Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 16/6/2012: Deploying Chromebooks, New Mandriva Foundation





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Desktop

    • Google Apps Consultant Cloud Sherpas Deploys Chromebooks
      Cloud Sherpas, a Google Apps and Salesforce.com consulting firm, has deployed roughly 50 Google Chromebooks internally and is rolling out the cloud-centric notebooks to some customers. Is this the start of a larger trend for Google’s cloud desktop and mobile strategy? Here’s the update and speculation from The VAR Guy.


    • Newegg: No, We'll Totally Take Returns After You Install Linux
      Yesterday, we shared the story of Norma, whose new Thinkpad notebook computer from Newegg had a serious display glitch after only a few days of use. She sent the defective computer back, only to be told that they wouldn't exchange it because she had installed Linux. "This voids Newegg warranty," the RMA department told her in an e-mail. "Unit cannot be accepted or resold as received." We reached out to Newegg for clarification, and they told us that this is not their policy, and they do accept computers back after the operating system has been upgraded or changed. Yay?




  • Server

    • Microsoft's Azure platform falls short for Linux
      Recently it was announced that Microsoft is going to support Linux on its Azure cloud platform. At first glance, this sounds great, right? Microsoft supporting Linux with its own software. We've heard in recent times of Microsoft providing code to the Linux kernel, and this is what they have been preparing for: to support Linux on Azure. It hasn't really been for the benefit of the open source community as some would like to think. In fact, there was some controversy regarding the code that Microsoft submitted to the Linux kernel, in that they were forced to do so after being caught using drivers that fall under the GPL (GNU General Public License). The code submitted for the kernel will ensure that Linux support is seamless on Azure.

      But, this offering by Microsoft for Linux support on Azure comes up short, as one of the largest players in the corporate GNU/Linux world has its distributions scratched from Microsoft's list, and that is of Red Hat. If you look at the list of distributions that Microsoft is supporting, it includes...






  • Kernel Space



  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments

    • Linus, GNOME 3, and Much Ado About Desktop Interfaces
      "The world of IT is a better place when developers respect users instead of trying to enslave them," said blogger Robert Pogson. "We need new user interfaces for new gadgets with tiny screens and no keyboards and no mice, but there's absolutely no reason to radically change a user interface that has been used satisfactorily for decades."


    • GNOME Desktop

      • Is Gnome targeting to OEMs with Initial Setup?
        We are living in 2012 but so far Linux Desktop is nowhere. Even the “too big to fail” Canonical struggles to make partnerships with manufacturers and distribute Ubuntu in a broader market. Maybe Gnome could show the way?






  • Distributions



    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

      • New Mandriva Foundation Nears Milestone
        Mandriva is in the process of building a foundation and creating a community to help develop future versions of their desktop Linux distribution. Today, Charles Schulz posted on the Mandriva blog to announce the first "milestone" of their journey.




    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat to Present Middleware Virtual Event and Press Conference on June 20


      • Technology Giants Back Red Hat Cloud Strategy
        Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) this week ushered in the era of the cloud OS. But IBM, HP, Intel and other technology giants are set to rally around Red Hat Enterprise Linux (particularly for cloud computing) within the next two weeks. The VAR Guy isn’t picking favorites, but…

        … here’s the blow by blow.

        During TechEd North America 2012 this week in Orlando, Fla., Microsoft Server and Tools Business President Satya Nadella welcomed 10,000 attendees “to the era of the cloud operating system (OS) for infrastructure.” No doubt, Microsoft wants Windows Azure and Windows Server 2012 to emerge as preferred cloud OSes. Plus Microsoft recently said Windows Azure will support Linux — most notably CentOS, Ubuntu and SUSE, with RHEL noticeably missing from the list.


      • Red Hat First Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek
        Past Earnings Performance: The company met estimates last quarter after beating the forecasts in the prior two. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, the company reported net income of 20 cents per share versus a mean estimate of profit of 20 cents per share. In the third quarter of the last fiscal year, the company beat estimates by 2 cents.




    • Debian Family



      • Derivatives



        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Unity alternatives - the many desktops of Ubuntu
            Ubuntu's Unity is far from the only desktop environment available for the distribution. For users who want to stay with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS but prefer another desktop environment, there are plenty of alternatives to try.Ubuntu's Unity is far from the only desktop environment available for the distribution. For users who want to stay with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS but prefer another desktop environment, there are plenty of alternatives to try.


