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05.13.12

Links 13/5/2012: Xfce 4.10, KDE 4.8.3, GNOME 3.5.1, GIMP 2.8

Posted in News Roundup at 11:28 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Nagios Vs. Icinga: the real story of one of the most heated forks in free software

    In March 14, 1999 Ethan Galstad released the first version of Nagios. Then, nearly exactly 10 years later (May 2009), Icinga (a fork of Nagios) was born. What happened there? Why a fork? In this article, I will shed some light about what made the Icinga developers decide to fork (although they still send patches to Nagios). In this article, I will talk to both Ethan Galstad himself, and Michael Lübben (one of the founding Icinga team members and Nagios addon developer). I will quote Michael and Ethan in the article. You get to read their points of view here.

  • Guidelines for Starting Your Very Own Open Source Project
  • Forrester: Hire software developers who take part in open source projects

    Analyst firm Forrester has encouraged businesses to recruit software developers who take part in open source projects, as it shows they are keeping their skills current.

  • Open source has become mainstream but still drives innovation

    At that time, most open source vendors were trying to replicate what proprietary vendors were doing, or what they had failed to do. The value proposition was simple: vendors would say they were like X, but more open, more extensible, and less expensive. Take a few of the successes of the late 2000s and who they were compared to: MySQL (Oracle), JBoss (WebSphere), Jaspersoft (BusinessObjects), Talend (Informatica), SugarCRM (Siebel).

    By and large, these vendors were successful. The first “billion dollar baby” of open source was MySQL, when Sun bought the company for $1 billion. At that time, Techcrunch headline was: “Sun Picks Up MySQL For $1 Billion; Open Source Is A Legitimate Business Model.” And indeed, 2008 marked a turning point for open source: more and more enterprise deployments; acquisitions, like in the “real” corporate world; more and more funding. The 451 Group tracks the history of VC funding in open source – the graph in this post shows that investment in 2008 was at an all-time high, which would only be matched again in 2011.

  • Inktank launches to change the face of open-source storage

    The lead developers behind open-source storage system Ceph have launched a company, called Inktank, to commercialize the software. The company describes Ceph as a “fully open source, distributed object store, network block device, and POSIX-compatible distributed file system designed for reliability, performance, and scalability.” It’s uniqueness comes in part because Ceph does all these things within a unified platform.

  • Open source enables high-volume searches

    Twitter, Facebook, the Library of Congress — all of these institutions have mind-numbing amounts of structured and unstructured data that must be indexed and searched quickly. In Twitter’s case, that’s about 300 million new pieces of information to index every day.

  • Open Source: Homeschool Computing

    Many parents in recent years have chosen to homeschool their children. The reasons for this vary, but most include some measure of the understanding that to truly pass on one’s values to one’s children one needs to be the primary source of information for that child. To place one’s child in a school, public or private, is to give up at least part of one’s responsibility to and for that child. There is usually also a desire to have more control over what that immature mind is experiencing as it grows. Some life events should be shielded from a growing mind until that mind is mature enough to handle such events in the context of the desired values imparted by the parents.

  • GNU Octave for the Life Scientist: An Interview with biochemist and author Heino Prinz

    I have studied Physics in Bonn, did my PhD in Biochemistry at a Max-Planck Institute in Göttingen and got my habilitation (In Germany and Austria you need such a licence to teach) at Innsbruck University in the Pharmacology department. I worked most of the time at the Max-Planck-Institute for molecular physiology in Dortmund. It always was somewhat strange, being a physicist working in biochemistry, chemistry and pharmacology. For a physicist, an equation or a reaction scheme is easy, because it is logical and precise. For a chemist, reaction schemes often seem to be incomprehensible and equations may lead to immediate paralysis when used in lectures. In contrast, chemists can perform complex chemical reactions which are admired (not really conceived) by physicists. I have spent most of my scientific life trying to help life scientists to bridge that gap.

  • Events

  • Web Browsers

  • SaaS

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

  • CMS

    • Why Big Sites Run Drupal

      For the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA), the decision to dump its aging content management system (CMS) was easy. Running 65 state government websites on two different versions of proprietary software — Vignette 6 and 7, one of which is no longer supported — had become cumbersome and costly. And moving all sites to Vignette 8 was too much of a “force fit,” said state CTO Steve Nichols.

    • WordPress is suddenly big business

      All Things Digital reported last week week that the company behind WordPress could generate almost $50 million in revenue this year.

      If you blog at all, you know WordPress is a big deal, but fewer people are aware that there is a company behind the platform called Automattic. The public face of Automattic and WordPress is Matt Mullenweg.

      Recently we published a story that WordPress was the platform of choice on 48 of the world’s top 100 blogs. According to Mullenweg’s “about” page on the Automattic site, it accounts for 15 percent of the world’s websites.

  • Business

    • Open Source Ceph Storage Filesystem Goes Commercial

      When open source software gets used in production grade environments, commercial support businesses tend to show up. That’s exactly what is now happening with the open source Ceph distributed storage filesystem.

      Ceph is now backed by Inktank, a commercial venture led by Sage Weil, founder of Ceph. The company had originally incorporated under the name Ceph Inc, but it decided to take a different route to help preserve the integrity of the open source project.

    • Open Source Business: How to Support A Family of 5 By Running An Open Source Project

      Lately, I’ve been recording music in my spare time. Since I try to use as much Free and Open Source software as possible, I found the free digital audio workstation Ardour. When I went to download the software, I was asked for a donation before I could download it. Intriguing!

    • Semi-Open Source

      • Survey data: nginx poised to become number 2 web server

        If current trends hold, then sometime late this summer, Microsoft’s Internet Information Services will fall to the number three web server position in global domains, behind two open source web server platforms: Apache and nginx.

      • Pentaho 4.5 Visualizes Big Data Analytics
      • Oh Certified Asterisk, Where Do You Come From?

        A couple of days ago, Malcolm Davenport posted here about Certified Asterisk, a new series of Open Source Asterisk releases being produced by Digium. Since that post went out, there’s been some discussion (almost confusion) in the Asterisk community about exactly where the Certified Asterisk releases are coming from, and what they contain. In order to try to help describe how this whole process works, I’ve created this page on the Asterisk Wiki which includes a diagram showing how all the current development and releases branches relate to each other, where tags (and releases) are made, and most importantly, how the Certified Asterisk branches are produced.

      • IBM ditches Siebel for SugarCRM

        Technology giant IBM is replacing CRM vendor Siebel and replacing its CRM systems with cloud-based SaaS provider SugarCRM.

