04.10.11
Posted in IRC Logs at 12:24 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
We have just uploaded 34 megabytes (IRC logs from the past month) and here the files which are definitely complete. We’ll return to posting logs daily (assuming no BT connectivity issues). █
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Enter the IRC channels now
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Posted in GNU/Linux, Google at 2:13 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Assessment of what is happening to what we once called “Linux” and collectively advocated as a pathway to digital freedom
When GNU/Linux becomes just Linux, loses the Free software (proprietary and DRM promoted by stores with remotely-controlled kill switches instead), and even limits access to the source code or discourages development from outside Google, are we really winning? That depends. The FSF has a love-hate relationship with Google based on its recent statements. It’s a very important subject right now and Groklaw says: “Now it’s Microsoft and all its venal little helpers and proxies attacking Google and Android. Linux back in 2003 had nobody to stand up for it. But Google doesn’t need our help. I’m sure it wouldn’t mind, but they have plenty of money and they can hire whatever they need or just buy it. I was willing to accept the threats and the danger and the smear campaigns I’ve had to experience when it was for the community. But I don’t feel the same, if I see I’m not needed, and I see it. Android has won. No matter what tricks Microsoft may pull going forward, the world knows now that when there was free choice in the marketplace, people chose Android, which runs on Linux, over Microsoft’s phone. Nothing they do can change that. All they can prove perhaps is that dirty tricks and misuse of the courts and regulatory bodies can distort the marketplace. But without the benefits of a monopoly, people don’t actually choose Microsoft phones, at least not in comparison to Android. All they can do about that now is try to force you to use their products. That’s in a way what a monopoly is.”
OHA was announced a few years ago. It was to be led by Google and it received a lot of press, which Steve Ballmer dismissed at the time, calling it just some words on paper. But Google’s Android has come a long way since then, even if not under the “OHA” banner. Android played a role in weakening some counterparts like LIMO and MeeGo, which were developed more closely with Linux.
“I was willing to accept the threats and the danger and the smear campaigns I’ve had to experience when it was for the community.”
–Pamela Jones, GroklawTechrights is concerned that, despite its enthusiasm for Android, the platforms from Google redefine what we once knew as “Linux” or “Free (as in freedom) software”. We are not necessarily moving towards greater openness — let alone freedom — except in numbers. In other words, it could be argued more and more people use less restrictive software if Android becomes a “monopoly” as Gartner already labels it (this is a negative word which paints Google as an offender). But on the other hand, Google’s Android is not as open as a platform can be; far from it. And while nothing ever changed much in terms of antifeatures (Google insists on it when it rebuts the smears, and quite rightly so), Techrights believes that having more Linux contenders in the mobile space (e.g. multiplicity for diversity) would be beneficial. In a sense, Google has done to mobile Linux what Canonical has done to desktop Linux. Red Hat probably has not had quite the same effect on Linux servers; it’s open to debate really. Some make accusations out of that (e.g. Canonical is killing Mandriva) and some look at the positive sides, e.g. Ubuntu consolidates and offers GNU/Linux increased uniformity.
As the Linux brand is weakened along with other OS entities/brands (e.g. Microsoft and Ubuntu from Canonical), Android takes over and its sibling, Chrome OS, is hardly relevant at this stage, but that too is locked down.
Are we winning the “Linux battle”? And if so, which one? What is the achieved goal? The “year of Linux on the desktop”? The “year of Linux everywhere”? The “year of Linux on the most widely-used form factor”?
Moreover, what are our yardsticks for success? It is the extent of use (e.g. overall number of users)? Or the degree of freedom made available to a willing user of existing products? These are open questions and those who spent a considerable part of their lives advocating “Linux” ought to ponder the crossroad where we all stand together.
When it comes to market share, Microsoft is the #1 threat.
When it comes to freedom within consumer products, Apple is probably the #1 threat.
When it comes to fair play and consumer rights, both Microsoft and Apple are villains. For a start, both are suing Linux, using software patents. As we noted the other day (although very briefly), Apple gets away with what would otherwise be a good lesson for Apple regarding software patents. There is yet another site that’s dedicated to Apple patents and it says:
A video display with a ~1.5-to-1 aspect ratio was non-obvious in 1995???
As mentioned in the prior post on these cases, one of the two asserted patents is US 5,825,427, titled Image display system.
Generally, when I see news coverage of a patent suit, I also find some misplaced outrage in the article or its comments based on just the title or abstract of the asserted patent. When possible, I do my part to defend the patent system, pointing out that the actual claims being asserted are far narrower than the title, abstract, or news article imply, and that the patent system is, to a large extent, doing its job.
