New Articles About GNU/Linux Success on Desktops
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-11 13:33:10 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-11 15:20:15 UTC
Summary: This month's articles about success stories and debates regarding GNU/Linux on the desktop
GNU/Linux Distributions
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GNU/Linux largely uses open standards so whatever applications and computers you have can all talk to each other and speak the same languages. That allows you to turn a lab or a school into a super-computer as needed. That allows you to set up as many databases, search engines, web-servers, clients thick (resourceful) and thin (using resources of a server), as you need, want or can afford. Basically, you don’t need a brand new PC to get great performance if you can connect to another powerful computer running the software you need. GNU/Linux lets you do that transparently.
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Even if you’re a Windows (or Mac) user, knowing how to use Linux is a valuable skill and it can run a bunch of awesome things in your home — even if it isn’t your main desktop OS. Here are 10 ways you can use Linux even if you’re not ready to go full Ubuntu.
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Engaging in arguments about the superiority of one computing environment over another with individuals who are every bit as convinced of their view as your are of yours is a fruitless endeavor. I used to have lengthy discussions on the relative merits of Linux over Windows or Mac OS X, or BSD, or BeOS, or any combination thereof, none of which turned out to be a productive use of my time, or anyone else's time involved. I like to think that I've grown out of the need to defend my choice of computing platform, and instead focus on what I can do. It is always best to let your work speak for itself.
Chrom*/OS
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A few years ago, Google completely took the web by surprise by launching its own browser. The crowd, which was busy transitioning from the outmoded Internet Explorer to the trendy Firefox, initially took little notice of the search giant's endeavor. However, due to its availability across all platforms, and also its blazing fast speed, Google Chrome became a darling of the web user within a few months. This, in turn, pushed Google to bring more features to Chrome thereby sending the partially open-source browser into a spiral of success.
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First, ASUS announced the ASUS Chromebox, then HP followed with the HP Chromebox, and not to be left out, Google followed with the announcement of the Chromebox for meetings.
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A few days after Asus announced the first Chromebox mini-PC to be introduced the original Samsung Chromebox, HP unveiled its own Chromebox model, which similarly runs on Google’s Linux-based Chrome OS. Meanwhile, Google announced “Chromebox for Meetings,” an enterprise video-conferencing system that initially will be built on the Asus Chromebox, but later this year be available with the HP Chromebox and an upcoming Dell Chromebox (see farther below).
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That processor will also mean the HP Chromebox will cost more its Asus competitor, which will start at just $179 (though probably with a less-powerful Celeron CPU). We'll find out this spring, when HP's model becomes available. With that company onboard, the Chromebox platform looks a lot more viable than just a week ago, when the only Chromebox you could buy was a refurbished Samsung model.
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Have you noticed that a Chrome process always runs in the background when there are Chrome apps active, even if you do not have Chrome browser opened? Even though Chrome apps run like native apps they need the whole Chrome process to run in the background. Google is trying to change this and is working to make Chrome web apps API needs minimal.
Terminology Debate
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Jack Wallen believes that a language barrier is preventing Linux from being adopted, en mass, on the desktop. Do you think a simplified, standardized language for Linux is the solution?
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On the other hand, there's such a thing as dumbing something down too far. One of the big attractions of Linux is the power and control that comes with it. Many of the people who opt for Linux are eager to learn what is necessary for them to truly take control of their computers.
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I've been in technology for more than twenty years. Along the way I've worked for and with many different women that have served in different roles. Some wrote or managed editorial content, while others were focused on the business side as marketing managers or vice presidents, and still others managed the back end and programming parts of the company.
They all had one thing in common though: THEY. JUST. DID. IT.
Education
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No, not literally, but figuratively, the generosity of many IT-companies to “help” schools afford IT is more about enslaving students to use and be locked-in to those companies’ products rather than choosing what works best for the students and teachers. I am surprised that M$ is not on the list…
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In most countries these days, kids start learning computers at a very early age in school and even in still developing countries, computer education is a top priority. Computers are as important part of our daily lives as food and clothes are. Computer Education is considered a very vital part of our kids education today but are we doing it right?
Hardware
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My intentions were different: as I had a play with it in the showroom, I was salivating as I thought of how Linux would fly on such hardware. I planned to replace Windows with Debian GNU/Linux and use the laptop for my work; my existing laptop, an IBM Thinkpad, is entering its 10th year of service and its age is showing.
