Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 17/04/2009: Red Hat Breaks Record, OpenOffice.org Success Story from Denmark



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Bringing Light Into The Darkness
    "We're going to be installing Linux on these machines Ben, is that going to cause you any problems?"

    I finished my sketch in the next two seconds and looked up to see his physical response.

    "No, that's all I run here."

    I was just about overwhelmed with relief and I raised my hand in a high-five invitation and couldn't help but show my delight.

    "Dude!"

    We completed the male ritual with unpracticed awkwardness. It was about 5 minutes into the rapid-fire back and forth about distros, servers, Kernels and networking stuff that I noticed the female portion of our group had left.


  • War Stories and Winners From the World of FOSS
    Enough with the flamewars -- let's look to something a little more positive. Linux continues to make strong first impressions with everyday computer users, and free software has managed to win the hearts and minds of even more governments around the world. In addition, the Linux Foundation has picked its winners in the "We're Linux" video contest.




  • Kernel Space





  • Games

    • Unigine Working On New Physics, Multiplayer
      Our friends at Unigine Corp have published a 2009 development road-map for the Unigine Engine, their cross-platform gaming engine that is able to deliver stunning graphics on Linux. In 2009 the Unigine Engine is set to receive support for game consoles, improved physics capabilities, multi-monitor support, world layers support, an integrated terrain editor, high-level vehicles support, a new game logic framework, and much more.


    • Nexuiz 2.5 (taking my time)
      Here is the 666 MB heavy download. In case you care about traffic more than graphics and sounds or have a weak system: An Arch Linux user created a ~60MB version for 32-bit Linux systems.


    • Envizions Announces Next Generation 3-D Online-User Open Source Community For EVO Smart Console, Our Universe
      EVO is the first open source convergence system to combine PC, DVR, Gaming Hub, Cloud, and Internet TV in an all-in-one device. Currently beta units are been shipped to customers, partners, and distributors. The suggested retail price for the system is $379.99, and 9 classic Linux games are available April 29, 2009.








  • Desktop Environments

    • Lancelot and Raptor menu - the other way.
      Lancelot and Raptor are alternative menus intended for KDE 4. We are, however, at the frosty point, and we should ask ourselves the most important question here - which one to choose, and are they sufficiently mature and functional at all to compete with the default menu? Let’s look at them closely then to know the answer.






  • Distributions

    • SliTaz GNU/Linux 2.0 Released
      The SliTaz team proudly announced last evening the immediate availability of the SliTaz 2.0, a minimalistic Linux distribution. The new version comes after thirteen months of hard work and includes many bug fixes, as well as significant new features. So, if you're wondering what's new in SliTaz 2.0, let us tell you that it can handle various new pieces of hardware (such as Wireless devices), support for Windows drivers, support for web boot, the Openbox window manager and a lot of new system utilities. Not to mention the fact that SliTaz is still one of the smallest and fastest Linux distributions around.


    • Red Hat Sets New Industry Benchmark Performance Records
      The dust is starting to settle around last week’s Intel Xeon 5500 series processor “Nehalem-EP” launch, in which Red Hat was a prominent partner. Intel called it their “most revolutionary server processors since…the Intel Pentium Pro processor 15 years ago.” The proof may be in the large number of new performance records that were established at the launch in which Red Hat and our partners exceeded previous results on eight different industry-standard tests. The results delivered by the applications that we ran reflect the real-world scalability and performance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the new quad-core Intel processors.








  • Devices/Embedded

    • PowerQUICC development platform runs Linux
      Micetek announced a PowerPC development platform that includes a processor module, carrier board, and Linux board support package (BSP). The MPC8572PC module and Type-N carrier board provide a development platform for the Freescale dual-core MPC8572 processor clocked at 1.3GHz, and they offer gigabit Ethernet connectivity.


    • 10 things you should look for in a netbook
      To cut costs and enable aggressive pricing, many netbooks are powered by Linux. Stable and reliable, Linux is also less expensive than Windows. With many netbooks selling for $400 or less, and OEM copies of Windows XP still selling for approximately $100 or more, it’s easy to see how many manufacturers are tempted to pad margins by replacing Windows with Linux.








Free Software/Open Source

  • Challenges And Opportunities for Open Source
    After interacting with many software end users in different industry verticals, we found that when it comes to open source there are main two concerns, first is to get required documentation to start with and second is to get proper timely support for training, customization and maintenance. Also as open source product evolves on every day basis from contribution of its large community, some end users afraid of improper code and bugs while using it.


  • The critical need for open-source health care
    One of President Obama's biggest presidential ambitions is to reform the U.S. health care system. With more than $2 trillion spent each year on health care costs, an estimated 25 to 30 percent of which is administrative waste, one of the best stimuli to the U.S. economy could be to fix our broken health care system.


  • Optaros Gives InfoWorld Relaunch a Boost With Drupal Solutions
    Optaros, providers of custom online applications for clients through the Assembled Web, announces the development of a tailor-made open source CMS solution for InfoWorld, IDG Communications subsidiary and online media outlet for IT decision makers.


