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Links 17/9/2010: Software Freedom Day, Firefox 4 Preview Raves



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Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Desktop

    • 4 Ways to Give Desktop Linux a Test-Drive
      That desktop Linux offers myriad compelling advantages for business users is no longer the subject of much debate. All that remains for many Windows users is to give it a try.


    • Have Courage, Linux Noobs
      Using Linux is "almost natural, but you still need to poke around to be really fluent -- just as in any OS with a lot of features," Pogson added.

      "I have exposed Grade 1 kids to GNU /Linux GNOME desktops, and after they learned to click a mouse they were off to the races," he recounted. "They were the only humans able to max out that terminal server."




  • Server

    • Should Red Hat Be Worried About Amazon Linux AMI?
      Red Hat is facing another competition from Amazon on form of Linux AMI. Amazon has announced the availability of the Amazon Linux AMI.

      The Amazon Linux AMI is a supported and maintained Linux image provided by Amazon Web Services for use on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). "It is designed to provide a stable, secure, and high performance execution environment for applications running on Amazon EC2," claims Evangelist Jeff Barr in his blog post.






  • Kernel Space



    • Graphics Stack

      • Why Broadcom's Release May be More Significant than Just Code
        On September 9 the news of Broadcom's release of the code for some of its wireless Ethernet chip sets sent shockwaves throughout the Linux community. Broadcom owners, as well as distribution developers have a reason to celebrate.

        In the past, Broadcom owners had to resort to NDISwrapper or rely upon the limited reversed engineered drivers. Neither was optimal. The release of the code by Broadcom should eventually mean a much better Wi-Fi experience for owners of systems with Broadcom chip sets. But for those that like to read between the lines there may also be a deeper significance to this move.






  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

      • The future of KDE instant messaging is happening now
        Kopete was initially very innovative, at least in its goals: to communicate with people, while leaving the IM network as a channel. We brought the concepts of “metacontacts” (bad naming), but basically you say people in your contact list, no matter if they were available on MSN, ICQ, or both.

        Today I have a telephone with internet 24/7 in my pocket and I can IM on the bus. I don’t choose IM networks as a soccer team, but rely on them because I have friends on various of them. Just like I use twitter for “geeky stuff” while Facebook is a more “relaxed” environment.


      • Edit Your Films In Ubuntu, Use New Kdenlive
        Ubuntu is one of the most popular, powerful and useful operating systems of the world. While Mac is locked to Apple machines and Windows is expensive and vulnerable to viruses and attacks, Ubuntu is the only operating systems which has all the merits -- its highly secure, free of cost and can run on Apple machines as well.






  • Distributions

    • Fat or thin, it's your choice.
      The point here is that, no matter what Linux distribution you start from, you can make it do anything, be anything or look like anything. If wished you can take an Ubuntu installation and have it look, feel and perform like a Fedora distribution. Or you can take a Fedora installation and have it as slim and trim as Puppy Linux.


    • Looking at Fedora 14 and Ubuntu 10.10
      Both releases seem to be shaping up well, if very differently — as befitting the focus of the distributions and projects. Ubuntu 10.10 is a polished consumer OS that is well-suited for users who are new to Linux, or just prefer a desktop system that's easy to use. Fedora's developer-centric approach makes for an OS that is easy enough to use, but better suited for developers or experienced users who want to tinker with technologies before they make an official appearance in RHEL and other distributions. Ubuntu, on the other hand, is the end result of development rather than the beginning. Many of the changes in 10.10, e.g. the Ubuntu One improvements and the application indicators, are unlikely to show up in other distributions (excepting, perhaps, Linux Mint).


    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat looks out of area for HQ-size space
        Red Hat Inc., one of the Triangle’s high-profile companies, is scouting for sites in other states where officials may also be wooing the open-source software developer to move its headquarters from Raleigh.


