Free/Open Source Software News: More Advocacy, Liberation, and Free Software on the Web
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-06 13:37:30 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-06 13:37:30 UTC
Advocacy
The APC Chris Nicol FLOSS Prize recognises initiatives that are making it easy for people to start using free/libre and open source software (FLOSS). The prize will be awarded to a person or group doing extraordinary work to make FLOSS accessible to ordinary computer users.
Imagine a world with fewer queues in banking and retail, and more self-service options. Imagine no longer relying on one cubical or terminal for service. Sounds unreal? This world is now a possibility in South Africa thanks to the partnership between LSD and Cashware.
Essentially, an open-source software or OSS is a kind of computer software which has its source code made available and licensed by virtue of such a license agreement which authorizes the copyright holder to study, modify and distribute the software to anyone, without any further charges and for any purpose whatsoever.
Open-sourcing
As part of the ROS team the engineers at Willow Garage wanted a low price point entry available for new programmers. The TurtleBot's SDK contains a collection of programs that range from basic to advanced. Instructions show how to set up the bot, operate with a keyboard, operate with a joystick, and fully utilize the Kinect camera data. There's also a cleverly titled section about maintenance called TurtleBot Care and Feeding.
Cisco may be a multi-billion entity that was built around a proprietary operating system, but if recent moves are any indication, a wave of open interoperability has been steadily reshaping how Cisco is bringing next-generation IT infrastructure to market.
A few months ago we wrote about Linksys Reviving The WRT54G Router In 802.11AC Form. Belkin, which owns Linksys, has begun releasing code for this new router -- the WRT1900AC -- but with this early code is still some glaring problems.
Misc.
XBMC, an open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub for digital media that is available for multiple platforms, has just reached version 13.0 Beta 3 and is now available for testing.
Events
Apache and Nginx
Two of the world's most widely deployed web servers have both recently been updated to fix security vulnerabilities.
With so many Apache Hadoop distributions on the market, what sets them apart? MapR is hoping that bringing feature-rich open source searching to its Big Data platform via integration with Elasticsearch will help draw users by making Big Data analytics and business intelligence faster and more comprehensive.
Mozilla
Mozilla and the Rust community are pleased to announce version 0.10 of the Rust compiler and tools. Rust is a systems programming language with a focus on safety, performance and concurrency.
If you've ever done any web development work, you are probably intimately familiar with the fact that what you build on the web may show up fine in one browser, yet be completely broken in another. It used to be that this problem simply meant testing sites and pages across popular desktop browsers, but in the age of mobile technology, you now have to test your creations across mobile devices, too.
While Mozilla has mostly been in the headlines this week for news related to contributions made by its new CEO Brendan Eich, another piece of meaningful news regarding the company is largely being ignored: Google Chrome has moved past Firefox to take second place in desktop browser market share, according to web traffic stats from Net Applications. In March, Chrome grabbed 17.5 percent of desktop brower traffic, while Firefox sat in third place with 17.2 percent. This is a first for Chrome, according to Net Applications' data, and is possibly driven by Google's extensive advertising for Chrome and Mozilla's new focus on Firefox OS and mobile technology.
The latest Mozilla Firefox nightly builds have begun enabling the generational garbage collector to better compete with Google's Chrome on performance grounds.
In an exciting collaboration with Mozilla and Google, Intel is bringing SIMD to JavaScript. This makes it possible to develop new classes of compute-intensive applications such as games and media processing—all in JavaScript—without the need to rely on any native plugins or non-portable native code. SIMD.JS can run anywhere JavaScript runs. It will, however, run a lot faster and more power efficiently on the platforms that support SIMD. This includes both the client platforms (browsers and hybrid mobile HTML5 apps) as well as servers that run JavaScript, for example through the Node.js V8 engine.
Thimble is actually a subset of Mozilla’s Webmaker project, which is aimed at teaching all kinds of web literacy and development skills.
Many, many people have noticed that if we had a way to reliably record program execution and replay it later, with the ability to debug the replay, we could largely tame the nondeterminism problem. This would also allow us to deliberately introduce nondeterminism so tests can explore more of the possible execution space, without impacting debuggability. Many record and replay systems have been built in pursuit of this vision. (I built one myself.) For various reasons these systems have not seen wide adoption. So, a few years ago we at Mozilla started a project to create a new record-and-replay tool that would overcome the obstacles blocking adoption. We call this tool rr.
