (43.57%)
  Window Manager of the Year – Compiz (31.56%)
  Messaging App of the Year – Pidgin (53.40%)
  Mail Client of the Year – Thunderbird (51.43%)
  Virtualization Product of the Year – VirtualBox (61.10%)
  Audio Media Player Application of the Year – Amarok (48.80%)
  Audio Authoring Application of the Year – Audacity (70.45%)
  Video Media Player Application of the Year – mplayer (38.31%)
  Video Authoring Application of the Year – Avidemux (19.59%)
  Multimedia Utility of the Year – K3b (46.77%)
  Graphics Application of the Year – GIMP (70.41%)
  Network Security Application of the Year – nmap (28.96%)
  Host Security Application of the Year – SELinux (42.86%)
  Monitoring Application of the Year – Nagios (39.74%)
  Windows on Linux App of the Year – Wine (85.21%)
  IDE/Web Development Editor of the Year – Eclipse (24.25%)
  Text Editor of the Year – vi/vim (39.76%)
  File Manager of the Year – Nautilus (25.54%)
  Open Source Game of the Year – Battle for Wesnoth (17.31%)
  Programming Language of the Year – Python (26.25%)
  Backup Application of the Year – rsync (40.10%)

• Ubuntu in South African Schools

  Over the last month, I’ve heard that the government’s licensing agreement with Microsoft is now about to expire and has not been renewed yet. Apparently, the Department of Education is now pushing schools into switching to Linux as otherwise they will need to budget for a couple of extra million just for software licensing fees.

  It’s surprising to me though that they are only pushing for this now. They should have started the transition quite some time ago. Linux has matured a lot as a desktop operating system (with no small thanks to Ubuntu) and it’s much better to get your learners familiar with Linux and decrease your dependency on any particular software vendor regardless of your current agreements.

  [...]

  So of course, now the question is, how many will start to adopt Linux? Obviously, as you can expect, there will be a lot of fighting and kicking by lots of the schools. The teachers know what they know and obviously feel much more comfortable sticking with what they have. However, money talks, and now the pressure is (apparently) on.

• Linux helped me with my Valentine

  So I fired up the Gimp, which is the open source equivalent to photoshop, and created a heart filled card full of flowery valentines phrases. While I can read and understand Turkish I am not a good enough writer to adequately express myself. For that, Linux, partnered with google, gave me lots of help.

• Open source desktop adoption flickers in the Philippines

  The number of open source desktop users in the Philippines–estimated at 5 to 10 percent of PC owners–is growing, but the adoption rate is somehow stunted by the lack of government sanction advocating its use.

  [...]

  It has also been reported that the Philippines has become the largest destination of CD installers for Ubuntu, probably the most prominent Linux distribution for desktops. Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu creator Canonical, even visited the country to brief local folks on the desktop OS.

• Businesses

  • SourceForge Sets Second Quarter Fiscal 2009 Financial Results Release Date

    SourceForge, Inc. (NASDAQ: LNUX), the leader in community-driven content and media, today announced that it will report its second quarter fiscal 2009 results for the period ended January 31, 2009 on Thursday, February 26, 2009, after the close of market. A conference call will be held that day at 2:00pm PT or 5:00pm ET.

  • What does it take to support Opensource and Linux

    Let’s walk on the support side of the software world for a moment.

    There is a lot of talk, postulating and plain old FUD about what support is and should be in the FOSS world.

    Of course, we can break the topic into separate areas of discussion.

• HPC

  • The Personal Cluster: Coming To A Desk Near You

    Once the hallmark of the data center, HPC hardware is beginning to find its way to the desk side/top. Multi-core, efficient design, and even application scalability have combined to clear the way for personal HPC.