      • Smartrend'S Candlestick Scanner Detects Bearish Engulfing Pattern For Red Hat (RHT)
        SmarTrend issued an Uptrend alert on shares of Red Hat on August 23, 2010 at $33.03 per share (13.4% return since that call). This bearish candle pattern may point to a reversal of the previously called Uptrend.


      • Fedora

        • Momonga Linux 7 review
          Momonga is a Linux distribution based on Fedora. It is a community-developed distribution with roots in Japan (the name is derived from a species of flying squirrel found in Europe and parts of Asia). Like Fedora, it is a multi-purpose distribution, a Free distribution, with a script that makes it easy to build and install non-free applications






    • Debian Family

      • Squeeze in a jam?
        I put this down to being a complete noob, and reinstalled Lenny. Later I learnt that the upgrade has to be staged- certain packages have to be updated before doing a full upgrade, otherwise the upgrade falls down. Recently I saw a post on the Debian forum which suggested that an upgrade was now a relatively simple process- involving just a kernel upgrade before a full upgrade, so I thought I'd give it a go.


      • Ubuntu 10.10 - Wallpaper, and a few notes
        In the process of doing some other things, I have just noticed that those who thought the "Barf Bag" wallpaper that showed up in Ubuntu 10.10 Beta was just a "placeholder" were probably correct.


      • Canonical/Ubuntu







  • Devices/Embedded



    • Phones



      • Nokia/MeeGo

        • MeeGo Developer Day - Day 2 at IDF
          Sunil Saxena spent some time reviewing the MeeGo Architecture, along with our current thoughts on how we plan to define MeeGo compliance. The MeeGo compliance spec is still being developed, so now is a good time to review it and provide feedback.

          Bill Pearson was the next presenter talking about AppUp and the Intel AppUp Developer Program, which helps developers focus on what matters: platform sexiness, making money, getting recognition, and low friction deployment, while Intel helps with boring things like validation. Developers can create applications or components that they can sell to other developers. In addition to revenue from selling applications, the Million Dollar Development Fund provides additional incentives. Robust analytics are also available on the developer dashboards, to learn more about how your application is selling.

          Rajiv Ranganath gave us an overview of Qt, which has over 350,000 commercial and open source developers.


        • Day 1: Intel AppUp Elements 2010


        • Day 2: Intel AppUp Elements 2010




      • Android

        • Android lockdown: Thanks Linus
          The current lockdown of Linux based devices (including Android phones, TiVo, and many many consumer devices) is due, simply, to the Linux developers' unwillingness to update their code to the GPLv3 license. We* contribute to Linux, Linux is taken for use in Android (and remains Open and Free), and then the phone manufacturers take our work and lock it up and sell it to us with reduced functionality. Big thanks, manufacturers.


        • Android Continues to Gobble Up Smartphone Share






    • Tablets

      • High-end Avaya Android-powered Table PC Unveiled
        Avaya, an enterprise communications systems company, just announced a high-end table PC that is primarily designed for business conferencing. Called the Avaya Flare, the device has an Intel Atom processor and runs Android operating system. It is said to make use of Avaya unified communications software utilizing a new interface called Flare User Experience and features Aura Conferencing and the Linux-based Avaya Aura Messaging software.


      • ViewSonic and Samsung tablets are U.S.-bound
        Viewsonic demonstrated a 10.1-inch, Android 2.2 "G-Tablet" that's bound for U.S. sales, powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2. Meanwhile, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless say they'll offer the Android 2.2-based Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet this fall.


      • Asus U35JC review
        OS Tested: Ubuntu 10.04.1








Free Software/Open Source



  • How do you find and choose free software?
    So you’ve got your GNU/Linux based box. You’ve installed the base system and you’re good to go. Welcome to the world of freedom. But then what? How do you determine what packages to install. How do you decide which of the alternatives to go with?


  • A Quick Look at OpenIndiana
    OpenSolaris is dead, but OpenIndiana lives on. Just a few weeks after Oracle made it clear that OpenSolaris was dead as a doornail, the Illumos and OpenIndiana folks have a distribution ready for the OpenSolaris community that’s been left in a lurch by Oracle.

