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Links 26/6/2010: HP and Linux, GNOME Shell 2.31.4 is Out



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Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source

  • Open Tech Exchange talks to Tectonic
    The latest episode of OTE podcast features an interview with Tectonic in which we talk about open source software in Africa.


  • Open Source Geographic Tracking?




  • Events







  • Web Browsers

    • Android Becomes Flash Mobile's First BFF


    • Uncertain future for Flash
      And it's not just YouTube that uses Flash, almost all video sites do, as well as online games sites and entertainment sites. An older survey of websites by browser maker Opera found that in most countries around 30% of websites were built in or contained Flash elements. And in some countries that was as high as 40% or 50%. So it's safe to say that as much as 30% of the web relies in some or other way on Flash.


    • Mozilla: We're not 'on board' with Google's plugin spice
      Mozilla says it has "no official position" on NPAPI Pepper, the revamped browser plug-in API developed by Google for use with Native Client, a plug-in that runs native code inside its Chrome browser.






  • SaaS

    • Red Hat says everybody gets a cloud
      At its Boston developer summit Red Hat is pushing the theme that every company can have its own cloud with the first in a line of Cloud Foundation tools.








  • Programming

    • Take more note when Eclipse code drops on schedule
      Five years into my tenure on this beat and I still read, in comments, snark about open source programmers being amateurs, coding in their parents’ basements, in their pajamas.

      This was always a false image. Not that I have anything against a good parent’s basement, or a nice comfortable pair of jammies. And when open source was being born, at the bottom of the dot-bomb, there was high unemployment in the code-o-sphere.

      But the coders and the coding were always professional. There have always been a lot of people in open source who knew how to make the coding train run on time.








  • Standards/Consortia





Leftovers



  • Security/Aggression

    • Peace campaigner, 85, classified by police as 'domestic extremist'
      For John Catt, protest has never been about chaining himself to a railing or blocking a road in an act of civil disobedience. The 85-year-old peace campaigner's far milder form of dissent typically involves turning up at a demonstration with his daughter, Linda, taking out his sketch pad and drawing the scene.


    • Senator Moves To Form Federal "Cyber-Emergency" Agency
      The President would gain the power to unilaterally declare a national cyber-emergency and order operators of "critical infrastructure" to immediately implement "response plans" as provided for by the act. Those who fail to do so would be subject to fines, while those who comply would be protected from civil liability for any damages they might cause in doing so — government speak for "you can break people's stuff and they're just out of luck."


    • FBI Failed To Break Encryption of Hard Drives








  • Environment

    • Ushahidi tracks the Gulf Oil Spill: Open Source Crowdsourcing at Work
      Together, crowdsourcing and open source are a potent combination especially during possible emergencies. In this case, the Ushahidi based Oil Crisis Map has helped share data across communities and has openly presented the magnitude of the oil spill. Also, it has enabled people on the ground to actively participate in solving this crisis using current and accurate information.

      Ushahidi (Swahili for "testimony") itself emerged from another emergency - monitoring a disputed Kenyan election in 2007 with a mash-up of eyewitness reports onto a Google map. Today Ushahidi has developers from Kenya (where it started), Ghana, South Africa, Malawi, Netherlands and the US. Ushahidi was also used in Project Vote Report India for India's 2009 general elections to track election irregularities.








  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • Reporters Without Borders unveils first-ever “Anti-Censorship Shelter”
      Reporters Without Borders today launched the world’s first “Anti-Censorship Shelter” in Paris for use by foreign journalists, bloggers and dissidents who are refugees or just passing through as a place where they can learn how to circumvent Internet censorship, protect their electronic communications and maintain their anonymity online.








  • Copyrights

    • Creative Commons Responds to ASCAP
      Yesterday, we reported that ASCAP said that organizations like Creative Commons were undermining their copyrights. Today, we’ve received an official response from Creative Commons with regards to the letter writing campaign.

      In the same article, we discussed how Creative Commons was, contrary to what ASCAP said, not about undermining anyone elses copyrighted material, but rather, giving artists an option that was not the Public Domain (no rights reserved) nor Copyright (all rights reserved).

      Eric Steuer, a Creative Commons spokesperson, thanked ZeroPaid for the earlier posting as being well-thought out and was happy to respond to ASCAPs letter










Clip of the Day



CLUG Talk 25 August 2009 - Experiences as a Novice Linux User (2009)

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Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM Eliminating Over 20,000 IBM Workers by Year's End, Insiders Claim
the layoffs are silent
The Register MS Publishes More Word Salads Promoting "AI" Because It's Paid to Do So
Hype, name-dropping, and scaremongering
 