  • Penguin Computing Revs Up Business Strategy

    With a focus on system manageability and the science its users do on their hardware, Penguin Computing is charging hard at the small- to mid-sized cluster end of the HPC business. Once focused on the Linux enterprise, the company has spent the past five years growing its HPC business, starting with the acquisition of Scyld Software, and most recently bringing on former IBM executive Charles Wuischpard as its CEO. HPCwire talked with Wuischpard to get an idea of where the company is today, and what makes it tick.

• Kernel Space

  • Stable kernels 2.6.27.16 and 2.6.28.5

    The 2.6.27.16 and 2.6.28.5 stable kernel updates have been released. As usual, each contains a long list of fixes for important problems.

• Distributions

  • A Mandriva user kicks around Fedora Core 10: How does it compare?

    Fedora has existed for many years, but truth be told, I haven’t given it a serious look since Fedora Core 2 was made available. It is no secret that I have been using Mandriva more or less exclusively over the last 7-8 years and the little time spent on other distributions always brings me back to Mandriva, some distros faster than others.

  • Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring beta is available

    The beta release of Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring (code name Margaux) is now available. This beta version provides some updates on major desktop components of the distribution, including KDE 4.2.0, GNOME 2.25.90, Xfce 4.6 RC1, X.org server 1.5, OpenOffice.Org 3.0.1, qt 4.5.0 (RC1)

  • Fast and Light AntiX 8.0 is Released

    Morgantown, WV, US and Thessaloniki, Greece, Feb 12, 2009 — The antiX-team is proud to announce that antiX MEPIS 8 ‘Intifada’ – a fast and light complete desktop and livecd based on SimplyMEPIS and Debian Testing, with a little bit of sidux,- is now available at mepis mirrors in the released/antix directories in full and base editions.

  • SLAX Linux – Your pocket operating system – Review

    SLAX is a small, live Linux distro, based on Slackware. It aims to be light, friendly and useful. It’s meant to fit onto antique USB thumb drives and run well on old hardware. And it features the sexy KDE desktop. Plus there’s a revolutionary modules management. This fine list of features made it a worthy candidate for testing. The version chosen for this review was 6.0.9.

  • Ubuntu

    • Ubuntu spawns new generation

      In just the few years since it was released, Ubuntu Linux has inspired tens of new Linux distributions. Here we look at five of the best.

      In just the few years that Ubuntu Linux has been around it has become one of the most popular Linux versions available, ahead of others such as Red Hat, Suse and Mandriva.

• Devices/Embedded

  • Pandora open-source games console gets design refresh, 3G compatibility

    The Pandora open-source gaming project have released new renders showing their updated casing designs, including a different keyboard – with non-final fonts, thankfully – and some tweaked key locations. Perhaps more excitingly, a member of the software team has got the OS working with a 3G USB modem, meaning the Pandora can be taken outside of WiFi range but still get online.

  • Taming a power-sucking Linux TV

    The EPA may re-consider its exemption of “Data Acquisition Mode” (DAM) states from the sleep-mode requirements associated with its Energy Star ratings. So it told noted cryptographer Martin Hellman, who informed the EPA his Linux-based Sony HDTV consumed 150 times its advertised standby power budget.

  • ETech Preview: Inside Factory China

    JAMES TURNER: Andrew “bunnie” Huang is the Vice President of Hardware Engineering and Founder of Chumby Industries. He’s pretty much the consummate hardware geek who has used his doctorate from MIT in electrical engineering to do everything from designing opto-electronics to hacking the Xbox. The Chumby, an internet appliance that delivers a cornucopia of information, is his latest endeavor. And he’ll be talking about the process of getting it manufactured in China at O’Reilly’s Emerging Technology Conference in March. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

  • HyperSpace available for ARM processors

    Phoenix Technologies anounced their HyperSpace software now works with ARM processors, so it will be available for very cheap netbooks. HyperSpace is a Linux-based OS which boots very fast, so you it’s an almost “instant-on” Operating System.