    The code dropped on Tuesday, so I haven’t had a lot of time to muck with OpenIndiana yet. I spent a few hours with the live CD and installed it into VMware.


  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla

      • Firefox 4 update moves link previews to awesome bar
        Clearly, the status bar's days are numbered. Even Internet Explorer 9 has removed the bottom-dwelling bar in favor of inline tooltips.

        Now, in the latest updates to Firefox 4, Mozilla's browser has moved status bar link previews to the right-hand side of the Awesome Bar. Hover a link, and the destination URL appears in soft, gray text. Sure, it looks OK when you're currently viewing a page with a nice, short URL -- but what about on something like an Amazon product page? Take the jump to see!


      • Firefox 4 Preview - Foxy, sharp and fast!
        I think Firefox 4 is a very smart product. It looks better than 3.6 overall, tabs on top or without them, it feels faster, it has lots of useful features, and it's got the Web 2.0 bling bling. Linux beta lags a step behind, but that's understandable. Performance is good in all aspects, with major improvements in responsiveness. Memory consumption is fairly modest. Firefox 4 is a pleasant addition to the browser arsenal.

        Firefox 4 is a plenty of good, old stuff and a sprinkling of new to make you feel young and excited again. Mozilla, good job. Even the revolutionary stuff is done with style and moderation to make a hot-headed conservative like me smile. You should look forward to the next release. Firefox 4 is going to be a superb browser.


      • Mozilla releases Thunderbird updates
        One day after it released updates for its Firefox web browser, the Mozilla Project has issued versions 3.1.4 and 3.0.8 of Thunderbird, the latest stable and legacy branch updates of its popular open source email client. According to the developers, the latest maintenance updates improve the applications overall stability and address several user experience concerns found in the previous stable branch release.


      • Mozilla releases new "Kraken" browser benchmark
        Mozilla software engineer Rob Sayre has announced the release of "Kraken", a new browser benchmark. The developer says that unlike other browser benchmarks, such as SunSpider, V8 and Dromaeo, Kraken focuses on realistic workloads and on forward-looking applications.






  • CMS



  • Business



  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Celebrate Software Freedom Day with the LibrePlanet community


      Saturday, September 18th is Software Freedom Day, a worldwide celebration of user freedom. It's a great opportunity not only to introduce new people to free software, but to connect with other free software activists in your area or online.

      But what about the day after? How can we sustain these links? How can we make sure that people in your area who hear about free software can find a local community to connect with?


    • want to work on Bazaar?
      Now we’re looking for a very good software engineer to join the Bazaar team at Canonical, working both on the core tool itself and on how it’s used by Ubuntu developers.


    • A month of the Hurd: Media Appearances, procfs, Arch Hurd.
      Finally, amongst other bug fixing and other development work by the usual suspects, we had a short review of what the current Hurd contributors still need to use a GNU/Hurd system for most of their day-to-day tasks. This may help to prioritize the development efforts.




  • Licensing



  • Openness/Sharing

    • Developing films the open source way
      In a world where movies are produced on budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars, at a time when studios expect a huge return on their investment, in an industry where the opening weekend can make or break a film--one man refuses to live by society's (or the movie industry's) rules. One man is willing to put it all on the line and do something different. Something daring. Something... free.

      [...]

      The key idea to take away here is freedom: freedom of the consumer to see what they're paying for before they spend their money. This empowers the viewer, letting them control where they spend their money. Rather than spending their money up front before watching a film, they can see the work for free. As a result, more people are likely to watch the film, or listen to the music.




