Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 19/5/2010: Fedora 13 is Near, Linux Mint 9 is Out



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • Kitchen appliance seller goes Asterisk for UC roll-out
    The company selected a Digium Switchvox IP-PABX for the project which replaced an ageing Samsung OfficeServ 500. The Switchvox appliance runs the open source Asterisk software on Linux.


  • Still no Mac, Linux support for ATO's e-tax
    The 2010 version of the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) online tax return software will support Windows 7, but not Mac or Linux operating systems.

    Since the e-tax software was introduced in 1999, it has been compatible only with Microsoft's operating systems.


  • What price can you put on a user community?
    One advantage of the Cell was its ability to run Linux without dramatic changes to the code base: the standard Linux kernel now supports the Cell as one it its architectures.

    The Cell’s ability to run Linux combined with Sony providing the “Install Other OS” feature with its PS3 software gave birth to a niche community of PS3 users – the Linux user community.

    I remember at the last Linux.conf.au to be held in Sydney (January 2007), a few IBMers proudly had a PS3 running Linux on display.

    Unlike the Xbox and Wii, the PS3 and its Linux option was seen as “geeky” and “more than just a game console”. And it wasn’t long before mainstream Linux distributors (Fedora comes to mind) started providing full Linux-based OS options for the PC – graphical interface and full-on “desktop” apps.


  • Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 97


  • StrandVision Offers Preconfigured Linux Point-of-Display Digital Signage Player
    When using the StrandVision Linux Player, users simply connect the large format display to the VGA or HDMI output on the player, connect the unit to the Internet and enter their username and password. The Linux player automatically finds and logs onto the StrandVision service in the Cloud and after initializing the system, begins the signage playback.


  • Michigan Career Training School Launches Certified Nurse Aide & Linux Systems Administrator Programs
    Career Quest, an established career training school in Michigan, announces the launch of two new programs at their Lansing, Mich. facility. Starting this session, Career Quest will offer a Certified Nurse Aide program as well as a Linux Systems Administration training program.




  • Server







  • Ballnux

    • A Close Look at Samsung’s Wave
      There is a certain degree of interest and anticipation for this latest touch screen smart phone from the Korean based phone manufacturer, Samsung. The Wave smart phone presents two new major innovations from Samsung; the new open source, Linux based Bada operating system (which will be the first OS that Samsung has developed) as well as the new super AMOLED touch screen technology -has been confirmed to also appear in various upcoming devices from Samsung.




    • HTC







  • Kernel Space







  • Applications

    • TestPlant updates eggPlant for Linux
      The new release also features a new TypeText recording feature that allows you to automatically capture most keyboard input, including modifier keys, by just typing. New SenseTalk features expand eggPlant's text handling and provide more options for value comparisons. Improved Control over helper suites and enhancements to the case and bug submission panel allows version 10.2 of this universal GUI test tool to bring with it key features that reduce the learning and deployment curve of the tool thus significantly helping QA engineers who are new to automation.


    • Spotify Still Missing Two Essential Features
      This means that if you have a Linux desktop computer, you're out of the picture (ed : we know that Spotify works under Wine but they have yet to announce any Native clients).




    • Proprietary

      • Wine 1.2 Planned For Release In June
        Wine 1.0 was released in June of 2008 after this free software project had already been in development since 1993. Over the past two years since that release we have continued to receive bi-weekly development snapshots, but no major stable releases have yet arrived. Fortunately, it looks like that soon may change with the release of Wine 1.2 as soon as next month.


      • Download Wine 1.0.1 / 1.1.44 Free For Linux


      • Google Chrome 6 Is Here
        As expected, the latest dev channel release is now labeled Google Chrome 6. The Google Chrome 6.0.401.1 dev release is just a regular update, fixing several bugs on all supported platforms, Windows, Mac and Linux. No new features have been added since the previous dev channel release, Google Chrome 5.0.396.0. The update fixes some issues with how Chrome handles the shortened addresses displayed in the Omnibox.


