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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
- Five Years After Its Formation Libera.Chat Has the Most Simultaneous Users in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
- netsplit.de also measures the cross-network total at over 300k, probably for the first time in years
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- Outsourcing is Not Security
- Outsourcing to Microsoft is the opposite of security
- Links 28/06/2026: Turkey's State Broadcaster Suspends Commentator, Journalists Under Attack
- Links for the day
- Debugpoint.com Turns to LLM Slop for 'Help'
- This is how sites die
- Follow the Real Security Experts
- Werner Koch
- Assessing the Upcoming (July) Proprietary/GAFAM Cuts
- The total (or %) matters to us because it can help shed light on what scale of layoffs to expect next week
- Microsoft Lunduke Does Not Correct or Clarify Misinformation That He Posted (or Repeats It Instead)
- Not the first time [...] detracts and/or distracts from legitimate criticisms
- How Not to Do Security
- Asking Microsoft for permission
- Gemini Links 28/06/2026: Simulation Theory and Pursuit of Novelty
- Links for the day
- The Slop 'Religion' is Dying: From Widespread (Paid-for) Hype to Widespread Hate
- Wait till "sentiment" in Wall Street - not just general (public) "sentiment" - shifts strongly against slop
- For Whistleblowers' Sake, Choose Hosting Platforms Wisely
- Techrights is hard to 'sedate'
- How to Discreetly Leak Important Information to Techrights
- Some years ago we published multi-part series about how to contact us securely
- Expect Many More Whistleblowers From Microsoft
- We envision many pissed off workers from Microsoft will become whistleblowers after next week's giant wave
- Efforts to Resume Progress on FreeJS, LibreJS, and Reduce Dependence on Microsoft
- It's still in a relatively early development stage
- Whistleblowers Improve the World
- we should appreciate and respect whistleblowers
- Microsoft Windows Plunges to All-Time Lows in Japan
- Microsoft is disintegrating; many people no longer use (nor need) Windows
- GNU/Linux Turns 43 in 3 Months From Now
- The Manifesto of the Free software movement (GNU Manifesto, 1985) turned 40 last year
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 121 Out of 200: One Day We'll Discover What Company or Rich Person/s Funded the Lawfare Against Us
- Even if the law firm shoulders some of the losses, then it is in effect an investor in the lawfare, according to established caselaw
- Working on "Linux", But on Microsoft's Payroll
- Under the totally false guise of "security" those same people are now promoting TPMs and other horrible things
- Links 28/06/2026: Energy Crunch, EEE by Microsoft, and John Bolton Pleads Guilty in Dictatorship of SLAPPs
- Links for the day
- Jim Not Dead Yet
- Let's wait a few more days
- Microsoft Layoffs So Big They Cannot Even Wait for 'D-Day' (July 1)
- "Layoffs at Xbox Appear to Have Already Begun, with Multiple Compulsion Games Employees Announcing Their Departures"
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 27, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, June 27, 2026
- Links 28/06/2026: Heatwave in Europe and Media Failing to Actually Criticise Power
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 28/06/2026: Poems, Photographs, and Neoliberalism as Religion
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 120 Out of 200: Garrett Undermines His Own Application Because His Friend Graveley Failed to Accomplish What They Had Both Aimed For
- Hold off the "popcorn"
- Don't Settle for Slop
- Slop is a bit of a symptom of where society is told to go
- Gemini Links 27/06/2026: Photography From Interlaken to Shynige Platte, Slop 'Code', and Distro Hopping
- Links for the day
- TIGER COMPUTING LTD Sent Us Threats Half a Decade Ago (Because of Criticism of Their In-House Debian Developer), Now the Company's Debt is Deepening
- So what is they're connected to the military?