  • Standards/Consortia





Leftovers

  • Power to the PC: How to Select a Computer Power Supply


  • Security/Aggression





  • Finance

    • Kaufman Says `Something Rotten' in Commodity Markets: Video
      Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Frederick Kaufman, a professor at College of Staten Island, Alexia Howard, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Dennis DeLaughter, the owner of Progressive Farm Marketing Inc., and Alex Wittenberg, a partner at Oliver Wyman, talk about agricultural futures and commodity markets. They speak with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television's "Taking Stock." (This is an excerpt. Source: Bloomberg)


    • Setting the Agenda
      That's what journalists are supposed to do: Set the agenda. Rarely, however, do we get the headlines. But last night, on Bloomberg TV, the Food Bubble came through . . .




  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • The Internet Freedom Fallacy and the Arab Digital activism
      This article focuses on grassroots digital activism in the Arab world and the risks of what seems to be an inevitable collusion with U.S foreign policy and interests. It sums up the most important elements of the conversation I have been having for the last 2 years with many actors involved in defending online free speech and the use of technology for social and political change. While the main focus is Arab digital activism, I have made sure to include similar concerns raised by activists and online free speech advocates from other parts of the world, such as China, Thailand, and Iran.




  • Internet/Net Neutrality/DRM

    • Red tape snarls rural Internet firm
      Ottawa tells Peace Region ISP that it’s not Canadian enough for new slice of spectrum


    • Tens of thousands could be priced out of broadband after Government announcement on file sharing code
      Up to €£500m will be taken out of the UK economy according to the Government's announcement today about the cost sharing for the letter writing regime following the Digital Economy Act. The BIS cost order confirms the 75/25 split of costs between rightholders and ISPs.

      ISPs will of course pass on these costs to their customers. According to the Government's own estimates that means that up to 96,000 individuals will not be able to afford an internet connection anymore.




  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • BSA's Latest Study on Piracy and Economic Benefits "Shockingly Misleading"
      When IT Business's Brian Jackson asked me for a comment, I noted that such estimates were notoriously speculative (see Glyn Moody on this) and that the BSA would do far better to tell us how much Canada has gained from its recent significant reductions in piracy. Last year, the BSA said the Canadian rate dropped by three percent to 29%, the biggest drop among developed countries and - the BSA noted - an all-time low. In fact, since 2006 the BSA says that there has been a five percent drop in Canada. Has that created thousands of new jobs and generated billions in new revenues and taxes?


    • IP as a joke


    • Lars Johnson Has Goats on His Roof and a Stable of Lawyers to Prove It
      Having Trademarked the Ungulate Look, Restaurateur Butts Heads With Imitators


    • Copyrights

      • Millions at Stake in Education Copyright Battle
        Negotiating with individual authors or publishers for the rights to a single work may be cumbersome, but so too are the proposed reporting requirements. Moreover, individual negotiations hold the advantage of potential costs savings for students and ensuring that the actual authors receive full compensation for the use of their works. In other words, win-win-win for authors, teachers, and students.


      • An Explanation Of My Views On Copyright Part Four – The Sky Is Falling
        Going back to the section on Digital Locks, let’s assume that Bill C-32 passes into law with no changes. So Randy Bachman releases a new compact disc, and the Record Label uses TPM/DRM on it. The way the law is currently written, Randy Bachman could not legally break the TPM/DRM, even if he owns the copyright. Even worse, he wouldn’t be legally able to break the TPM/DRM if he owned the Record Label, and the compact disc pressing plant. You might argue that he shouldn’t need to, as he’d still have the masters, but accidents have happened before, and masters have been lost. Even if Randy controlled every step of the chain, legally he can’t break the TPM/DRM he decided to use. Does this make sense?










