GNU/Linux Rising: Relevant News Items From March
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-03-19 19:12:45 UTC
- Modified: 2014-03-19 19:12:45 UTC
Desktop
I'm sure there will be objections from people who want to define "the year of the Linux desktop" differently. There will be those fans of GNU/Linux distributions like Ubuntu who will object that the Linux Desktop has not arrived until we're all running KDE and Gnome. I fear those folks have a while to wait. Others will object because there are still so many copies of Windows and new PCs are still shipping with Windows. That's a fair point, but I believe even those users are actually Linux Desktop users. As I argued last year, Linux has already won on the Windows desktop.
Eurocom sent out a news release that beginning today they will be offering choices of operating systems in their line of GPU-upgradeable, high-performance, professional laptops. Besides the high-end laptop line-up, they will also be offering Linux options for their lightweight notebooks.
If your office runs 24/7, you'll have to do the migration in stages. You may have to migrate servers one at a time, and migrate departments group by group. So, some work gets paused, but most of your business will run during the entire migration process.
Linux has a reputation for being designed for geeks only, but that’s old history. Many modern Linux distributions exceed the user-friendliness of XP, and they’re free to download. If you don’t like the feel of one, you can easily switch to another. What’s more, each Linux distribution comes loaded with useful software such as productivity suites, modern browsers like Chrome or Firefox, and photo and music management apps.
"This is a subject very near and dear to me," Linux Rants blogger Mike Stone told Linux Girl over a fresh Tequila Tux down at the blogosphere's Punchy Penguin Saloon.
Though Stone spent several years teaching "how to" computer courses for faculty and staff at a local university back in the 90s, "all those years barely prepared me for my greatest challenge: my own mother," he said.
To wit: After buying his parents a Windows 95 computer way back when, "I sat her down and showed her how to use the basic hardware," he explained. Yet "even after hours a day over the course of weeks, the computer was too much for her. Windows just had too many options, and she kept getting herself into places she couldn't get out of.
"I literally spent years looking for environments that would make her comfortable," Stone went on. "She went through the Windows OSes (95, 98, ME and finally XP) and some Linuxes -- Red Hat first and then a couple variations of Ubuntu. She always found ways to get herself into trouble."
I’ve been a computer user since around 1991, when we got our first PC, a Tandy from Radio Shack (almost $1,000), which came with Windows 3.1. Since then I’ve used each and every version of that operating system (OS), and still do. But at home and for personal use, it’s Linux for me. Why? Well that’s a question with many answers.
-
The biggest driving factor for software developers to work together with open source is cost. It is much cheaper for them to cooperate through open source than it is to remain isolated with proprietary software, asserted Inktank VP of Product Management Neil Levine. "You can no longer rely on one particular vendor to provide everything you need with regard to technology."
After the Desktop
-
QOOQ is a durable tablet designed for use in then kitchen. It's even got its very own Linux-based OS...
There was a time, back before smartphones and tablets, when most of us used, at most, only three operating systems.
-
For months now David Herrmann has been working on a new project known as OpenWFD for open-source WiFi displays on Linux. OpenWFD is an open-source implementation of the WiFi Display Standard / Miracast. That work is now showing success and as part of that Herrmann has just announced Miraclecast as a component to providing open-source Miracast/WFD support on the Linux desktop.
Chromebook
-
Chromebooks are making a big statement in the laptop world: NPD Group Inc. reported that Chromebook sales accounted for 21 percent of all notebook sales last year. For devices that are functionally little different from tablets — designed for basic tasks like checking email and web browsing — they're growing fast. Even as the tablet market continues to grow, capturing 22 percent of the entire personal computing market just last year, Chromebooks are giving people an alternative to rectangular touch screens.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- How to Identify Demonisation or Dehumanisation Tactics Against Interesting Figures or Luminaries in Free Software
- Rather than in general or generally in technology
- We Should Learn From Bulgaria
- Why can't European companies and government recognise and react to a threat (when they see one)?
- Canonical: Ubuntu is GAFAM (US), We're Resellers of American Proprietary Software
- They want people to pay for a licence
- Links 03/02/2026: "Distraction is a Sin" and Fake "Encryption" (Surveillance With Good Marketing)
- Links for the day
-
- IBM Falls by Over 10%
- a recipe for disasters like accounting fraud
- Links 03/02/2026: Windows Copies GNU/Linux, Windows TCO Shown Again
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 03/02/2026: Alhena Turns One, Slop Rejected, and Max Roy Carrouges Recalled
- Links for the day
- Dr. Andy Farnell on Why and How European Authorities Can Adopt Free Software, Parenting in the Age of Digital Abundance
- Will Europe use technology that Europe controls (not the hegemon), for a change?
- Seems Like IBM Trolls Use Chatbots to Vandalise Platform That Discusses IBM's Secret Layoffs, Forever Layoffs
- Not for the first time either
- You Know Your Company is Dead or Basically a Pyramid Scheme When Jim Cramer Keeps Promoting Its Stock
- How much does IBM pay for "puff pieces" or "fluff" about QC?
- Red Hat (Under IBM) Works for Microsoft (Proprietary Software) and Slop
- Yesterday Red Hat's official site, redhat.com, published exactly 5 new blog posts
- IBM is Dying (More Layoffs), Red Hat Will Continue to Suffer From the Acquisition
- Financial engineering
- Colombia Adopting GNU/Linux Even Faster (at Microsoft's and Apple's Expense)
- Do politics play any role in this?