- GNU/Linux in Mexico Near All-Time High
- With all the tourists packing the place (or hotels) we can imagine big changes to be seen next month (many portable devices)
- Summer Plans in Tux Machines
- July is nearly upon us
- Gopher (Protocol) Turns 35, Gemini is 28 Years Younger
- Bad technology comes and goes very fast
- Be Like Stallman and Assange, Not Like MElon or Bill Epsteingate
- these people treat women like worse than dirt
- Exposure Leads to More Whistleblowing
- In areas like IBM or European patent affairs we've always earned a lot of trust
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series Will Run Well Into July
- We still have a very significant chunk of EPO "trench" stories
- Links 27/06/2026: Journalists Kicked Out of China, Torture in Iran and Turkey
- Links for the day
- How Microsoft is Preventing or Slowing Down Adoption of GNU/Linux (Fake 'GNU' Controlled by GitHub in Windows, WSL, Sabotage at Boot Level, Not Limited to Dual-Booting)
- Microsoft is still at it
- Rising Computer Prices Good News for GNU/Linux and Free Software
- This can greatly assist the adoption of BSDs and GNU/Linux
- Links 27/06/2026: More Restrictions on Social Control Media and Russia is Leveraging Cellebrite/Back Doors
- Links for the day
- Saying "No" is Not a Bad Thing
- Society benefits from people who say "No!" even when it seems impolite (and possibly inconvenient) to say so
- Next Week's "Bloodbath" at Microsoft Includes "Silent Layoffs" (Which Microsoft Won't Count)
- The notion of "silent layoffs" is fast becoming the "new normal"
- Akira Urushibata on the Likely False (Unverifiable) Claims Anthropic Makes About Defects for Marketing/Hype
- Some pro-LLM person has managed to derail the discussion on this topic
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: "Team Campinos" in Split
- The EPO team was of course headed by Campinos himself who delivered a "forward-looking" keynote speech to the assembled audience consisting mainly of Administrative Council delegates from the national IP offices
- Supporting Women in the Free Software Community
- The common theme here is abuse of women
- Left IBM After Many Years, Came to Microsoft/XBox, Now Silent Layoffs at XBox
- many inside XBox will have their last day next week
- Gemini Links 27/06/2026: Homeworlds and Tarot Cards
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 26, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, June 26, 2026
- Links 26/06/2026: SoftBank Forbids Mentioning That Slop is a Scam, "'We Need Courageous People' to Combat Greed and Corruption"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 26/06/2026: "Negativity of Reddit" and "Moving Blog to Gemini"
- Links for the day
- Same MIT Site That Fabricated the Fake News for IBM is Still Being Paid to Produce Fake "Reports" That Prop Up a Ponzi Scheme
- If this is the media we deserve as a society and believe keeps us informed, then we are all doomed
- 'Social' Slop: The Social Control Media and Slop Crises Are Converging
- Social Control Media and slop may have a shared fate. People will shun them both.
- XBox Being Discontinued, Some Models of XBox Canceled, Not on Sale Anymore
- First some of the largest retailers quit stocking/selling XBox, now a 2TB model is axed
- Union Syndicale Fédérale (USF) Speaks Out Against Campinos and Informs the Chairman of the EPO Administrative Council
- Does Mr. Kratochvíl pay any attention at all?
- 'António the Pretender' Campinos is Digging His Own Grave With Grotesque Lobbying Intended to Undermine Democracy in Europe's Second-Largest Institution
- One way or another, the EPO will never be the same again
- The Principle of "Do No Harm"
- "Do No Harm" is a common saying
- After Years of Bluewashing People Who Are Still Labelled "Red Hat" Suddenly 'Leave' (Might be PIPs), IBM in "Forever Layoffs" Loop
- Remember that Red Hat had mass layoffs this year
- Microsoft Staff Bracing for Impact Ahead of "Layoffs Lottery"
- some people start to assess who will get culled next
- Donald Trump and IBM's CEO: Twins Separated at Birth, Saturating the Media With False Reports About Things That Don't Exist
- Every "journalist" that went ahead with this fake news should be sacked on the spot for a rejection of fact-checking
- The Register MS Will Become Indistinguishable From Spamfarms at This Current Pace
- Follow the money...
- Microsoft Layoffs Have Already Begun in Its PR Department
- It is called Waggener Edstrom
- Techrights Community as Litigants in Person (LIPs)
- Unwittingly and due to circumstances we're had to step in to protect women abused by monstrous men who lack empathy
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Rest and Recuperation on the Adriatic Coast
- The EPO President's connections with the Croatian SIPO date back to his days as head of the EU trademark agency EUIPO
- Firehose of Spam (Fake News) From The Register MS Today
- This is how awful the state of news sites really is
- Slopfarms Becoming Scarce and Few (or Inactive)
- we'll try to refrain from even giving the remaining slopfarms any visibility
- The Register MS Promotes Things That Do Not Exist... for Money
- How much more ZTE spam will come out before 5PM?
- Links 26/06/2026: RIP, Om Malik, 1966-2026
- Links for the day
- Memory Leaks Suck
- Slop ('vibe') coding means lots of bad programs
- Natural Disasters and Personal Disasters
- Thank you, Om Malik, for the positive memories
- Gemini Links 25/06/2026: Life Philosophy and Misery
- Links for the day
- GAFAM Became a Mainstream Term, and Why Words Matter
- Conveying problems in useful terms [...] Impairing propaganda attempts (e.g. calling parrots "intelligence", back doors "confidential", and outsourcing "cloud") should be the first step
- European Patent Office (EPO) on Strike Today, Next Week Another Historic Week
- If you live in Europe, contact your delegates today
- FSF FreeJS Project (Part of the GNU Project's Goals) Advanced Further in 2026
- They're moving to reduce dependence on anything to do with Microsoft
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 119 Out of 200: Our Suggestions to Our Politicians and Heads of State
- coverage about SLAPPs and related matters
- Microsoft Already Closing Down Studios, According to Some Publishers
- It is being compared to what happened in Intel
- IBM PIP Stories Told in Public, Fake IBM News (Fabricated Claims) Drown Media Sites
- IBM is seeding fake news to help justify the bailout
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 25, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, June 25, 2026