Clip of the Day



Microsoft Propaganda Film



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Credit: TinyOgg

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM CEO Says IBM Won't be Bankrupt by 2028 or 2029 (When He Reaches Retirement Age)
IBM has no path to survival
Big Blue's Quiet Axe - Poem Regarding IBM "RAs"
No idea who posted this, but it is profound
Growing Proportion of Linux Commits Being Made by LLMs Not a Sign of LLMs Working, It's a Sign of Linux Development Being Shifted From Community to GAFAM and Other Slop Pushers
antagonist became apologist
Worse Than "Taking Your Job", the Slop Pyramid Scheme Will "Take Your Pension"
This will not end well
 
Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Starts Spending Big Money in an Effort to Resist Lawsuit From Daniel Pocock
They've lost over half a million dollars in the latest 3 years
The Establishment, Cambridge, Steve McIntyre & Debian suicide cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 05/08/2026: Internet Archive Harmed by Slop Bot, "EBay And Former Execs Agree to Pay $56 Million For Trying to ‘Crush’ a Journalist"
Links for the day
Luxembourg and Software Freedom
Luxembourg's adoption of GNU/Linux has quite consistently been higher than the European average
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Web Site is Online, GNU's Site Having Issues (Ongoing Issues)
We hope they can rectify the issues with the GNU Web site
Freedom Includes the Liberty to Disagree (and be Listened to, Not Censored)
Freedom is our collective strength
Tanzania: GNU/Linux Now Seen on 8% on Desktops/Laptops (User Clients)
numbers have more than doubled
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 04, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 04, 2026
Gemini Links 05/08/2026: Being Good, Tildeverse and Tilde.pink, Games
Links for the day
Links 04/08/2026: GAFAM Expressing Concerns About Dangerous Disinformation by Slop, Bill Epsteingate-Connected Litigation Firm Salivating Over Europe
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/08/2026: Root Shell and "Duty of Care"
Links for the day
Alternate Data (Not IBM's Headcount) to Show Mass Layoffs' Effect at IBM (Despite Many Acquired Workers Via M&A)
mass layoffs at Hashicorp and at Confluent this year (media did not cover either).
Abundance of Fake (Sometimes Paid-for) 'News' About IBM Will Discredit the Media as a Whole
In 'the news' today
Microsoft is Trying Vapourware Again (to Keep Developers and Gamers From Fleeing)
For XBox, the main thing over the horizon is additional layoffs
statCounter Reckons 12.33% of Web Traffic in Gambia Can be Attributed to GNU/Linux, Even 15% If Adding ChromeOS
Will this be sustainable?
Reminder: The Pedophilia Problem Comes From the Accusers
Attacks on Richard Stallman are a distraction; his accusers are themselves the culprits
SLAPP Censorship - Part 139 Out of 200: Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Needs More Public Scrutiny (New Management Changed Nothing, It's Costing a Lot of Taxpayers' Money)
millions or maybe billions of pounds wasted
Rumours of Further IBM Shutdowns
IBM is going out of existence
Brigading Against Women - Part II - Threatening Women Using the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) and Then False Threats Miscarrying the Name of a Court
In this series we intend to show the threats, the outcomes of those threats, the response to those threats
Collapse of MElon Companies a Taste of What's to Come for Slop Bubble and GAFAM (Trillions in Debt, Justified as Slop "Investments")
One good example of this was SpaceX
The 'Hyperinflation' in Hardware Dooms Video Hosting (Very Large Files)
a terabyte of video files would be expensive
Rumours of Silent Layoffs in Microsoft This Month (August 2026), PIPs and Global Voluntary Separation Agreement (GVSA), aka "Buyouts"
Will any investigative journalism follow or just shallow puff pieces and LLM trash from slopfarms?
Links 04/08/2026: "Framework for Musician Burnout" and Alexa+ "is a Buggy Embarrassment"
Links for the day
Signs That XBox as a Console is Coming to an End, Windows Gaming Will be Called "XBox"
"XBox" is the next "Surface"
Microsoft's Share in Search Falls Sharply in Europe
The layoffs at Microsoft's Bing will carry on