          • Canonical announces Ubuntu Apps Showdown
            Linux developers will soon have a chance to compete for prizes of laptops and smartphones, thanks to Canonical's announcement today of the Ubuntu App Showdown contest.


          • Canonical Organises Contest For Ubuntu Apps
            Canonical has finally taken the much needed step in order to create developer interest in the platform. The sponsor of Ubuntu, one of the popular operating systems, is organising a contest titled 'the Ubuntu App Showdown' to create an app from scratch for Ubuntu in three weeks, and delivered in the Ubuntu Software Centre.


          • Flavours and Variants

            • Linux Mint Heads Into the Hardware Biz
              The folks behind the ever more popular Linux distribution Linux Mint have announced that they've joined forces with an Israeli computer hardware provider, CompuLab, to sell Mint-branded computers with the operating system pre-installed and completely ready to go. "We’re passionate about what we do and for our very first Mint device, we wanted something unique, something special and extraordinary," says the Linux Mint Blog. "The mintBox is Mint in a box. It’s tiny, it’s silent, it’s extremely versatile and it comes packed with connectivity." Indeed, it does come with impressive connectivity options, and the two versions that are available (seen here) even look like Wi-Fi routers.












  • Devices/Embedded



    • Phones

      • Enyo 2.0 beta 5 brings panels, bootplates, and more
        While we're still waiting for Enyo 2.0 to come with the rest of the Open webOS kit, we'll take an update to the beta framework when we can get one. In fact, this week we're getting one with a bump to Beta 5. Included in this release are sliding and stacking panels, a 'Bootplate' starter template, an improved API viewer, and an expanded and reorganized developer documentation set.


      • Android

        • Orange San Diego review: Intel does phones, finally


        • First Batch of Via Technologies' $49 Android PC Sells Out - Company.
          Via Technologies, a designer of low-power and low-cost computing platforms, started to accept pre-orders onto its Android PC (APC) platform for $49 on Sunday and managed to sell the first batch of mainboards within several hours. Apparently, the demand towards the Google Android 2.3-based APC 8750 was somewhat higher than the company expected and many users complained about that fact.


        • Google TV Gets New Legs with LG ARM TV
          Google's struggling Google TV platform took a big step last October with the Android 3.0-powered version 2.0. It got another push with a June 6 "2.1.1" update that enables the viewing of movies rented through Google Play and extends YouTube movie viewing options.


        • How to Get iOS 6’s Best New Features in Android Right Now
          How to Get iOS 6’s Best New Features in Android Right Now iOS 6 is a big update for Apple fans, featuring several exciting updates—but those of us with Android devices don't have to sit back and wait Google to deliver those same features to us; we can get the best of them right now. Here's how.










Free Software/Open Source



  • Open Cloud Roundup: Open Source Dominates Private, Hybrid Enterprise Clouds
    The open source cloud made waves in the news this week with the results of a RightScale study that claims widespread adoption among enterprises of open source cloud computing services. VMWare and IBM showed their agreement by announcing plans to expand their open source cloud investments. These positive stories offset the shocker that NASA has abandoned OpenStack entirely for Amazon Web Services.


  • Project Releases



  • Public Services/Government

    • DreamWorks Using Red Hat Servers
      GNU/Linux may not have any pro-grade film editing software for the consumer market, but the film studios use Linux in every aspect of film production. Now Red Hat has added another feater in its hat as DreamWorks Animation SKG is using Red Hat Enterprise MRG as the grid infrastructure of DreamWorks Animation's 30,000+ core render farm. The mega studio is also using Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization as the platform to run mission-critical services on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.


    • Helsinki council presses IT department to continue using open source
      Helsinki's city council wants its IT department to continue to use open source software alternatives to help rid the city of IT vendor lock-in. Yesterday evening fifty of the city's 85 council members supported a resolution instructing the IT department to keep supporting an open source office suite.


    • Polish State Fire Services excludes open source in procurement
      Poland's State Fire Services is excluding providers of open source solutions from responding to a call for tender. Asked to comment on the explicit ban, the Fire Services explains that the organisation is locked-in by proprietary office tools, 'which likely make it impossible for open source to offer full compatibility'.






Leftovers

  • Online Retailer Kogen Taxing IE7 Use
    In a blog post, company founder Ruslan Kogan said it was too hard and costly to make his website properly display on IE7, and suggested a list of newer browsers, which should be used instead. In an interesting move he chose to suggest Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome, but not the later Microsoft browser.