      • Google begins Chrome 6 development


      • HDS improves network performance monitor
        IT Operations Analyzer is aimed at mid-sized companies, is an agent-less heterogeneous application with root-cause analysis capabilities that watches Windows, Red Hat Linux networks, and, with v 2.0, SUSE Linux and Sun Solaris-connected servers, switches and storage devices.


      • Eclipse and Embedded Linux Support Added to MathWorks Code Generation Tools
        MathWorks today announced that its Target Support Package and Embedded IDE Link products now support the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) and Embedded Linux through the GNU compiler tool chain. As a result, engineers can automate project creation in Eclipse and deploy real-time embedded systems on Linux using automatically generated code from MATLAB and Simulink models. These capabilities enable engineers using Model-Based Design to rapidly implement and verify algorithms on processors that can run Embedded Linux, such as ARM, Freescale, and Intel.






    • Instructionals







    • Games

      • Playing Popular Windows Games in Linux Becomes Easier
        One of the reasons why Linux can never catch up to Windows is its inability to play mainstream, popular games. Linux is powerful, safe, and secure. But Windows PCs are preferred specially by the gaming crowd. I’ve been a user of Linux, and I know that Linux has plenty of games. What these people usually mean is that it doesn’t have their favorite Windows games – but now, that’s changing.

        For years now, it has been possible to play selected popular Windows games on Linux via Wine. But one can never run these games natively, unless a proper port to Linux is available.












  • Distributions



    • New Releases

      • Slackware 13.1 RC1 Is Here
        With the release of the Slackware 13.1 Release Candidate 1, the latest update to the oldest supported Linux distro in existence is now very close. Slackware 13.1 RC1 comes less than a couple of weeks since the first beta launch and is mostly a bug-fixing release, though it comes with some updated packages as well.


      • Toorox 05.2010 Comes with KDE SC 4.4.3
        Toorox 05.2010 has been released, the latest update to the Gentoo-based, LiveCD distro. It brings an updated Linux kernel and the latest KDE SC 4.4.3, as well as other changes and bug fixes. All remaining legacy KDE3 packages have been removed, but other than that, there’ aren’t any new features. 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Toorox 05.2010 are being made available.






    • Fedora

      • The five best things coming in Fedora 13 Linux
        When Fedora 13, Goddard, is released on May 25, it's not going to be your usual Fedora Linux release. In the past, Fedora has been seen as a great Linux distribution for Linux experts. Paul W. Frields, the Fedora Project leader, told me though that this release is more new-user-friendly and that is no longer just for experienced Linux users. Based on my early look at this Red Hat community Linux distribution, I agree.

        You will be able to see it for yourself soon. After several delays, Frields has no doubt that this time, the Fedora final will be available for download soon. Frields explained to me that the delays were because Fedora has adopted much more "detailed and fleshed-out release criteria. In the past, we would release releases when it felt right. Now, we have criteria that make the process both more transparent to the community and provide strong release guidelines."


      • QA: Fedora Project Lead Paul Frields on the "Grown Up" Distro
        Henry Kingman today shares with the Linux.com community his exclusive interview with Fedora Project Leader Paul Frields. Frields goes into detail on the upcoming Fedora 13 release, his decision to transition out of the Project Leader position and how many contributors to Fedora are being paid by Red Hat, among many other topics. Grab a cup of coffee for this in-depth discussion.


      • Download Fedora 12 Free


      • Linpus Linux Powered eMachines Hit Indian Market
        eMachines is bringing the most aggressive mobile computing solution that exists in the market today. It enables to make the dream of owning a laptop a reality for the average Indian consumer. This Notebook from eMachines, is one of the most economical Core i3 based laptops available in the market today. eMachines730, with its dual tone refreshing design, is the best option in terms of price-performance ratio, as it offers the most competitive prices in the market for the specifications incorporated.








    • Linux Mint

      • Linux Mint 9 'Isadora'
        Based on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx, Linux 2.6.32, Gnome 2.30 and Xorg 7.4, Linux Mint 9 "Isadora" features a lot of improvements and the latest software from the Open Source World.

