GNU/Linux News: The Opportunities Amid XP EOL
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-15 14:51:01 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-15 14:51:01 UTC
Few people know just how pervasive Linux has become, and that is causing a big problem for companies that increasingly rely on it. "There is a shortage of software developers in the U.S. The employment rate for these jobs is down to 2.3 percent in the last quarter. The opportunity for jobs is now there for people who come in to get this training," said Dice President Shravan Goli.
A new book on open source education teaches school leaders and parents why kids need to see coding as more than cool. Energizing Education through Open Source: Using Open Source Software to Enhance Learning by Christopher Whittum makes a strong case for deploying the Linux OS and its academic software in schools.
For business, the same kind of trouble started when Linux and the Internet showed up in the mid-1990s. No matter how useful Linux and the Internet prove to be, business still has trouble getting its head around a virtual world composed of end points that are all autonomous, self-empowered and at zero functional distance from each other. The best geometric figure for that world is a giant hollow sphere composed of boundless smarts on its outside—the nodes of its network—and no controlling entity in the middle.
Linux has become the dominant operating system for internet sites, powering Google, Facebook, YouTube and many others. It is also the dominant operating system powering Android phones and tablets, televisions, home routers and many other devices.
Running various Linux distributions on my own computers has been a mixed blessing over the years. While I've experienced many successes, something I don't talk about as often are the areas that frustrate me. In this article, I'll highlight my top list of Linux frustrations that bug me to this very day.
Ubuntu and the suite of GNU tools in any robust Unix system. A good text editor (currently Gedit)—I keep all of my working files at .txts. A robust, highly configurable browser (Firefox/Firefox for Android). A fast RSS reader (presently Google Reader, likely to be Newsblur next). A tetherable mobile connection—I use EasyTether for Android to circumvent tether-blocking as deployed by some of the carriers I use around the world, especially Rogers in Canada. AirDroid for moving files on/off Android devices in my life.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Red Hat QA Team "Had Shrunk by Half Over the Past Year." (After IBM Divestment)
- If Red Hat's workforce is being moved to the East, then RHEL can become a national security problem
- Preparations for Our 19th Anniversary Have Already Begun
- When we get back we'll probably sort out some balloons and venue for the next party
- Pleased After 2 Years With team.blue
- Moving from a Content Management System (CMS, dynamic) to a Static Site Generator (SSG) was a wise decision that made life so much easier
- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is Being Attacked by Organisations Jealous of Its Principled Stance and Longevity
- Nobody is perfect, but imperfection does not instantaneously imply sinister intent
- Many Microsoft "Assets" Are Fabricated Baloney (to Game the Numbers)
- At times it seems like what we deal with are many weak patents (on algorithms), valuations or speculations based on hype ("hey hi"), and stocks held by Microsoft and its own staff
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- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 03, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, September 03, 2025
- The UEFI 9/11 - Part VI - This Serious Harm Was Planned for Over a Decade, Not an Accident or Merely Some Misfortune
- The term "Serious Harm" is legally meaningful here
- GNOME Unfit for Diversity and Inclusion
- GNOME's leadership is using "bad words"
- Brodie Robertson Addressing the Recently-Discovered Comments
- Most people probably knew nothing about this until he wrote a response
- Slopwatch: "Open Source" and "Linux" News Faked, Made by Bots and Entered Into Google News
- Spam combined with slop about "Linux" has entered Google News
- Links 03/09/2025: Microsoft Causes Mass Layoffs Outside Microsoft Also, "Google Can Keep Paying for Firefox Search Deal"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 03/09/2025: calendar.txt, Alhena 5.3.1, and ROOPHLOCH
- Links for the day
- The Theory That the Man From McKinsey, Whom Red Hat Took From Microsoft a Month Ago as Executive, Wants 'Efficiency' (Lower Salaries)
- So far... no "official" word
- When Your Site's Articles Are Being 'Cheapened' by Slop as Feature Images
- Dr. Farnell should become an advisor to The Register MS
- Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Drops to Only Half a Dozen Capsules and 0.2% of the Whole in Geminispace, Self-Signed is the Way to Go
- It used to have hundreds, according to Lupa
- Doing to Red Hat What They Already Did (and Still Do) to IBM
- there seems to be a drive to hire cheaper staff, and it may be led by somebody Red Hat hired from Microsoft
- Links 03/09/2025: Salesforce's Latest Mass Layoffs, 93% in Large Poll at The Register MS Say UK Government Should Dump Microsoft
- Links for the day
- If You Reject the Google Verdict in the US, Then You Should Also Reject the "Modern" Web (Do Something About It)
- Gemini Protocol is still open; it cannot be hijacked or subverted because it's frozen by design and by intention
- Open Source Initiative IRS Filing: Almost All the Money is Corporate, Stefano Maffuli (Executive Director) Takes About a Quarter of That Money for Openwashing of "AI" Ponzi Scheme
- OSI is currently little but a PR/marketing agency of Microsoft
- Many People Are "Leaving" Red Hat, Even High-Level Managers
- Something is definitely going on at Red Hat
- Techrights Has Been Subjected to Calls of Violence (and Death Threats), It Never Condoned Violence
- I have no sympathy for people who call violence "free speech" and then get in trouble
- Condoning Violent Behaviour and "Free Speech"
- perhaps Microsoft Lunduke lost touch with what constitutes violence
- Takeaway From the Google Verdict: GAFAM Has Too Much Control (Even Over the US Government and Courts With Government Appointees)
- Many people feel disappointed but hardly surprised by the verdict
- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in One Month
- As noted a few days ago, several times in fact, many people now recognise the importance of the FSF's mission, even if most people don't know what the FSF is
- "Voluntary" Layoffs at Microsoft (to Game the Numbers, Sugar-Coating a Crisis)
- "Employees interested have until the end of October to volunteer."