The Twitter user who highlighted the above in the context of the “swpat” hashtag added: “Apple accused of infringing incredibly broad patent but gets no press. What if it was Google.” If it was Google, the horde which includes Microsoft Florian would launch another dirty disinformation campaign. Groklaw knows a coordinated attack when it sees one, having witnessed this for the past 8 years. As a side note, we would like to send our gratitude to Pamela Jones who inspired those who created Techrights. Her work or at least her impact will carry on. █
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Posted in Microsoft, Novell, OIN, Patents at 1:35 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Wakeup call for OSI, ISO, and OIN
Summary: The Microsoft-bent proprietary software company, Novell, is becoming a huge liability, helping to prove that so-called ‘defensive’ patents in the hands of Red Hat or Google are not acceptable, either; Nokia too is becoming a patent problem after Microsoft’s intervention
“Boycott Novell” was right about Novell. Those who disagree would probably scramble to find supportive evidence/reasons. There is an ongoing debate about whether or not defending one’s patents can constitute being against software patents as a whole. As we noted the other day, Novell is now providing Microsoft with yet more ammunition with which to attack Linux, and this time it’s about patent sales. Novell ceased to be the reformed company it once claimed to be. It also turns Free/libre software into proprietary software, which is all it seems to be doing these days/this week [1, 2, 3].
Those who defend “defensive” patents (like Red Hat’s and maybe Google soon) ought to remember that Novell too used to pretend that its patents — including newly-filed-for software patents — were intended to “protect” the open source community (e.g. via OIN). Well, it turns out to be the very opposite of the truth because according to Microsoft booster Gavin Clarke, Microsoft is likely to get Novell’s patents very soon. It’s not just Microsoft actually; Novell patents will land at the hands of several who are Linux-hostile, including:
While it is not known what particular patents Apple and Oracle are getting, Tiemann based his fears on the companies’ recent actions and statements.
Oracle, for instance, has sued Google, claiming that Android violates its Java patents. “Oracle’s prior actions suggest that Oracle may be planning to create a dominant position in Mobile at Google’s expense,” Tiemann said.
Meanwhile, Steve Jobs has threatened to “go after” Ogg Theora and other open source video codecs. “It seems plausible that Apple’s most credible competitor in the mobile market, Android, would be vulnerable to challenge by the patents involved in the CPTN-transaction,” Tiemann said.
Tiemann’s statement was a response to a disclosure from Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) that Microsoft and EMC have made additional statements about what they intend to do with the patents. Microsoft plans to return the patents its buys from Novell back to Attachmate, Novell’s new owner, and merely license the portfolio. EMC says that its share of the patents will not relate to virtualization. EMC owns VMware.
More at The H:
A consortium made up of Apple, EMC, Microsoft and Oracle which planned to purchase 882 Novell patents, following Novell’s takeover by Attachmate, has altered its strategy in order to defuse anti-trust concerns. According to the Open Source Initiative (OSI), the consortium will only exist for a further three months with the aim of dividing the Novell patents up between its members. All four members will be granted licenses for all of the patents. Microsoft is reported to have undertaken to sell its patents back to Attachmate and retain only the right to use the technologies protected by the patents. Similarly, VMware parent EMC is reported to have agreed not to acquire any of the patents relating to virtualisation.
Here is the original message from the OSI (Red Hat’s staff included):
Towards the end of March, we received a message from the German Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office or FCO) advising us that the CPTN transaction had been re-notified to them. That means that the consortium seeking to acquire Novell’s patent portfolio – Microsoft, Apple, EMC and Oracle – had once again asked for permission to proceed.
OSI Concerns Heeded
Notably, the terms of the transaction seem to have been significantly changed, apparently in response to concerns like the ones OSI expressed at the start of the year. OSI is very pleased that the FCO has been clear about the transaction with CPTN and congratulates them on continuing to consider the overall health of the evolving software market and not just the concerns of the existing dominant players.
Here is a non-expert summary of the differences (summarised with permission from the FCO):
* CPTN will now only exist for long enough to distribute the shares equally among the participants in the transaction (no more than three months), and thus will not form a new long-term patent troll itself.
* All parties to the transaction will retain a license to the full Novell patent portfolio, thus immunising themselves from patent actions with the shares they do not hold.
* Microsoft will sell its 25% share of the patents on to Attachmate and retain only a license to the portfolio.
* EMC will ensure that the 31 patents it has determined relate to virtualisation are not among the 25% share it acquires.
* All patents will still be subject to all existing licenses, covenants not to sue and similar restrictions.
OSI Still Concerned
The FCO went on to ask OSI for its views on the revised transaction.