        Featured improvements in this release: 30,000 applications catalogued and reviewable both online and in the new software manager, brand new incremental backup tool for both data and software selection, menu transparency and editable items, USB and Windows installers, 3 years support, look & feel improvements.












  • Devices/Embedded

    • Fit-PC2i Turbo
      Other hardware configurations are the Fit-PC2i, which has 1GB of RAM and no on-board flash and comes either diskless (€£299), with Ubuntu Linux (€£340) or with Windows XP Professional (€£379).


    • Viewsonic VMP74 1080p media player
      Review For most of this century, I've evangelised home movie set-ups that put a lightweight, probably Linux-based player in the living room, leaving your multimedia libraries on a server at the other end of your network.


    • Cavium Unveils Processors, Receive Support from MontaVista Software
      MontaVista CGE carrier grade Linux is widely used in telecom, networking and wireless applications and is said to be the only Linux to meet CGL 4.0, LSB 3.0 and IPv6 specifications and provide virtual routing and forwarding capabilities. With MontaVista's support for Cavium processors the CGE Linux can run on OCTEON II processors and offer a combination of value, performance, and reliability in data center, mobile internet and borderless enterprise market segments.


    • Datalight Shares Reliable Method for Bootstrapping Linux from NAND
      Today Datalight unveiled a new whitepaper describing details of the company’s process for booting an embedded Linux system directly from NAND flash.


    • Use Linux to water your lawn
      So you bought the EasyBloom to take precise soil moisture readings. You have a spreadsheet plotting plant growth over time. But you’re still schelpping out to water the lawn like all your Luddite neighbors. Where’s your sense of pride? You’re a geek! You should be using technology to make your life better. Here, we’ll help get you started with this Instructable on using Linux to water your lawn!


    • User guide to software for avionics systems
      Linux

      Linux is now an option many project managers for aerospace and defence applications and companies such as Honeywell have already deployed in space-borne systems.

      For deployments where security is a concern, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has developed a Security-Enhanced Linux (SE-Linux), a set of Linux security features that provide a variety of security policies, including US Department of Defense–style mandatory access control through the use of Linux Security Modules (LSMs) for the open source Linux kernel.

      SE-Linux is not a Linux distribution but a set of security modifications (patches) that can be applied to any Linux or UNIX operating system.

      Traditionally, Linux scheduling and interrupt performance, although quite adequate for enterprise and desktop systems, was not very deterministic and had a wide variance over changing system conditions in embedded environments. This made Linux unsuitable for use in traditional embedded systems that demand microsecond response times.

      But two advances have changed this situation: a modification of the Linux core, named PREEMPT_RT, and a fast, deterministic scheduler inside the Linux system, named Real-Time Core for Linux.


    • Mentor Graphics and NetLogic Microsystems Establish Strategic Multi-Core Collaboration for Embedded Linux
      NetLogic Microsystems will provide the Mentor-developed Linux solution to multi-core developers to enable them to create innovative applications for high-performance multi-core processors targeted at next-generation enterprise, telecom and data center networks.




    • NAS

      • Two-bay NAS offers AES encryption
        Synology America announced a two-bay, Linux-based networked-attached storage (NAS) device for the SMB market, integrating a 256-bit AES hardware encryption engine. The DiskStation DS210+ can hold up to 4TB of internal storage, consumes 30 Watts, and includes the new Synology DiskStation Manager 2.3 software, with improved RAID setup and security features.


      • Synology unveils speedier DS210+ NAS server








    • Android







    • Sub-notebooks

      • Got Apps? Get accelerated.
        In a move aimed at bringing more applications to the Intel AppUp Center Beta program, Intel announced the launch of Accelerator 2010 as part of its Intel Atom Developer Program Million Dollar Development Fund. The AppUp Center is a repository for applications designed specifically for Intel Atom-processor based netbooks, and Accelerator 2010 will be used to fund companies interested in developing new and inventive ways to use netbooks.