  • 5 Awesome Robot Kits to Get You Started with Robotics

    Every geeks dream is to have a personal robot that can be programmed to perform various tasks. If you have seen Tony Stark’s robotic assistants in the movie Iron Man then you probably know what I mean. But unlike in movies, today’s robots are not as advanced or still have limited capabilities. However, time will come that they will become more sophisticated and more useful than they are now.

  • Phones

    • Navigation smartphone runs Linux

      Garmin and AsusTek (Asus) have announced a jointly developed smartphone that offers Garmin’s “Nuvi” location-based services (LBS) features and runs Linux. The Nuvifone G60 offers a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 4GB of flash, GSM and HDSPA connectivity, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 3-Mpixel camera with geotagging.

    • Google Opens Android Store to Paid Apps

      Developers of Android applications finally will be able to charge consumers for them, ending a few months of free Android downloads and potentially making Google’s mobile platform more attractive to developers.

      U.S. and U.K. developers can now go to the Android publisher Web site and upload their applications along with consumer pricing. Paid applications will go on sale in the U.S. starting in the middle of next week and in additional countries in the coming months, Google’s Eric Chu wrote in a blog post Friday.

  • Sub-notebooks

    • The Cold Numbers of Microsoft’s Netbook/Linux Nightmare

      It’s no secret that Microsoft isn’t doing too well in the netbook market. There has been a lot of speculation in the blogosphere to the extent of the financial damage. We did the heavy lifting and dug up the real numbers to accurately quantify what’s going on and what it means (hint: developers are getting laid off!).

      In this analysis we make the case that the rise of netbooks does not bode well for the company. For the first time, Linux is not only a real threat but is whacking MSFT’s bottom line. Long term, Microsoft’s OS business model is threatened.

      [...]

      Developers are the lifeblood of a software company. Microsoft’s ability to deliver innovative products is being stung by Linux in the netbook market. Unless Microsoft 7 is a hit, this trend will accelerate. Unfortunately for MSFT, Windows 7’s is based off of Vista and its cheapest version will limit users to running 3 programs at a time.

Free Software/Open Source

• 12 tips to getting things done in open source

  Most people used to the proprietary software world, with no experience in open source software, are amazed that anything gets done. (And lots gets done in the open source, way more than in most proprietary software companies!) And people new to open source are usually at a loss as to where to start. Often they come with a great idea, tell a couple of people who confirm it’s a great idea, and then … well, and then they don’t know what to do and the great idea fades.

• Open-Xchange: Open Source Email Nears 10 Million Paid Users

  Open-Xchange, which positions itself as an open source alternative to Microsoft Exchange, has a message for solutions providers: Yes, you can make money by blending open source applications with software as a service (SaaS). In fact, Open-Xchange is nearing 10 million paid users, and the company has a few surprises in store for 2009.

• IntraHealth OPEN Initiative and Youssou N’Dour Release Charity Album to Fund Open Source Training for Health Workers in Africa

  Global non-profit IntraHealth International is partnering with Grammy Award-winning artist Youssou N’Dour on a charity album titled “OPEN Remix” benefiting a new initiative created to address critical health issues in Africa by putting the latest open source software technologies directly in the hands of health workers.

  Nas, Duncan Sheik and Peter Buck of R.E.M. are among the headliners donating remixes of N’Dour’s song “Wake Up” to raise funds and visibility for the IntraHealth OPEN Initiative.

• New click2try Site Offers Better Alternative to Open Source Software Download, Free Trial

  To open new markets for developers and offer business and IT professionals real value, click2try has launched an Open Source software Community Web site that makes it easy to find, try, evaluate and use Open Source software — for free. Unique in its delivery, click2try bypasses the typical Open Source software download. Free access to Open Source software applications on click2try occurs in a private, virtual environment instead. Pre-configured, fully functional applications are hosted on click2try’s servers and run right from a user’s desktop. Developers benefit from an expanded user base as more professionals experience the benefits, see the value, and contribute to the growing popularity of Open Source software.

• Are Microsoft Partners Spreading Open-Source Fear?