- An Effort to Tackle Slavery in 'Open Source' Clothing
- "a civil rights lawsuit to examine the concerns of censored developers in the free, open source software ecosystem"
- $15 billion lawsuit: Ubuntu, Google & Debian crowdfunding campaign launch
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Delusion - Part II - Why We Need to Expose the SRA to More Daylight, Public Scrutiny
- SRA is neither effective nor regulated
- 400-Page US Federal Court Against Abuses by Google, Microsoft and Front Groups That Abuse Volunteers for American Corporations
- There are 386 pages in total (in the US claim)
- Corporate Influence Never Impacted Us
- There's no reason to assume we'll ever "sell out"
- Growth of GNU/Linux in Cuba
- Right now a lot of the world drafts or already implements a GAFAM exit plan
- A Day After EPO Strikes an Escalation to Heads of Delegations to the Administrative Council
- They rely on the European media playing along, helping them to hide major blunders, even crimes
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 02, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, February 02, 2026
- Gemini Links 03/02/2026: Stargazing, Development Boards, and Tcl/Tk Slop
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Lost 20% of Its Money in the Past 6 Months
- Microsoft is hiding what's really happening while mocking critics
- Great News, IBM 'Gained' Almost 10% in "Goodwill" Value After Firing Tens of Thousands in 2025
- "goodwill" will be inflated despite IBM staff getting sick of IBM
- Americans Move to GNU/Linux
- some of the biggest American populations
- I Still Like Drawing and Various Other Arts (They Help My Activism and Journalism), Slop is an Enemy of Creative People
- Recognise that slop isn't intelligence; it's a generational excuse for plagiarism and privatisation of not only the Commons but also proprietary knowledge (without authorisation)
- Carmen-Lisandrette Maris (Mission:Libre) Explains to Adolescents and Young Adults How Free Software Improves Privacy
- Based on what we've seen and read, Mission:Libre has a solid grasp of Software Freedom
- Chatbots Didn't Do Any Good for Microsoft
- Google "AI" = search + copypasta
- Links 02/02/2026: Cultural Cleansing by China and 'Living Behind Firewalls" in Iran
- Links for the day
- GNU/Linux Measured at More Than 4% in Russia
- growing adoption of GNU/Linux in Russia
- Gemini Links 02/02/2026: Stages of Age, Workflows, and Counting Capsules
- Links for the day
- Oracle's Debt Rose Over 20 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months
- Is "hey hi" becoming a synonym for debt?
- Oligarchs' 'Speech Zones' Are Not the "Public Square"
- The apologists of social control media, including press that got "addicted" to such fake "media", are helping dictators and oligarchs grab the public attention away from the real press
- IBM Misleads and Gaslights Investors With Slop Sold as "AI" (the Business is Waning, Mass Layoffs Continue)
- People who do this are dishonest. They should not be put in charge.
- Links 02/02/2026: 'Melania' a Horror Movie "Will They Inherit Our Blogs?"
- Links for the day
- Doing More Detailed Series (Long-Form Works)
- Long readings or book-like reading binges are only possible when parts are suitably labeled (name and numbers) if not interlinked
- Mobbing at the European Patent Office (EPO) - Part II - Racism, Cocaine Use and White-Collar Corruption
- When you hire people illegally, to work for cocaine users and keep quite about the cocaine use, what will be the impact on the reputation of an institution?
- A Can of WORMS - Part II - Darkening the Name of RMS, Associating It With Crime
- Beware projection tactics
- Submit Your Suggestions for EU's Embrace of Software Freedom by Tomorrow
- Time to leave GAFAM (US) hegemony behind
- Slopless Weekend
- This is not sustainable
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 01, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, February 01, 2026
- Gemini Links 01/02/2026: Fossil Heating Installations and Some FOSDEM Coverage
- Links for the day
- The State of Memory Leaks in GNU/Linux
- The issue won't be solved by adding more memory
- Links 01/02/2026: Nvidia's Jensen Talks Down Microsoft 'Open' 'Hey Hi' and Britain's Starmer Makes Friends With China, Japan
- Links for the day
- Why Microsoft Accenture Has So Many Layoffs in Recent Years
- The debt of Accenture doubled a year ago
- Links 01/02/2026: Public TV Gutted by Cheeto, Billionaires Fund a Cheeto Propaganda Movie in 'Documentary' Clothing
- Links for the day
- The New Site ("New Techrights", SSG Since 2023) Exceeds the Old Site in Requests
- The "New Techrights" gets about twice as many requests as the "old" (WordPress) "Techrights", the site of 2006-2023
- 20 Years Ago
- Some time soon all this slop frenzy will become like yesterday's "blockchain" or "metaverse"
- Gemini Links 01/02/2026: Zdzisław Beksiński and Disconnected Git Workflow
- Links for the day
- Talks About Nadella's Microsoft Exit After Chatter About Tim Crook Leaving Apple (Years Ahead of Retirement Age)
- Mass layoffs and record debt do not represent a company's health.
- We Still Cover the Same Problems We Spoke of 20 Years Ago
- We're not easily seduced by "novelty" (new things), we try to judge them critically
- Patents Standing in the Way
- They also cause environmental harm
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 31, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, January 31, 2026
- IBM, a Microsoft Company
- Microsoft and IBM as a pair go a long way back