      • Acer Denies Chrome OS Netbook Coming at Computex
        Acer has officially denied rumors that said it would show its first netbooks running Chrome OS at the upcoming Computex show in Taipei next month. The denial comes a few days after Acer spokespeople earlier declined to comment on the rumors, which first appeared on the tech business blog VentureBeat.

        [...]

        Google is also working on a netbook version of the Android operating system as well, and Acer has committed to an Android netbook, so it had been unclear how the PC maker would have differentiated between an Android netbook and Chrome OS netbook. For Google's part, at least, the search leader's co-founder, Sergey Brin, has said that eventually, Google plans to converge Android and Chrome OS into a single platform for netbooks.


      • No Chrome OS netbook from Acer at Computex


      • In Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition Firefox can be replaced with Google Chrome
        We have already reported on the leading companies Canonical formulation of a new operating system Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. This software platform, in accordance with its name, is intended for use in compact notebooks with small display and energy-efficient processors, known as netbooks.


      • Linkbook a good beginning
        Millions of Africans will experience the Internet - do a search, get e-mail, see YouTube or just browse a website - for the first time on their cellphones.








    • Tablets

      • Dell CEO confirms Streak Android tablet for Europe next month
        During his keynote speech yesterday at the the Citrix Synergy conference, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell confirmed that the company's Streak Android-based tablet, formerly known as the Mini 5 tablet, will be available in Europe next month from mobile phone carrier Telefonica O2, which offers service in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Mr Dell also added that it would be available from the GSM carrier AT&T in the US "later this summer".


      • Ipad Operating Function
        The huge problem is that there is no multithreading technology. This means that your $600+ tablet computer can only run one application at a time just like your iPhone. For some who like multitasking while using a computer this is a big let down. Even the cheapest sub $300 netbooks running Linux can handle multiple applications at one time and that hardware is quite a bit less powerful than what the iPad has. One can expect though since this is the first version.


      • What Slate Makers Need To Do To Succeed
        At CES2010 the “Year of the Tablet” was ushered right as the new year was beginning. There were promises of Tablet/Slates promised in just about every flavor you could imagine. All of this with this news that Apple was going to release its iPad lurking just around the corner.


      • Kno to Unveil its Dual Screen Linux Tablet in June
        Boy you just can’t have enough of Tablet news for a day. This time, we won’t be talking about an iPad Tablet for a change. A startup tablet designer named Kakai has announced that it will be unveiling its dual screen tablet on 2nd June at the D8 conference.






    • WebOS











Free Software/Open Source

  • Maddog Editorial: Reusable Code and What It Means to Your Company
    Companies have, in the past, assumed that all the code written by their programmers had widespread value to their customers and protected it all under the mantle of closed source, releasing the code as “open source” only when there was a strong business case to make it “open.” Often the proof of open source value was very arduous, and therefore not often pursued. Perhaps it is time to reverse the practice and make every piece of code open source, unless there is a demonstrated business reason to keep it closed. Then more programmers can stop re-inventing the wheel.




  • Mozilla







  • Databases

    • Get to know FB in 2 minutes – now available in 18 languages
      The introductory paper “Get to know Firebird in 2 minutes” is now available in 18 different languages! Thanks for all the translators who contributed.


    • PostgreSQL developers fix vulnerabilities
      PostgreSQL 7 and 8 users are advised to update their installations as the development team has released new versions which fix a vulnerability classed as moderately severe in PL/perl and PL/tcl. CVE-2010-1169, CVE-2010-1447 and CVE-2010-1170 reports detail the vulnerabilities involved. The changes include the removal of the Safe.pm module, which acted as a kind of sandbox for Perl programs. Instead, PostgreSQL code now includes a hard-wired list of permissible Perl operators. According to the release notes, one side effect of this is that stored procedures written in Perl now compile more quickly.








  • CMS

    • Joomla 1.6 Beta Ships
      The Joomla Project has announced the release of the beta of version 1.6 of the open-source Joomla content management system.