        According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, SugarCRM is set to snap up the contract to manage sales, marketing and customer relationships for Big Blue. The contract sees Oracle-owned 67,000 Siebel seats swapped out for the open-source vendor.

  • Funding

  • BSD

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

  • Project Releases

  • Public Services/Government

  • Openness/Sharing

    • MIT and Harvard Team Up on Open Source-Driven Online Education

      The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University have teamed up to deliver online learning to millions of people around the world, through their new edX initiative. “Through this partnership, the institutions aim to extend their collective reach to build a global community of online learners and to improve education for everyone,” the edX site reports. (If you’re familiar with MITx, it is now a part of edX.)

  • Programming

  • Standards/Consortia

    • Support for ODF from the Hungarian government

      The Hungarian government has committed to invest just over a million pounds (370 million HUF) in the development of applications that use the open document format (ODF), according to a report on the European Union’s Joinup web site. Two organisations will benefit from the funding: the Department of Software Engineering at the University of Szeged and the open source development company, Multiráció. In December of last year, the Hungarian government announced that from April 2012 all official documents would need to be prepared in internationally recognised open-standards-based formats.

    • The conflict between video on the web and open standards

      Few web video standards are truly open or free, and the major players have no interest in pushing them, says Richard Hillesley…

Leftovers

  • Health/Nutrition

    • America’s Mad Cow Crisis

      Americans might remember that when the first mad cow was confirmed in the United States in December, 2003, it was major news. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had been petitioned for years by lawyers from farm and consumer groups I worked with to stop the cannibal feeding practices that transmit this horrible, always fatal, human and animal dementia. When the first cow was found in Washington state, the government said it would stop such feeding, and the media went away. But once the cameras were off and the reporters were gone nothing substantial changed.

    • Syngenta Celebrates Earth Day by Ladling on the Pesticides

      Herbicide manufacturer Syngenta had an interesting way of celebrating Earth Day this year, touting the joys of pesticides.

    • Syngenta Hired Guns Attack New Documentary

      As a new film highlights water contamination throughout the U.S. Midwest from Syngenta’s flagship herbicide atrazine, the world’s largest pesticide company has mounted a PR counter-attack downplaying the human and environmental health risks of a chemical linked to birth defects, low birth weight and certain cancers. Atrazine was banned in the EU in 2003, leaving the U.S. market as one of Syngenta’s most profitable and vigorously guarded markets.

  • Security

    • Buyer’s Guide to Full Disk Encryption

      When a corporate laptop goes missing, do you worry about the risk of a data breach? There is good reason for concern: According to recent research by Symantec, 34 percent of data breaches are the result of lost or stolen devices such as laptops.

      The good news is that this is a preventable issue. A Full Disk Encryption (FDE) solution can ensure that sensitive information isn’t exposed in the event that one of your organization’s laptops is lost or stolen.

    • PHP patch quick but inadequate

      The updates to PHP versions 5.3.12 and 5.4.2 released on Thursday do not fully resolve the vulnerability that was accidentally disclosed on Reddit, according to the discoverer of the flaw. The bug in the way CGI and PHP interact with each other leads to a situation where attackers can execute code on affected servers. The issue remained undiscovered for eight years.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • ‘Cornucopians in Space’ Deliver a Dangerously Misguided Message

      In some sense, TED is the techno-innovators’ version of the faith expressed by neo-liberal economics, in which the market solves nearly all of its own problems. The enduring posture at TED, therefore, is one that acknowledges serious world problems, ranging from war to famine, water and food availability, but which nearly always concludes that amazing and ingenious people – geniuses – are working to solve the problem. The Great Man theory of history would find each TED conference a comfortable place to be.

  • Finance

    • The Inflation’s In The Poverty
    • American Houses and the Oil Denominator
    • The Washington Post Continues Its Love Affair With NAFTA and Disdain for Facts

      The Washington Post was a strong supporter of NAFTA at the time the deal was approved. It continues to be a strong defender of the pact nearly two decades later. It has repeatedly shown itself willing to make up facts or just ignore them to push its pro-NAFTA line.

    • Weaker US 1st Q GDP

      To avoid social discontent and, in addition to stimulate the economy, China has embarked on a (serious?) policy of building cheap housing for the urban poor. A total of 5mn homes are expected to be built this year, with goal of reaching 36mn by 2015. However, the financing for this proposed rapid build out is questionable. The Government has increased central funding for low income housing by +23% to 212 Yuan this year, though the expected bill for the 36mn homes comes in at Yuan 5tr !!!. Local Governments, however, are not keen on spending on social housing. In addition, corruption has, in the past, meant that affordable homes have been sold to relatives/friends etc, etc – estimated at near 80% !!!! (Source GK Dragonomics) and authorities classify certain building programmes as social housing, when they are clearly not. As a result, I remain totally sceptical of this programme;

    • Money won’t decide the next president. But it may decide the next Congress.

      President Obama’s reelection campaign is likely to have more money than any presidential campaign in history. Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign, when you factor in the super PACs supporting him, could have even more money than that.

    • Muppets Protest at Goldman Sachs
    • Mirabile Dictu! Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein Makes Case for Breaking Up Big Banks

      Goldman seems to be making a renewed effort at PR in the wake of the letter by derivatives staffer Greg Smith accusing the firm of caring only about profits and treating customers as stuffees (“muppets” was revealed to be the new term of art). That observation probably came as no surprise to anyone save Goldman staffers, most of whom probably thought they had conned their clients into believing otherwise, and a few like Smith who believed the party line.

    • Goldman Sachs pays £4.1m tax on £1.9bn profit

      The London arm of Goldman Sachs paid only £4.1m in corporation tax to the Treasury last year despite making pre-tax profits of £1.92bn, annual accounts have revealed.

      Goldman Sachs International (GSI) had a corporation tax bill of £422.3m but it deferred £418.2m – or more than 99 per cent of the amount – that it had to pay immediately in “current tax”. The Wall Street giant, presided over by Lloyd Blankfein, was able to postpone payment because of “timing differences”, according to the accounts.

    • Frontline’s Astonishing Whitewash of the Crisis

      Several of my savviest readers wrote expressing disappointment and consternation with the Frontline series on the crisis, “Money, Power, and Wall Street.” The first two parts of the four part series have been released, and it’s probably safe to say that this program is far enough along to be beyond redemption.

    • Goldman Sachs Closes Canadian Dark Pool Seven Months After Open

      Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) (GS) closed Sigma X Canada today, shutting down the dark pool for equities seven months after starting it.

