Free Software News Roundup: Careers, Liberations, and Lots More
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-20 16:32:26 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-20 16:32:26 UTC
Summary: Recent news stories about Free/Open Source software (FOSS)
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For most students, an internship presents a major opportunity to learn and grow in a real-world environment. Interns who join an open source company or project also seem to learn a lot about themselves along the way. Recently, I asked some former Red Hat interns—both newly hired and long-time Red Hat associates—what lessons they learned by working in an open source culture and what advice they have for our next group of interns.
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Wikipedia defines “open-source” software as computer software with its source code made available and licensed with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Translated into English this just means it’s free to anyone who wants to download it. Linux, Mozilla Firefox, and Google’s Android are open source operating systems and are available and easy to download even for computer illiterates like myself.
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The University of California, Berkeley, has been authorised by Alcatel-Lucent to open sauce all Plan 9 software under the GNU General Public License, Version 2.
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The takeaway from this presentation should be that , not necessarily because of the usual claims of superior quality (Many eyes make fewer bugs etc.) but because FLOSS emphasizes Freedom and flexibility. I agree with FLOSS being the right way to do IT but I still believe the FLOSS that users will use from solid distros like Debian will be featureful and of high quality as well as being Free. The Debian developers filter out most of the crud included in the depressing statistics of median number of developers and such. It’s a part of their social contract: “We will give back to the free software community
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For the last decade we’ve watched an epic contest unfold between open source and proprietary technology, and 2014 is the year that this dynamic will radically transform. The lines between open source and proprietary are becoming irrevocably blurred as proprietary firms pour resources into open source development and open source companies dial in their revenue models. Above all else, the open source community is producing the technologies businesses need to be competitive in the data-rich 21st century.
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VCs are realizing the next billion-dollar software company won't make money from software, but from what open source enables it to deliver
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These were some of the questions asked by Amandeep, a New Delhi based owner of a small scale clothing company, when I pitched to him a few open source solutions that could make his day-to-day operations more efficient. For someone without any IT background (but a sharp business sense), these were brilliant and relevant questions. The answers to these questions won't just help Amandeep, but if shared broadly may help reduce the apprehension of a significant number of small scale business owners, especially in India. My interactions have shown that a lot of these businesses are looking to grow, enhance their productivity, and most importantly, save costs.
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Marcus Hanwell is a physicist by training, but his background in science led him down a different path than most reseachers. Today he is a contributer to a number of open source projects aimed at helping the scientific community better analyze and visualize their data. If you've got a question about finding the right open source tool for a scientific application, Marcus can point you in the right direction.
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Red Hat is perhaps the most recognized player in the entire open source field. As addition to promoting its operating systems, the company has been involved in storage for quite some time. Red Hat Storage is an open platform that is available for on-premise, public clouds such as Amazon, and hybrid cloud deployment. Pricing is by annual subscription based on the number of storage nodes.
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He went on to tell me how he had looked up “Linux” on the Internet and became interested in the “free” part of software. It took him a bit to get his head around the fact that people from around the globe are contributing to FOSS for not much more than the spirit of kinship and giving. From that moment, in Eddie Baker’s eyes software became more than things you click on to make other things happen.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- LLM Slop About "Linux" Scarce and of Very Low Quality
- At this rate, we reckon there may be one (or zero) per day by year's end
- IBM's "Forever Layoffs" (to Bypass Warnings or Notices as Required by WARN Act)
- There is a bunch of speculations about when the next "major round" of RAs will be
- Attempts to Undermine This Site's Latest Series Using Intimidation, Threats, and Presumptuous Accusations
- threatening language is less effective when everyone is an alibi
- Links 08/01/2026: "Golden Smartphone" Scam and Riseup Account Issues
- Links for the day
- Links 08/01/2026: Possible "Collapse of NATO Over Greenland"; Journalistic Malpractice and "US Voters Hate Slop"
- Links for the day
- EPO People Power - Part XXVIII - A Sensitive Issue for Germany and The Netherlands
- If Germans who read this series can communicate this to public officials or to their media, maybe they can strike a nerve and get the ball rolling
- Age Discrimination at IBM Discussed Amid Mass Layoffs (Especially in the United States)
- Workers are anxious. Are they next to face the axe?
- Gemini Links 08/01/2026: Potentiometer Calculator, Power Outages, Why You Should Abandon Discord for IRC (e.g. Ergo), and Formatting Gopher Posts
- Links for the day
- Links 08/01/2026: More Software Patents Squashed, White House Repeats Misinformation From the Kremlin
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 07, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, January 07, 2026
- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Looking to Add Associate Members
- "Celebrate '26 by helping us reach our New Year's goal before Jan. 16: join as an associate member today. You will help the FSF remain strong and independent to empower technology users everywhere. Join us today and help us reach our goal of 100 new associate members!"