  • Programming

    • What’s New in Python 2.7
      This article explains the new features in Python 2.7. The final release of 2.7 is currently scheduled for July 2010; the detailed schedule is described in PEP 373.








Leftovers



  • Environment

    • Five-Day Volcanic Ash Charts
      These charts indicate the forecast position of the volcanic ash cloud at 1200 GMT each day for the next five days for the altitudes indicated. It must be stressed that the five day charts are based on observed volcanic activity at the time of issue and should be regarded as indicative only.








  • Finance

    • German trading curbs hit markets hard
      World markets dropped sharply Wednesday after Germany's new curbs on traders - a unilateral and unexpected attempt to reduce volatility in financial markets - unsettled investors.

      The euro, meanwhile, recovered from four-year lows against the dollar - reached in the aftermath of the ban - as experts suggest European central banks are considering intervening in the markets to slow the currency's drop. The European Central Bank declined to comment.


    • EU Commission urges joint action on short-selling
      EU countries should act jointly to regulate so-called naked short-selling of shares and investments to reduce volatilty in financial markets, the European Commission said Wednesday.


    • Katie Bar The Door
      Those 10,000 US cities, and all the counties and states they find themselves in, are -all but a precious few- at the end of their financial rope. All but a few have voted in ridiculously rosy budgets, and now they see their revenues tank. Some will install sneaky speed traps to increase revenues, others will try to raise property taxes on homes plunging in value. All will fail to restore a sound budget. Millions of government workers will be laid off nationwide, which all by itself guarantees further declines in revenue. Which will lead to more lay-offs, all of which will lead to further drops in real estate prices, which lowers tax revenues etc. You have to admit one thing: it's not a terribly hard storyline to follow. It couldn't be easier if you had seen this film before.

      [...]

      The US Treasury announces a $1.6 billion loss on a loan to Chrysler, GM announces an $865 million creative accounting profit because it wants investors (who’ll be sure taxpayers' dough will support them all), and Obama announces a commission that will investigate how the Gulf of Mexico became one huge dead zone.


    • An Interview With Joseph Stiglitz -- Regulation and the Euro Zone
      Joseph Stiglitz: The problem on Wall Street is that we had bought into the idea that money is everything, and that the metric of whether you are doing well for the economy is how much money you were making for yourself. To me there were two very serious moral failings. One is that so much energy went into exploiting the poorest Americans; selling them houses they knew were beyond their ability to pay, with mortgages that were exploitive. There were people who called themselves mortgage brokers supposedly looking for the best mortgage, but in fact were looking for the worst mortgage. The whole hosts of mortgages that are designed to maximize fees basically rob the poorest people of all their life savings. The irony was that the financial markets were hoisted on their own petard, as I point out in my book. That is to me, one of the most serious moral failings on the part of the financial markets. The second is while Bernie Madoff represented a pyramid scheme engaging in illegal activity, much of what the financial markets were doing was perhaps legal, but clearly unethical, or borderline. That the financial markets did not seem to see much distinction is a severe criticism. A good example is what Goldman Sachs did; how they sold products that they knew were bad, so bad that they were actually selling them short, betting on the fact that they would lose money. The whole debate in their mind is whether what they did was legal or not. The unanimity that it was immoral that they did not disclose to the buyers that they thought these were so crappy that they were going to lose money on them and the fact that they see nothing wrong with that suggests that they live in a parallel universe, a different world, a different moral compass than the rest of society.


    • Workers asked to return bonuses after 16 years
      About 180 county employees in suburban Atlanta are being asked to return thousands of dollars the county says they were overpaid 16 years ago.


    • Unhinged: When Concrete Reality No Longer Matters to the Market (and What to Do About It)
      A recent government suit alleges that Goldman Sachs colluded with a billionaire short seller, John Paulson, to defraud investors and “construct a package of mortgage linked derivatives designed to blow up” so Paulson could make a fortune.