  Microsoft and its channel partners are bound together with the glue of mutual commercial success. That’s a big reason why Microsoft VARs are always quick to defend the software giant’s interests. Criticize Microsoft in front of a group of partners and you may find yourself being forced to run for cover

  [...]

  Is Microsoft siccing its legions of loyal partners on the security reputation of open-source software? If so, it would contradict Microsoft’s recent steps toward a rapprochement with the open-source community.

  [...]

  Criticism of the security of open source may have been more valid a decade ago, but today, Apache and the Linux stack are ubiquitous in the industry and run some of the largest online retail operations in existence, noted Greg Hanchin, principal for Denver-based security solution provider Dirsec.

  “Open source is just another common piece of infrastructure; it’s almost like Internet Protocol at this point,” Hanchin said.

• Mozilla

  • Mozilla asks developers to take Bespin for a spin

    Mozilla has spun out Bespin for developers to run naked and free in an extensible web-based code editing paradise that promotes open relationships standards.

    The not-for-profit outfit said yesterday that the project, which has been under development for several months, would act as a collaborative working space for coders who use HTML5 features to fiddle with.

  • What Mozilla’s Bespin Bespeaks

    One of the most interesting developments in the open source world is the way that Mozilla has changed in recent years. What started out as a (slightly shambolic) attempt to hack a decent browser out of the wreckage of the Netscape Communicator code, has turned into arguably one of the two or three most important forces in free software today (you can draw up your own list).

    [...]

    You can see that Bespin is ticking all the Mozilla boxes, but what’s also striking is that this is a Web-based project: Mozilla is entering the cloud.

  • IDE in the cloud: Mozilla Labs’ browser-based IDE prototype

  • Introducing Bespin

    As we strive to evolve the Open Web as a robust platform for application development, we believe in the potential for web-based code editors to increase developer productivity, enable compelling user experiences, and promote the use of open standards.

• Business

  • Open source and cloud: Credit crunch busters

    Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of hosting company Memset, said open source technology could also be a big winner as a result of the economic crisis.

  • Open Source Network Management Solutions Expand

    Network management has been an ongoing challenge for many small and medium businesses. While many often need such tools, they have usually found them to be expensive, difficult to deploy, and hard to maintain. Open source solutions have been trying to address those problems and one vendor enhanced its system.

• Business Intelligence

  • Leading Global Nutrition Company Deploys Pentaho Business Intelligence on the Amazon Cloud

    Pentaho Corporation, the commercial open source alternative for business intelligence (BI), today announced that Nutricia North America, a division of Group Danone, has deployed the Pentaho BI Suite in production running on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Implemented by Pentaho Certified Partner OpenBI, the application integrates data from disparate systems to provide analytical insight across Nutricia’s product lines, customers, and geographies.

  • OpenBI Implements Pentaho’s Commercial Open Source BI Suite at Nutricia

    Pentaho Corporation, the commercial open source alternative for business intelligence (BI), recently announced that Nutricia North America, a division of Group Danone, has deployed the Pentaho BI Suite in production running on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Implemented by Pentaho Certified Partner OpenBI, the application integrates data from disparate systems to provide analytical insight across Nutricia’s product lines, customers and geographies.

  • CeBIT: Open Source Business Intelligence With New Palo Versions

  • Pentaho Touts All-in-One Value of Open-Source Suite

    It’s different from rival commercial or even open-source software (OSS) competitors, officials say. With a major new release of the Pentaho platform last year, the general availability of Pentaho Data Integration 3.1, and — a feather in the company’s cap — a citation in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for BI suites, Pentaho is starting 2009 on a roll.

Standards

• First the Standards, Then the Solution

  In the last issue of my eJournal, Standards Today, titled A Standards Agenda for the Obama Administration, I described the standards-based dependencies of the technology agenda earlier announced by president-elect Obama. That agenda provides for the creative use of technology to advance a number of important policy goals, such as achieving transparent government, equal access to the Internet, and reducing costs of healthcare. In this issue, I focus more closely on the significant role that standards will play in achieving one of (now) President Obama’s greatest challenges — lowering healthcare costs, while at the same time keeping a campaign promise to provide universal health coverage.

