GNU/Linux Rising: Relevant News Items From March
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-03-19 19:12:45 UTC
- Modified: 2014-03-19 19:12:45 UTC
Desktop
I'm sure there will be objections from people who want to define "the year of the Linux desktop" differently. There will be those fans of GNU/Linux distributions like Ubuntu who will object that the Linux Desktop has not arrived until we're all running KDE and Gnome. I fear those folks have a while to wait. Others will object because there are still so many copies of Windows and new PCs are still shipping with Windows. That's a fair point, but I believe even those users are actually Linux Desktop users. As I argued last year, Linux has already won on the Windows desktop.
Eurocom sent out a news release that beginning today they will be offering choices of operating systems in their line of GPU-upgradeable, high-performance, professional laptops. Besides the high-end laptop line-up, they will also be offering Linux options for their lightweight notebooks.
If your office runs 24/7, you'll have to do the migration in stages. You may have to migrate servers one at a time, and migrate departments group by group. So, some work gets paused, but most of your business will run during the entire migration process.
Linux has a reputation for being designed for geeks only, but that’s old history. Many modern Linux distributions exceed the user-friendliness of XP, and they’re free to download. If you don’t like the feel of one, you can easily switch to another. What’s more, each Linux distribution comes loaded with useful software such as productivity suites, modern browsers like Chrome or Firefox, and photo and music management apps.
"This is a subject very near and dear to me," Linux Rants blogger Mike Stone told Linux Girl over a fresh Tequila Tux down at the blogosphere's Punchy Penguin Saloon.
Though Stone spent several years teaching "how to" computer courses for faculty and staff at a local university back in the 90s, "all those years barely prepared me for my greatest challenge: my own mother," he said.
To wit: After buying his parents a Windows 95 computer way back when, "I sat her down and showed her how to use the basic hardware," he explained. Yet "even after hours a day over the course of weeks, the computer was too much for her. Windows just had too many options, and she kept getting herself into places she couldn't get out of.
"I literally spent years looking for environments that would make her comfortable," Stone went on. "She went through the Windows OSes (95, 98, ME and finally XP) and some Linuxes -- Red Hat first and then a couple variations of Ubuntu. She always found ways to get herself into trouble."
I’ve been a computer user since around 1991, when we got our first PC, a Tandy from Radio Shack (almost $1,000), which came with Windows 3.1. Since then I’ve used each and every version of that operating system (OS), and still do. But at home and for personal use, it’s Linux for me. Why? Well that’s a question with many answers.
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The biggest driving factor for software developers to work together with open source is cost. It is much cheaper for them to cooperate through open source than it is to remain isolated with proprietary software, asserted Inktank VP of Product Management Neil Levine. "You can no longer rely on one particular vendor to provide everything you need with regard to technology."
After the Desktop
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QOOQ is a durable tablet designed for use in then kitchen. It's even got its very own Linux-based OS...
There was a time, back before smartphones and tablets, when most of us used, at most, only three operating systems.
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For months now David Herrmann has been working on a new project known as OpenWFD for open-source WiFi displays on Linux. OpenWFD is an open-source implementation of the WiFi Display Standard / Miracast. That work is now showing success and as part of that Herrmann has just announced Miraclecast as a component to providing open-source Miracast/WFD support on the Linux desktop.
Chromebook
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Chromebooks are making a big statement in the laptop world: NPD Group Inc. reported that Chromebook sales accounted for 21 percent of all notebook sales last year. For devices that are functionally little different from tablets — designed for basic tasks like checking email and web browsing — they're growing fast. Even as the tablet market continues to grow, capturing 22 percent of the entire personal computing market just last year, Chromebooks are giving people an alternative to rectangular touch screens.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Microsoft Collapses While GNU/Linux Rises in Bulgaria, According to statCounter
- Microsoft is losing across all sectors
- The Fall of the Open Source Initiative (OSI): An Introduction
- In a nutshell: there's a massive conflict inside the OSI and the OSI stooges (staff serving Big Sponsors like Microsoft) try to hide it
- Paraguay: GNU/Linux Surging to New Usage Levels (7%), According to statCounter
- Notice that the gains are at Microsoft Windows' expense
- Social Control Media as a Rapid Race to the Bottom - Part I - That Sinking Feeling
- When you realise you made an error and things you adopted more than 15 years ago became utterly bad
- Microsoft's Entryism as Mortal Risk/Danger: The Example of the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
- Microsoft is a cult
- FSF Amicus Brief: Aspose.PDF for .NET 24.2.0, OOXML (.docx), and Microsoft Word (Proprietary)
- Could the FSF not find any law firm that, in addition to talking about or for Free software, does not use .NET, OOXML, and almost everything Microsoft?