Microsoft boosters like Microsoft Florian are already playing along with the CPTN, breeding fear of legitimising this anti-competitive and Linux-hostile move. Microsoft is trying to use patent portfolios to ensure it gets paid no matter whose products are sold and the situation is made worse as Microsoft is likely to use its Elop-run Nokia as a litigation machine (led by Elop after Microsoft gave him some blessings, sent him to Nokia, and made him richer with Microsoft stockpiles). See the article “Patent Lawsuits Are Key Battleground for Nokia”:
Nokia’s recent legal actions against Apple underline how patent infringement lawsuits have become a key competitive strategy for mobile phone makers, especially as software escalates in importance in the smartphone market.
To twist Steve Ballmer’s words, “Microsoft is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.” This includes Nokia and Novell. Their patents end up in hostile hands, just like Sun’s.
Patents are the nuclear option. The difference is, patents cannot be converted into energy (well, unless the papers are put in the fireplace). █
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Posted in Microsoft, Security, Windows at 1:16 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft’s security record (the one it is willing to disclosure) hits embarrassing levels while Marks and Spencer customers have their data exposed by a Windows shop
DESPITE Microsoft hiding its many flaws and misreporting the extent of the problem, some numbers do get out. Even if they are incomplete, they are eye-opening. “Microsoft prepping 17 patches for 64 holes,” says CNET:
Microsoft will release 17 bulletins next week to fix 64 vulnerabilities across a swath of products including Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer, the company said in its Patch Tuesday preview.
Of the bulletins, nine are rated “critical” and eight are “important,” the company said in a TechNet blog post today.
In addition to all versions of Windows; IE6, IE7, and IE8; numerous versions of Office for Windows and the Mac, affected software includes Visual Studio .NET and Visual C++, according to the advisory.
This is not the sort of problem which only affect naïve businesses and home users who accept a computer with Microsoft software forcibly bundled. As the MSBBC claims (without naming Windows or Microsoft), “Marks and Spencer customers have been warned to expect an increase in spam e-mail after hackers stole their details.
“The company has contacted users of its online service to warn them about the data breach, which was part of a wider attack on marketing firm Epsilon.”
Epsilon is a Windows shop. █
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04.09.11
Posted in Debian, GNU/Linux, Mono, Ubuntu at 6:08 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: An affinity for the ripoff of the ripoff of Java is costing Debian and its descendent’s, Ubuntu, dearly
MONO is not software, it’s a doctrine. It’s the belief that Microsoft is the centre of all things and that all platforms — GNU/Linux included — should just become clients of Microsoft despite the known risks.
Banshee is the latest Mono addition to Ubuntu and as a notable blogger put it, “I wonder what is the next platform they’re going to take on now that both Windows and Mac are already supported.”
Banshee — like Mono in general — is about .NET, it's not about GNU/Linux. It never was. That says a lot. In fact, a lot of the people who promote Mono inside GNU/Linux are not even GNU/Linux users. They have an agenda, which is to increase the use of Microsoft APIs. It’s no wonder that the lead developer of Mono is a Microsoft MVP.
According to this, Banshee was added to Ubuntu prematurely. It’s buggy. We have heard the same thing in IRC and in E-mail. What was Canonical thinking??? All that Banshee has done for Ubuntu so far is harm its reputation (the Bansheegate).
According to this other new post, “Debian 6 [is] sluggish and slow due to Mono”.
It says: “To cut a long story short, I have no need for Mono and decided to erase it.
apt-get purge cli-common libmono-*
“If you are a Ubuntu user reading this, please do not run this command.
“Now the interesting thing after performing this action was I noticed my desktop was more snappy and responsive, and more inline with Fedora 14.”
Fedora avoids Mono as a matter of principle. █
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Posted in Bill Gates, Microsoft at 5:55 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Repetition of patterns in the news led to a serious rethink about concentration of attention in Techrights (starting 2011)
Techrights is here to stay for a good while to come and it has nearly 7,500 blog posts which are categorised as “Microsoft”. It also contains a lot of material about the Gates Foundation, which works very similarly (and often serves Microsoft behind the scenes). Techrights covered both of these very heavily, especially between 2008 and 2010. There was a good reason for it, but having written all these posts, it very often seems like any bit of news is now a deja vu, which leads to a lot of cross-referencing and repetition of arguments. For people who read Techrights regularly this can become rather tiresome and boring, but for the rest it may provide a new lesson]. As the majority of our readers are RSS subscribers who read the items offline or online, we now view any items that repeat old observations (and merely provide new examples from the news) as unnecessary, or at least as a poorer use of time. We had a discussion about this subject in IRC last night. The point was clarified after someone had urged us to cover more reasons not to use Internet Explorer. We’ve been there and done that.