• Gearing up for Document Freedom Day

  Document Freedom Day (DFD) was launched in 2008 as a global day for the promotion and awareness of Document Freedom in particular, as well as Open Standards and interoperability in general. 205 teams from around the world registered for the first edition of Document Freedom Day. The things they did ranged from mini-conferences and hands-on lessons for applications supporting ODF, such as OpenOffice.org, over creation of awareness by taking to the streets and engaging people in discussions about Document Freedom, to awarding a special prize to the Foreign Ministry in Germany for its exemplary support for Open Standards and Free Software.

• Fresh start for lost file formats

  Long lost file formats could soon be resurrected by pan-European research.

  The 4.02m euro (£3.58m) project aims to create a universal emulator that can open and play obsolete file formats.

Literature

• Bookworm Gives a Boost to Open-Source ePub E-Book Format

  The most promising open-source e-book format received a big vote of confidence earlier this week when O’Reilly, the technology book publishing giant, threw its weight behind the Bookworm project, a web service for reading books online.

  [...]

  O’Reilly is hosting the Bookworm site at O’Reilly Labs, its website for projects using emerging open-source technology. The company has also put its money where its mouth is by releasing around 400 of its titles in the ePub format. Other major publishers like Waterstone’s and Penguin are investing in the format, too. There are literally tens of thousands of books available for purchase as .epub files, and thousands available for free from sites like Feedbooks.com, which publishes titles from Project Gutenberg as ePub editions.

• Open Source Books Would Reduce Student Costs

  After reading the editorial “Follow the Leader” (Feb. 3), I was in the bookstore looking for a book for a class and was reminded how much students like me need Cal Grant money.

  [...]

  I propose a solution that would give students much needed help: open source textbooks. The idea is still in infancy, but places like Harvard and MIT have started to experiment with it, and if implemented, it would revolutionize the way we learn and how classes are taught. Knowledge should be low-cost and accessible in an intellectual environment such as Berkeley.

Leftovers

• The Case Against Cloud Computing, Part Four

  In the previous parts of this series, I blogged about issues commonly raised in objection to cloud computing: difficulty of migrating existing applications, managing risk, and meeting SLAs. In this post, I’d like to address an issue I’ve heard raised a number of times: that cloud computing, far from saving IT organizations money, actually costs more than providing the same services in-house.

• WSJ Editor Claims Google Devalues Everything

  This is wrong on so many levels it’s hard to know where to begin. Google doesn’t devalue things it touches. It increases their value by making them easier to find and access. Google increases your audience as a content creator, which is the most important asset you have. It takes a special kind of cluelessness to claim that something that increases your biggest asset “devalues” your business. Thomson’s mistake seems to be that he’s confusing “price” and “value” which is a bit scary for the managing editor of a business publication. Yes, the widespread availability of news may push down the price (that’s just supply and demand), but it doesn’t decrease the value at all. It opens up more opportunities to capture that value.

• Net Neutrality Narrowly Escapes Stimulus Doom

  In an earlier version of the Senate bill, Feinstein went against the usual Democrat stance in favor of network neutrality by slipping in an amendment to allowing “reasonable network management practices such as deterring unlawful activity, including child pornography and copyright infringement,” language that would open the door for ISPs to inspect data packets and filter content.

• Lawmakers Drop Broadband Tax Credit From Final Stimulus Package

  Lawmakers negotiating the final economic stimulus package dropped broadband tax credits intended to spur companies such as AT&T Inc. to expand in rural areas, while keeping grants that may help smaller carriers.

• New Kindle Audio Feature Causes a Stir

  “They don’t have the right to read a book out loud,” said Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. “That’s an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law.”