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
- Sonny Piers Finally Spills the Beans on GNOME Cover-up, Points Finger at Robert McQueen, Misusing "Defamation" to Silence Critics of Wrongdoing
- Robert McQueen, who is extremely connected to Garrett (they share digital nests)
- Techrights Was Months Ahead of "XBox" News (Mass Layoffs)
- Next: end of XBox as a console
- More Commentary on June 2026 IBM Layoffs and Why They Happen
- It sounds a lot like what happened to the EPO
- The Cyber Show: Remember That Code is Art
- The article is very long, very profound, and speaks of "the next installation"
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- Gemini Links 13/06/2026: Why Humans Are Mostly Right Handed and "Getting Things Done"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 12, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, June 12, 2026
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 104 Out of 200: Exactly Two Years Ago Brett Wilson LLP Humiliated or Weaponised Our Solicitor's Judaism in an Effort to Censor and Gag Us
- dated 12/06/24
- Half a Year Since Slopwatch Died
- To Google's credit, it did manage to delist a lot of slopfarms in recent months
- Links 12/06/2026: Science, Windows TCO, and More
- Links for the day
- "AI" 46 Times in One 'Article' Because The Register MS Got Paid to Push it
- Today is just another opportunity to remind people that the slop bubble and GPU bubble are based on inauthentic fake 'journalism'
- Gemini Links 12/06/2026: FTP and Gopher, Cluster Outage Postmortem After Cleaning by Wife
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Transcending Partisan Rivalry in the National Interest
- Up until now, Campinos has generally been regarded as a Portuguese "asset" on the international stage
- Gratitude to Whistleblowers or Sources of Techrights
- Whistleblowers are what makes journalism work
- Links 12/06/2026: "NearlyFreeSpeech" No More, Openwashing by Google (DiffusionGemma)
- Links for the day
- Today There's a Massive EPO Strike (Like Every Friday), Workers Explain Further Cuts Despite the EPO Making More Income by Granting Illegal Patents (or Invalid Patents Illegally)
- "Recent exchange with the Administration on the implications of the SAP on the Education and Childcare Allowance"
- Communicating With Freedom - Part IV - Quibble Now in quibble.chat, Open for Contributions Via Codeberg
- Today we continue the series about Quibble
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Importance of Having "Pals from the Palacete"
- for his reappointment bid to succeed, Campinos will need to be able to rely on the support of both the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, and the President of the European Council, António Costa
- Cyber Show on How Updates or Upgrades Break Workflows, Even in Free Software
- "We did a big upgrade on the AV production pipeline"
- Discussions About IBM Layoffs in June, Including by RTO and PIPs
- mass layoffs are becoming increasingly difficult to conceal
- Gemini Links 12/06/2026: Decks and Work Essay
- Links for the day
- "Rolling Strikes" Continue at the European Patent Office, the Administrative Council Needs to Take Action Against Crooked Office Management
- This coming weekend we'll talk about some of the other issues and concerns expressed by the union
- Only Days After Mass Layoffs in Microsoft's Azure There Are Headlines About Much-Expected XBox Layoffs
- XBox as a console is basically dead or "fast-dying"
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 11, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, June 11, 2026
- Links 11/06/2026: Disputes Over Copyright Infringement, Failure to Meet Climate Goals, "ChatGPT Caught Recommending “Products” That Are Just Scams"
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 11/06/2026: Programmable Systems and Slop "is Coming for Your Serifs"
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 103 Out of 200: Telling People What They Know and Don't Know About Death Threats They Receive
- patronising letters sent on behalf of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft
- IBM Genies in the Bottle
- for ordinary people working who at at IBM, it's not hard to see that IBM is floundering
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 10, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, June 10, 2026
- Links 11/06/2026: LF Openwashing of Slop and "Azerbaijan Bans TikTok and Other Social Media Apps in School"
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Centre (in Portugal) Falls Apart…
- Luís Montenegro became embroiled in a conflict-of-interest controversy
- IBM Lost About 18% of Its "Market Value" This Month
- In IBM's case, a lot of the latest "pump" was Arvind's "quantum" hype/fantasy