Regarding the Gates Foundation, the subject of its hijack of US public education came up as well. It went like this:
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/07/schools-school-funding?CMP=twt_gu |
01:26 |
| TechrightsBot-sc |
Title: Cathie Black and the privatisation of education | Daniel Denvir | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk .::. Size~: 131.44 KB |
01:26 |
| qu1j0t3 |
Quadrescence: ^^ that’s worth reading, a good summary of how Obama administration is implementing right wing extremist plans to destroy public education. Gates is a big part ofthis effort. |
01:29 |
| [...] |
| schestowitz |
[01:29] <qu1j0t3> Quadrescence: ^^ that’s worth reading, a good summary of how Obama administration is implementing right wing extremist plans to destroy public education. Gates is a big part ofthis effort. |
07:09 |
| schestowitz |
Part of the obscene view that if *Everything* is turned into business mode, then it improves |
07:09 |
| [...] |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: yes, it’s related. but there seem to be a few much more sinister things behind this as well. |
13:22 |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: even if you look at that ideology ALONE, it |
13:23 |
| oiaohm |
qu1j0t3: Just got in what topic. |
13:23 |
| qu1j0t3 |
oiaohm: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/07/schools-school-funding |
13:23 |
| TechrightsBot-sc |
Title: Cathie Black and the privatisation of education | Daniel Denvir | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk .::. Size~: 155.52 KB |
13:23 |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz | Part of the obscene view that if *Everything* is turned into business mode, then it improves |
13:24 |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: …even if you look at that ideology ALONE, it is denied that the change is ideological |
13:25 |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: I think we are dealing with a different species entirely |
13:25 |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: of human. We have these countless examples of straight-face lunatics — Rhee, H.Clinton, all the way thru Obama, Blair, Harper, and thousands of others |
13:26 |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: they act as if programmed … |
13:27 |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: not ‘born’. |
13:27 |
| qu1j0t3 |
schestowitz: maybe ‘V’ is actually a documentary…. |
13:27 |
| oiaohm |
qu1j0t3: Really lets be trueful most countrys don’t most of the population with a good education |
13:30 |
| oiaohm |
Since it would make idiot getting into goverment job harder. |
13:31 |
| qu1j0t3 |
of course. that’s part of it. |
13:31 |
| qu1j0t3 |
it’s also about creating a slave class |
13:31 |
| qu1j0t3 |
or perpetuating one, more accurately |
13:31 |
| oiaohm |
USA eductation system already fails students. |
13:32 |
| oiaohm |
So really cannot be made much worse. |
13:32 |
| qu1j0t3 |
oh, it can  |
13:32 |
| qu1j0t3 |
wrecking it is an active project for the current administration. |
13:32 |
| qu1j0t3 |
Arne Duncan was hired to do this |
13:32 |
| qu1j0t3 |
Bill Gates is pushing the project along |
13:33 |
| oiaohm |
Australia has issues in its education systems. |
13:33 |
| qu1j0t3 |
same agenda is being applied in UK, Austradlia |
13:33 |
| qu1j0t3 |
Canada will be hit as well, though it’s not much in the news yet |
13:33 |
| oiaohm |
Not really qu1j0t3 |
13:33 |
| qu1j0t3 |
definitely. |
13:33 |
| qu1j0t3 |
nobody escapes, oiaohm |
13:33 |
| qu1j0t3 |
did you miss the protests in the UK ? |
13:33 |
| oiaohm |
Australia kinda different. |
13:33 |
| qu1j0t3 |
oiaohm: it is? |
13:33 |
| qu1j0t3 |
i should visit some time. |
13:34 |
| qu1j0t3 |
must be amazing to have escaped this crap. |
13:34 |
| qu1j0t3 |
oiaohm: at least you guys stayed well out of the Iraq war. well done! |
13:34 |
| oiaohm |
Our schools have required testing. Any school who students are not passing as well as the rest can expect inspentions. |
13:34 |
| qu1j0t3 |
oiaohm: read the article. |
13:34 |
| qu1j0t3 |
oiaohm: that’s part of the agenda… |
13:35 |
| oiaohm |
Funny part private schools were doing better. So they have lost funding here. qu1j0t3 |
13:35 |
| qu1j0t3 |
to the extent that slave class is wanted, the agenda will be applied. |
13:37 |
| qu1j0t3 |
simple cause and effect |
13:37 |
| qu1j0t3 |
Howard is gone, he was the most effective agent |
13:37 |
| qu1j0t3 |
he’ll be back, in some other guise |
13:37 |
| oiaohm |
Iraq war has been profitable to australia. qu1j0t3 |
13:38 |
| qu1j0t3 |
that’s great |
13:38 |
| qu1j0t3 |
i’m pretty thrilled about that |
13:38 |
| qu1j0t3 |
in fact i’m really annoyed Canada wasn’t all over that. bunch of poofters. |
13:38 |
| [...] |
And on it goes. The main point is, this new article talks about the “privatisation of education” and Gates too is mentioned:
Cathleen Black, the multimillionaire publishing executive with absolutely no background in education, has resigned as New York City schools chancellor. Her departure is a rare setback for a corporate-funded education reform movement that lauds standardised tests, non-union teachers and private management as the solution to the problems of public education.