We support the Mozilla community and the vital work they've done—and must keep doing—for the open Internet. EFF has been following the discussions around the choice of Brendan Eich as Mozilla’s CEO, including the announcement that he is stepping down.
As partners to Mozilla in campaigns that have included the fight against SOPA/PIPA, the StopWatching.US Coalition against mass surveillance, the effort to Encrypt the Web, the battle to prevent non-consensual online tracking, and ongoing work to make Firefox a more secure browser, we appreciate the frank and honest discussion that the community has undergone over this issue and respect the openness of the process. In that respect, as in many others, the difference between a closed and an open community is profound.
McAvoy clearly appreciates his ability to speak his mind without fear of retribution. But he also demands the termination of employment of a person that he disagrees with.
That sounds like hypocrisy, and intolerance, to me.
The worst of what I’m seeing is this – people who have steadfastly supported gay rights (and minority rights in general) but don’t like seeing how Eich is being treated are being called bigots and worse by their colleagues.
Chrome(ium)
Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop app beta is released for invite-only. Chrome Remote Desktop allows you to set up your computer for secure remote access. This includes setting up your computer so that you can access it later from another machine; or you can also use the app to let a friend remotely access your computer temporarily, perfect for times when you need help solving a computer problem.
Last April we introduced Blink as the new rendering engine for Chromium. Since then, the project has grown to include over 200 active contributors, and code complexity has been reduced significantly. We’ve also made encouraging progress on our top priority for 2014: mobile web performance.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- It Has Cost $215,000 in Legal Costs to Sue IBM for Wrongful Termination
- IBM typically settles out of court and demands secrecy (to avoid anyone else benefiting from the very expensive outcome)
- The PIPs or 'Voluntary Termination Offers' Help IBM Fake Its Situation
- "IBM is not a tech company"
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- SLAPP Censorship - Part 184 Out of 200: A Tiny Law Firm That Knows Nothing But Microsoft (But Merely Pretends to Understand "IT")
- They've managed to trick some mainstream media into thinking they're "Tech" experts or "Social [Control] Media" gurus; nothing could be further from the truth
- Links 15/09/2026: Sweden’s Far Right Perishing and "Iceland Just Got Played"
- Links for the day
- It's Not About How Developers Vote
- This isn't about politics, it's about users being in control of their own computers and computing
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 14, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, September 14, 2026
- Gemini Links 15/09/2026: Poetry, Enshittification of Ebay, and Mecha System
- Links for the day
- LG Lies to Cover Up Lies About Its Spying TVs (It Records and Transmits Conversations in Rooms)
- This is what a lot of "modern" technology is like
- Oracle's Debt Continues to Soar (Increase of 60 Billion Dollars in 15 Months, Not Counting the Secret Debt, With Off-balance-sheet Debt Having "Grown Roughly Thirtyfold in Four Years")
- Oracle debt continues to grow
- Apple's iOS and macOS Measured as Bigger Than Windows in the US, Linux-Based OSes at Almost 30%
- Expect the silent layoffs at Microsoft to continue at a rapid pace
- Oracle, Like Microsoft, Drowns in Debt and Discards Tens of Thousands of Staff (Microsoft Does the Same More Discreetly)
- The main difference between Microsoft and Oracle is that the latter is honest about what's going on
- Gemini Links 14/09/2026: First Android Phone, Leaving Sony, and Rant About Gemini-to-HTTP Proxy Providers
- Links for the day
- Links 14/09/2026: "Scam Altman Now Trying to Gain Control of Electric Grid" and Sweden Moving to the Right
- Links for the day
- Vista 11 Flunked
- Microsoft cannot start a "Vista 12" campaign as it would only make matters worse
- Microsoft Urgently Needs Distraction: There's No "Next XBox", But There's a New Boot Screen (Like 'Dark Mode', a Feature That Can be Implemented in Mere Minutes/Hours)
- Anything to distract from XBox fiasco
- IBM Flying Away to Sweatshops (So Will Red Hat)
- Even on Sunday people post about 'leaving' IBM
- RFID Ambitions Already Established by Widespread Skinnerbox Adoption
- A society that cannot maintain privacy for those who deserve it will not manage to assure dignity of citizens
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 183 Out of 200: What Actually Happened Two Months Ago (Based on People Who Attended)
- It's dangerous to assert what happened in a hearing you did not attend (there was no video stream or recording, either)
- Phil Harvey, an Editor-in-Chief in a B2B Site, Explains Why ChannelFutures (Connected to TechTarget) and Other Sites That Used to Cover Linux Deleted Many Articles
- Every old article in channelfutures is gone!