    • Goldman's Trading Advice To Clients Has Been HORRIBLE This Year
      Goldman isn't taking directional bets on Chinese stocks on the zloty. And it can't tell its clients to become a bank, borrow from the Fed and lend long.


    • Clients Worried About Goldman’s Dueling Goals
      As the housing crisis mounted in early 2007, Goldman Sachs was busy selling risky, mortgage-related securities issued by its longtime client, Washington Mutual, a major bank based in Seattle.


    • Senate Republicans Call Reform Bill a ‘Takeover’ of the Banking Industry
      Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday unleashed a barrage of criticism at the far-reaching financial regulatory legislation being debated on the Senate floor, indicating that many of the party’s leaders were prepared to vote against the bill.


    • Financial regulation bill gets last-minute amendment from Sen. Chris Dodd
      Dodd offered a clever Washington solution aimed to appease both friends and foes of the provision. His amendment preserves the tough language -- but it postpones any action for two years so it can be studied. And it assigns that study to a new council of regulators, headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, whose members have serious reservations about such a dramatic measure and may very well kill it in the end.


    • Finally, The Republicans Come Out To Fight. Where Is The President?
      This is a defining issue for the president. Either he takes up the Volcker Rule – proposed by his administration, to great fanfare (and some skepticism) in January. Or he rolls over – admitting that Wall Street has won.


    • SEC proposes rules to prevent another 'flash crash'
      Twelve days after the stock market took a historic plunge that raised fears of another financial crisis, federal officials are still struggling to understand what went wrong even as they offer proposals for how to avoid another "flash crash."


    • Treasury announces Wells Fargo warrant auction
      The government says it will auction 110.3 million warrants it received from Wells Fargo & Co. as part of its effort to recoup the costs of the $700 billion financial bailout.








  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • George Donnelly freed from federal captivity
      Libertarians responded fast and forcefully to the illegal abuse of Donnelly. Not only were his actions clearly within his human and Constitutional rights but a Department of Homeland Security document makes it clear that taking photos on federal property is not illegal.


    • Thailand protests: army prepares to storm redshirts' camp
      On the fourth day of bloodshed the Thai government orders all women and children to leave the protesters' camp before a final army offensive

      [...]

      Thailand's worsening political conflict faces a new deadline, with the government ordering all women and children to leave the redshirts' camp in central Bangkok by 3pm tomorrow before a final offensive to forcibly remove anybody remaining.

      Bloodshed continued for a fourth day, with 31 people killed since Thursday in battles between anti-government protesters and soldiers.


    • "Murdered" Chinese man reappears after 10 years
      A Chinese man who was supposedly hacked to death in a fight has reappeared in his hometown after 10 years, state media said, raising questions about police torture to extract a confession from the alleged killer.


    • Noam Chomsky barred by Israelis from lecturing in Palestinian West Bank
      Chomsky said he was disappointed and surprised to have been turned back from the Allenby bridge across the Jordan river, which is understood to be the first time he has been refused entry by the Israelis. He had been due to give a series of lectures on domestic and foreign policy at Birzeit University and the Institute for Palestine Studies in Ramallah, in the West Bank.










Clip of the Day



NASA Connect: Planetary Landers (2/11/2002)

[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Recent Techrights' Posts

Before Freenode Collapsed Its Staff (the People Who Now Run Libera.Chat) Were Censoring/Silencing Some Free Software Supporters
We still have this issue in the Free software community
All We Want to See is Any Form of Accountability in Europe's Largest Institutions
Because people at the top of institutions should never be above the law!
Misinformation/Disinformation Disguised as Information About GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL) Usage
GPL-type licences (reciprocal obligations) remain dominant
IBM Mass Layoffs This Week Not Limited to North America, Red Hat Staff Terminated
Do not relocate for a company that sees you as nothing but a number or a "human resource"
 