Mayor Bloomberg was shocked by the negative response to Black’s appointment – just as he was shocked by the visceral public backlash against his elimination of term limits. Black was appointed precisely because of her lack of education experience, just as billionaires nationwide have campaigned for office as consummate non-politicians. All that our benign corporate overlords expect, of course, is the occasional “thank you”.
[...]
The so-called school reform movement has gained ground over the past decade. Chancellors Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and now secretary of education Arne Duncan have made their case as tough advocates for children boldly pushing back against a bankrupt status quo. Priorities are set and billions in funding provided by the cocksure leadership at the Gates, Broad and Walton foundations. The movement has led to more testing and more charter schools. It has not, however, led to poor students getting a demonstrably better education. And the minority of charters that do work have proven impossible to scale up.
We have covered it all before, in literally dozens of posts. We probably will resume this later this year. But until then, news which is not truly new will be treated as a low-priority activity. We have some exciting areas to research and cover instead. █
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Posted in Antitrust, Europe, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 5:40 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Attitude towards Microsoft’s undeserved monopoly is changing as even the parliament starts raising concerns (about operating systems, not just the default Windows Web browser)
André Rebentisch and OSOR have some interesting news from Europe regarding the operating systems & monopoly:
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The NYT talks about an alleged contradiction in EU procurement policies. Looks difficult for me to find a contradiction. What these advocates use here is a reversed principle.
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At Document Freedom Day on 30 March 2011, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) awarded the German City of Munich with a Document Freedom Day Prize.
FSFE President Karsten Gerloff said: “The regional city of Munich shows in an exemplary manner what the city council of a big city in Germany can achieve with free software. With the LiMux project, Munich is a pioneer of open standards use in both Germany and Europe. We hope that many will follow this modern and open attitude.”
Microsoft has repeatedly attempted to derail Munich’s migration. It views GNU/Linux adoption like the “Red Threat” [1, 2]. █
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Posted in News Roundup at 1:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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The Linux Foundation has formed a new working group to speed development within the Linux ecosystem that would make the operating system kernel more suitable for building high availability (HA) systems, the Foundation announced Wednesday.
[...]
So, not surprisingly, the Linux HA stack will include a lot of components that should aid in the clustering of servers. In addition to Linux, the software stack may include technologies such as the Corosync cluster engine, the Open Clustering Framework, the Linux Virtual Server, the Pacemaker resource manager, the Oracle Cluster File System (OCFS), the Global File System (GFS) and others.
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Why is this OS still around? Who needs this aggravation? There is a better way to do IT: Debian GNU/Linux.
Debian GNU/Linux is not perfect but it is a lot less work to keep it running. In the five years I have been using it I have only had much angst three times: a flub of openSSH, lots of display problems in the display on the beta of Squeeze and just yesterday, my wife found OpenOffice.org would not open files from Office that it previously had opened. Libre Office fixed that and a problem every couple of years compared to a monthly curse is heavenly.
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Acer expects component shortages for tablet PCs and smartphones
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Audiocasts/Shows
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Kernel Space
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Whether you use it every day or you’ve never even heard of it, Linux is undeniably important to computing history. It’s been around in one form or another since the early 90s and continues to be a relevant player in the world of computing.
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Graphics Stack
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AMD has just released a Catalyst hot-fix driver for Linux users on this binary blob. This is the “AMD Catalyst 11.4b” driver.
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Applications
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A new version for semantic launcher Synapse has been released today that brings many new features most notable of which are a new theme similar to Gnome-Do and ability to drag and drop files from results on windows.
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Proprietary
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Proving how much it cares about those people who use its app on Linux, Skype has released version 2.2 for Linux. Don’t run towards the champagne though, as this is still a beta version, and, as its minor revision number implies, isn’t the much-awaited big new version that achieves feature parity with its Windows and Mac brethren.
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NetSupport has announced that its classroom instruction and monitoring software is now available for the Mac OS and Linux platforms.
Previously only available for Windows, NetSupport Assist lets teachers control lessons from their terminals by providing them with a live thumbnail of each student’s desktop.
