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
- Ubuntu Desktop Director of Engineering Has Only One Blog Post. It Promotes Microsoft Windows.
- Remember that even 15 years ago (more or less, maybe 16 years ago) Canonical appointed a a 'former' Microsoft manager (Spencer) to lead Ubuntu on the desktop
- IBM Red Hat on "era of cloud computing", pushing "hey hi" (AI) hype in Microsoft Azure
- LLM slop might actually be more benign than Microsoft promotion
- Corruption and Rule-Breaking Prevail at the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution
- The law does not really exist at the EPO; it can be perceived as merely a "recommendation"
- 404 Media Says "Workers at NASA Told to Drop Everything to Scrub Mentions of Indigenous People, Women from Its Websites" But There's Also Accessibility in the Firing Line
- In the case of abandoning accessibility, everyone stands to be hurt and proprietary software can be brought in to replace standards
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- Tons of Anti-Linux 'Articles' Published by Bots (LLMs), Maybe Microsoft's
- Upon closer inspection, all this FUD turned out to be LLM garbage
- Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Voicemail Sucks and Night of Lights
- Links for the day
- Links 06/02/2025: YouTube Takedowns Out of Control, 'DOGE' Breaking Laws
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- statCounter: More Countries Where Windows is Around 1% "Market Share" (People Have Moved to Android/Linux)
- in some nations Windows is already 1% or less
- When BetaNews Writes Real Articles About "Linux" They Promote Windows
- The Web is in a bad state. We need to at least try to correct this.
- Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Cynicism and "Real Magic on the C64"
- Links for the day
- Links 06/02/2025: New Sanctions, Layoffs, and Executive Orders
- Links for the day
- Distros and Desktop Environments, Devices
- GNU/Linux focused
- New Rumours of IBM Layoffs in 2025, IBM Consulting Still Struggles, Based on Management
- "Hey hi" (AI) has been a common excuse for business failure
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 05, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, February 05, 2025
- Links 05/02/2025: Kessler Syndrome and News Online
- Links for the day
- statCounter: Monaco Now 7% GNU/Linux ("Proper")
- GNU/Linux, not counting Chromebooks, is on the rise
- Many Parts of Google Lose Money
- It's quite apparent that many parts of Google - even some that rely on ad revenue or push ads - aren't profiting
- European Internet Forum (EIF) is Dominated by American Corporations and Microsoft Lobbyists, Staff Take the Lead
- Should the officials over here or the European Parliament pay attention to these people?
- Links 05/02/2025: Connection without Connectivity and Unionised Grocery Workers
- Links for the day
- Just Because People on Top of the Microsoft Pyramid Made a Lot of Money Doesn't Mean Microsoft is Wealthy
- The bigger they are the harder they fall
- Gemini Links 05/02/2025: Learning, Madman Ruling a Mad Country, Back in Geminispace
- Links for the day
- statCounter Shows "WIntel" Chasing a Dying Market
- Microsoft acts as if it's running out of money
- Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF) Still Raising Money, Richard Stallman Contributes
- total exceeding $430k
- A Lot of Stuff About "Linux" in Google News is LLM Slop, Fake 'Articles'
- It seems to be getting worse
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 04, 2025
- IRC logs for Tuesday, February 04, 2025
- 'Official' Debian Sites That Sell Proprietary and Surveillance
- "Azure API throttling strikes back"
- statCounter: Only 1 in ~40 Web Users in Ireland Uses Microsoft Browser, One in Six Uses Windows
- When/if Windows market share goes down, so will Edge
- Links 04/02/2025: Social Control Media Bans and US Fighting Its Allies, Not Russia
- Links for the day
- Links 04/02/2025: Birth of a Calf, FOSDEM, and More
- Links for the day
- Anti-Linux FUD Sites cybersecuritynews.com and gbhackers.com Turn Out to be LLM Slop, Even Plagiarism That Spreads Lies
- Beware false headlines and fake text from cybersecuritynews.com and gbhackers.com
- BetaNews Began Removing LLM Slop About "Linux", But More of It Keeps Coming From Guardian Digital, Inc (at linuxsecurity.com)
- the other Serial Slopper, Guardian Digital, Inc
- Mollamby, Suicide Cluster, not trademark, the real reasons for Debian legal expenses, evidence
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Links 04/02/2025: Mass Layoffs at Salesforce, Economic Pressures, Trade Wars
- Links for the day
- The Latest Microsoft Layoffs Are a Wake-up Call: The Company is Running Low on Money
- in most areas it is not even profitable
- [Video] Richard Stallman Auctioning a GNU (Gnu) at Surathkal, India
- clip is only a minute-long
- Software Freedom Month at NITK Surathkal and Yesterday's Talk by Richard Stallman
- the message being spread by the person who started it all
- Richard Stallman Has Another Talk in India Tomorrow, at Least Fourth India Talk in Recent Days
- In the past month he has given at least half a dozen talks
- statCounter: GNU/Linux and ChromeOS Now Measured at 2.78% in Japan (It Used to be Less Than 0.5%)
- really 'took off' half a decade ago
- GNU/Linux Reaches All-Time High in the United States, Based on statCounter
- Windows is the loser; GNU/Linux grows at its expense
- LLM Hype (Chatbots Hyped and Wrongly Characterised as "Artificial Intelligence") Cause Net Inflation
- Net as in Internet, not limited to the Web
- It Looks Like BetaNews' Managing Editor Wayne Williams is Taking Over From Fagioli After Repeat Pattern of LLM Slop (State-of-the-Art Plagiarism) About "Linux"
- The most plausible explanation is, Fagioli got caught or his conduct could no longer be ignored
- statCounter Reckons Less Than 10% in Mexico Still Use Windows to Access to Web and GNU/Linux Surges to All-Time High (Plus, Microsoft's Latest Debt Crisis)
- Looking at Mexico in isolation
- From India to Italy: Richard Stallman's Next Talk is Next Week in Torino
- Announced less than a day ago
- Corporate Media is Intentionally Lying for Microsoft, There's Now a Hiring Freeze, No Replacements for Workers Laid Off in Two Mass Layoffs Last Month
- Maybe the media - at least some of it - actually deserves doom. If it covers up for the powerful to muzzle and gaslight the oppressed, then what sort of media is that anyway?
- Gemini Links 04/02/2025: Tolkien and New Job
- Links for the day
- Covering EPO Scandals in an Age of Mass Censorship (and Europe Being Afraid to Introspect, for It Might "Help Putin")
- It was all along expected that "external enemies" would be invoked to suppress discussion about EPO crimes
- Facebook Finally Admits That It Censored Linux and Banned People for Mentioning It; statCounter Shows Rapid Growth for GNU/Linux in Southeast Asia
- So GAFAM is losing its power
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC logs for Monday, February 03, 2025