- Software Freedom Day 2026 is 5 Days From Now, Fresh Reminder to Boycott Proprietary Software
- Let this be a timely reminder of why people should avoid proprietary software
- Links 14/09/2026: Slop Hardly Used for Actual Work (Chatbots Are for Lonely People), Slop Bots (Scrapers, Plagiarism) "Are Thirsty for Power"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 14/09/2026: Trip, Hiding, and OCR
- Links for the day
- IBM PIPs Are Layoffs (RAs Come Later Even If You Satisfy the "Performance" and "Plan")
- Notice how "the media" almost never mentions silent layoffs, as if just because they're silent, there's nothing to investigate, nothing to see there
- Slop Companies Engage in Plagiarising the Web, Now They Pay People to Contaminate the Web With Their Lies
- Remember that the lawfare against us is funded by slop salaries!
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 13, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, September 13, 2026
- Microsoft is Laying Off All Year Long (It's Just Keeping Quiet About It)
- The issue here is also the media. It's complicit.
- MElon's Twitter Takeover Was Meant to Amplify People Like Himself or David Heinemeier Hansson (Slop Pyramid Schemes and Bigotry)
- Social control media is not neutral
- Microsoft Lunduke of 'Linux Sucks' (and Microsoft Corp.) Tries to Replace GNU/Linux With Toxic Discussions About Toxic Politics
- Poisoning the well people drink from
- General Assembly Covers EPO Strikes on Thursday, September 17th (2026)
- The EPO's staff representation at The Hague has asked people to join an upcoming online session about industrial actions
- Links 13/09/2026: Republican Campaign Aide Uses Nazi Photo and Convicted Felon is Wielding Power to Stifle Speech
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 13/09/2026: Never Settling, Plain Text Digital Life, and Newsgroups
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 182 Out of 200: UK Dockets With Machine-Generated Applications to the Court (From American Slop Companies)
- Earlier this year Garrett was using machine-generated output as legal papers and submissions
- Efforts to Cancel Matt Mullenweg Have Made Us More Sympathetic Towards Mullenweg and More Sceptical of the People Who Run Automattic (Named After Mullenweg)
- Mullenweg, unlike Automattic, is not "in it for the money"
- Boosters of Omarchy Are No 'Underdogs'
- There are many Arch derivatives that do not rely on "viral" marketing in MElon's child porn-pushing social control media and are instead relying on real development, not slop
- PIPs Are a Setup: They Set Workers Up to Fail While Working Their Arse Off Before Getting Kicked (Out) in the Arse
- Malicious and exploitative
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 181 Out of 200: This is Really More Like Brett Wilson LLP v Schestowitz (Using Money From American Slop Companies, Plagiarism Pushers)
- We approach the parts where we explain that the Application to the Court with Garrett's name on it was instead complaining about fair criticism of the combative law firm (irrelevant to any injunctions) as if it was impermissible to explain what it had done - and still does - to my wife and I
- It Sometimes Feels Like Slop Companies Are Committing Online/Digital Crimes
- "GPT" out of control
- Gemini Links 13/09/2026: Why Omarchy is "Plain Disgusting" and "AI Slop" and Why "Plain Text To Do List" Rocks
- Links for the day
- Links 13/09/2026: Scam Altman Admits Issues (Financial), Rival Says Stop Slop (Plagiarism)
- Links for the day
- Windows Down to New Lows as Switzerland's Federal Government Abandons Microsoft (Where Feasible for Now)
- That's how it starts...
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 12, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, September 12, 2026