      The stock trading venue stopped taking orders, according to a statement from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada. Since all orders expire daily on Sigma X Canada, none will be open after it closes, the agency said.

    • Goldman’s O’Neill tipped to join Bank governor race

      In theory the post of next Governor of the Bank of England won’t even be advertised for several months.

      In reality, the scheming and jostling for position are already in full flow. A new name in the frame today is Jim O’Neill, the affable Goldman Sachs economist now chairing the bank’s asset management division.

    • Goldman Looks to Hire Social Media Strategist

      Goldman Sachs may dominate financial markets, but there is one frontier it has not yet conquered: social media.

      So the Wall Street firm that many on the Internet love to hate plans to hire a “social media community manager,” according to a posting on its Web site. The position involves overseeing the firm’s online communities and developing a “positive online presence.”

    • Memo to Schneiderman Mortgage Task Force: When You are in a Hole, Quit Digging

      So we have yet to be completed incremental staffing of a grand total of 15? 65 people pursuing to the biggest consumer fraud in American history, when the savings & loan crisis had 1000 FBI agents tasked to it?

      The worst is the insulting five financial analysts. Tell me how “financial analysts” are supposed to get up to speed on securitization. There aren’t that many people who are experts who are willing to educate people going against the banks, and I’d bet big money that the Feds won’t be able to hire anyone of that caliber (they’d make more doing expert witness gigs).

    • Goldman Sachs Wins Dismissal of Some Claims in CIFG Suit

      Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) (GS) won dismissal of some claims in a lawsuit brought by CIFG Assurance North America Inc. over $275 million in residential mortgage-backed securities.

      The insurer sued Goldman Sachs in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in August, accusing the investment bank of making misrepresentations in connection with the securitization of a portfolio of 6,204 mortgage loans.

    • Lack of Trust – Caused by Institutional Corruption – Is Killing the Economy

      Perhaps because we don’t trust our government, our big corporations or our other institutions to do anything very helpful for the country. Indeed, we don’t trust our government, big corporations and other institutions to even allow a fair playing field where we have a chance of competing fairly to get ahead on our own initiative.

    • Wrangling over anti-bribery law rages on, with top firms facing investigation

      The U.S. anti-bribery law that Wal-Mart may have violated in Mexico has ensnared leading companies from virtually every sector of the economy as federal prosecutors increasingly crack down on a wide range of transgressions, from improper accounting to giving foreign officials computers and bags of cash.

    • Councilmembers discuss ways to get out of bond debt deal with Goldman Sachs

      The City of Oakland should find a way to get out of its interest rate swap agreement with Goldman Sachs, a deal that costs the city $4 million annually, according to a city staff report. The problem before the city council now is figuring out the best way to do that without costing the city more money.

    • Want to stop banks gambling on food prices? Try closing the casino

      Recent price spikes in global food commodities – most notably the bubbles of 2008 and 2010-11 – have exposed a fundamental fault of economic analysis: although speculation in the world’s food supply has long been suspected, no one has been able to prove it. The world’s most precious resources may have been transformed into a casino for high rollers such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, but it’s nearly impossible to figure out who is betting how much.

  • Censorship

    • German Ministry Advises Developing Countries Not To Sign ACTA

      Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) advises developing countries against signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, BMZ official Frank Schmiedchen said during a meeting of the Committee of Petitions of the German Parliament yesterday.

      The committee discussed a petition signed by over 60,000 German citizens calling for a stop to the ratification of ACTA by the German Parliament.

  • Privacy

    • Privacy concerns over popular ShowIP Firefox add-on

      A popular Firefox add-on appears to have started leaking private information about every website that users visit to a third-party server, including sensitive data which could identify individuals or reduce their security.

  • Civil Rights

    • Press Freedom Day – the world looks to Azerbaijan

      Today, 3 May, is United Nations World Press Freedom Day. For me this is a chance to remember the fundamental rights, including to self-expression, that are safeguarded for all of us in the European Union – whether you’re a journalist, blogger or ordinary citizen.

      And a chance to remember those people around the world who don’t have those protections, and are often restricted in what they can say or investigate.

      In places without human rights safeguards, the right to express oneself is all the more important. People who struggle for democracy must have a voice. People like Eynulla Fatullayev: Azerbaijani journalist, human rights activist and winner of the 2012 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. He dared to speak up to defend freedom of expression — and was for a time imprisoned for having done so. I salute his brave work.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Copyrights

      • How and How NOT to Re-License your Work for Free Culture

        The last week has been terrific for “Lunatics”. We’ve cleared the licenses on almost all of the music — and certainly the most important pieces. However, for a moment, I want to focus on the little problem with the one minute of music we probably won’t get to use, and the right and wrong way to relicense your art if you are ever in that situation.

      • Dutch Judge Who Ordered Pirate Bay Links Censored Found To Be Corrupt
      • Programming languages not copyrightable, rules highest EU court

        The European Court of Justice ruled this morning that the functionality of a computer program and the programming language it is written in cannot be protected by copyright.

        Europe’s highest court made the decision in relation to a case brought by SAS Institute against World Programming Limited (WPL), effectively leaving the door open for software companies to “reverse engineer” programs without fear of infringing copyright.

      • What’s at stake in Oracle v. Google

        Traditionally, application programming interfaces (APIs) have been presumed to be non-copyrightable, because unlike other elements of a software, which involve creativity, APIs are typically comprised of facts that enable one specific task: how does my software program talk to your software program and vice versa?

      • TLWIR 36: Why Hollywood MUST Embrace Free Software Concepts To Survive

        Google’s ultra high speed Internet project aims to bring Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri Internet speeds 100 times the current U.S. average. This has Hollywood petrified. Will users with gigabit connections pirate enough movies to decimate the movie industry’s revenue? Will piracy crush Hollywood in the way that it crushed the music industry? Not if Hollywood is smart: they need to CAREFULLY study how the Linux kernel is developed, and how Free Software is developed in general.

      • ACTA

05.12.12

Links 12/5/2012: Dell Linux Laptops, OLPC Supported by Australia

Posted in News Roundup at 2:14 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • What on earth is Dracut?

    Dracut is a new system to generate, in the same way for all Gnu/Linux distributions, the special programs and files that make Linux boot.

  • Linux-libre

    I came across the GNU/Linux-libre almost by accident and have enjoyed taking Trisquel and Parabola gnulinux for a test drive. I found both communities friendly and helpful.

  • OSHackers – Find a Linux lover near you!

    OSHackers is a website that aims to count GNU/Linux users and place them geographically using their Linux distribution as the marker. You can visit OSHackers and put yourself on the map, and you can search for people that use Linux around your area.

  • The Biggest Problem For A Linux PC Vendor

    Optimus has already long been causing issues for those not after Linux pre-loads but installing Linux by themselves on laptops with an integrated Intel GPU and discrete NVIDIA GPU. AMD’s technology is also in a similar sour spot, but at least it’s less popular than NVIDIA’s hybrid technology.

  • Innovate or Imitate? Where Linux Lags, Where Linux Leads
  • Announcing printerd

    For the last few weeks I’ve been working on an experimental new print spooler called printerd. It was designed in collaboration with Richard Hughes and it aims to be a modern print spooler for Linux.

  • Desktop

  • Server

  • Audiocasts/Shows

  • Kernel Space

    • 5 Reasons Why You Should Update Your Kernel Often [Linux]
    • Control Centre: The systemd Linux init system

      A variety of distributions now let systemd, rather than sysvinit, take care of bringing the system up. The newest of the three big init system promises to speed up booting and requires no explicit system service dependency configuration; as a side-effect, it also eliminates some distribution-specific peculiarities.

    • Linux Hardware Support Myths and Legends

      Linux is compatible with more hardware than any other OS bar none. That certainly includes Windows. Try installing Windows 7 on some random laptop from scratch and see how much is missing or unsupported without third party drivers. My experience doing Linux installs for my customers is that a lot of off the shelf hardware “just works” and the rest needs proprietary drivers downloaded to make it work, just like Windows. There is, indeed, some hardware that doesn’t work with Linux and years ago that was a real issue. The fact is that more and more manufacturers are supporting Linux well and other drivers have been adequately reverse engineered.

    • Top 3 Websites To Check Whether Your Hardware Is Supported By Linux
    • Kernel Log: Coming in 3.4 (Part 3) – Graphics drivers

      Linux 3.4 includes a whole host of changes to drivers for AMD, Intel and NVIDIA graphics chips. The new kernel, expected to be released later this month, also contains a new USB DisplayLink driver and lays the foundations for better support for hybrid graphics technologies such as NVIDIA’s Optimus.

    • Graphics Stack

      • A Look At Why Linux Graphics Drivers Have Issues

        Here’s an interesting look at the state of the Ubuntu bug count as it concerns Linux graphics driver issues.

      • Why Opensource Xorg/Gallium drivers suck on linux desktop
      • Compiz, Merging, Forking – Other UDS-Q Notes

        Here’s some other interesting notes from the Ubuntu 12.10 Developer Summit this week in Oakland.

        - The Compiz compositing window manager will move from using OpenGL 2.x to using OpenGL ES. The porting of Compiz to OpenGL ES (GLES) was originally done by Linaro and will now be used within Ubuntu. While designed for the benefit of mobile users, the Linux desktop graphics drivers — including those using Mesa/Gallium3D — do support OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0. This change in moving from GL to GLES for Unity’s compositing window manager may initially cause some pain with broken plug-ins, etc. Notes here.

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • My first video editing experience with KDEnlive
      • The Overhead of KDE Software

        When Calligra 2.4 was released there was a flurry of interest resulting in a number of articles in the press and blog posts. Some of these were regular reviews of higher and lower quality. One of them, which I think was one of the better ones, was this one by Påvel (in Swedish). In the review he says that Calligra has a good foundation, he likes it but there are obvious problems with it. I find that an honest and true assessment, especially since it is obvious that he has really tried it and been bitten by some bugs. (Some of these bugs are already fixed in 2.4.2, most of the rest will be gone in 2.5.)

      • [Sneak Peek] Vivaldi Content Store Shows Ankles For The Cinematograph

        Our good friends over at opentablets.org have posted a video from aseigo’s blog demoing the beginnings of the Make-Play-Live content store. No word yet on whether that name is official, but it does drape itself quite dramatically across the application’s login screen.

      • partner network, 8gb storage, applications

        Today is a day in which I find myself passing through many doorway as all sorts of milestones for our little project are coming up at once.

        As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, we’ll be shipping the Vivaldi tablet computer with 1GB of RAM .. and today I can tell you even more good news: we’ve doubled the internal storage to 8GB as well. We’ll be settling on the USA pricing shortly as well, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised with where that lands.

      • KDE Plasma Netbook Revisited

        With Unity, Cinnamon, and Gnome 3 getting all the buzz, it’s easy to overlook other interesting projects that attempt to rethink the traditional desktop metaphor. Case in point, the KDE Plasma Netbook interface. Despite its moniker, the KDE’s alternative interface is not limited to netbooks, although it’s designed for devices with small screens. KDE’s alternative interface has been around for a while, but I only recently started using it as a primary environment on my trusty ASUS Eee PC 1005HA netbook, and I grew fond of it for a number of reasons.

      • KDE Commit-Digest for 22nd April 2012
      • KDE Commit-Digest for 29th April 2012
      • LaKademy 2012 ‒ Artwork, Localization, Promotion, Development

        LaKademy brought together 19 Latin American participants, including developers, translators, designers and promoters. The full report has more information about major LaKademy outcomes related to artwork, localization, promotion, and developing.

      • Akademy Community Keynote: Agustín Benito Bethencourt (toscalix)

        Agustín Benito Bethencourt (aka “toscalix”) recently joined the KDE e.V. Board of Directors. He will be presenting the KDE Community Keynote at Akademy 2012 in Tallinn.

    • GNOME Desktop

      • Make GNOME Shell Your Own: 10 GNOME Shell Extensions to Install

        GNOME Shell has been criticized for lacking many familiar features found in GNOME 2, but you can add them yourself with extensions. If you’ve installed GNOME Shell and didn’t like it, don’t write it off until you try some extensions.

        If you’re using Ubuntu, check out our guide to installing GNOME Shell and getting started. GNOME Shell is the default desktop on Fedora and should be available in most distribution’s package repositories.

      • Ubuntu Forks Gnome Control Center

        Ubuntu systems team has forked Gnome Control Center as Ubuntu Control Center which will be used in Ubuntu from 12.10 onwards.

        Bilal Akhtar, a young Ubuntu developer writes, “Gnome-contacts will be installed by default, clutter will be on the CD, totem will be updated to the latest version, and Ubuntu 12.10 should ship with a near-complete GNOME 3.6 stack (sans Shell, of course, and control-center).”

  • Distributions

    • The Eternal Distro

      Distro is short for distribution which in the software world mainly means Linux and BSD these days.

      Now, as good as the existing distros are (I use a bunch of different versions of Fedora Linux including fc1, f10 and f14, and also Vector Linux Classic and OpenBSD) they all have one irritating problem in that their software repositories disappear. OpenBSD 4.7 disappeared recently and Fedora Core 1 disappeared ages ago.

    • Rosa Marathon 2012lts
    • Best distributions for off-line use

      Internet is the the “Alpha and Omega” of our daily experience with computers, dominating, enriching and engulfing everything we do. This is the case with almost everyone around the world, but somewhere out there, there are computers that are not connected to the internet for some reason that we will not analyse in this article. What would be the ideal GNU/Linux distribution for such systems? Are there any linux distributions that can cover almost every need of an off-line user? Yes there are!

    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

      • Mageia 2 RC Released, Final Delayed

        The release candidate for Mageia 2 was released earlier today along with the note that the final release date had been changed. The changes are hard to see in the release notes, but perhaps prospective users might want to pay more attention to the errata list.

      • Dear Community – II
      • Mandriva: A new appeal to the community

        In a corteous and somewhat longer-than-usual post, Jean Manuel Croset has communicated with the Mandriva community again to inform some details of the situation (always mentioning that he is unable to disclose as much information as he would like) and to throw a new date on the table. This time, it is the third week of May, the moment in which the company will unveil its roadmap.

    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat Strengthens Asia-Pacific Operations with the Expansion of Two R&D Centers in India
      • Red Hat, Dell announce OEM partnership

        The announcement Tuesday of a new partnership between Dell and Red Hat could mark a further expansion of open-source software use in the enterprise.

        OEM customers looking to Dell for custom products will now have additional open-source options. Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss join SUSE as standard choices for Dell OEM.

      • Why I Bought Red Hat

        For a long time, corporate IT was managed by IT professionals. Such management had a lot of drawbacks. IT professionals are not easy people to get along with, they have strong opinions, talk to other people like children who don’t understand simple things. Unfortunately, they are usually right. Their strong opinions are based on knowledge and experience. And other people really don’t understand how IT works.

      • Red Hat CEO James Whitehurst Sells Shares for $6.8M – cbl

        CEO and President James Whitehurst sold Red Hat Inc. (NYSE: RHT) shares for $6.78 million, according to an SEC filing.

      • Something to Watch With Red Hat

        It had $209 billion of assets on its balance sheet, and $128 billion of that was in the form of goodwill and other intangible assets. Goodwill is simply the difference between the price paid for a company during an acquisition and the net assets of the acquired company. The $128 billion of goodwill in this case was created when AOL and Time Warner merged in 2000.

      • Red Hat to debut OpenShift PaaS solutions for on-premise enterprise use soon

        As it prepares for battle against VMware on the cloud front, Red Hat announced today that it will launch later this year its fee-based PaaS service with support and will begin shipping this summer integrated PaaS solutions that enterprises can deploy on premise that give its developers freedom to innovate while allowing IT to manage how apps are developed and deployed

      • Fedora

        • Grub 2 theme for Fedora 17

          Fedora 17′s grub2 screen won’t be the ugly black and white thing you saw in Fedora 16. The reason for the ugliness in Fedora 16′s grub splash is that it was the first release we used grub2 and there were some missing files that prevented the theme from working at all. We punted on it because grub’s splash is not shown by default and we had higher-priority issues to work on for Fedora 16.

        • It’s back! Fedora Reloaded Podcast

          This week Dave Le Sage, Suz, and I discuss Fedora 17, the upcoming release of the Free and Open Source Llinux computer operating system Fedora.

        • Fedora Project is naming names

          The Fedora Project is still trying to clarify its process of naming major releases, a process that has been met with calls for revision within the Fedora community.

          To address the problem, Fedora Advisory Board member Toshio Kuratomi is working to build a new naming process that will avoid some of the pitfalls of the most-recent naming concerns.

    • Debian Family

      • The Debian Administrator’s Handbook is available

      • Derivatives

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Ubuntu 12.04 vs. Windows 8: Five points of comparison
          • Ubuntu 12.10 Working To Play A Sound Theme

            Discussed on Monday during the Ubuntu 12.10 Developer Summit were the plans to introduce a new sound theme to the Quantal Quetzel.

            Through a community-driven submission process, they’ve narrowed down the sound theme they’re looking for but are still trying to make it sound “more human and less robotic.” With Ubuntu 12.10 they’re also looking at the ability to customize sound themes and briefly discussed at UDS-Q was the ability to have a LightDM start-up sound.

          • Ubuntu releases open hardware VGA Switch

            As part of his keynote at the Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS), Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth has announced the Ubuntu project’s first open hardware device. The Canonical created VGA Switch (VGAS-01) allows the disconnection of a VGA display from a system with the push of a button.

          • Reports from Ubuntu Developer Summit Highlight Major Momentum

            This week the Ubuntu Developer Summit is going on in Oakland, California, and Mark Shuttleworth and others have been filing some interesting reports coming out of the conference. According to Shuttleworth, today will be “Cloud Day” at the meeting, with speakers including Richard Kaufmann, CTO of HP Cloud, Randy Bias of Cloud Scaling, and Mark Collier of Rackspace. Perhaps the most interesting points coming out of the summit so far, though, have to do with new market share claims for Ubuntu.

          • Mark Shuttleworth Explains HUD for Ubuntu 12.10

            Mark Shuttleworth, father of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, proudly announced earlier yesterday, May 7th, at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Oakland, USA, the goals for the upcoming Ubuntu 12.10 operating system.

          • My Ubuntu 12.04 Tweaks
          • First Post Release Unity Update Brings Massive Fixes to Ubuntu 12.04

            Ubuntu 12.04 has already received first post release Unity update and its only second week since final Ubuntu 12.04 was released.

            This release, specifically Unity 5.12 brings numerous fixes and optimizations including improved HUD and multi-monitor support, compiz fixes, dash improvements, music/video lens fixes and many more.

          • Install Latest Gimp On Ubuntu
          • Ubuntu 12.10 To Target Linux 3.5 Kernel, Maybe 3.6
          • Why a Developer Laptop?

            At the Ubuntu Developer Summit this week, Dell announced an effort they’re calling Project Sputnik. The basic idea was Dell’s latest and greatest XPS hardware pre-provisioned with developer infrastructure: a developer laptop, in other words. As Barton George discussed, this was in part – full disclosure – an idea of mine. One of the questions we’re fielding from the media following this announcement is why? What’s the point of a developer laptop? I cannot speak for Dell on their motivations or the project logistics, but there are two primary reasons I believe a developer laptop program broadly makes sense.

          • Dell readies Ubuntu Linux laptop for developers
          • New Dell Ubuntu ultrabooks a step in the right direction for Linux support
          • Ubuntu Friendly Wasn’t So Friendly After All

            Ubuntu Friendly — the Canonical-spawned initiative for the community to try to provide information on computer hardware that’s “friendly” to run Ubuntu Linux — is not being actively maintained.

            Just months after it launched, Canonical QA engineers are more or less letting Ubuntu Friendly stand still and wanting to hand the work off to others. Ubuntu Friendly basically came down to a hardware database that listed computer systems and their components known to be compatible with Ubuntu. Ubuntu Friendly never really took off as a community success and evidently have too much on their table to maintain, so a session on Tuesday was held where they were kicking around some ideas or how to make it a success. They want to “hand the project to better hands.”

          • Ubuntu Friendly Wasn’t So Friendly After All

            In a UDS session for Gnome 3 stack in Ubuntu 12.10, Canonical discussed about future plans of Unity interface.

          • UDS: He did NOT say that . . . did he?

            For reasons mentioned in yesterday’s blog item, I’m not at the Ubuntu Developers Summit in Oakland. Oh, I could go up there and attend — it’s only 80 miles from the cozy confines of the Felton redwoods — but I value my life and I’d like to keep it, thank you very much.

          • Ubuntu Still Trying To Lock Down Third-Party Debs

            In the name of security, Ubuntu developers are looking at ways to lock-down or verify the way third-party Debian packages are handled on Ubuntu Linux.

          • Precise Pangolin: Ubuntu Grows Up

            Precise Pangolin is a big step up in many regards. The new Ubuntu OS is friendlier with legacy hardware. It’s peppier and more responsive. I find it is far less sluggish on my older gear. It flies on my newest hardware. However, while its Unity interface has been improved somewhat, it’s still too limited and too confining, at least for some experienced Linux users.

          • EA Games and Ubuntu

            LINUX VENDOR Canonical has pulled out all the stops with Ubuntu 12.04 to get enterprises to give its Linux operating system a go, and on the whole it succeeds, even if some features might put off traditional users.

            Canonical’s Ubuntu 12.04 is known as Precise Pangolin and it is the firm’s fourth long term support (LTS) release with extended support for both desktop and server distributions for five years. As part of Canonical’s push into the enterprise, Ubuntu 12.04 rolls up the big changes seen in the four Ubuntu releases since Ubuntu 10.04 rather than introducing new ones, and the result is an operating system that feels more complete than other recent Ubuntu Linux releases.

          • Ubuntu 12.10 May Get Wayland as a Tech Preview

            In a UDS session today, Canonical discussed plans to implement Wayland Tech Preview in Quantal.

          • The X.Org Plans For Ubuntu 12.10

            - When it comes to the kernel side, as mentioned already, for Ubuntu 12.10 they are looking at shipping with the Linux 3.5 kernel or possibly Linux 3.6 depending upon the features and schedule.

            - They’re undecided whether to ship X.Org Server 1.12 or 1.13 in Ubuntu 12.10. X.Org Server 1.13 should be out in early September and will feature more input improvements, GLX_ARB_create_context support, and various other enhancements. Shipping xorg-server 1.13 comes down to there being NVIDIA/AMD binary blob support in time, whether the 1.13 changes end up being too invasive (namely if Airlie’s DDX driver rework is merged), and their bug count.

          • Ubuntu 12.04

            Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) is out. By now there are a zillion reviews of it already, but I wanted to take a little more time to use it before writing one of my own. Before I get into this review, I want to be clear that I’m not going to be reviewing Unity. By now most people know what it is, and either like it or don’t. There really isn’t any point in complaining about it any more. If you hate it then do not use Ubuntu, just find another distro.

          • Ubuntu TV Is A Popular Topic This Week

            Last year plans began to surface for Ubuntu TV — a version of the popular Linux distribution intended to be deployed by television manufacturers — and during the Ubuntu Developer Summit this week there was much talk about the Ubuntu TV plans.

            Back in January at CES I checked out the interesting Ubuntu TV prototype, which did use a modified version of Unity and was looking interesting. Ubuntu TV though has yet to ship.

          • Mark Shuttleworth, Open-Source Software’s Sugar Daddy

            Ten years ago, just ahead of a trip into space, Mark Shuttleworth took out an insurance policy on his reproductive future. “I put a couple swimmers on ice,” he says. “There was going to be a gamma ray source about a foot from my balls under my seat on the Soyuz. So I made a deposit in a secret location before I flew.”

          • The new Business Desktop Remix is out now

            Today, we released the latest version of the Ubuntu Business Desktop Remix, based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

            Most businesses deploying Ubuntu on corporate desktops perform a similar set of tasks – from removing consumer-focused applications and integrating with existing infrastructure, to installing commercial software for application virtualisation.

          • Ubuntu 12.10 To Further Binary Blob Handling

            While things are coming to a close in Oakland at the last day of UDS-Q, there was an interesting session that concerns the future of third-party driver installation on Ubuntu 12.10 and future releases.

          • Ubuntu Plans For A Future With Upstart

            If you were hoping that Ubuntu 12.10 would mark the switch from Upstart to systemd for its init daemon, there was no surprise announcement and the Ubuntu developers are continuing to push for the advancement of Upstart.

          • Flavours and Variants

            • 13 surprises from Kubuntu 12.04
            • Kubuntu Likely To Retain Name Despite New Sponsor
            • Xubuntu 12.04 REVIEW

              Most of the machines I use are laptops or tablets, but I also have a desktop that I use for recording my music. On that desktop, though, I have two different hard drives split in three (roughly 250GB) partitions, something that allows me to have different distros installed on it. Since late 2010, that machine had Ubuntu 10.10, PCLinuxOS KDE and Ubuntu Studio 9.04 spread across those three partions available. It was about time I went for a change, for a number of reasons, including the fact that Ubuntu 10.10 recently went out of support (needless to say, so did Ubuntu Studio 9.04). On top of that, PCLinuxOS had been stuck on KDE SC 4.6.5 for about a year, so I wanted a fresh update on all my partitions to get fully supported distros and up to date applications and features.

