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Links 13/5/2011: Lubuntu 11.04 in Focus



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Podcast Season 3 Episode 9
      In this episode: David Braben creates a low-cost Linux machine. Matt Zimmerman leaves Canonical while Mark Shuttleworth wants 200 million Ubuntu users within 4 years. Discover our discoveries, hear the latest conversion stories from TuxRadar and join us on IRC.






  • Kernel Space



  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

      • Planning the first release of KDE Telepathy
        Given the various blog posts, and (somewhat unnecessary) hysteria over the news of Skype I felt like I should give an update on what's going on in KDE Telepathy.

        Pace over the past 5 months has been ace, we've got a lot done, and as mentioned by a few people already - we're releasing "soon"! We don't have a fixed date, but instead we will release when a set list of outstanding bugs are fixed. Probably about 4 weeks time. (unless I die of stress organising it all in the meantime)

        [...]

        We have a GSOC student that I'm mentoring over the summer to really nail bringing instant messaging into the core of the Plasma Workspace.


      • KDEMU Certified Scrotum Master






  • Distributions



    • Red Hat Family

      • Scala daddy wraps his Java baby in Red Hat-ness
        Martin Odersky – the man who created Scala, the Java-based programming language that now drives such big name web services as Twitter, Foursquare, and LinkedIn – has launched a company that provides service and support around an extensive open source application stack for the language.

        Both the company and the stack are known as Typesafe. Officially unveiled on Thursday, the Typesafe stack includes the most recent releases of the Scala programming language, the open source Akka middleware, and various open source tools designed to facilitate the development of Scala applications. "We want to provide stable versions of the stack, stable supported versions where you can get backports of fixes and improvements", Odersky tells The Register. "It's very much the open source support model you see with Red Hat".


      • Fedora

        • Fosscomm 2011 & Fedora Activity Day
          May was here again, and it was time for our annual Greek Meetup. Fosscomm is the (now-standard) annual meetup of Greek foss communities, and this year it was Patras time to host it. My good friend Vasilis and the rest of his gang have done extraordinary good organizational job (arranging our accommodation, creating custom web apps for the conference, providing extensive info and material etc), and in overall I can say safely that it was the best Fosscomm so far.








    • Debian Family

      • Debian 6.0: Upgrade
        I finally cleared enough time to upgrade my computer from Debian 5 "Lenny", to the new Debian 6 "Squeeze". Debian Linux 6 was actually released in February, but I wanted to have a few days of no commitments, just in case my computer would be down for an extended period. And a good thing, too.

        The short version: I successfully upgraded my desktop from Debian 5 to 6. It was not trivial....though it was easier than my last upgrade, from Debian 4 to 5, two years ago.


      • DNS security extensions now available for Debian's zone entries
        The Debian Project is pleased to announce that its domains debian.org and debian.net are now secured by the DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC). The corresponding DNS records have recently been added in the .net and .org zones.

        "This enables users with security aware DNS resolvers to securely retrieve information from the domain name system such as IP addresses, or for those who have shell accounts on debian.org machines, SSH host key fingerprints. Any tampering with DNS replies would be detected by a user's resolver," says Peter Palfrader, member of Debian's System Administrator Team. "DNSSEC is an important step in securing the Internet's name resolution infrastructure."


      • Derivatives









Free Software/Open Source



  • FOSS Experts, Where Are You Hiding?
    Linux has been around for a long time, but people were waiting for it to be a mature solution. Large product companies would not consider open source, as they doubted its stability—but now, the research and development phase is over. Over the years, FOSS has proved its stability in the industry, and many organisations are switching to using open source solutions rather than conventional proprietary solutions, because of the high costs associated with the latter. FOSS is very mature now, and it is possible to run Linux on a variety of platforms, making it a favourable commercial solution. This has led to a demand for FOSS professionals, especially in organisations that deal with technology and products. With the Android explosion, Linux on hand-held or embedded devices is an upcoming area, and will see much more growth in the coming years, especially because over 50 per cent of smart-phones run on Android today. The main sectors driving this demand are industries like technology, semi-conductors, telecom companies and phone manufacturers.


  • LGM – Day 3


  • Harnessing the Benefits of Open-Source Sustainability Tools
    OAKLAND, CA — The bedrock of capitalism based around innovation has for years been the idea that when someone invents a unique and in-demand product or service, it should be patented and protected at all costs.

    But a growing number of companies are turning the concept of intellectual capital on its head in the name of sustainability. Count IBM, Nike and the Outdoor Industry Association among the growing list of business interests turning to open source models to lower costs and scale best practices and technologies.


  • Mozilla



  • Public Services/Government

    • German Foreign Office explains open source elimination
      The German government has given details of its reasons for migrating the German Foreign office from Linux and free software back to Windows and Microsoft software. The SPD (Social Democrats, the main German opposition party) submitted an initial question on "the use of open source software in the Foreign Office and other Government departments", but, according to the Green parliamentary group, the German government's response left various questions unanswered.






Leftovers





Clip of the Day



Lubuntu Linux 11.04 Natty First Look Review & News



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Credit: TinyOgg, Twitter

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