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 02, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, September 02, 2025
- Links 02/09/2025: Oligarch Tech and Text Encoding Concerns in Ada
- Links for the day
- "Internal Changes at Red Hat / IBM"
- It seems like quite a few people are leaving
- Confirmed in French Media: Mass Layoffs (10% Culled) in Microsoft France
- Now some reports in French
- "People on LinkedIn Saying That They've Left Red Hat."
- We already saw signs of it a month ago and named some of the people
- Gone With the BRICs (or BRICS): "Linux 8" in Cuba
- GAFAM must be worried
- Telecompaper Reports Microsoft to Reduce the Workforce by Another 10% (in France)
- Imagine what this will do to staff's morale
- Microsoft in Freefall in Finland
- Can Finland eradicate Windows from all its infrastructure, including core operations that are sensitive to sabotage by cracking?
- Google's Chrome Passes 70% and Web Standards Are Dying
- The Web is quickly becoming devoid of any standards
- India is Back to Windows 8 (Market Share Down to 8%) as Android Soars to a New Record High
- For Microsoft, India is a runaway market
- Slopwatch: Plagiarism and Ponzi Scheme, Bubble About to Burst Entirely, Admits Goldman Sachs
- the hype that Google News and The Register MS actively participate and profit from
- Links 02/09/2025: SCO Summit and Russia Suspected Of Jamming GPS
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 02/09/2025: Mediterranean Marriage and Staying Connected at 35,000 Feet
- Links for the day
- The Register MS Says "AI Web Crawlers Are Destroying Websites", So Why Does The Register MS Help 'AI' Companies? (Spoiler: Money)
- People need to call out The Register MS on its hypocrisy
- Slopfarms Already Peaked, They Will Die When Slop Companies Run Out of Money to Borrow
- slopfarms will lack an actual "engine"
- Links 02/09/2025: Attacks on Unions, Microsoft TCO, and DDoSing a Growing Problem
- Links for the day
- Why We Publish Information About the SLAPPs (But Not About the Legal Process), an Abuse of Process by Americans Trying to Silence Critics of Their Employer, Microsoft
- It doesn't take thousands of pages to explain something simple
- Internet Relay Chat Didn't Fall Off a Cliff
- IRC will turn 40 in less than 3 years from now
- The UEFI 9/11 - Part V - This is Not a Drill (Disable "SecureBoot" Now)
- A "9/11" Coming
- There's No Obligation to Speak to Anybody
- The very fact that "bkuhn" is till spending time in social control media says a lot about his poor judgment
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 01, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, September 01, 2025
- Microsoft Trying to Force People to Resign (Amid Mass Layoffs) a Strategy That Takes Its Toll
- Microsoft seems to be circling down the drain and the "final flush" will be the moment the "hey hi" (AI) bubble implodes completely
- Google Simply Cannot Be Trusted
- Only fools would trust GAFAM
- Admission That a Third Party (or Parties) Funds the SLAPPs Against Techrights
- This can end up costing them over a million dollars
- Modifying and Writing One's Own Computer Programs is Not a Crime (or: Google Proves That Stallman Was Right)
- We're generally gratified to see so many positive mentions of him
- Why We Stopped Publishing Videos (for Now)
- We'll probably get back to videos one day, but it's hard to say when or to what extent
- What Animal Rights Activism Teaches Us About Sympathy and Focus
- It's possible to believe that the planet is warming, that we must do something about it, and still eat eggs and butter