  • Australian retailer charges customers IE 7 “Tax”
    If you’re shopping for electronics online at Australian retailer Kogan, an Oz equivalent of the U.S.’ Best Buy with the horribly out of date Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 7 browser brace yourself for a nasty surprise. Kogan will charge you an extra 6.8% sales “tax” on your purchase.


  • Internet Archive Sues to Stop New Washington State Law
    The Internet Archive has filed a federal challenge to a new Washington State law that intends to make online service providers criminally liable for providing access to third parties' offensive materials.

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is representing the Internet Archive in order to block the enforcement of SB 6251, a law aimed at combatting advertisements for underage sex workers but with vague and overbroad language that is squarely in conflict with federal law. Procedurally, the Internet Archive lawsuit was filed as an intervention into a similar suit, Backpage.com v. McKenna, filed last week.


  • Hardware



  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Coal Wins Again: Global Energy Use by Source, from the 2012 BP Statistical Review
      The 2012 BP Statistical Review, covering 2011 world energy data, has been released. With global oil production roughly flat for a seventh year, coal once again gained global share of total primary energy consumption. World consumption of coal rose 5.4% in 2011, as oil consumption eked out a very small, 0.7% gain. As for other sources, nuclear use fell notably by -4.3%. And world natural gas consumption was restrained to a 2.2% advance, owing to a large retreat in European demand. Finally, while starting from a small position, both hydropower and renewables (biofuels, solar, wind) once again made very strong gains.




  • Censorship

    • Newspaper Puts Reporter On Leave For Posting Link To Article About His Employer On Facebook
      We've mocked various newspapers for their ridiculous "social media policies" in the past -- which often try to limit how reporters engage with the community. The whole notion seems backwards. But now one newspaper -- the Colorado Gazette -- has taken things to ridiculous extremes: putting reporter Barrett Tryon on administrative leave for posting a link to a news story about his own newspaper on Facebook. Apparently, the Colorado Gazette's parent company, Freedom Communications, was purchased by a company called 2100 Trust. Soon after that happened, the LA Times reported that the company expected to spin off some of the smaller newspapers, including the Gazette. Given all of this, Tryon posted the following to his Facebook page:




  • Privacy



  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights

      • If You've Ever Sold a Used iPod, You May Have Violated Copyright Law
        The Supreme Court will soon hear a case that will affect whether you can sell your iPad -- or almost anything else -- without needing to get permission from a dozen "copyright holders." Here are some things you might have recently done that will be rendered illegal if the Supreme Court upholds the lower court decision:

        1. Sold your first-generation iPad on Craigslist to a willing buyer, even if you bought the iPad lawfully at the Apple Store.


      • ACTA

        • ACTA: Last Crucial Step Before Final Vote
          On June 21st, the “International Trade” (INTA) committee of the EU Parliament will vote on whether to adopt its report on ACTA, which will mark the last procedural step before the Parliament's final vote. Despite the fact that four committees recently voted against ACTA, heavy pressure from the pro-ACTA lobbies and the EU Commission might weigh on the INTA report. Citizens must mobilize to ensure that INTA Members recommend ACTA's rejection, as this result will be decisive for the upcoming final vote of the EU Parliament, scheduled for the beginning of July (vote in plenary 3, 4 or 5th of July1).










Recent Techrights' Posts

SoylentNews Grows Up, Registers as a Business, Site Traffic Reportedly Grows
More people realise that social control media may in fact be a passing fad
 
Garden Season Starts Today
Outdoor time, officially...
More Information About Public Talks That Richard Stallman Gave This Week in Europe
Two talks in Switzerland
Engadget is Still a Spamfarm, It's Just an Amazon Catalogue (SPAM/SEO), a Sea of Junk Disguised as "Articles" With Few 'Fillers' (Real Articles) in Between
Engadget writes for bots now, not for humans
Richard Stallman's Talks in Switzerland This Week
We need to put an end to 'cancer culture'; it's trying to kill people and it is even swatting people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 28, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, March 28, 2024
[Meme] EPO's New Ways of Working (NWoW), a.k.a. You Don't Even Get a Desk at Work and Cannot be Near Known Colleagues
Seems more like union-busting (divide and rule)
Hiding Microsoft's Culpability in Security Breaches and Other Major Blunders (in the United Kingdom, This May Mean You Can't Get Food)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is vast
Giving back to the community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 28/03/2024: Sega, Nintendo, and Bell Layoffs
Links for the day
Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries