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Links 10/10/2015: IBM's Linux-based LC Family, KDE Frameworks 5.15





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Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • Using open source principles to build better engineering teams
    We become better software developers by observing how some of the best software in the world is being written. Open source has changed and will continue to change the way the world builds software, not only by creating high-quality reusable components, but by giving us a model for how to produce better software. Open source gives us complete transparency into that process.


  • Examining the KNIME open source data analytics platform
    KNIME is an open source data analytics, reporting and integration platform developed and supported by KNIME.com AG. Through the use of a graphical interface, KNIME enables users to create data flows, execute selected analysis steps and review the results, models and interactive views.


  • Events



    • What to expect from PentahoWorld 2015
      This time last year the Computer Weekly Open Source Insider blog reported on the inaugural PentahoWorld 2014 conference and exhibition.


    • Day 1 of PyCon India 2015
      Day one is the first day of main event. I was late to wake up, but somehow managed to reach the venue around 8:30am. Had a quick breakfast, and then moved into the Red Hat booth. Sankarshan, Alfred, Soni were already there. I don’t know the exact reason, but the booth managed to grab the attention of all the people in the venue. It was over crowded :) While the students were much more interested in stickers, and other goodies, many came forward to ask about internship options, and future job opportunities. Alfred did an excellent job in explaining the details to the participants. The crowd was in booth even though the keynote of day one had started. I missed most of keynote as many people kept coming in the booth, and they had various questions.




  • Web Browsers



    • Subresource Integrity Support Ready For Firefox 43, Chrome 45
      With the upcoming releases of the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web-browsers is support for the W3C Subresource Integrity (SRI) specification.

      The Subresource Integrity feature allows web developers to ensure that externally-loaded scripts/assets from third-party sources (e.g. a CDN) haven't been altered. The SRI specification adds a new "integrity" HTML attribute when loading such assets where you can specify a hash of the file source expected -- the loaded resource must then match the hash for it to be loaded.


    • Windows 10: Microsoft's new browser is a FAILURE - find out why
      Microsoft tried to move users from its infamous Internet Explorer browser to a minimalist new web browser dubbed Edge following the launch of Windows 10.

      But new data has revealed that Windows 10 users are reluctant to make the transition.


    • Chrome



      • Google open source project aims to speed up web


      • Google Seeks to Speed Up Mobile Web Browsing
        Google has announced a new project that could make a difference for mobile browsing. The company has launched the Accelerated Mobile Pages project (AMP), a fully open source initiative, with the underlying code available on GitHub.


      • Google wants to speed up the mobile web with AMP project
        Google has a plan to speed up mobile Web browsing. The recently unveiled AMP—Accelerated Mobile Pages—project is an open source initiative that restricts certain elements of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to produce leaner Web pages "that are optimised to load instantly on mobile devices." How much quicker is "instantly"? According to Google, early testing with with a simulated 3G connection and a simulated Nexus 5 showed improvements of between 15 to 85 percent.




    • Mozilla



      • Mozilla Continues Moving Away From NPAPI Plugins
        Firefox continues making progress on loosening web developers' and users' dependence on NPAPI plug-ins with a goal still in place to remove support for most NPAPI plugins by the end of 2016.






  • SaaS/Big Data



    • At the Heart of OpenStack Evolution
      As it matures, OpenStack's parallel to Linux is clearer. Linux emerged 20 years ago as a somewhat exotic challenger to proprietary operating systems. Today, it is one of the most popular and widely used OSes. However, Linux still exists in a market of mixed use. It's likely that OpenStack will be subject to the same effect, becoming a viable option among a number of cloud infrastructures.




  • CMS



    • What's New This October in Open Source CMS
      A little love, please, for Miami-based dotCMS, maker of Java open source content management system (CMS) software. Just yesterday, it was chosen as one of the 20 Most Promising Open Source Software Solution Providers by CIO Review.




  • Business



  • BSD



  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC



    • GnuCash 2.6.9 Free Accounting Software Patches Serious Bug on Windows OSes
      The GnuCash Project has announced the immediate availability for download of the ninth point release for all supported operating systems, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows.


    • CC BY-SA 4.0 now one-way compatible with GPLv3
      Put simply this means you now have permission to adapt another licensor’s work under CC BY-SA 4.0 and release your contributions to the adaptation under GPLv3 (while the adaptation relies on both licenses, a reuser of the combined and remixed work need only look to the conditions of GPLv3 to satisfy the attribution and ShareAlike conditions of BY-SA 4.0).


    • The party is over... but the fight for freedom is ready for another thirty years
      Last Saturday, we celebrated the Free Software Foundation's thirtieth birthday with a party to remember.


    • FSF's Nerdy 30


    • VimSpellcheckery
      While I was mass editing the transcripts I used to create the FSF30 wordclouds, I realized I was doing too much manual movery to get to the next misspelled word. In a moment of clarity, I was like "hey, I bet vim has a way to properly do this!" And of course it did!


    • Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 declared one-way compatible with GNU GPL version 3
      Compatibility means that a person can now take a work they received under the terms of CC BY-SA 4.0 and then distribute adaptations of that work under the terms of GPLv3.


    • Guix-Tox talk at PyConFR, October 17th
      Guix-Tox is a young variant of the Tox "virtualenv" management tool for Python that uses guix environment as its back-end. In essence, while Tox restricts itself to building pure Python environments, Guix-Tox takes advantages of Guix to build complete environments, including dependencies that are outside Tox's control, thereby improving environment reproducibility. Cyril will demonstrate practical use cases with OpenStack.




  • Project Releases



    • New Version Of JPEG-Turbo Quietly Released
      While the Internet has been buzzing recently about the new FLIF image format, libjpeg-turbo developers released a new version of their JPEG library.

      Libjpeg-turbo 1.4.2 is the new release and it quietly made it out at the end of September. Libjpeg-Turbo 1.4.2 features at least five known bug fixes resulting in crashes and other problems.




  • Public Services/Government



    • U.S. report highlights positive elements of government open source adoption
      The report released by DHS is definitely worth a read. While focused on real problems and challenges facing use of OSS by the USG, it has very useful insights for governments around the world. It confirms my growing view, as I've written previously, that we are past some of the old debates about OSS. Instead, many governments are today increasingly focused on the "how tos" of open source choices; not "whether" to use it.




  • Openness/Sharing



    • Open Data



      • Open data Incubator: ODINE selected its first round of start-ups
        Seven start-ups from UK, Italy, France, Estonia and Austria were selected to be part of the first round of companies benefiting from the Open Data Incubator for Europe (ODINE). This two-year programme awarded EUR 650 000 in total to the companies, which can receive up to EUR 100 000 each.




    • Open Hardware



      • Eleven Open Source 3D Printer Hits Kickstarter (video)
        ISG3D has taken to Kickstarter this month to raise $11,000 to help take their open source 3D printer design into production.

        The Eleven 3D printer has been specifically designed to provide users with an affordable machine but offers an impressive 22 x 40 x 40 cm build area and is completely open source allowing for modifications and enhancements to be created.






  • Programming



    • Perl 6 is coming soon: What it will bring
      Perl 6, a long-awaited upgrade to the well-known scripting language, has gone into beta, with the general release planned for Christmastime.

      The upgrade went to beta late last month, Perl designer Larry Wall told InfoWorld on Wednesday, and the October monthly release will feature the first of two beta releases of the Rakudo Perl 6 compiler. There been having monthly compiler releases for years, but the language definition has now stabilized. Wall added, “At this point we're optimizing, fixing bugs, and documenting, and I feel comfortable saying we can take a snapshot of whatever we have in December and call it the first production release.”


    • PEAR 1.10 Released With PHP 7 Support


    • Couchbase Server 4.0 introduces SQL-based query language N1QL (Nickel)
      Couchbase Server 4.0 is designed to give software application development pros a route to building more apps on Couchbase.






Leftovers



Recent Techrights' Posts

Windows All-Time Lows, Android All-Time Highs in Kuwait
New lows for Windows can be found in many countries this month
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Some Cola Formulas Aren't Secret, But the Barrier is the Branding
That's the power of the channel/distribution, marketing, and brand recognition (accomplished through endless marketing)
Tesla's Debt More Than Doubled in 2 Years and the Company Will Operate in the Red (at a Loss) Quite Soon
If your first-quarter net income is $409 million and you borrow billions from banks, plus interest to pay on those loans, then you're not far from returning to losses
 
