Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 23/1/2011: Pardus 2011 Reviews, Skolelinux Interview



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • How to develop for Linux
    Apple built this platform from scratch, but thanks to the work put in by the GNU project and countless others, we already have a platform. We have a rich set of development tools, a range of desktop environments and a wide range of development forges packed with source control, bug tracking and other features.



  • Linux: Successful Upgrade – SBS 2003 to Linux
    Late in 2010 one of our charitable organization clients, a local church, came to these decisions: 1) The aging XP Professional systems in their office needed to be replaced with new systems. 2) The existing XP Professional systems that were not so old needed to be upgraded to newer operating systems. 3) The existing SBS 2003 system needed to be upgraded to a new OS as well.

    We at ERACC made the pitch for Linux on the desktop and the server but the staff at this client thought they "needed" to stay with something "famliiar like Microsoft" and voted for Windows 7 Professional on their new and "upgraded" desktop systems. (I knew they were not going to see fuzzy, cuddly familiarity with a migration from XP to W7. But I also know when to stop promoting Linux and move on along.) However, the fellows in charge of decision making about their server decided they wanted to try Linux and not spend money to "upgrade" SBS 2003 to Windows Server 2008. We considered this latter victory enough for our Linux sales pitch and laid out an upgrade plan for their office. Funds were procured and the parts for new systems were ordered from ERACC in late December. The work began the first week in January 2011.

    [...]

    At this point the upgrade from SBS 2003 to Linux is done. Some call this a "migration", but we here at ERACC think of any move from Microsoft to Linux as an upgrade, so that is what we call it. Over the next few weeks each user's PC will either be replaced with a new PC running W7 Pro or migrated to W7 Pro from XP Pro. To date, two of these are done and we are working on the third one this weekend. In case you are wondering, the W7 Pro installations work just fine with SAMBA 3.5.3 on Mandriva 2010.2 Linux.


  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments

    • Qt in the land of Gnome-based desktops: The issue of copyright in Free software
      Recently Mark Shuttleworth wrote about how Qt will become part of the Ubuntu 11.10 desktop, and that Qt-based apps will eventually be considered as possible default Ubuntu apps. Obviously, this would be a big change from using GTK-only applications (that is, aside from Firefox and Open/Libreoffice applications), but Mark encourages GNOME developers to consider using Qt, too. He writes, “Perhaps GNOME itself will embrace Qt, perhaps not, but if it does then our willingness to blaze this trail would be a contribution in leadership.”

      I agree on this, and think that enabling usage of Qt in GNOME projects would be a contribution in leadership. It would be great if developers had the option of using tools like Qt Creator and Qt Quick when building applications for GNOME-based desktops (or other devices!).


    • My way or the highway?
      2 days ago I wrote an enthusiastic blog about a cross-distribution collaboration meeting on App Stores we've organized in Nuremberg. Then, a day later, Canonical decided to ship Qt with Ubuntu. While not anything special from an openSUSE pov (we give both GTK and Qt equal treatment and offer the best platform to develop for both), it's a nice move. In the announcement Mark Shuttleworth emphasized Qt integration with Ubuntu. I specifically write Ubuntu, not GNOME/GTK - Aaron Seigo responded to that with a blog post showing a bit of frustration with Canonical's policy, the push for dconf & Ubuntu-specific Qt integration in apps.


    • GNOME Desktop





  • Distributions

    • Why I Use Gentoo: Unused Dependency Removal
      Perhaps with the exception of Slackware, today’s modern distributions have completely mastered the fine art of installing a package’s dependencies automatically. The installation of a package and all its required dependencies is no more difficult than a single command.


    • Skolelinux interview: Morten Amundsen
      This time the Tromsø office of the Free software Centre and the newly elected board member of the association FRESH I've been speaking in my interview series with Skolelinux -people.

      How did you connect with the Skolelinux project?


    • Pardus

      • Review: Pardus 2011
        It's stable, smooth, reasonably quick, and extraordinarily newbie-friendly. Plus, it has goodies that most people would need on a daily basis. That said, there are a lot of applications that will need to be uploaded to the repository soon. Otherwise, I can only recommend this to people who will only be surfing the web and creating documents (and nothing else).


      • Pardus2011- A Linux distro that needs your attention


      • Pardus 2011, Independent Distro Releases Latest and Greatest
        All in all, Pardus is a truly underrated and underused distribution. It's a wonderful offering that everyone should try. And everyone can, because it comes with support for about every language in the known world.




    • Red Hat Family



      • Fedora

        • Meld Diff Viewer – Compare and Merge files/directories in Ubuntu
          Fudcon 2011 will be coming up next weekend. I’m looking forward to it, and hope to see lots of Fedora folks I talk with on irc and on mailing lists, as well as new folks I haven’t met yet. ;)


        • Stripes Fedora^WInfinity, Gnome 3, Owl, etc.
          I’ve made Fedora branded stripes to submit it for potential inclusion in F15. Unfortunately, Mairin (the famous Fedorartist) explained that wallpapers need to be published under a free license, and since mine contained Fedora logo, it can’t be (that is, Fedora logo is TMed).