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Instructionals/Technical
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Checking whether documents are looking the same when they are loaded in Writer has been a problem and needs a lot of manual verifications. When discussing with Florian Reuter more than a year ago, I discovered that he wrote a patch to dump the writer layout as an XML file. This patch helped him to debug layout problems, but Thorsten quickly had the idea to use it to test documents rendering. I finally found some time to improve that layout dumping patch and create a filter for it: it has been pushed yesterday to the master branch (see commits 16431d9, 2ef2ae4 in writer repo and 51398ba in filters repo).
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Games
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If you’ve played either of Amanita Design’s previous works — the ‘Samorost’ series or ‘Machinarium’ — you know to expect a visually thrilling spectacle. Amanita’s latest game, ‘Osada,’ leans more towards the surreal insanity of their ‘Samorost’ games than the more puzzle-oriented ‘Machinarium,’ with a stream-of-consciousness flow of nonsensical visuals and simple point-and-click puzzles. Oozing with irreverence and insanity, ‘Osada’ is an invigorating time-waster that’s sure to delight anyone with a taste for the strange.
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Desktop Environments
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GNOME Desktop
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I wanted to check out Gnome3 on my own, in spite of the wide range of reviews [or because of them!] I especially appreciated this review: https://piecesoflint.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/10-things-i-love-about-gnome-3/. I don’t wish to repeat the findings, but add my own reactions.
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Five years in the making, the newly released version 3 of the GNOME Linux desktop interface has been radically redesigned.
The development team endeavored to develop a simpler interface for the shell, noted Jon McCann, one of GNOME Shell’s designers, in a Thursday announcement.
For this release, the boxy look and feel has been replaced with a more aerodynamic, clutter-free visage. All the icons were redesigned, and new default font Cantarell was adopted. Applications can be called up by simply typing the first few letters of a program name. Frequently used applications can be pinned to a desktop dashboard.
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The long, loooong awaited Gnome 3. Probably the most popular linux desktop environment out there has finally gotten its well deserved and a needed major overhaul. Often times I hear people complaining about the lack of features in Gnome 2.x when compared to, say, KDE. Others, on the other hand, like its simplicity, ease of use, and the fact that no big changes have been made for quite some time. In fact, I myself can’t recall any significant changes to Gnome since I first started using it 5 years ago. Gnome 3 was written from scratch and the team was hoping to reinvent some things, but innovate at the same time, while making the new Gnome the best desktop environment out there. But, did they succeed? More after the break!
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GNOME 3 is an incredible achievement. Looking back to that first announcement in 2008, I don’t think any of us would have quite imagined how much the project would accomplish with a new dot oh release. Everyone can feel very proud indeed.
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Just imagine if you tried out a distro that wasn’t meant for you?
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I haven’t thought of AUSTRUMI in quite a while. My memories of it are tiny, tiny, fast, fast, yet up-to-date able work on modern hardware (modern at the time). Then it fell off my radar around version 1.5.0 released in 2007. But 2.3.3 was just released a few days ago, so it was time to see its latest incarnation.
AUSTRUMI is Slackware-based distribution that hails from Latvia. Yes, that’s a country; in the general vicinity of Lithuania, Sweden, and the western Russian border. It ships as an installable live CD (to HDD or USB) with support for several languages. It was once about a 30 MB download, but these days it is 199 MB. It comes with Linux 2.6.38.2, Xorg X Server 1.10.0, GIMP 2.6.11, Opera 11.10, LibreOffice 3.3.2, and lots (relatively speaking) of other handy applications. It includes several server applications as well as system tools and utilities. AUSTRUMI also ships with NVIDIA and ATI/AMD proprietary drivers, although the choice of using Open Source drivers is available to boot. Another boot time option is whether to run it completely in RAM or not as well as your preferred language and several other options.
It comes with a very attractive FVWM desktop with transparency and a nice titlebar, clock, and quicklauncher on the side as well as a pretty theme and wallpaper. They’ve also used Conky to display some machine statistics across the top of the screen.
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Post about SLAX was soon followed by post about Puppy. I felt in love with Puppy from the first sight. It’s a pity I had to remove it from my HDD to replace with Debian Squeeze.
SLAX is based on Slackware.
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New Releases
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Version 2.1.0 of the SystemRescueCd Linux distribution has been released, the first major point update to SystemRescueCd 2.0.0 from early January. Based on the Gentoo LiveCD and using Xfce as its default desktop, the SystemRescueCd is configured as a tool kit for administering or repairing an operating system and recovering data after a system crash. Supported file systems include Ext2, Ext3 and Ext4, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS, VFAT, NTFS, ISO9660 and Btrfs.
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PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family
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Mandriva Pulse 2 is the Open Source solution to manage business IT infrastructure whether it is homogenous, unisite, multisite, and
comprising a handfull of machines or several thousand.