The Mainstream Media Talks About Spotify Share Price and Price Hikes, Not Its Debt Increasing by About 33% in Just 12 Months
Spotify isn't a company in good shape
New "US Editor for The Register" is 80% Microsoft and Windows
they typically just treat Microsoft like the "Holy Grail" of "IT"
Microsoft is Apparently Sending Gag Orders or NDAs to Staff That Got Laid Off (“We were told not to post on LinkedIn. Not to say anything.”)
The main lies we keep seeing
Richard M. Stallman Has Published AI Memos Since 1980 (45 Years Ago)
Back when the term AI actually meant something
Gemini Links 06/08/2025: BitTorrent and Feedly Bots
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
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IRC logs for Tuesday, August 05, 2025
Openwashing Slop... Using Slop!
So get ready for "open" "hey hi" with its proprietary models to engage in openwashing, helped by serial sloppers who use the LLMs to produce fake 'articles'.
On "Tragedy of the Commons in the Production of Digital Artifacts"
There's a better way to do things. None of that should involve GAFAM.
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Opel Zoo near Frankfurt and Alhena 5.2.5
Links for the day
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Microsoft v Planet Earth
Is Microsoft profitable?
IRC Turns 37
Internet Relay Chat (short: IRC), which started in 1988, turns 37 this month
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Notice his focus
Stricter Enforcement of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is Sorely Needed
Who's keeping track anyway?
Calling Plagiarism "Intelligence" is Pure Genius, Brilliance!
One thing to "like" (or dislike) about LLMs is how they're falsely marketed using various buzzwords
Geminispace Promises Simplicity But Also Provides a "bunch of forums that get flood-filled by agitation against the very essence of Gemini itself"
claims of stagnation in Geminispace started because of a person who spent a long time agitating against GNU/Linux as well
Zimbabweans Aren't Into Windows or Microsoft
This cannot be good news for GAFAM
Microsoft's Washington Layoffs Aren't Everything, They're Definitely Not Happening in Just One State in the US
Washington is just more strict with WARN notices
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Lagrange v1.18.6, No Stagnation in Geminispace, and Fake Coding (Slop)
Links for the day
The Register's Editor in Chief (Who Left for Google) Told Me "AI" Was a Bubble, But Now The Register Gets Paid to Participate in Inflating This Bubble
A lot of the online media is a scam
Introducing Mission:Libre and FreeXR (and BreakXR)
efforts that accompany the foundations put there by the Free Software Foundation in 1985
Slopwatch: WebProNews, LinuxSecurity, and Some Success Stories
Google News still has a slopfarm issue
Links 05/08/2025: Hey Hi (AI) Passing Fads and GAFAM "Embracing the Military"
Links for the day
Links 05/08/2025: Samsung and Microsoft Layoffs
Links for the day
Rumours of Mass Layoffs at Red Hat Next Week (August 11th, 2025)
The eleventh means next Monday
IBM is Shutting Down (Piecewise)
IBM is basically being liquidated
The Debian Language Police Department (PD)
"there has never been complaints about anyone that was offended by this -off package"
When The Register MS Says "Linux Backdoor" It Actually Talks About Malware
The leading story in The Register US/MS this morning is Microsoft
Microsoft Windows Fell to 19% "Market Share" in Montenegro
Microsoft must be well aware of this trend
Why We Also Include Gopher Links in Our Gemini (Protocol) Links
There are still many people who use Gopher to relay their messages (like blog posts). They're mostly technical people.
Shouting is an Indication of a Lack of Convincing Argument
Beware what they are attempting to distract from
Mongolia: Microsoft Windows at All-Time Low
in 2009 when Windows was at 99.45% in Mongolia the company was "worth" less than 200 billion dollars
About a Quarter of Today's "linux" News in Google News Came From One Domain and It's a Slopfarm
Not kidding!
Gemini Links 05/08/2025: Zombie Threat and Switching to NixOS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 04, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 04, 2025
ChatGPT in Trouble
Watch out for the newer buzzwords
The Register MS Links to the Wrong statCounter Page
They link to older data
Dr. Andy Farnell Explains How Google Turned From "Librarian" Into "Oracle", Telling Us What to Think Instead of Where to Look
Google was always a lousy librarian
Microsoft Layoffs Continue in August 2025
If Microsoft is doing so well, how come about 10 rounds of layoffs in about 7 months in 2025?
Microsoft and Windows Have Many Back Doors, But LLM Slop Keep Claiming That Linux Has "Backdoor"
It's another example of LLM slop as FUD amplifier, via slopfarms as well
In Many Countries Vista 11 Adoption Stalled or Became Negative
Not just because people move to GNU/Linux
Microsofters' Lawyers Are Name-calling and Insulting Microsoft Critics, Even Their Spouses
How not to win arguments
Flagging or Tagging Slop That We Find Online
Right now we use ImageMagick
Links 04/08/2025: Very Bad Weather and Travel Restrictions in China
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/08/2025: Misiamisia and Mobile Linux
Links for the day
Microsoft's Stock is Like a Religion, Microsoft Goes Into 'Hiding' (From Shareholders)
like a religious person or devout believer, the media just parrot anything Microsoft says
Links 04/08/2025: 80 Years Since Last Nuclear War, IPv6 in China
Links for the day
Groklaw Static Site Relaunches With New Theme, But Many Pages and All the Comments Are Missing
We suppose that's still a lot better than the site being offline, as it was for several months
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Linus Benedict Torvalds was only 6 when EMACS started
In Spain, Microsoft's Search Engine Market Share Fell to 2%
16 years have passed since Bing was introduced
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Unoriginal slop is taking away traffic from the people who did all the real work
It Looks Like Managers at Oracle Now Use LLM Slop to Write Blog Posts
Did he cheat by prompting LLMs for mindless text "filler"?
Over at Tux Machines...
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