Romania: GNU/Linux Reaches 4% (Less Than EU Average)
We expect this same upward trend to carry on
Microsoft Sites or Sites Sponsored by Microsoft Angry That GNU/Linux is Gaining
The Microsofters cannot easily dismiss reports of GNU/Linux growth as "bots" or just allege that statCounter alone is wrong
Ableism in the Free Software Movement Typically Comes From GAFAM Operatives and Proprietary Software Apologists
And their hired guns
Afghanistan: GNU/Linux Steadily Rises to 9%
Windows is steadily declining
IBM Innovation: It Has Invented New Methods of Silent Layoffs or Secret RAs
How IBM disguises mass layoffs now
Many Anniversaries
Many anniversaries in quick succession
LLM Slop Won't Replace People and Jobs (in the Long Run)
At the end of the day, people who know their job offer more useful information, whereas LLMs waste people's time (typically an 'externality' to the entity deploying chatbots)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 03, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 03, 2026
Over 3,500 Known Gemini Capsules Accessible and Active According to Lupa
It finally happened this morning
Gemini Links 04/08/2026: Library Cards, Dead Ends in Software Development, and DOS on USB Key
Links for the day
IBM Has Embraced and Rewarded Liars
The IBM culture vanished
statCounter Estimates GNU/Linux at 5.32% in Kuwait, Years Ago It Was Near 0%
Kuwait rose to fame in the 1990s because of a war
Swatting People Who Write About Corruption, Misogyny, Criminal Misuse of Funds
we've given ourselves a decade to cover all those stories
GNU/Linux Rises Above 6% in Colombia
In Colombia, which is a large south American country, GNU/Linux has risen steadily in recent years
SLAPP Censorship - Part 138 Out of 200: Garrett Has Basically "Lost" and It is "Embarrassing" to Them
they just wound up costing hundreds of thousands of pounds
Gemini Links 03/08/2026: Great Exodus, xkcd as Text, and Dead Ends
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Has Surged to 6.3% in Madagascar
Madagascar's adoption of Free software is a subject we covered a lot in past years
Microsoft's Slop Bet is Killing the XBox Even Faster
LLMs destroy almost anything they touch
The Cyber Show on "Weaponised Antisocial Technology"
by Andy
Alexandre Oliva on Slippery Slop (LLMs)
By Alexandre Oliva
RMS Won the Argument and Now GNU Wins Over Computer Users
He can look back at nearly 43 years of GNU and say, "I was right..."
statCounter Corrects GNU/Linux Estimates, Now Measured at 9% Worldwide
Windows has sunk like a rock
GNU/Linux-Centric Blogs Belatedly Pick Up News About GNU/Linux Gains: 4-8% Depending on the Surveyor
more people will get curious and give it a go
Links 03/08/2026: Strike By Flight Attendants (WestJet) and Greedflation
Links for the day
Links 03/08/2026: EU Curtailed Slop, Frank Zappa Recalled
Links for the day
Daniel Pocock on Sky News This Morning
No harm done
Morten Linderud Has Helped Microsoft Put Locks (and Kill Switches) on the PCs of Arch Linux Users
"the first rule of "secure boot" is to disable "secure boot"
In Poor Peru, GNU/Linux Surges From 1% to 5% in a Few Years
Windows is dying
All Social Control Media is a Weapon (Against Its Users, Serving the Real Owners)
That social control networks are weaponised isn't a new concept
Fanning the Flames of Journalism
This week we have several surprises coming
Forcing the Slop Bubble to Implode Fully to Save the Economy From an Even Greater Collapse and Societal Harm
Let's blow up the bubble. The sooner, the better
GNU/Linux at 8% in Croatia
somewhat of a GNU/Linux adoption hotbed
It's Easy to Predict Microsoft Layoffs for October 2026 Because of the Financial 'Results' That Month (More Faking, More Secret Debt and Buzzwords to Perfume This Debt as "Investment")
From what we've read, Microsoft is silently laying off people this month based on LITE, which leads to PIPs
Not Hard to Guess Who Will Pay for IBM's Collapse (Due to False Statements Made to Shareholders), Red Hat May Disappear
IBM's leadership is never being punished for its failures
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 02, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, August 02, 2026
Gemini Links 03/08/2026: Collectibles, Cities of the Red Night, and Lali Lambda
Links for the day