Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 24/09/2009: Red Hat Profit Up 37%, Free Software Saves Billions



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • HP launches Linux-fiddling support group
    Hewlett-Packard is making an effort to support non-commercial Linux distributions on its servers and other vendors' business hardware. But you wouldn't know it from the black hole of fanfare regarding its new collaborative portal, communitylinux.org.


  • Linux Game Repository With a GUI: DJL
    Djl is an open-source (GPL licensed) game manager written in Python 2.5 for the GNU/Linux Operating Systems, inspired by Valve's Steam software for Windows for which anyone can submit games, via THIS page.


  • Celebrating the release of GNOME 2.28!
    Today, the GNOME Project celebrates the release of GNOME 2.28, the latest version of the popular, multi-platform free desktop environment and of its developer platform. Released on schedule, to the day, GNOME 2.28 builds on top of a long series of successful six months releases to offer the best experience to users and developers.




  • Distributions



    • My Arch Linux Experiment (Part 3)
      Welcome to the final part of my Arch Linux Experiment series. For those that missed the earlier entries, I was trying to find out if Arch Linux would be a viable replacement for Kubuntu. When I last left off, I had pretty much everything I needed straightened out and I was able to take care of all of my needs within my Arch Linux set up, and was ready to write about my final thoughts.




    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat Sees New Future in World of Cloud
        While the base platform Linux, still remains the dominant contributor of revenue, the company has moved beyond its Linux roots. Rather than being seen as a player only in the Linux OS space, the company is now positioning itself as an infrastructure player. In the emerging world of clouds, this has huge implications.


      • Red Hat second-quarter profit increases 37%
        Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected Red Hat to post second-quarter earnings of 15 cents a share, and $179.1 million in revenue.


      • Red Hat mocks Meltdown in Q2
        Commercial Linux distributor Red Hat continues to buck the economic meltdown, reporting sales up 11.7 per cent to $183.6m in the second quarter of its fiscal 2010 and net income up 36.9 per cent to $28.9m. The sales were above the high end of Red Hat's guidance.


      • US HOT STOCKS: Red Hat, Paychex Active In Late Trading
        Red Hat's fiscal second-quarter profit jumped 37% as the company again posted slightly better-than-expected results on growing revenue and higher margins. Shares were up 3.1% to $25.66 in after-hours trading.


      • Red Hat beats profit, sales estimates
        Red Hat's shares rose 3.3 percent in after-hours trading to $25.70 after closing at $24.88 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Bill Rigby; editing by Tim Dobbyn and Andre Grenon)








    • Debian Family

      • Ubuntu Karmic: The good stuff
        Next month will see the release of Ubuntu 9.10, otherwise known as Karmic Koala, the latest version of the popular Linux operating system from Mark Shuttleworth's team. Going, as it will, head-to-head with Windows 7, which is also expected to be released in October, Ubuntu is going to have to make a good impression if it doesn't want to get blown away by Microsoft's latest operating system.












  • Devices/Embedded

    • USB group none too happy with Palm's iTunes hack, either
      Palm's attempt to get the USB Implementors Forum on Apple's case for blocking the Pre from syncing with iTunes has backfired. Perhaps Palm will finally give up and resolve the issue by creating its own software.


    • The other 'new' Linux: Moblin
      I really, really want to see what Google has planned for us with its Chrome operating system. Intel and the Linux Foundation aren't waiting around to see what they'll do. Today, September 23rd, they and their partners, such as Dell and Canonical, gave us a peek at Moblin 2.1.






Free Software/Open Source

  • Open Source Software Can Save India $2 BN/year--At least!
    I am glad to see a mainstream business resource like the Business Standard publishing a reasoned analysis and properly recognizing just how much waste there is in India's current procurement practices. The bad news is that the numbers are likely much, much larger. The good news is that that waste can be eliminated, and India could be much, much richer the sooner it makes a more decisive shift from proprietary dependency to open source independence.


  • Open Source Appeal: It Comes Down to Costs
    Noah Broadwater, vice president of information services at Sesame Workshop, is also keen on using open source. But as a technologist at the nonprofit group best known for its children's TV show, "Sesame Street," he approached open source from a very different perspective than that of larger enterprises.


  • Tackling The Problem Of A Sluggish Computer
    “Treacherous Computing” that stealthily takes away rights from users, so says “The Free Software Foundation” who has launched a campaign against Microsoft Windows 7. At their Boston based Web site; Windows7Sins.org, has listed seven sins that software, such as this, commits against computer users:

    Poisoning education, locking in users, abusing standards such as Open Document Format, leveraging monopolistic behavior, threatening user security, enforcing Digital Rights Management, and invading privacy.” MS has not responded to a request for comment.


  • Software Freedom Day 2009
    It was a nice, crisp fall day outside, but we had a great group of people gathered inside at Encuentro 5 in Chinatown for Boston's Software Freedom Day. There were talks on hacking your blog, women in free software, free software on mobile devices, and how free software economics works.




