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Links 21/5/2014: New Qt, Bacon Leaves Canonical



GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • Planet FLOSS India – 10th anniversary


  • Good Enough Is Good Enough


  • Do You REALLY Need That Non-Free Software?
    The standard comment trolls make to FLOSS is that non-Free software is better, somehow, because you pay for it up front. I’ve seen several instances of that being false in schools. Here’s an example of a big business rolling out non-Free software. It didn’t work for them and they are stopping the rollout part way through. You don’t always get what you pay for…


  • Security's future belongs to open source
    The proof that open source, properly applied, is available. Studies, such as the one recently done by Coverity, have found that open-source programs have fewer errors per thousand lines of code than its proprietary brothers. And, it's hard to ignore the Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG), the group within the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) that assesses operating systems and software for security issues, when they said that that while no end-user operating system is as secure as they'd like it to be, Ubuntu 12.04 is the most secure desktop.

    On the other hand, the mere existence of Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday says everything most of us need to know about how "secure" proprietary software is. I also can't help noticing how every time Microsoft releases a new version of Internet Explorer (IE), they always claim it's the most secure ever. And, then, a new hole is found, and guess what, that same security hole is in every version of IE from IE 6 to IE 11. If IE really were being rewritten to make it secure why are the same holes showing up In Every Version??


  • HP Strengthens Commitment to Open Networking and the Open Cloud
    As a platinum member of both the Linux Foundation and the OpenStack Foundation, HP hasn't exactly kept its interest in open source a secret. Recently, however, it upped its commitment to open source in two key areas. First, it added the OpenDaylight project -- one it helped found -- to its list of platinum memberships. Second, it launched the Helion portfolio and pledged to invest more than $1 billion in support of new open source cloud products and platforms.

    "Our views on open source are captured by our commitment to base HP’s cloud product and services strategy entirely upon the open source OpenStack framework," Mark Pearson, chief technologist for HP Networking, told Linux.com. "We believe openness speeds up innovation."


  • Events



  • Web Browsers



  • SaaS/Big Data



    • Looker Unveils New 'Self-Service' Big Data Analytics Platform


    • OpenStack launches new marketplace of vendors
      The OpenStack Juno Summit last week in Atlanta was a source of many new and exciting announcements, from both vendors and the OpenStack Foundation itself. One of the more interesting of such announcements was of a new OpenStack Marketplace. For those looking to explore their options in commercial offerings of OpenStack, from training to distributions to public clouds and more, the Marketplace is designed to help users better understand what resources are available.


    • New OpenStack Resources Flowed Out of the Atlanta Summit
      Last week was filled with soundbytes and announcements from OpenStack Summit in Atlanta, and there were also announcements of several new services and resources surrounding the OpenStack cloud platform. In case you missed some of the most important ones, here is what you need to know, whether you are considering an OpenStack deployment or already have one underway.


    • OpenStack Building Storyboard for the Software-Defined Economy


    • Ubuntu, Puppet, Grizzly Play Key Roles in OpenStack Deployments
      During an afternoon session at the OpenStack Juno Summit in Atlanta on May 14, members of the OpenStack User Committee publicly revealed the results of the latest OpenStack user survey. OpenStack is an open-source cloud platform originally started by NASA and Rackspace in 2010 that has since grown to include many of the leading names in the technology world, including IBM, HP, Dell, Cisco and AT&T. Since 2010, there have been nine major milestone releases of OpenStack, with the most recent being the Icehouse release that debuted on April 17. The new OpenStack user study includes responses from 506 OpenStack deployments around the world. The top country for deployments is the United States, followed by China. Across the 506 OpenStack clouds, organizations are in various stages of deployments, with 210 being in development/quality assurance, 218 in proof of concept and 209 in production deployment. One of the key findings of the user survey is that OpenStack users are running different OpenStack releases and don't always update to the latest version, for various reasons. For the OpenStack clouds running in production, the survey found that the Ubuntu Linux operating system is the leading choice. In this eWEEK slide show, we take a look at some of the key findings from the OpenStack user survey.


    • KEMP Unveils Condor Cloud Application Delivery Framework




  • CMS



    • WordPress 3.9.1 now available in Fedora
      This update is a bugfix update of the previous major WordPress update 3.9 (codenamed “Smith”). WordPress 3.9.1 has been available for a few days in Fedora 20, and was recently just pushed to the Fedora 19 repos.

      The 3.9 WordPress update introduced a slew of new features and refinements, including a new theme browser, improved post editing, and updates to the image editing tools.




  • Public Services/Government



    • Local government software sharing and reuse site revamped
      Europe Commons, an online platform for the sharing, exchange and reuse of software solutions for Europe's municipalities and other local government organisations was revamped earlier this month, during which it also received a new name - Civic Exchange. The platform collects and promotes applications and digital services that help improve public services in Europe. The platform's consortium is doubling its efforts to find new solutions, announcing evidence-based case studies to showcase those with the most impact.


    • 3 ways government can unleash the power of feedback
      Open government is a critical dimension to democracy. It is also difficult. If it were easy, our work would be over. Yet, open government by its nature needs constant iteration. Open government, much like open source, is grounded in collaborative and participatory processes that ultimately shape how we experience our cities, states, and country. It requires several dimensions—from releasing information to creating structures and processes to empower people inside and out of government.




  • Openness/Sharing



  • Programming



  • Standards/Consortia



    • Direct from the White House: APIs are key to extending platforms
      To a technology director at the White House, the State of the Union is like the Superbowl. While the world is watching the President of the United States deliver an address to the nation, Leigh Heyman and his team are managing the media technology behind the scenes to create an enhanced and interactive experience for the viewers. How many of you watched the State of the Union on YouTube this year?