- New Interview With Richard Stallman in Italy (Manuel Cuda News)
- Due to Google's growing aggression against Free software and proper APIs, this cannot be downloaded and converted to a free format
- The UEFI hype and Microsoft's lies
- By Sami Tikkanen
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- In Central African Republic Windows Has Pretty Much Fallen to Zero
- We need to focus on Software Freedom
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- Transcript of Richard Stallman's Interview With Manuel Cuda News in Italy (Debunking Fake "AI")
- A rough draft, but checked by two people
- Chad: All-Time Lows for Windows, According to statCounter
- According to statCounter, many in Chad moved to Android
- Links 04/03/2025: Universities Are Under Attack, Windows Attracts Ransom Against Ministry of Health
- Links for the day
- Links 04/03/2025: Microsoft Issues Policy Instructions to the Cheeto Mussolini Administration, Cloudflare Engages in Mass Censorship Again
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 04/03/2025: Athens, Fedora 41, and Yelling at Clouds
- Links for the day
- The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Belatedly Comments on Case That Tests Copyleft in the United States
- "The Free Software Foundation (FSF) announced today it has submitted an amicus brief in the case entitled Neo4j"
- If They Try to Censor You on Some Topic, Then You Should Cover This Topic Even More
- OSI is only a small part of it
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 03, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, March 03, 2025
- Thorsten Glaser & Open Source Initiative (OSI) resignations due to AI whitewashing
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Gemini Links 03/03/2025: Copyrights, GrapheneOS, and SpaceBeans
- Links for the day
- Links 03/03/2025: Europe Rallies Behind Ukraine, Measles Flourishes in US Again
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Windows Down to 8.5% in South Africa
- South Africa and Egypt are strategic in Africa
- After Fund-raising Campaign the Free Software Foundation Still Raises About $13,000 Per Week (Without Campaigning for New Donors/Members)
- Richard Stallman in the Board is not a liability
- Links 03/03/2025: 'Monetisation' Myth' and Microsoft's LLMs Helping Criminals
- Links for the day
- The New Series About the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and the Microsoft Entryism in OSI is Closely Related to the SLAPP Against Techrights
- Also based on the leading publication that they want removed
- New Series: A Deep Dive Into the Severe Corruption of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), Nowadays a Front Group and Lobbyist of Microsoft
- There's a lot to show
- Links 03/03/2025: Mass Layoffs in IBM China, Intel Still in Trouble
- Links for the day
- 3 Out of 4 in Cuba Use Linux to Access the Web
- Maybe change does come about...
- Doing Free Software for a Living in an Era or a Time of Abundance of Code (and Fast Internet to Pass It Around Freely) or Writing When the Web is Attacked by LLM Slop
- Tailoring code to needs is the key
- Links 02/03/2025: Day Off, POWER9, Console Challenge
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 02, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, March 02, 2025
- Microsoft Windows Falls to All-Time Low in Thailand
- We're seeing many all-time records like these so far in 2025
- Gemini Links 02/03/2025: Snowdrop Flower and Hostile Leaders
- Links for the day
- Links 02/03/2025: Microsoft Outlook Goes Offline, Foreign-Owned Social Control Media Interfering With Fair Elections
- Links for the day
- According to statCounter, Windows Falls Off a Cliff in Maharlika, GNU/Linux Surges to 5%
- But mobile is king
- New Video Clip of Richard Stallman's Latest Visit to and Talks in Italy
- Richard Stallman or RMS giving his latest talk last week
- Windows Used by Only One in Six Asians to Access the Web, According to statCounter
- maybe more governments in Asia should move away from Microsoft
- GNU/Linux Reaches 5% in Brazil, an All-Time High According to statCounter
- There are hundreds of millions of people in that country
- Google Already Dominates the Global South (via Android/Linux)
- If one puts aside Russia and east Europe, not many countries exist that still connect to the Web from Windows more than from Android
- GNU/Linux Widespread in Finland, Sweden, and Norway
- Sweden has many Chromebooks in schools3 nations
- Germany's Incoming Leader Said He'd Seek More Independence from the US, GNU/Linux Soars to 6%
- Last month it was 5%
- For the First Time GNU/Linux is Measured at Over 4% in Europe (Not Counting ChromeOS/Chromebooks)
- Europe, on average, is now estimated to have GNU/Linux on 1 in 25 Web-connected laptops/desktops
- Over 2 Years of LLM Hype and Nothing to Show for It
- People still use search, not chatbots
- Apple's iOS Almost Bigger Than Windows Now (Internationally), Windows Falls to 22% According to statCounter
- Without Windows domination, there's not much left going for Microsoft
- Putin's Loyal DOGE
- We hereby crown Arvind Krishna "Putin's DOGE"
- The Media Barely Reported This (Late Friday): IBM Lays Off About 2,000 More Workers, Effective Hours Ago
- Maybe some diversity programs can help IBM recruit slaves or grossly-underpaid staff
- Microsoft Money Being Spent to Bully Techrights Only Legitimises Techrights
- The longer it goes on for, the greater the Streisand Effect
- Suing One's Way Out of Real Trouble Won't Work (It Merely Increases the Trouble)
- "Guns for hire" in London can only issue "legal" threats
- Microsoft Writing Articles About Microsoft, Using Microsoft LLMs
- Right now there are many articles about Microsoft Outlook being down completely
- Gemini Links 02/03/2025: OFFLFIRSOCH 2025 and Programming
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 01, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, March 01, 2025