            • A GNOME Flavor Of Ubuntu – “GNOME-buntu”

              Thanks to growing user-interest, it looks like there is going to be a GNOME Shell flavor of Ubuntu to satisfy those who aren’t fond of the direction of Canonical’s Unity desktop.

            • Ubuntu 12.10 Won’t Have Btrfs Filesystem

              Canonical announced at the Ubuntu Developer Summit for Ubuntu 12.10, that they plan to stay with the good ol’ EXT4 filesystem for the upcoming Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) distribution.

            • Ubuntu 12.04 LTS: The morning after

              Following the official release of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin), I took the plunge and upgraded my main work PC from Ubuntu 11.10. Up until the release I had been running the 12.04 beta on a second machine. Although I can switch to GNOME 2 (Classic) quite happily on this system, for some reason — yet to be resolved — I can’t do this on my work PC. So I decided it was time to scrutinise the latest version of Unity running on the latest version of the OS. Some of the observations that follow relate to new features and some to features already present in Ubuntu 11.10 and earlier versions.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

      • OLPC Gets Backing in Australia

        For years, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative drew major headlines even as promises made by the initiative’s organizers were routinely missed. The original idea behind OLPC was to create $100 computers that could arrive in the hands of poor kids all around the world. Too bad that $100 price point was never achieved, and other problems arose.

Free Software/Open Source

  • What Would I Tell Developers About Using Open Source Software?
  • Do robots need a Linux or a Mac OS to thrive?

    Willow Garage sets its open-source software free to attract software developers and help make robots commonplace, but detractors say giving the software away is bad for business.

  • Nvidia contributes CUDA compiler to open source

    Nvidia Corp. said Wednesday (May 9) that LLVM, a popular open source compiler, now supports Nvida GPUs.

  • Web Browsers

  • Open Source Suites

    • Open Ballot: Should Apache abandon OpenOffice?

      In 2010, Libre Office, a new fork of OpenOffice was created. The main goal was to return control of the premiere free office suite to the community and creating new processes that would reinvigorate its development. By all accounts, it succeeded. Developers are getting behind the project, as are companies, and it seems that there’s something of a feature gap opening up between the two projects.

    • Apache Releases OpenOffice 3.4

      Today the Apache OpenOffice Project announced the availability of their inaugural release of Apache OpenOffice, version 3.4. Apache obtained the rights and code to OpenOffice last year and have now ‘vetted” and built “a solid and stable codebase, with significant improvement and enhancements over other variants.” But some are wondering if anyone cares?

    • Apache OpenOffice – Interview with Jürgen Schmidt

      Last week I spoke briefly with Jürgen Schmidt about the Apache OpenOffice 3.4 release, and he was able to give us a little insight into what was involved in getting this release out, and what’s coming in future versions. (Official Release Announcement)

    • When is a release not a release?

      Sixteen months after its last release. OpenOffice.org has released version 3.4, its first as an Apache Incubator project. The release was covered matter of factly by The H (http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Apache-OpenOffice-3-4-0-debuts-1570353.html), and with a dash of skepticism by Brian Proffitt (http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Apache-OpenOffice-3-4-0-debuts-1570353.html). A week ago, it was even trash-talked by LibreOffice developer Michael Meeks (http://people.gnome.org/~michael/blog/2012-04-26-ooo-comparison.html), whose eagerness to discredit it was just a bit too obvious.

    • Open Source Suites Highly Active

      While the news about the ongoing Oracle-Google trial in the US has been holding my attention, there have been a sequence of news releases about desktop productivity showing up over the last few weeks. It’s all too good to miss, so here are summaries in the order the news broke:

      * First, Calligra Suite is starting to look interesting. They have released version 2.4.1 of Calligra Suite, and it’s a fine step forward. With its roots in the K Desktop Environment (KDE) it’s only realistically available for GNU/Linux at present, but there’s an experimental Windows build and talk of a future mac build. The user interface is clear and appealing and there’s support for the important Open Document Format (ODF) file format. It’s available online. The project has also announced it’s Google Summer of Code student activities, which will add useful new capabilities when they are ready.

    • Calligra Suite, the Promising Not-An-Office Suite

      Once upon a time there was KOffice, all full of unrealized potential. And then it was forked as Calligra Suite. The first release of Calligra was on April 11, 2012. Is this a contender, or another niche productivity suite?

      It’s a tough row to hoe, building an office suite. The applications are complex, even without thinking about interoperability. Microsoft Office is the tail that has long wagged the office suite dog, with all of its flaws and lard and barriers to interoperability and portable data. If an office suite doesn’t have MS Office compatibility it’s going to appeal to a limited audience. But times change, and now the Open Document Format (ODF) is nearly universal, which (theoretically) means that we can open our files in any application that supports ODF. And thus even the most stubborn titan of lock-in must eventually succumb, and now even MS Office claims ODF support.

    • Open source suites go beyond Microsoft Office

      Open source desktop productivity suites are experiencing an injection of enthusiasm, as recent burst of news releases confirms

    • Apache OpenOffice Downloads

      Here the issue. What makes a document? The physical form? The logical frame? Sheer convention? So, too, the “office” document. A generation has come to expect of a suite those things that are found in the prevailing application. But that assemblage is, however useful, nevertheless rather arbitrary. It was also spawned by the desires of white-collar workers in large corporations, not by the needs and desires of those outside of the corporate walls. Times have changed. Today, and even more so, tomorrow, virtually all people will have access to some form of a computer, and they will be wanting to create, edit, distribute their works. The number of those coming to this 21st century table is not small, it’s in the billions.

    • Apache OpenOffice turns to SourceForge for Distribution
    • Apache OpenOffice.org 3.4: Download it Now!

  • CMS

    • Winner Takes All: WordPress vs Drupal vs Joomla!

      When it comes to CMSs, WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal are the three leading names today. All three are open source software, and are free to use and customise. Each has its own community and user base, as well as a well-maintained repository of themes/templates and plugins/extensions. And all three have their pros and cons.

  • Business

  • BSD

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • To GNU or Not to GNU? That Is the Question

      There’s no denying the incendiary nature of the topic of desktop Linux, which tends to gets rehashed in heated detail every so often both on these pages and beyond.

      What some may not remember, however, is that there’s another recurring Linux subject that can be equally controversial. It hasn’t appeared in some time, but apparently some slow fires have been burning all along, because they just flared up anew.

    • Richard Stallman Cancels Event, Rushed to Hospital

      Reports state that Stallman was admitted to the hospital, but has since been discharged. Reports from Spain say Stallman was most likely suffering from symptoms of high blood pressure. The short note on www.fsf.org states that “he did not have a heart attack, as has been reported in some places.”