Leftovers



  • AstroTurf

    • Dr. Evil's Payday
      Who pulled off this publicity stunt? Credit Richard Berman, one of Washington's most notorious PR operatives, whose exploits Mother Jones and others have been chronicling for years. Nicknamed Dr. Evil—a moniker he embraces—he's the force behind several industry-backed nonprofits that share staff and office space with his very for-profit communications and advertising firm, Berman and Company. The firm promises clients it will not "just change the debate" but "start" one, and a range of companies, from Anheuser-Busch to Philip Morris to the casino chain Harrah's, have signed up for Berman's "aggressive" and "hard-hitting" advocacy. Some clients pay Berman and Co. directly, while others donate to his nonprofits—but much of the cash winds up in the same place, via hefty management fees the front groups pay to Berman's company.


    • HHS Investigates Medicare Providers' Massive Misinformation Campaign
      Today, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department took its first steps toward cracking down on misinformation disseminated by Medicare providers.

      During the recent health care reform hullabaloo, "Keep Government Out of Medicare" became a rallying call for some and a joke for others. As it became clear that tens of thousands of senior citizens across the country held irrational beliefs about the government's role in their health care, we asked, where is all the misinformation coming from? The answer: Medicare Advantage providers have been deliberately misinforming Medicare recipients about health insurance reform.


    • U.S. Chamber of Commerce Downsized
      Darbee wrote, "We find it dismaying that the Chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored.


    • New York Post Suspends Climate Skepticism ... For Just a Moment
      The New York Post, long noted for promoting the views of climate change skeptics, responded to the fake 32-page edition with a media release headlined '"witless spoof in flawless format."








  • Censorship/Web Abuse

    • Net Neutrality to be curbed in the EU
      AS US REGULATORS consider new legislation to protect net neutrality, European citizens are set to have their internet freedoms significantly curbed.

      The debate on net neutrality revolves around whether telcoms firms should be allowed to intentionally speed up or slow down traffic based on which service or application is being used.


    • Republicans Move to Block Network Neutrality
      Senate Republicans react quickly to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposal to expand the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality authority. Working on an unrelated appropriations bill, Republican senators push an amendment to deny the FCC funds for developing or implementing new Internet regulations.


    • Telecoms Package: Contact EU Reps now!
      It is time to act again to protect Net Neutrality in Europe, as reported by the open letter signed by 26 European internet civil society organizations.


    • Police ready to 'take on' commenters, chief says
      People who misrepresent themselves as officials in online comments could face civil, criminal penalties, Acevedo says.


    • Netflix is about to commit a privacy Valdez with its customers' viewing data
      In other words, Netflix is about to put the behavioral data about viewing choices for millions of Americans into the public domain, despite its legal duty to keep this information private.


    • Demon splurges details of 3,600 customers in billing email
      Demon Internet sent thousands of business and government subscribers an email this morning telling them all about a new e-billing system, and tacked on details, including passwords, for 3,600 customers.








  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Paramount COO Shows FCC How To File Share, Blames Tech Companies, Has FCC Hide Its Presentation
      Last week, the FCC held what was ostensibly a panel discussion about the National Broadband Plan, but which was actually focused on copyright issues. How, exactly, is copyright an issue for broadband? Well, mainly because the entertainment industry has been trying for years to get ISPs to act as copyright cops... and apparently the FCC felt the need to hear them out.


    • Lawsuit: Copyright Filtering Technology Infringes
      The suit maintains that the copying and insertion of a copyrighted work into a filtering system without compensating the copyright holder, or obtaining their consent, is a violation of the Copyright Act. The case comes as copyright filtering technology is quickly becoming a behind-the-scenes feature on university sites, user-generated content sites and online social networking venues.


    • Only 5% of web users would pay for online news, reports survey


    • France adopts law that lets entertainment goons take your family off the net if one member is accused (without evidence) of violating copyright
      The French Parliament has adopted HADOPI 2, a law aimed at establishing a so-called "three-strikes" policy in order to fight file-sharing. The Constitutional Council made groundbreaking decision on June 10th 2009 that recognized access to the Internet as essential to the full exercise of free speech, and invalidated the sanctioning power of HADOPI 1. The law HADOPI 2, despite the internet cutoff now being handled in an expedient form of judicial justice, it is as flawed and dangerous as its predecessor, for it was only designed to circumvent the Constitutional Council's decision. The war on sharing continues its way as HADOPI 2 will go through the constitutional test again. ***








Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day



Jim Hogg teaches GNU Linux to high school kids 12 (2008)

[an error occurred while processing this directive]



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

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft: Work Weekends Too
Microsoft literally working its workers to death
Stallman Has Explained Slop is "Marketing Hype Campaign" and Torvalds Agreed. The Difference is the Bribes.
So be like Stallman
SLAPP Censorship - Part 167 Out of 200: The Court of Appeal Might be the Next Step
Today is our last vacation day
 
