Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 11/6/2011:Peppermint OS Two is Out, Fedora 16 Features Revealed



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux

  • 10 principles the Linux community should revisit
    Anyone who has read my work over the last decade knows where I stand with Linux and open source. If you haven’t taken read my words, know that I am a huge advocate of Linux and open source software. I use it, I promote it, I mentor new users, I do everything I can to help the cause move forward.

    But no matter how much I believe in the cause, I know some of the ideals the Linux and open source community hold so tightly to need to be reevaluated. Why? The landscape of business and home computing has changed drastically since the beginnings of the GPL and the Linux operating system. Many of you might look at the following list and say, “Are you crazy?” But I would ask that it be examined merely as suggestions for where the foundations of open source software can improve and help the public at large fully embrace open source and Linux.


  • My Top-Ten Rejected Slogans for a 20th anniversary Linux T-shirt:


  • Cthulhu Lives in The Blog Cave
    Apropos Linux in Exile losing his Linux System to a Predatory Windows Install the other day (see Windows killed my laptop, again) I've been thinking about and beginning to do something about cleaning house.


  • Audiocasts/Shows



  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments



  • Distributions

    • Introducing BackTrack 5 'Revolution'
      BackTrack 5 is a good specialized distribution, a great tool worth keeping around. I personally find it very interesting and want to keep using it to learn more about the whole security side of things, which I find fascinating, but I believe experts will certainly get a kick out of this latest BackTrack release.


    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

      • First impressions of Mageia Linux
        Overall, our opinion is that this first release of Mageia does what the team set out to do. Namely to build a clean and attractive derivative of Mandriva. Now, if the developers will revisit their decision not to distribute proprietary video software drivers on the installation media for those users who need them, we'd say that Mageia seems to have bright future ahead of it.




    • Red Hat Family

      • Solving the Mystery of Red Hat
        So value Red Hat based on its execution, its products, and its ability to make its business model work.


      • Fedora

        • Other Features Coming Up For Fedora 16
          Yesterday we shared that Fedora 16 may use the Btrfs file-system by default on new installations. Beyond switching from EXT4 to Btrfs, there are also many other changes planned for this next release of the Red Hat sponsored Linux distribution.

          Development on Fedora 16 has only just begun with Fedora 15 having not been released for even a month yet. So far the officially accepted Fedora 16 features include:

          [...]

          ...Linux 3.0/3.1 kernel, X.Org Server 1.11, Mesa 7.12-devel, GNOME 3.2, and KDE SC 4.7.






    • Debian Family



      • Derivatives



        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), Reviewed In Depth
            Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) has arrived, and we have the scoop on everything you need to know about Canonical's latest Linux, along with the usual review and benchmarks. Is this the change we've been waiting for, or is the Natty Narwhal a fail whale?

            [...]

            Unity as a solution is really close, but not close enough. It needs a little bit more time in the oven. But what Canonical accomplished in a short development window is pretty astounding. At the very worst, Unity is worth taking the time to explore.


          • Spice-Gtk-0.6 on Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric) after Libvirt & python-libvirt upgrade up to 0.9.1


          • Flavours and Variants

            • Why I love Bodhi Linux
              And unlike some Linux distros, Bodhi can easily be configured into anything you want it to be.


            • Kubuntu Natty Narwhal review - KDElicious!
              Version 11.04 Natty Narwhal is fast, smart, elegant, polished, with a very decent performance, blazing desktop effects, good stability, and only a tiny bunch of bugs and issues.


            • Linux Mint 11 review
              And Linux Mint 11 feels decided less stable than Linux Mint 10. If the trend holds, Linux Mint 12 will be a lot more stable than this release.


            • Peppermint OS Two
              Rating: 4.5/5














Free Software/Open Source



  • Hypervisor Fight Is Good for Customers, Good for FOSS
    There have been many changes in the market and technology since Citrix (Nasdaq: CTXS) acquired XenSource and a major stewardship stake in the Xen open source hypervisor four years ago.

    Red Hat's (NYSE: RHT) 2008 Qumranet acquisition and subsequent push behind the Linux-integrated Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor has added to the disruption. One thing, though, remains the same: the intense competition among these open source hypervisors in the enterprise market.


  • Web Browsers



    • Chrome

      • Chrome 12, What's new?
        1- Chrome will support hardware accelerated 3D CSS. What does that mean? That means you will be able to see some classic webpages that implement 3D effects. You will be able to have a better experience with web apps that implement 3D effects. This enhancement will also open a new era of browser-based gaming. Web developers will have libretti to create amazing 3D effects by placing images text and other content in 3D space.




    • Mozilla





  • SaaS



  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice



  • Programming





Leftovers



  • Health/Nutrition

    • Blue Shield of California's Fake Benevolence
      While I'm happy for the policyholders who might get a few bucks back from their insurer, the timing of the Blue Shield campaign is, to me at least, a tad suspicious. A few things have been going on in California in recent weeks that undoubtedly have been keeping Bodaken up at night, making me think that this announcement just might be more PR than substance.




  • Security



    • Police nab 3 suspected leaders of hacker network in Spain
      Police said Friday they had arrested the top three suspected leaders in Spain of the international computer hacker network called Anonymous, which is suspected of numerous cyber-attacks on Sony's PlayStation network and government and business websites.