Richard Stallman's Web Site Back Online, But It Seems Like a 2-Months-Old Snapshot
Latest political notes are dated July 2 (2026)
SPAM Disguised as Benchmark or Comparison: The Register MS "PARTNER CONTENT" is Getting Weirder by the Month
Sites that promote fake 'coins' or pyramid schemes to their audience(s) aren't worth tolerating
PIPs at IBMs are Layoffs Because They're Impossible to Satisfy (or They Terminate Workers Despite Satisfying Them)
What insiders say
In the United Kingdom You Can No Longer Make the Assumption People Use Windows (or 'Smart' 'Phone')
As autumn arrives Microsoft faces a crisis
SLAPP Censorship - Part 171 Out of 200: Talking About Corruption and Violence Against Women
Today the Labour Party (UK) speaks about corruption
Warming Up for Investigative Journalism About the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest and Probably Most Corrupt Institution in Europe
It continues to exploit diplomatic immunity for impunity
Microsoft Handing Out PIPs by the Thousands, Anxiety in GAFAM Building Up
Years ago I heard from people who pretended to be ill to avoid getting fired
BRICS in the Windows: Brazil's GNU/Linux Share (as Measured by CDN) Has Hit Highest Point in a Month
The largest Web CDN, Clownflare, sees GNU/Linux at 8.1% right now in Brazil
Corporate Media Will Always Glorify Its Owners (Corporations That Value Nothing But Capital)
Collecting "money" like it's a form of competition where they track "score"
We'll Never Do Slop!
Being against slop is not being "left behind"
Thieves Complain About the People They Steal From
"When you point the finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back to you"
Links 04/09/2026: "The Rise of the Billionaire Lobby", the "Imperialist Delusions", and Digital Restrictions (DRM) From Nvidia
Links for the day
Buying From China
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GNU/Linux reached its highest point in a month
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC logs for Thursday, September 03, 2026
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even reducing the salaries by offshoring isn't enough to save the company
Microsoft "engineers who aren’t critical are let go" this week/month (silent layoffs)
"stack ranking"
Is Microsoft Trying to Kill What's Left of XBox by Year's End?
How many people will still bother purchasing these consoles by the end of the year?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 170 Out of 200: Downtimes
Yesterday traffic skyrocketed here
Gemini Links 03/09/2026: Google Maps, Gemini's Early History, and Suppressing Slop Plagiarists
Links for the day
Links 03/09/2026: Unsafe Skies, Thunderbird Adopts Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in Traps, "Xbox Live Down Again"
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LibreOffice is in "high demand"
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Links for the day
Stallman.org Down Due to Virtual Machines Issue, "Senior Engineers are Investigating the Issue" Since Saturday
RMS site down due to virtual machines issues upstream
Linux Foundation is Plagiarism Hub, Linux is at Risk From It
Torvalds never looked weaker and more compromised
Gemini Links 03/09/2026: Back in Japan, Another New Year, Reasons to Avoid Have a "Smart" "Phone", and Rant About Built-in Batteries
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
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IRC logs for Wednesday, September 02, 2026
Identi.ca is Practically Dead, Just Like All Social Control Media (Eventually)
All Social Control Media is a waste of time
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Links for the day
GNU/Linux Reaches 6% in Nepal
Today I checked GNU/Linux in Nepal again
SLAPP Censorship - Part 169 Out of 200: Calling People "Nazis"
'Cancel culture' in action
GNU Turns 43 This Month, GNU/Linux Turns 35 Next Year
It seems like no area of computing has not been impacted by the GNU/Linux revolution
Uber Debt Grew 2.5 Billion Dollars in 3 Months, Company Lays Off at Least 10% of Workforce
The media repeats the "official" numbers
Links 02/09/2026: The Machine Stops, AuraSearch, and DOOM 1/2
Links for the day
1-1 Meetings at IBM This Week, PIPs Expected, Maybe RAs Too
As usual, we invite whistleblowers to tell us what's going on
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Links for the day
Quit Talking About "AI Layoffs" and Talk About How Chatbots and Other Bots Broke Recruitment Processes by Cheating
Bots talking to other bots isn't HR; it's a catastrophe
It's Inevitable Anyway, So...
of course blame Chinese Communists for the "anti-AI" messages
Robotics Isn't "Hey Hi", Robotics Isn't New Either
Is the official Arduino blog becoming shilling platform for Qualcomm's "hey hi" [so-called 'intelligent'] chips?
Giving 'Free Publicity' to the People You Hate and Attack
Be careful what you wish for in social control media
Today We'll Focus on Growth of GNU/Linux
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IBM Secret (or Silent) Layoffs in September 2026
We need whistleblowers
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Links for the day
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Microsoft's tactics are not so unique
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giant pyramid scheme
State of the Slop, Linux Edition
Whether slop about "linux" becomes rarer by the end of this year, well... time will tell
Links 02/09/2026: 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop Plagiarism) Destroying Evidence, "Data Center Backlash Has Officially Rattled Scam Altman"
Links for the day
Andrew Lee Has Turned Freenode Into a Slopfarm (Because Who Needs IRC Anyway?)
The site is churning out slop all day long
Over at Tux Machines...
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IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 01, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 01, 2026