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The other side of that coin is that barebones PCs can be good for people who aren’t planning on paying for an OS. You can use your favorite Linux distribution on a barebones PC without paying the added cost for some Windows license you have no intention of using.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Daniel Pocock Makes It Into Mainstream Media Again (Going After Racists)
- American bigots funding blatant and shameless racists here in the UK
- Another Woman (or Women) Has Just Run Away From Brett Wilson LLP (After Barely a Month!), the Hired Guns of Garrett and Graveley (Microsoft)
- They call this phenomenon "death spiral"
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 200 Out of 200: Will GNU Boot Undo the Technical Damage Caused by Microsoft and Garrett? (And Garrett's Litigation Allies From Microsoft)
- Today we publish the final part of this series
- Things Not to Measure in Quantity Alone
- More patents do not beget greater innovation
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 199 Out of 200: An American Burden on the British Legal System
- A year ago (October 2025) the head of media (Jointly in Charge of the Media and Communications List), the judge in the Garrett case, said that this case was a waste of the court's money
- Criminalising Opposition to Fraud
- slop causes social issues
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- Links 25/09/2026: Carcinogen Atrazine Pollutes Americans' Bodies, "Donald the Deadbeat Does Diesel", and Anger Over Data Centres Grows
- Links for the day
- Theory That Microsoft Cheapens Its Workforce to Push Workers Out on Their Own (Theory Advanced by Insider)
- people work longer hours for less, i.e. their hourly salary is decreasing
- Tackling Racism in the United Kingdom (Racism Funded by Americans) Using the Courts
- We'll talk about racism my wife and I experienced in the events leading up to litigation
- US Government Sites Can Now Totally Ignore Mozilla Firefox Users or Users of Firefox Derivatives
- Firefox, now at 1.1% in the US (based on American government sites), has sunken to the point of no return
- Even Microsoft Boosters Start to Doubt XBox Will Exist (It's Being Phased Out, Just Not "Officially")
- This is how to phase out a business unit without officially saying so (as it might alarm investors)
- Omarchy is Built on the Idea That Slop is Desirable (It's Not)
- They call bots and plagiarism "agents" and "training"
- IBM is Shrinking Very Fast (Silent, Unannounced Layoffs)
- IBM and Microsoft both avoid WARN notices by compelling staff to leave or silently removing them with some NDA
- In Some Parts of Microsoft 50% of All Staff Subjected to Layoffs, Media Pretends Only 0.1% of Staff Are Removed
- This really says a lot about the state of today's so-called 'media'
- EPO Management Wants Everything to be Done in Microsoft Spyware
- In reality, this management should be ousted for normalising cocaine at the Office
- The Register MS Does Not Properly Flag Its SPAM About Slop
- Signs of desperation
- Gemini Links 25/09/2026: Ljubljana, Tanana River, and Curse of Slack
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 24, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, September 24, 2026
- Supporters of winding-up process staking claims against Reform UK Party (CR-2026-007405)
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Winding-up petition leaked before service on Reform UK Party Limited / Nigel Farage
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Gemini Links 24/09/2026: Laziness, Outdoor Seating, "AngelNova’s Interview Malware and Its North Korea Connection"
- Links for the day
- Links 24/09/2026: Slop "Linked to Disturbing Culture of Sexual Assault"; "Zelensky Warns Russia’s War Will Expand if It Is Not Ended Soon"
- Links for the day
- Winding-up petition served on Reform UK Party Limited (Nigel Farage)
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Appliances Should be Dumb
- Any "Smart Home Appliance" is basically a thing that does not last long, does not work as advertised, and is generally unfit for purpose
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 198 Out of 200: It Sounds Like Garrett is Now Sending People to Silence Critics (Including His Own Spouse)
- This week Garrett is having a somewhat karmic experience
- Links 24/09/2026: Slop Contaminating KDE, Slop-Focused Data Centres Have Severe Environmental Impact
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 197 Out of 200: Garrett Became So Poor That He Wants Others (in Another Continent) to Pay for His Own Legal Work Being Faulty
- They lie to courts
- The Register MS Has Become a Slopfest
- This is the behaviour of a perishing publisher
- Gemini Links 24/09/2026: Requiem for a Season, Philosophy, Rube-Goldberg Machine, ROOPHLOCH 2026, and Git over Gemini
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, September 23, 2026
- IBM Grapevine: Development Outsourced to LLM Slop and It Results in Many Bugs
- IBM is circling down the drain and every insider knows it
- Microsoft Gives Many People the 'Booty' This Week, Not Counting PIPs (Silent Layoffs and 'Voluntary' Layoffs)
- Microsoft PIPs allegedly target "20-25% in some teams."
- Nearly 1,000 People at EPO 'Met' to Plan Further Strikes and Impending Action to Dethrone Corrupt Leadership
- Exploring the purchasing "power" of EPO leadership (buying elections while doing cocaine in public)
- Links 23/09/2026: Pax Silica Hub Ruins a Country for a Pyramid Scheme (Slop), Convicted Felon's Press Block Resembles Iran, Russia, China
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/09/2026: Stuck, Gambling, Fury Road, IPFS, and More
- Links for the day
- The Register Got Paid Today to Spew Out "AI" Almost 50 Times (Keeping the Pyramid Scheme Buzzing in Headlines)
- paid-for spam
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 196 Out of 200: Sending Someone to Our Doorstep to Ship Approximately 5 KG of Legal Papers (Instead of to Our Representatives)
- it is not about law, this is lawfare
- IBM's Anderon Already Smells Like a Fraud and IBM Insiders Heckle the Lies From the Management
- Sabine Hossenfelder recently made some videos which explain in simple terms why IBM is lying and has already lied about this for years
- Links 23/09/2026: Mass-Surveillance by Clownflare and "Data Centre" Crunch Commences
- Links for the day
- Same Name/Brand, Not the Same Project/Product
- What is Linux becoming?
- Germany, Like Switzerland, Will Dump Microsoft's Proprietary Software and Disservices, Then Dump Windows for GNU/Linux
- This impacts not only the Windows revenue; this corrodes any "rents" Microsoft was getting from "subscriptions"
- 3 Years Divorced From Americans
- Next year we plan to pursue the UK's Court of Appeal
- The Register MS Uses Slop About Slop (in Images)
- Months ago we caught The Register MS using slop for text as well
- There Are Likely Over a Thousand Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Networks Online, Net Gain of 16 Seen This Month by Andreas Gelhausen's netsplit.de
- It's good that they're still tracking that sort of stuff
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 195 Out of 200: Two Years Since Garrett, Graveley and Lozza Worked in Parallel to Censor Techrights
- It began in September 2024, shortly after we had sued Garrett
- Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 8 - In Conclusion
- this can invite more SCO-like problems in the future
- Microsoft Shuts Down More Studios, Morale Low, More Mass Layoffs Ahead of Reports
- They pretend it's not happening or that it's a lot smaller than it actually is
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, September 22, 2026
- Gemini Links 23/09/2026: Ljubljana, Poetry, and FORTRAN
- Links for the day