Links 07/11/2025: US Government Shutdown Imperils Critical Functions, Slop in "AI" Clothing Debunked Some More, Bubble's Implosion Ongoing/Imminent According to Experts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/11/2025: No Goodbyes, Homelab, Mouse Keys / Pointer Keys
Links for the day
12 Years for Justice is Far Too Slow (and More People, Especially Women, Are Hurt)
Why do police departments and legal systems fail to protect women?
Freenode and irc.com Are Still Around
It emulates retro terminals
We Don't Compete, We Analyse and Report
Principles are so much better than money and they're something money can never acquire
Red Hat is Also Laying Off Staff in India
Red Hat is a dishonest company
Finding Recent Talks of Richard Stallman
We already have many pages, documents, and media files. Organising them and helping people find them is the next Big Task.
Richard Stallman First Speaker at Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress the Weekend After This Coming Weekend
He'll be speaking over the Net
Diversity at Red Hat
Remember to judge corporations by their actions, not some Web pages with words in them
First the Python Software Foundation (PSF) Attacked Its Most Productive Volunteers. Now It Attacks Its Funding Sources.
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) rejected by PSF
News of Substance About the EPO's Substance Abuse (Cocaine)
EPO Cocaine Chronicles - link to archived BILD article and photos
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, November 06, 2025
On Midlife Crises
Focus on the sabotage, not politics
Hallmark of Fake News: "Single-digit" (Percentage) and 1% Isn't the Same Thing
apparently "rebalancing" is the new layoffs euphemism
Links 07/11/2025: Patent Trolls Target Germany, Celebrities Visit Ukraine
Links for the day
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Brian Fagioli, and Google News Boosting WebProNews (All Slopfarms)
Those slopfarms just saturate the Web with misinformation and mindless chaff
Techrights and Tux Machines at Over 40
19 years of Techrights and 21+ years of Tux Machines
Coming Soon: More Proof of Cocaine Use at Europe's Second-Largest Institution
Stay tuned
Entering Our 20th Year
...and still looking for answers
Mailing lists vs Discourse forums: open source communities or commodities?
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 06/11/2025: "Component Abuse Challenge", Google Play Store Deemed Too Monopolistic
Links for the day
Microsoft and Microsoft GitHub (and Rust @ Microsoft GitHub) the Future of Ubuntu, They Want the Same for Debian
Ubuntu is not the place to find freedom
Richard Stallman Was Right About LLM-based Chatbots
the passing fad, LLM-based chatbots
IBM Has Not Been Good for IBM's Red Hat (Which Microsoft Also Attempted to Buy)
GAFAM or GIAFAM are not a force for good
Taking Back Control Over Technology We Purchase (Study, Modify, Enhance, and More)
"The war on general-purpose computing continues
Links 06/11/2025: EFF Wants New Executive Director, Microsoft's Azure Falls Over Again
Links for the day
All Set for Tomorrow
Techrights waves
The Corporate Media Carries on With Patently Phony and Misleading Narrative About IBM's Mass Layoffs
Instead of rightly alleging business failure or commercial (leadership's) weakness it is offloading blame to some mindless buzzwords
IBM Isn't Hiring Based on Age Groups. It Still Hires Based on Salary Expectations.
It is not about the skills available, it's about the expected cost of labour
Estimating the Scale of IBM's Mass Layoffs This Week
there is no denying that the IBM layoffs are vast
Telling Our Story as Victims of Online Abuse
This post will not mention any names
Claim That EPO Quotas Brought Corruption and Mischief to Europe's Second-Largest Institution
Nowadays corruption is the norm at the EPO and there is even rampant substance abuse among the people who run the Office
Rust's "Memory Safety" Talking Point Ought to be Discarded in Light of Fil-C
new memory-safe C/C++ compiler
Claim That IBM Has Another 8 Days to Lay Off 'Expensive' Staff
The consensus in comments we see is, IBM is a terrible place to work in, treatment of its workers is appalling, it's utterly foolish to relocate in an effort to retain a job at IBM, and it's foolish to join the company in the first place
Science Demands Facts, Not Dogma