    • Finding OpenGL Driver Bottlenecks With OProfile + PTS
      A new initiative is underway by a Mesa developer to pair the OProfile system profiler with the Phoronix Test Suite for more easily finding OpenGL driver bottlenecks, etc.






Leftovers



  • Why Tech’s Best Minds Are Very Worried About the Internet of Things
    The 1,606 respondents said they saw many potential benefits to the Internet of Things. New voice- and gesture-based interfaces could make computers easier to use. Medical devices and health monitoring services could help prevent and treat diseases. Environmental sensors could detect pollution. Salesforce.com chief scientist JP Rangaswami said that improved logistics and planning systems could reduce waste.


  • iOS 7: users destroy iPhones after fake waterproof advert
    A spoof advert suggesting Apple's new iOS 7 operating system made handsets waterproof appears to have fooled some users into destroying their iPhones.


  • First academy chain closes leaving the fates of six schools in the balance
    An academy chain in charge of running six state schools became the first in the country to fold today - forcing a sudden hunt for new sponsors to take them over.


  • Security



  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression



    • The Blair-Bush Letters
      If anybody is surprised that key letters between Tony Blair and George Bush on launching the invasion of Iraq have gone missing, they have not been paying attention. On both sides of the Atlantic, the Obama and Cameron regimes have consistently and continually covered up the crimes of their predecessors, from launch illegal wars of aggression to instituting programmes of torture and extraordinary rendition and murder.




  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife



    • How a Raccoon Became an Aardvark
      In July of 2008, Dylan Breves, then a seventeen-year-old student from New York City, made a mundane edit to a Wikipedia entry on the coati. The coati, a member of the raccoon family, is “also known as … a Brazilian aardvark,” Breves wrote. He did not cite a source for this nickname, and with good reason: he had invented it. He and his brother had spotted several coatis while on a trip to the Iguaçu Falls, in Brazil, where they had mistaken them for actual aardvarks.




  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying



    • Vote Green in England
      So who should those of us living in England vote for tomorrow? I intend to vote Green – it seems to me that in England that is the best way to give a positive expression to the discontent with mainstream parties. I particularly hope that those who have the opportunity to vote for Rupert Read in the East of England will do so. Their support for renationalizing the railways would be enough for me, but actually I find myself in agreement with the large majority of their platform. I reproduce here an article from the ever excellent Peter Tatchell.


    • Hungary and the End of Politics
      How Victor Orbán launched a constitutional coup and created a one-party state.





  • Censorship



    • Facebook Shuts Down Account Of Woman Who Posted Same-Sex Kiss Photo
      A woman in Italy is accusing Facebook of closing her account with less than 24 hours notice after she refused to remove a photo of two women kissing. Carlotta Trevisan says Facebook deemed that the image, which she described as “chaste” and “pure,” “violated the community’s standards on nudity and pornography.”




  • Privacy



  • Civil Rights



  • Internet/Net Neutrality



    • Why the UK needs to start caring about net neutrality
      LAST THURSDAY the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted by a three to two margin to move forward with chairman Tom Wheeler's proposals to gut net neutrality rules in the USA. But what exactly does that mean? And why should we, on a small island 3,000 miles away, care anyway?

      It all started in January when US internet service provider (ISP) Verizon successfully appealed against FCC Open Internet Order 2010, arguing that because internet service had been classified as an "information service" rather than a "telecommunications service", the FCC had no right to enforce net neutrality rules under the common carrier regulations that had been the backbone of the 2010 rules, and a cornerstone of the Obama administration.


    • FCC chairman clarifies position with House Subcommittee




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • TTIP Update XXVI
      This is probably the most action-packed update so far - a reflection of the fact that we are now deep in the TAFTA/TTIP negotiations, which have been running for nearly a year. Of course, information about what exactly is happening behind the closed doors is still thin on the ground. To its credit, the European Commission has recently published its negotiating positions in five areas: chemicals, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, motor vehicles, textiles and clothing. Significantly, though, it did not publish its proposals for energy. That's because they are far more contentious than for those other sectors.


    • Copyrights



      • Election Week, Swedish And Czech Pirate Parties Liftoff In Polls
        Last Friday, Swedish Public Radio opened with the headline “Swedish Pirate Party Heading For Re-Election To European Parliament” as a fresh poll was published. This was followed by similar news from the Czech Republic. As election week opens, more is up in the air than ever – but things are looking overall positive for the movement.


      • Student Wins Pirate Bay Domain To Protest Website Blockades


        A student has been awarded a valuable Pirate Bay-related domain after successfully complaining to Denmark's domain name dispute body. ThePirateBay.dk will now be taken away from its current owner and transformed into a special site to protest the ISP blockade of The Pirate Bay in Denmark.


      • The Biggest Filer of Copyright Lawsuits? This Erotica Web Site
        In 2006, Colette Pelissier was selling houses in Southern California, and her boyfriend, Brigham Field, was working as a photographer of nude models. Colette wanted to leave the real-estate business, so she convinced her boyfriend to start making adult films. “I had this idea, when the real-estate market was cooling—you know, maybe we could make beautiful erotic movies,” she said.


      • Pirate Bay Backs Pirate Party With EU Election Banners
        The Pirate Bay has just launched a banner campaign to support the various Pirate parties participating in the European Parliament elections this week. The notorious torrent site is running localized ads, encouraging its millions of visitors to vote Pirate.


      • The Pirate Bay Running Promos For European Pirate Parties In Election Week








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