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Red Hat Family
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Fedora
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Fusion Linux is a (desktop) Linux distribution derived from Fedora,
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Debian Family
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Canonical/Ubuntu
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In my opinion most Ubuntu users who think the way my friend thinks are going to be upset about it. So, what to do? Should such users ditch Ubuntu and move to derivatives like Linux Mint (which is fast becoming my favorite)?
Linux Mint has a very strong user-base and it doesn’t need Ubuntu’s failure to get new users. However, I can see quite a lot of users migrating to Linux Mint if they did not like Unity. While I have no issue whether you use Ubuntu or Linux Mint, I do have a suggestion to those who are not comfortable with Unity yet don’t want to ditch Ubuntu.
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When Mark Shuttleworth and co announced last year that Ubuntu 11.04 would deploy a Canonical-developed Unity desktop environment instead of the GNOME 3.0 Shell or the classic GNOME2 desktop, many users were concerned by this move with Unity on Ubuntu Netbook not even being in great shape, etc. Concerns over Unity by default in Ubuntu 11.04 have only grown with the Unity interface in Ubuntu 11.04 Beta still being sluggish and broken in areas. Now it looks like Canonical may default Ubuntu 11.04 to using the classic desktop.
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In my last blog post about WebLive I announced the availability on WebLive of the top-50 apps from the new Ratings & Review service.
Today I’m happy to announce that this feature is no longer necessary as you can now test drive anything that’s available in the Ubuntu archive.
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Earlier today Phoronix was the first publication to widely report that Ubuntu 11.04 may default to the GNOME classic desktop rather than the Unity desktop that Canonical has been developing viciously over the past few months. There’s just too many bugs outstanding and issues with Unity, but here’s the whole spiel about what their evaluation is coming down to in deciding whether to stick with Unity by default or instead use the classic GNOME desktop until presumably Ubuntu 11.10.
A more elaborate email from Canonical’s Rick Spencer has now hit the Ubuntu development mailing list that further analyzes the situation and discussion that came out of the Ubuntu Technical Board meeting.
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Besides the MPlayer fighting that’s now going on, the battles within the Ubuntu community isn’t limited to GNOME vs. Unity on the desktop, but in fact the Ubuntu Developer Membership board and Community Council have jointly decided to expel one of the Ubuntu developers.
The two Ubuntu groups have decided to kick Artur Rona out of the Ubuntu development community for at least two years, according to this mailing list post. This Polish developer had been responsible within the Ubuntu community for handling merges, syncs, and security updates for some packages.
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Natty Narwhal (Ubuntu 11.04) removes GNOME, adds new kernel, and offers a major patch for scheduling processes. Mark Shuttleworth talks to Linux User about all this, Debian relations and the future of Ubuntu…
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Have an idea for a great Linux application that’s missing from the 30,000+ downloads in the Ubuntu repositories? Or just interested in learning some programming pointers? If you answered yes, the latest and greatest Ubuntu App Developer Week, which starts Monday, April 11, 2011, is for you. Keep reading for details…
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Flavours and Variants
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There were two tiny wrongs with LMD – one, the lack of Compiz; two, the one-time boot glitch. Other than that, Linux Mint Debian was surprisingly good-looking and good-working, with none of the pessimistic predictions about its stability and usability.
I’m thoroughly pleased with the distro. It’s a near perfect 10! The Mint dev team has scored two tremendous releases, one after another, not an easy feat by any means or standards. This is really amazing. What more, LMD is a beacon of hope for all those frightened Ubuntu users and Unity haters. If you don’t like the direction Ubuntu is going, there’s Linux Mint and its Debian edition waiting for you. Stable, fast, beautiful, the sum of all good.
Let’s not forget – this is a rolling release, so install once and enjoy forever. It’s also probably going to be supported for eons. And this is just the first edition. Think how this thing will look like in a year or two, given more time to buff and polish.
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Eurocom Corporation (www.eurocom.com), the world’s leading developer of highly personalized, high-performance notebook PCs and energy efficient All-in-Ones has been developing a dual CPU notebook solution for years. Eurocom technicians have been testing and verifying the systems performance and quality since the beginning of 2011 and now the system is ready for shipping.
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I must admit that I haven’t found a suitable use case for a MiFi device until now — where I find myself tasked with procuring a no-fuss Internet connection for visiting family. Each of the big carriers in Canada sells a personal WiFi hotspot of some sort, but being a fan of the little guy I went instead with WIND Mobile’s Huawei E583C — aka, the WINDspeed Pocket Hotspot.
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A review of a USB drive might seem like a silly notion, but when the USB drive is barely bigger than the USB port itself, it seems worth mentioning. I recently was sent a LaCie MosKeyto USB drive, and I must admit, it’s even smaller than I expected it would be. In fact, the cover to the Flash drive is actually bigger than the drive itself!