Saying that restricted hardware is not secure hardware should be common sense
Site Anniversary is Tomorrow
The celebrations might delay our EPO series somewhat
Launching Techrights Search
New search interface and locally hosted back end
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 05, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 05, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxbsdos.com, Linux Journal, LinuxSecurity, Brian Fagioli, and WebProNews
Either Google doesn't care about the integrity of Google News or it deems slop to be acceptable
Gemini Links 05/11/2025: Affirmation, GnuPG, and While Loops
Links for the day
Links 05/11/2025: Economic Trouble in France and US Bombing All Over the World Without Declaration of War or Congress Approving
Links for the day
IBM May Well Be Laying Off Over 13,500 and Up to 27,000 Staff This Week When It Says "Single-Digit Percentage of Our Global Workforce"
It's not yet possible to know how many people IBM gets rid of
Red Hat Staff Also Impacted by Latest IBM Layoffs With Focus on North America and Software, Infrastructure
After the bluewashing never expect to see news about "Red Hat layoffs", just as "Tivoli layoffs" aren't to be expected
Early Unverified Figures About Scale of Latest IBM Layoffs
the real scale of the RAs will remain elusive
Coming Soon: Part 4 About the EPO's Substance Abuse (Breaking Laws to Fake 'Production' and Profiting From Unlawful Monopolies)
Notice how quiet the EPO's management has been lately
How Techrights Search Works
Hopefully bots won't use it
For the Record: We Never Named Staff of the Law Firm That's Attacking Us, Except the One the Firm is Named After!
Just to affirm and be sure, I've used our new search facility
Techrights Became a Lot More Productive as a Result of Attacks on It
By default, it's safe to assume anything on the Web is garbage, especially in social control media
Unverified Rumours: IBM Cuts Will Continue Another ~10 Days, Managers Will Invite Those Impacted for 1-on-1 Meetings
Right now IBM likes diversity because with adoption of low-paid demographies it gets to pay workers less for the same work
Links 05/11/2025: Medicare Privatisation and "Breaker Box Economy"
Links for the day
Techrights Search Will Come Early
Maybe tomorrow
It Seems Like GNOME/IBM Don't Like Women and When Budget is Limited Only Women Take the Fall
Seems like a very patriarchal, GAFAM-controlled Foundation
"Last Day" as in "IBM Sacked Me" (Cruel Euphemisms)
"The entire design and research technical leadership at IBM was laid off in the past year, including this round"
analytics.usa.gov: Vista 11 Scarcely Used, GNU/Linux Increasingly Dominant (Microsoft Loses "Goodwill", Depletes Cash Equivalents, and Debt Soars)
"Total current assets" fell by more than 2 billion dollars in the past 3 months
Shadow Crew and Ads Disguised as Articles
That The Register MS runs articles that are paid-for fluff isn't unprecedented
Vista 11 "Market Share" Has Fallen This Month, Based on statCounter
The US government's own data shows the same thing this month
This is How Mainstream Media, Boosted or Parroted by Slopfarms, Spins IBM's Commercial Failure and Mass Layoffs as "AI"
Some say "software focus", but most just resort to buzzwords and blame-shifting hype
Resisting Misogynists
Rianne has already added close to 100,000 pages to this site
Starting November on a Strong Note
All in all, this month started well for us as we have good, accurate publications with considerable impact
Fake Retirements Help IBM Keep the Layoff Figures Down
Yesterday we read that it was quite cruel how IBM (or Red Hat) compelled staff to pretend to be happily leaving or "retiring" when the reality was, they had been pushed out with some "package"
Cocaine at the European Patent Office Now a Subject in YouTube, Media Will Revisit the Topic
"The Cocaine Patent Office" is no joking matter
Gemini Links 05/11/2025: "Wuthering Heights" and "Winter is Coming"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 04, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 04, 2025
2 Days Until Site Anniversary Party, Search Likely to Launch Same Day
We're now just two days away from the nineteenth anniversary of the site
Not Only Mass Layoffs at IBM But Complete Shutdowns "Amid A.I. Boom"
apparently about 10,000 layoffs, not counting those who got pushed out by PIPs and other means