  • Privacy



  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Study Debunks Chamber of Commerce Claims on Canadian Patent Law
      Yesterday I posted on how the Canadian IP Council, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's IP lobby arm, floated false claims about the scope of counterfeiting in Canada in an attempt to bolster claims for increased border measures. The Chamber placed Canadian countefeiting costs at $30 billion per year, a figure that has no basis in fact and that even RCMP no longer supports.

      The Chamber's false claims on counterfeiting are not the only intellectual property issue where their arguments have been debunked as inaccurate. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on the proposed trade agreement between Canada and the European Union, which could have big implications for the costs of pharmaceutical drugs, on which Canadians spend $22 billion annually.


    • Copyrights

      • "A Gross Abuse of the Collective Administration of Copyright"
        Howard Knopf reports that the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) has filed an application to amend the Access Copyright interim tariff requiring it grant transactional or pay-per-use licences upon request. As I reported last month, Access Copyright has been denying requests by universities for transactional licences in an effort to pressure universities to force them to licence all digital materials for a far higher price. This results in a remarkable situation where universities attempt to pay to use works and Access Copyright says it won't take their money (though it does offer pay-per-use for corporate customers).










Clip of the Day



Instalar flash para ver videos Ubuntu tutorial



[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Credit: TinyOgg

Recent Techrights' Posts

Plagiarism is Hardly a New Problem, It Predates Mainstream Media Getting Paid to Whitewash It as "Training" or "Hey Hi", Then Conflate Plagiarism With "Intelligence" or Deferred "Value"
"Quantum" isn't new either; it's a 'circle-jerk' for companies without direction, only hype
 
Gemini Links 10/09/2026: "I Don’t Want to Interact With Stochastic Parrots" and "ROOPHLOCH 2026!"
Links for the day
What the British School Closure (BSN Senior School Leidschenveen) Means to EPO Staff
The only European thing about the EPO is the staff
Standing in Solidarity With Matt Mullenweg
I don't trust the people and companies that want Mullenweg out. Neither should you.
Links 10/09/2026: "Smear Campaign Says Anti-Flock Movement Is Chinese Propaganda" and "Flock Employee Calls Cops on Reporter Filming Them"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 09, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 09, 2026
IBM's Senior VP of Infrastructure is Out, Silent Layoffs Still Going On
Some people imagine the CEO will also "retire" very soon (and "ahead of time")
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Mechanical Cameras, "Super App", and Prusa Issues
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 177 Out of 200: Manosphere Without Financial Transparency
It has moreover replaced a female worker with a male
Deadline Tomorrow (10th of September) to Appeal the EPO's Fleecing of Staff (Union to Make Legal Challenges)
Join them. Fight the good fight.
linuxstans.com Died, Then Came Back as Slop (LLM Junk)
Don't make the mistake or the assumption that merely 'dabbling in' or 'experimenting with' LLMs can be forgivable as it is a trust destroyer
Links 09/09/2026: GAFAM Fatalities in Miami International Airport, "Britain’s Health Crisis Is Becoming a Political Crisis"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: "Adjective Is Subjective" and Walled Gardens
Links for the day
Links 09/09/2026: Airport 'Down' (Glasgow and Edinburgh), 'Open' 'AI' Losses Rise to Pace of 50 Billion Dollars in Losses Per Year
Links for the day
Unsafe at Any Speed, "Modern" Appliances
Appliances have gotten worse
SLAPP Censorship - Part 176 Out of 200: The Sex-Obsessed Non-Experts
We heard some sexual stories
European Patent Office (EPO): No Transparency and No Paper Trail
The incompetence is that of the management, i.e. sheer incompetence of people who never examined a patent in their entire lifetime
Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Going Out, Smartphone Addiction, Mapping the Geminispace
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 08, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 08, 2026
Linux is Sabotaged by Botspam and Bloat (de Facto Denial of Service Attack in "Intelligence" Clothing After Rust in "Security" Clothing)
Linux is becoming orphaned, devalued and diluted by GAFAM slop
Switzerland No Longer Wants Microsoft's 'Swiss Cheese' (Back Doors)
Switzerland's patience with Microsoft is wearing thin
Debian is Not a Community, Many Debian Developers Work for Large Companies Including GAFAM (US)
"Community" sounds like friendship and amicability
Links 08/09/2026: Slop Companies Attack Some More Sites, Nvidia Bribes 'Linux' Foundation for Some More Openwashing and for Saying Slop is "Secure"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: Ultra Introverts, BlackBerry Bold in 2026, and Laughing at LLMs
Links for the day
Microsoft Layoffs in October 2026
Microsoft is a market leader. In NDAs.
Links 08/09/2026: "The Green Revolution Has Failed Africa" and Palantir/Microsoft Harming NHS
Links for the day
Microsoft's Silent Layoffs Are the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft has a ton of layoffs all the time, but the media isn't mentioning those as no WARN notices get issued
SLAPP Censorship - Part 175 Out of 200: Implicit and Explicit Coalition Against the UK's SLAPP Industry
SRA recognises the problem
Further Transparency Problems at the EPO
The EPO was never meant to be profitable
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: "Everything Must Go", Announcing Perigee, and Presentations in a Browser
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 07, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, September 07, 2026