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Phones
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Nokia/MeeGo/Maemo
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Developers who want to take advantage of Nokia’s cross-platform application and user interface framework can now access the latest release candidate.
Qt is designed to let developers write and deploy applications across desktop, mobile and embedded OSes without rewriting source code. The Qt SDK 1.1 Release Candidate is now available for download, Nokia said in a blog post on Thursday.
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Tablets
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Details in Google’s source code reveal that company programmers have begun building a tablet version of Chrome OS, its browser-based operating system.
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Commenting about the tablet PC market, Acer Taiwan president Scott Lin pointed out that the company is currently working aggressively over its tablet PCs and is doing a marvelous job; however, Japan’s earthquake may affect component supplies for its smartphone and tablet PC lines.
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Facebook has opened up a whole new front in its war with Google over top technical talent and ad dollars. Instead of simply hiring away Google engineers, the social networking service is now aiming to do for its datacenters what Google is doing with Android—that is, it’s taking an open-source approach that will let the company harness the energy and know-how of a larger ecosystem of programmers and engineers to make its ad business that much more profitable. Facebook has framed the announcement as part of its commitment to openness, but there are much larger forces at work here. Specifically, despite what most people think, Facebook and Google are hardware companies, and the former’s open-source datacenter will potentially help it compete in the datacenter arena with its much larger and deeper-pocketed rival.
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Facebook’s bid to open-source its server architecture sounds like a technology with broad applications. But it remains unclear how the Open Compute Initiative will affect the traditional server market.
Facebook said Thursday that it is making the design documents and specifications of the servers used at its Prineville, Ore. data center public at OpenCompute.org. The company claims that the design of the new servers is 38 percent more power efficient than its older models, and costs 24 percent less to make.
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Facebook on Thursday launched an initiative it calls the Open Compute Project, an effort to share the specs and designs of the custom servers in its data center in Prineville, Ore. In other words, Facebook is going to open source its hardware designs just like the software industry largely has.
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Hosts: Randal Schwartz and Simon Phipps
Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/floss.
We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes.
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“Project Harmony is like Creative Commons for contributor agreements. We’ve set out to capture the best practices of free and open source software contributions, across a diverse array of project cultures, communities, and values.” said Allison Randal, a community participant in Project Harmony. “The public review process for the Alpha versions of the documents launches today, and runs through May 6th. After a year of hard work by the original ~100 drafting volunteers, we’re really looking forward to broader participation in this public review.”
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Web Browsers
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Chrome
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Google is updating its Chrome web browser, Chrome 12, with new performance and security features. Chrome 12 is now available in Google’s dev-channel, providing users with a sneak peak of what Google has in store . Chrome 12 includes a new version of the V8 JavaScript engine as well as an overall code cleanup.
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Mozilla
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But it’s rock solid, fast, and dependable. I no longer feel like I need to apologise for using Firefox as my browser.
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Oracle/Java/LibreOffice
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Lawyers for Oracle and Google gave the judge overseeing their Java patent dispute a tutorial on Wednesday that underscored the complexity of the case between the two companies.
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Education
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By the end of this article, you will be able to do the following:
* Check that your learners are looking at the resources that you add to your course
* Track completion of activities
* Plan what your learners need to achieve for the completion of your course
* Evaluate the effectiveness of your quizzes by using result analysis
* Identify gaps in learner’s understanding by using quiz grade analysis
* Use assignment reports to identify learners who need extra help
* Gain a valuable overview of your learners’ progress by effectively using the gradebook
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Project Releases
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LLVM 2.9 is out, get it while it is fresh and steaming!
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Programming
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I found the book fascinating largely because of my background in science, and my interest in the philosophical problems in the first few chapters on how to ask the questions in a quantifiable and objective way.
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Cablegate
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It is with anger and disbelief that I now read that the current interior minister of your government is willing to give up the freedom of Rop Gonggrijp to please the United States. As you can read here, Uri Rosenthal has no problem to extradite Rop Gonggrijp to the United States should they so desire.
And why? Because he helped Wikileaks to publish the truth. Because he helped the truth to be put in the spotlight of public scrutiny. A truth that is tough to accept, but true to his nature, Rop Gonggrijp defended the freedom to tell the truth.
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Internet/Net Neutrality/UBB
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An elderly woman in Georgia is facing a prison sentence after reportedly causing internet services in neighbouring Armenia to crash.
The country found itself offline for hours on 28 March after cables linking Georgia to Armenia were damaged.
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BT will not be prosecuted for snooping on the web browsing habits of its customers.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped a request bring charges against BT and Phorm – the firm that supplied the monitoring system.
The Webwise software used cookies to track people online and then tailored adverts to the sites they visited.
Credit: TinyOgg
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