    • Debian Family







Free Software/Open Source



  • Oracle

    • The Oracle scorecard: One year after Sun
      To be fair to Oracle, it shouldn't be expected that the company carry all the projects forward that Sun sponsored. It would have been nice if Oracle could have seen fit to continue sponsoring activities like GNOME a11y — but hard to argue that GNOME is particularly strategic to Oracle. But the list of projects that Oracle has stopped investing in entirely, or have stopped contributing to the FOSS project, is fairly long.




  • Project Releases





Leftovers

  • Silvio Berlusconi defended by Italian porn star
    The debate raging in Italy about Silvio Berlusconi's alleged taste for teenage girls and prostitutes has taken a surreal turn, after the country's top porn star weighed in with high praise for the prime minister. "The truth is," said Rocco Siffredi, "that Italians are proud of someone like Berlusconi who is 74, loves sex and has a good sex life – and I don't just mean working-class Italians."

    [...]

    Two years after Berlusconi's wife left him over his friendship with teenager Noemi Letizia, and a prostitute, Patrizia D'Addario, claimed to have slept with him, Berlusconi is again facing criticism after accusations that he had sex with pole-dancing prostitutes at parties at his mansion near Milan. One guest, Nadia Macrì, described Berlusconi lying on a bed calling out "Next" as women queued to have sex with him.


  • Why Is Eric Schmidt Stepping Down at Google?
    Was Eric Schmidt pushed or did he jump? Both. According to close advisors, the Google C.E.O. was upset a year ago when co-founder Larry Page sided with his founding partner, Sergey Brin, to withdraw censored searches from China. Schmidt did not hide his belief that Google should stay in the world’s largest consumer marketplace. It was an indication of the nature of the relationship Schmidt had with the founders that he—as Brian Cashman of the Yankees did this week—acknowledged that the decision was made above his head. He often joked that he provided “adult supervision,” and was never shy about interrupting the founders at meetings to crystallize a point. In the eleven interviews I conducted with him for my book on Google, he freely told anecdotes about the founders, sometimes making gentle fun of them, never seeming to look over his shoulder. Yet he always made clear that they were “geniuses” and he, in effect, was their manager.






Clip of the Day



Drupal: Colour Enabled



[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Recent Techrights' Posts

The Register MS Publishes More Word Salads Promoting "AI" Because It's Paid to Do So
Hype, name-dropping, and scaremongering
Linux Foundation is Plagiarism Hub, Linux is at Risk From It
Torvalds never looked weaker and more compromised
 