- Only Google is Still Spreading Lots of Slopfarms' Fake News and Plagiarism About Linux
- 2 days' worth of Google News spewing crap out about "Linux"
- Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) Formally Announces Upcoming Richard Stallman Talk
- Room 100, Scheller College of Business
- Links 07/01/2026: Europe's 'Binding Commitments' on Ukraine's Security, "Venezuelan Leaders Project Independence"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 07/01/2026: Smart Toaster and Social Control Media Fatigue
- Links for the day
- Projection Tactics - Part II: Causing "Serious Harm" to Many People (Even Animals)
- Narcissists and sociopaths are like that
- Even Microsofters Now Speak About Microsoft Reportedly Planning to Sack 10% of Its Staff (as Early as This Month, or 2 Weeks From Now) as Real Income Falls
- Microsoft buying from Microsoft isn't real income, it is accounting fraud
- The four freedoms and GNU/Linux naming controversy, by Akira Urushibata
- Social control media owned and run by 'broligarchs' keeps attacking RMS for insisting on names that include GNU
- Crans-Montana, Le Constellation: journalists, victims' families, ProtonMail users at risk, police raids
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High in Tanzania
- This month (and year) GNU/Linux is measured at an all-time high there, based on the data that statCounter can see
- Open Source Initiative (OSI) Not Doing Its Job, Instead It's Promoting Microsoft Ponzi Schemes
- it participates in Microsoft's Ponzi scheme, which helps Microsoft distract from or excuse the mass layoffs
- Links 07/01/2026: Microsoft ChatGPT Killing People and Microsoft "Github monopoly is destroying the open source ecosystem"
- Links for the day
- The Register MS: Installing Free Software on Your Device is 'Sideloading'
- This is a form of propaganda
- Mass Layoffs in Microsoft's XBox Soon, Just Like We've Said for Months
- IBM and Microsoft are heading in a similar trajectory and are hiding how bad things are using similar tactics
- Mozilla's Assisted Suicide, Assisted by GNOME
- Firefox is meant to get better all the time, but instead it gets worse
- Now It's a Mainstream Media (MSM) Story: Microsoft Layoffs Coming, They'll be Vast (and They Blame "AI", As Usual!)
- the books were cooked (accounting fraud) to hide what really went on
- Frankly Getting Sick of Slop About "AI" (Slop)
- Calling everything out there "AI" serves nobody and nothing but the Ponzi scheme
- Stick to the Science, the Facts, the Observable Reality
- Science is at the heart of this site
- Africa's Search Market Has Been Unfavourable to Microsoft
- In Africa, as we've just noticed, Bing is moving down, even more sharply this year
- Slideshare is Slop
- Be sure fools will rewrite history online
- Gemini Links 07/01/2026: Looking at 2026, Linux Anti-Minimalism, Diode Function Generators, and Inkscape
- Links for the day
- Projection Tactics - Part I: What is "Serious Harm"? Or Whose?
- the most serious harm was done to us
- Links 07/01/2026: More Signs XBox the Console is Dead/Dying, Convicted Felon Repeats Threats of Greenland Annexation
- Links for the day
- EPO People Power - Part XXVII - Science- and Principles-First Journalism About Issues That Matter
- journalism became so shallow that nowadays it can be replaced by bots
- Media Gaslighting Dooms the Media
- this "AI" gaslighting is done because publishers get paid to do so
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, January 06, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, January 06, 2026
- Gemini Links 06/01/2026: Collective Responsibility, Pico2DVI, and TV Detox
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Loves Freedom, Democracy... and Linux? No, Microsoft Laying Off Because "Microsoft Loves Linux" Was Failed Posturing, Its Former Staff Moves to GNU/Linux
- "What are the running totals for IBM and Microsoft layoffs?"
- GNU/Linux at 4% "Market Share" (Even According to Steam Survey)
- Another milestone
- Links 06/01/2026: Neglect of the Elderly, Abandonment of International Laws
- Links for the day
- Links 06/01/2026: More Reports Point to Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Later This Month), Greenland/Denmark Cautions the Dictator Who Illegally Invaded Venezuela
- Links for the day
- Internet Policy/Net Reality: You Must Never Ever Rely on Google (no "S.E.O." Either)
- Stack Overflow is dying
- Ahead of Mass Layoffs Microsoft Tries to Rebrand or Redefine XBox (Because the XBox is Tentatively Dead)
- 2026 will be the last year of XBox in all likelihood
- Richard Stallman (RMS) Announces His Georgia Talk 2.5 Weeks in Advance
- A lot earlier than usual
- Dr. Andy Farnell on Technology That Harms People (and Lack of Regulation Which is Needed to Address This Problem)
- Dr. Farnell's article is long but well worth reading
- GNU/Linux Rising to 5% in Cameroon and It's Hardly the Exception
- "AI" is just a smokescreen as losses pile up
- Rumours: Microsoft to Lay Off 12,500-25,000 Workers Soon (Tentatively Wednesday, 15 Days From Now)
- "Layoffs are coming third full week of Jan. Likely 21st but these things can move around a bit based on last minute developments."
- EPO People Power - Part XXVI - European Media Has Become Part of the Problem
- it is as clear as daylight that Cocainegate is real
- IBM 2026 "Organizational Change/s" Means Layoffs Resume Soon, Some Claim "Forever Layoffs."
- It's about "narrative control"
- Microsoft Layoffs in January 2026
- Get ready
- Google Still Boosting Slopfarms
- Slopfarms will probably all perish as soon as Google News quits sending them visitors
- Links 06/01/2026: Cryptocurrency Scam Emails and Greenland's Fear of Getting 'Venezuelad'
- Links for the day
- Links 06/01/2026: DIY Projects and Inertial Music
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, January 05, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, January 05, 2026