  • Network Solutions€® Expands Open Source Application Offering through Application Packaging Standard
    Parallels today announced that Network Solutions€® has significantly broadened its range of open source hosted application offerings through the Application Packaging Standard (APS), which was developed to enable companies to make applications available in the software-as-a-service model quickly and simply. Network Solutions€® is a leading global hosting provider that manages more than 7 million domains, over 1.5 million e-mailboxes, and more than 350,000 websites.




  • Business

    • Open Source MagentoCommerce Review
      I discovered open source ecommerce applications engaging a significant proportion of ecommerce professionals. Open source software are considered as entry level choice for shopping carts by most ecommerce professionals. Although the completeness of open source apps are far from realized, they are increasingly making it to the mainstream markets. Extending my support to the open source aficionados, I delved into the intricacies of the up and coming Magento Commerce.


    • Open-source ad company OpenX launches platform
      OpenX, a software company that makes an open-source ad serving product for online publishers, has launched a platform called OpenX Market to directly connect buyers and sellers.








  • Funding

    • What would the open source community do with $US9.1 billion?
      What would the open source community do with that money? What could it do with that money? What should it do with that money? Those are the questions.

      Before we try to answer those questions, let's consider how each software delivery model operates.








  • Symbian

    • BOARDS: Open-source OMAP boards target mid-volume apps
      TI's OMAP processors have a long history of success in mobile phones, but until now they were hard to use in mid-volume apps. Gumstix is solving that problem with an innovative Overo series of computer-on-module boards.


    • Symbian Courts Developers With OMAP Platform
      The Symbian Foundation is looking to bring in more developers for the upcoming open source Symbian, and it has created a new development platform based on Texas Instrument's OMAP technology.








  • Sun

    • Municipality saves 1 million per year
      Michel van der Linden is head of IT in Municipality of Gribskov in Denmark. In this article he explains how the municipality changed from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice some years ago. Initially they saved about two million Danish Kroner and later one million per year.








Leftovers

  • Undigital Britain: A Vision For An Unconnected Policyscape
    The online planning for today’s Digital Britain Summit was poor even before the conference began - but the web output from the event itself could make a citizen wonder Lord Carter’s advisers are really best placed to make Britain digital…


  • Police delete London tourists' photos 'to prevent terrorism'




  • Censorship/Web Abuse

    • Online proxy users won't get stiffer sentences after all
      A controversial proposal that would have seen judges directed to consider the use of Internet proxies when handing down sentences for online crimes has been rejected by the US Sentencing Commission. The initial proposal would have directed judges to consider the use of a proxy as an indication of the sophistication and intent of those who have been convicted, but civil liberties groups and technology advocates strongly opposed the matter, given that there are a variety of common and legitimate uses of proxy servers. The arguments put forth by these advocates apparently held the day.


    • Cybercrime and Punishment: Sentencing Panel Discards Proxy Penalty


    • Wikimedia becomes latest to ban Phorm
      The Wikimedia Foundation has asked Phorm to exclude all its domains and websites - including Wikipedia - from Phorm's BT trials, because it considers such scanning to be an infringement of its users' privacy.


    • Wikimedia Foundation opting out of Phorm


    • Kindle owners find out about DRM's ever-present threat
      Some Kindle users are angry because Amazon blocked them from their Kindle accounts, thereby blocking them from accessing their already-purchased media. Even if these stories are exaggerated, they once again highlight the caveats that come with DRMed media. You don't own your content—Amazon does.








  • Copyrights

    • Norwegian Minister Publishes Book under CC BY-SA
      Today, Norway’s Minister of Government Administration and Reform, Heidi Grande Røys, launched a new book, edited by the Minister, about sharing and the social side of computer networks. The book is titled “Delte meninger” (in Norwegian this has the dual meaning of “shared opinions” and “conflicting opinions”). There is also a website dedicated to open, public debate about the issues raised in the book.


    • Appeals court: no webcast for Joel Tenenbaum
      The Harvard Law professor and students who are defending Joel Tenenbaum from the RIAA lose their bid to have the entire case webcast. The trial judge approved of the idea, but the First Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the RIAA and said it would not be allowed.


    • Court Bars RIAA Trial Webcast


    • Pirate Bay Loses A Lawsuit; Entertainment Industry Loses An Opportunity
      The folks behind The Pirate Bay insist that the site will live on and the verdict means nothing, but it may create an inconvenience for users of the site -- especially if other nations use this as yet another excuse to ban the site. The folks this will hurt the most are those content creators who actually do value The Pirate Bay -- such as best selling author Paulo Coehlo, who found that "pirating" his own book helped him tremendously, and who recently spoke out about what a useful tool The Pirate Bay has been. It's a shame that because some big lumbering companies are unable to change their business models that they get to use the legal system to disrupt and annoy those who have figured it out.










Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day



Natasha Humphries on globalization and job security with Free Open Source Software 01 (2004)

Ogg Theora





Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
 
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
Links for the day
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025