PIPocalypse at IBM
Silent layoffs
Spending Over a Million Bucks on Lawsuits Abroad When There's a Big Mortgage to Pay in America
Priorities, priorities...
Gemini Links 31/08/2026: Announcing ROOPHLOCH 2026, smol.pub Discussion, and LLM Plagiarism Engines Target Geminispace
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's GNU Turns 43 in 4 Weeks, FSF Growing
In a few weeks GNU turns 43
IBM's Cuts Are Worsening Security in GNU/Linux
IBM is still run by the same idiot who proposed taking over Red Hat
Links 31/08/2026: Anthropic Sued Again for Copyright Infringement of Massive Scale, 'Tokenmaxxing' Shows Slop is a Worthless Liability
Links for the day
Links 31/08/2026: "Teslas Are Still Driving Into Oncoming Freight Trains" and "LLM Moats Quickly Evaporating"
Links for the day
Debian Project Discards About 25% of the Votes on LLM Slop, Microsoft Votes in the General Resolution (GR)
"[t]he rules of the vote saw community members asked to rank each of the eight proposals. Just under 600 people voted, but Debian’s election team rejected many for unspecified reasons, leaving almost 450 valid votes to count."
Essentiality of Rest and Killing Oneself for Vicious Companies
Working for Microsoft is foolish
In the UK, Bing (Microsoft) Down to Lowest Level Since January
our tax money being passed to Microsoft via MoUs (back door deals with kickbacks)
German Government Sponsors IBM Because of GNU/Linux
Flatpak is sponsored by, run, and controlled by IBM
Richard Stallman Speaks to Christine Hall of FOSS Force, stallman.org is Down for Over a Day
interview does a good job addressing the hype about LLMs too
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 30, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, August 30, 2026
Gemini Links 31/08/2026: Holidays, Stream of Consciousness, and Posting Online
Links for the day
Anniversaries Next Month
The month should be otherwise quiet and uneventful for us
Coding is Not Obsolete
we drown ourselves in chaff to meet "LOC" objectives while ignoring everything else
Microsoft Layoffs Perpetual But Silent, People Pushed Out Using Pressure or Incentive Schemes
Earlier this month we named some of the programs
Links 30/08/2026: Apple Rant and LLM (Slop) Scrapers Target Gemini Protocol and Gopher
Links for the day
Salaries Are Counted in Money, Not in Participation in the Employer's Scheme
articles greatly exaggerating GAFAM salaries
Walls in Free Software
mind your own business and move on
Even Linux Cannot Cope With Slop
Bots on the Web are truly obnoxious
What a Summer!
Tomorrow is the last day of this month
Links 30/08/2026: Soldiers in Niger Attack Presidential Palace and Airport, Nepali City Struggles to Handle the Many Dead Bodies
Links for the day
Clownflare Sees GNU/Linux Rising to 11% This Past Week
Is it the year of "Linux in China"?
Links 30/08/2026: Russian Strike on a Ukrainian Warehouse and Rhetoric Escalations
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/08/2026: Photography, Paper Books, Linux Kernel and the Debian Projects Permitting Slop Plagiarism
Links for the day
Imagine a World Where Nobody Fights for Software (and Computing) Freedom
The community keeps fighting back, so some of these ambitions are delayed or watered down
FSF Has Grown (More Staff) After a Year of Financial Growth
On October 4 the FSF turns 41
GNU/Linux Has Become More Mainstream in the United Kingdom
It's a long weekend here and we guess some people dabble in GNU/Linux migrations, at least at home
SLAPP Censorship - Part 166 Out of 200: Garrett Wasn't Found Innocent Per Se, the Court Wanted More Evidence of Who Was Behind Particular Accounts Using Tor
It's complicated
Criminals Don't Obey Laws, California Does Not Enhance Online Safety
It has been a while since we last mentioned so-called 'age-verification' laws
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 29, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, August 29, 2026
Links 29/08/2026: Stop the Hate, Goldfish Myths, and xmpp.nz
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2026: Wave of Social Control Media Bans, Suno Data Breach Class Actions
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2026: Microsoft GitHub Outage (Again), "Displaying Ads Directly on Your Monitor", and "Election Deniers Could Soon Control Elections"
Links for the day
IBM is "Taking the PIP" (Piss), People 'Retire' 'Voluntarily' to "Focus on Family"
IBM has a billion bucks for 'the butcher', but not a million dollars for critical projects and initiatives in Free software
It Should be Uncontroversial to Say That Social Control Media is a Weapon
Democracy is not compatible with the likes of Kapo-Berg and MElon controlling public discourse of billions
Misuse of Bots (Now Sold as "Agents", "Hey Hi", "Automation", and "Efficiency")
They even try to rebrand robotics as "hey hi" and try to sell slop as "work"
Debian: Plagiarism OK, Just be "Responsible" About It
The result isn't the worst, but it's not good either
Don't Let Them Kill Activism
Are the oligarchs shutting the lid on activism and whistleblowers?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 165 Out of 200: Two Years Since My Wife and I Sued
In early September 2024 we hit back
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 28, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, August 28, 2026
Gemini Links 29/08/2026: Death Notice, Systems Biology, and Gopher
Links for the day