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
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- This won't be the last example of media manipulation for narrative control or face-saving "damage control"
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- Workers are free to draw their own conclusions
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- Debian drama. Again.
- It's Friday Again and Many People Leave IBM for Good (IBM Should be Reported for Illegal NDAs That Hide Layoffs)
- we very seldom see anyone deviating a lot from the "template-like" narrative, let alone mentioning "layoffs" or "RA" or some other term that implies non-consensual departure
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- Debian's Master is Deleting Criticism of SystemD and Other Things (On-Topic and Published by Debian Developers), Resorts to the Excuse Messages Are "Too Long"
- Censorship serves nobody except the masters that control this censorship
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- Many submissions go to slopfarms and some get summarised by slop
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- Links for the day
- On The Web, XBox Already a Dying Breed
- Down to about 0.05% on large machines, based on statCounter [...] Microsoft will never publicly admit or say how many billions it lost on the XBox
- 2026 a Year of 'Top-Down' Microsoft Layoffs (Management First)
- Stay tuned for what comes next
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- Social hermits are not popular, irrespective of how many "Facebook friends" or "likes" they get
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- Microsoft never issued a formal statement, it made allusions by proxy
- Slop Hype Makes Our Core Technology Less Reliable and Far Less Resilient (We Pay for the Catastrophe That Follows)
- Only slop-free projects can be trusted
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- universal records are vastly better
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- Given Mozilla's utterly rubbish marketing these days (politics over technical aspects), set aside the cheerleading for slop, there's hardly a chance of Mozilla Firefox reaching or exceeding 10% again
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- Links for the day
- Links 21/02/2026: "Moving Away From Cloudflare", Many Layoffs or Shutdowns in Games (Including XBox/Microsoft)
- Links for the day
- GNU Linux-libre is a Grown-Up Today
- "before that, every distro that wanted to respect its users' freedom had to remove itself all of the binary blobs that were distributed as part of the kernel Linux's so-called sources"
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
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- IRC logs for Friday, February 20, 2026
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- Links for the day
- Like a Shell
- Overreactions can backfire
- Not Only Leaders of XBox Got Sacked (Layoffs)
- Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond got laid off
- 9PM on a Friday Night: Microsoft Says the Layoffs Are Not Layoffs
- We've said for a long time that XBox is doomed this year
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- Links for the day
- analytics.usa.gov Reckons Windows "Market Share" Fell to Just 38%, Vista 11 Not Even a Third of Windows Users
- This coming summer Vista 11 turns 5
- The New Digg.com is Slop
- Slop "summaries" and Serial Sloppers are drowning out the site with fake 'articles' (plagiarism)
- Linus Torvalds: Bill Epsteingate Good Enough for Me to Wine and Dine With
- Torvalds is more connected to Jeffrey Epstein than Richard Stallman ever was
- Our Uptimes Are Always Better Than Any Site That Uses Clownflare
- Clownflare as a company operates like a cult
- GNU/Linux Apparently Rose to 6% in Uzbekistan
- If accurate, this represents a new problem for Microsoft and a big win for Software Freedom
- Sponsored Videos and 'Articles' in The Register MS, Stenography as a Service/Product
- They should more accurately label these actors
- The Little Clique of Sloppers/Spammers About "Linux" Got Even Smaller
- Thankfully there are still genuine and legit GNU/Linux sites out there
- Links 20/02/2026: Microsoft Intentionally Kills Older Hardware, "The Story of XBox" Shows How Defective Microsoft Hardware Really Was
- Links for the day
- Turkmenistan One of Many Countries Where Microsoft Fell to Distant Third in Search
- We expect many layoffs in Bing some time soon
- Don't Wait for "Red Hat Layoffs" Because After Bluewashing They're IBM RAs and Don't Wait for "IBM Layoffs" Because They're Perpetual
- IBM layoffs are silent and "forever" (small trickle that never ends and is widespread - after all IBM is a very global and ubiquitous firm)
- Links 20/02/2026: Standards, Science, and Politics
- Links for the day
- What Do People Ever Buy From Microsoft Anyway (Not PCs)?
- Microsoft sells two things these days: 1) vapourware/promises. 2) its stock.
- Gemini Links 20/02/2026: "Mainstream Unix, Underground Unix", Slop Staging DDoS Attacks Against Small Sites
- Links for the day
- IBM Inclusivity: Red Hat Summit is for Rich Sponsors Like Microsoft and Rich Guests Who Pay $500 a Day
- Nothing signals societal tolerance more than paying a large military contractor
- GNU/Linux Adoption is Higher in Richer Countries
- Is it because freedom is actually expensive - something that only privileged people can pursue?
- Links 20/02/2026: Windows TCO Versus Deutsche Bahn, Europe Seeks More Independent Digital Future
- Links for the day
- IBM, Red Hat and Fedora: Don't Say "Master", It Offends People. Also IBM, Red Hat and Fedora: "Master Podman".
- The hypocrisy at Red Hat and Fedora shows no boundaries
- IBM Layoffs Aren't Just in IBM 'Proper'
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- The Register MS Gets Paid by Gartner to Promote a Ponzi Scheme for Gartner, Microsoft, and Others
- The credibility of that site will suffer because it tries to sell a major scam to its audience
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- Gemini Links 19/02/2026: "Towards a Gemini Famicom Resource" and Dumping Microsoft
- Links for the day
- IBM Behaves Like a Company Looking for Loose Change Between Sofa Cushions
- Chasing laid-off workers for dollars and even pennies, making excuses and devising loopholes (such as PIPs) to flout severance obligations
- Microsoft Found Another Bailout Opportunity: Killing People
- Good thing that Nadella is not racist!
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- The Few Slopfarms We Saw Today
- The sentiment has changed a lot
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- Links for the day
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- This will become an accessibility problem
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- Links for the day
- An Inherently Royal (Monarchs') Legal System Where Size Matters (Big Capital Eats the Small)
- This reinforces the notion that justice is only for those who can afford it
- These Statistics Should Keep Microsoft Shareholders Awake at Night
- Windows is, in general (all versions collectively), declining over time
- Economic Failure and Other Harsh Realities Have Nothing to Do With Slop 'Innovation'
- Advanced propaganda, not advanced 'AI' [...] They attack workers while insulting their intelligence
- Spaniards Shutting Down MElon's Digital Weapon of "Smart Mobs"
- Are the Spanish people already acting based on gut feeling and shunning/shutting out the provocation vector?
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- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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- we shall carry on with this series at the right pace
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- justice delayed is justice denied
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- We have some revelations to share in a few days
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- Microsoft is trying to fake "demand"
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- This year may well be the last year of Team Campinos. Nobody will hire them after that.
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- the layoffs are definitely happening
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- Very Little Slop
- We are not finding much slop anymore
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- Links for the day
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- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
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