IBM Eliminating Over 20,000 IBM Workers by Year's End, Insiders Claim
the layoffs are silent
Microsoft "engineers who aren’t critical are let go" this week/month (silent layoffs)
"stack ranking"
Is Microsoft Trying to Kill What's Left of XBox by Year's End?
How many people will still bother purchasing these consoles by the end of the year?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 170 Out of 200: Downtimes
Yesterday traffic skyrocketed here
Gemini Links 03/09/2026: Google Maps, Gemini's Early History, and Suppressing Slop Plagiarists
Links for the day
Links 03/09/2026: Unsafe Skies, Thunderbird Adopts Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in Traps, "Xbox Live Down Again"
Links for the day
Growing Thirst for Free Software, the LibreOffice Edition
LibreOffice is in "high demand"
Links 03/09/2026: John Ternus Enters Apple Amid Mass Layoffs, Journalist İrem Delice Arrested
Links for the day
Stallman.org Down Due to Virtual Machines Issue, "Senior Engineers are Investigating the Issue" Since Saturday
RMS site down due to virtual machines issues upstream
Gemini Links 03/09/2026: Back in Japan, Another New Year, Reasons to Avoid Have a "Smart" "Phone", and Rant About Built-in Batteries
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 02, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 02, 2026
Identi.ca is Practically Dead, Just Like All Social Control Media (Eventually)
All Social Control Media is a waste of time
Gemini Links 02/09/2026: Intentions, Publishing on Workstations, and Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA)
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Reaches 6% in Nepal
Today I checked GNU/Linux in Nepal again
SLAPP Censorship - Part 169 Out of 200: Calling People "Nazis"
'Cancel culture' in action
GNU Turns 43 This Month, GNU/Linux Turns 35 Next Year
It seems like no area of computing has not been impacted by the GNU/Linux revolution
Uber Debt Grew 2.5 Billion Dollars in 3 Months, Company Lays Off at Least 10% of Workforce
The media repeats the "official" numbers
Links 02/09/2026: The Machine Stops, AuraSearch, and DOOM 1/2
Links for the day
1-1 Meetings at IBM This Week, PIPs Expected, Maybe RAs Too
As usual, we invite whistleblowers to tell us what's going on
Links 02/09/2026: Germany Blames Russia for Leipzig Airport Drone Attack and China Gains Power as US Faces Humiliation in the Midst of Presidential Cover-up
Links for the day
Quit Talking About "AI Layoffs" and Talk About How Chatbots and Other Bots Broke Recruitment Processes by Cheating
Bots talking to other bots isn't HR; it's a catastrophe
It's Inevitable Anyway, So...
of course blame Chinese Communists for the "anti-AI" messages
Robotics Isn't "Hey Hi", Robotics Isn't New Either
Is the official Arduino blog becoming shilling platform for Qualcomm's "hey hi" [so-called 'intelligent'] chips?
Giving 'Free Publicity' to the People You Hate and Attack
Be careful what you wish for in social control media
Today We'll Focus on Growth of GNU/Linux
We've meanwhile noticed that Clownflare statistics for north American nations show 19% of requests (CDN) originating from GNU/Linux
IBM Secret (or Silent) Layoffs in September 2026
We need whistleblowers
Gemini Links 02/09/2026: GAFAM's E-mail Cartel, ROOPHLOCH 2026, and Homeworlds
Links for the day
Not Only Microsoft and IBM Hide Layoffs (Secret Layoffs) and Fail to Follow the Law (or Bypass It)
Microsoft's tactics are not so unique
People Who Participate in the Slop Plagiarism Pyramid Scheme and the Moral Dilemma (What's Acceptable for a Salary?)
giant pyramid scheme
State of the Slop, Linux Edition
Whether slop about "linux" becomes rarer by the end of this year, well... time will tell
Links 02/09/2026: 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop Plagiarism) Destroying Evidence, "Data Center Backlash Has Officially Rattled Scam Altman"
Links for the day
Andrew Lee Has Turned Freenode Into a Slopfarm (Because Who Needs IRC Anyway?)
The site is churning out slop all day long
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 01, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 01, 2026
FSF Staff Uses 'CoC' to Stop Conversation About Autistici/Inventati in Relation to Free Software
The list is already heavily moderated
IBM Allegedly Stopped Hiring (This Tends to Coincide With Mass Layoffs)
Is a hiring freeze an echo of layoffs? Yes, definitely.
SLAPP Censorship - Part 168 Out of 200: When Choosing Clients Recklessly and Poorly Self-Harm is Inevitable
"If you're doing something hard and nobody hates it, you probably aren't doing it. If the right people hate it and those people happen to be some of the worst people alive, so much the better."
Something Big is Happening at IBM This Week/Month
Some people at IBM (and Red Hat) are panicking
Gemini Links 01/09/2026: Biscuits, Epstein Files, Power Users, and Alhena 5.6.8
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2026: Almost 5,000 Missing/Dead in Nepal-China Flood and Marijuana Factory Explodes
Links for the day
September at IBM: Silent Layoffs on Day 1
PIPocalypse at IBM
Last Month IRC Entered Its 39th Year and It's Still Growing (New IRC Networks)
There are 511+ known IRC networks
Links 01/09/2026: Climate, Disinformation, Microsoft Overworking People
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Site Still Offline (Third Day), But Richard Stallman is Active Online
he is busy online despite his site not being accessible so far this week
PIP Layoffs at Microsoft, Even in India
Microsoft is trying to hide the true scale of the layoffs
Layoff Trackers Are a Sham, They're Like US 'Unemployment Data'
Layoff trackers are similarly misleading as they only measure what companies openly admit and register with WARN notices
The Peculiar Case of OSNews, Which Experiments With Slopfarming
It wasn't published in error. It has been there for two months.
Russian Federation is Removing Windows From Computers
Windows is going "out of fashion"
XBox CEO Has No Clue What She is Selling
Some people believe Microsoft will parcel and offload the whole "gaming" unit to some other companies
analognowhere.com and xkcd.com Selling Physical Copies of Webcomics
That's one way to support their work
PIP/GVSA at Microsoft: Mass Layoffs Disguised as Something Else
Microsoft is trying to cheapen the workforce because the numbers don't add up
Microsoft Lunduke Uses Twitter ("X") Because It's Algorithmically Designed to Boost His Worldview/s, He Ignores What "X" Is
Maybe all those people really deserve one another
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 31, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 31, 2026
Censorship by Threats
It should be noted that the Web site of Richard Stallman will soon enter its third day of downtime
In Romania, GNU/Linux Reaches 6%, According to Clownflare
Tomorrow we'll see the latest data from statCounter (for September)
Gemini Links 01/09/2026: Denali Park Train Trip, Crafts, and Community-Building in smol.pub
Links for the day
Microsoft Workers Doing 80 Hours a Week After Microsoft Culled Their Colleagues
there are days when they work 17 hours a day (barely any time left to sleep and eat) and work starts at 5AM
IBM Defrauds Shareholders With Fake News (Bribed Press) About "Quantum"
That says a lot about the state of "Tech Giants" and also the utterly shameless state of the media
Record Highs for GNU/Linux, Especially in the United States of America
the "market share" of GNU/Linux is about 9%, still about a third of what Vista 11 stands at