  • Standards/Consortia

    • OSI Supports Open Standards

      Nearly a decade after that original discussion at OSI – which itself was in the context of fairly established thinking – the UK Government seems to think this is still an open, undecided question. Why is that? It appears to be because industry bodies with a deep interest in protecting their existing, proprietary interests in the UK Government have lobbied that Government to re-open the issue. Moreover, during a change of leadership the responsible individuals in the Government decided to give those incumbents a second chance.

Leftovers

05.11.12

Links 11/5/2012: Quetzal Logo, Feodra 18 Named

Posted in News Roundup at 9:28 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Skype’s Network Ditches P2P Tech for Linux Boxes

  • Desktop

    • Future of the Desktop Market

      I mentioned this before: desktop computers are quickly becoming an endangered species seen only on corporate campuses. Laptops, which are still the mainstay of the industry are slowly losing ground to ultra-portable tablet devices. Everyone seems to agree that future is mobile computing. We are boldly moving into a new era where consumer facing devices are portable, wearable and touch controlled – and era that some started to call “post-PC”.

    • Desktop: Debian vs. CEntOS

      While every *buntu and *edora moving towards Unity, Gnome3, Cinnamon or MATE, only two distributions remain practical for desktop productivity and fun, they are CentOS 6.* and Debian 6.*. They both will support the good old gnome2 line at least couple years more. However, they are a lot different from each other. Here’s a short description on each of them vis-a-vis desktop use.

    • 7 Reason Why Linux Flies on the Desktop
    • Is the ‘perfect desktop’ attainable?

      Jack Wallen found many people had strong opinions about his claim that Ubuntu 12.04 nailed the desktop to near perfection. As a result, Jack questions whether the “perfect desktop” is attainable.

    • Dell tests open-source laptop for developers

      What is it that web developers want? That’s what Dell is trying to find out with its just-launched Project Sputnik, an “experimental” laptop bundled with Ubuntu Linux plus utilities, and with an easy on-ramp to github repositories coming soon. Sputnik looks like Dell’s attempt to wrest the attention of the many web developers that have defected to OS X, but chafe at the restrictions Apple’s walled garden imposes on them.

    • Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 264
    • Canonical: Ubuntu To Soon Ship On 5% Of PCs
    • Building Your Own Custom Ubuntu
    • Five kinds of branches
    • Ubuntu 12.04, a review

  • Server

    • Linux Rings the Bell in New York

      In New York’s Financial District, Linux is your MAMA. The Linux Foundation (that’s Greg Kroah-Hartman in the center and to his right is Jim Zemlin) rang the closing bell at the NYSE yesterday.

      The Linux Foundation is in NYC for their End User conference, which also served as a backdrop for an OpenMAMA announcement.

  • Audiocasts/Shows

  • Kernel Space

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • Xfce 4.10 comes with more panel modes and new application finder

      The developers of the Xfce desktop environment have released the newest version of their suite of applications. Xfce 4.10, which was released roughly fifteen months after its stable predecessor Xfce 4.8, comes with new orientation modes for the panel, a rewritten application finder and more fine tuning to its overall look and feel.

    • For a Lightweight Linux Desktop, Try the New Xfce 4.10

      Choice is one of the best parts of the desktop Linux world, where there’s a distribution to suit virtually every taste and purpose.

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • The new Calligra office suite

        It has been several years since I spent any significant amount of time with the productivity suite known as KOffice. The project, designed to work hand-in-hand with the KDE desktop, has maintained a small niche over the years by being an office suite with a small foot print that features an interface designed to fit in with other KDE/Qt software.

      • KDE Ships May Updates to Plasma Workspaces, Applications and Platform

        May 4, 2012. Today KDE released updates for its Workspaces, Applications, and Development Platform. These updates are the third in a series of monthly stabilization updates to the 4.8 series. 4.8.3 updates bring many bugfixes and translation updates on top of the latest edition in the 4.8 series and are recommended updates for everyone running 4.8.2 or earlier versions. As the release only contains bugfixes and translation updates, it will be a safe and pleasant update for everyone. KDE’s software is already translated into more than 55 languages, with more to come.

  • Distributions

    • A quick look at ROSA Marathon EE RC

      ROSA, on the other hand, has unveiled its new release candidate of Marathon EE (EE is the version including non-free stuff, like the extinct Mandriva ONE). I downloaded, gave it a run in Live mode, and this is what I found:

      ROSA presents some animated bars as the Live environment is becoming ready to launch. After a while of waiting (the wait was shorter than with Mandriva Desktop 2011, I must say), you are greeted by this desktop:

    • Important Linux Distros for Beginners in 2012

      There is wide variety of Linux Distros in the market. Each one differs in size, design, support and layout, although the basic function is the same. Each distros offers several unique features apart from main features. There is a heavy competition among distributors to create and develop unique features. Each of these distros offers different types of support systems such as forums, live chat, and other means. That is why it is necessary to select the distributor based on your requirement.

    • The 2012 Top 7 Best Linux Distributions for You

      It is the mystery of mysteries, the one that ranks up there with the Gordian Knot, crop circles, and how many licks does it take to get the center of Tootsie Pop: what is the greatest Linux distro of all?

    • Chakra Linux 2012.04 review – one to watch
    • Linux From Scratch Part One

      This is part one of a multi-part series about my experiences creating a LFS system for the first time.

    • Linux From Scratch Part Two

    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

    • Gentoo Family

    • Red Hat Family

    • Debian Family

      • A look at Linux Mint Debian Edition

        The primary version of Linux Mint uses Ubuntu as its source, but to think that it is the only source would be wrong; there’s also the Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE).

        Apart from its Debian roots, LMDE differs from regular Mint versions by being a rolling release; meaning that the system is constantly and gradually updated, rather than having a massive update every six months bundled into a new release of the distro that demands a new installation or comprehensive updating sequence. Hence, LMDE should only ever need be installed once.

      • Debian Project News – April 30th, 2012

      • Derivatives

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • How To Upgrade Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) To 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) (Desktop & Server)

            The new Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) has just been released. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is a long-term support release, which means it is supported for five years. This guide shows how you can upgrade your Ubuntu 11.10 desktop and server installations to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

          • Ubuntu 12.04 Wins Me Back

            My first experience with it dates back to testing Ubuntu 5.10. I made the switch not too long afterward with the Ubuntu 6.06 release. Coming away from a KDE-centric distribution, I found the switch to a Linux distro offering GNOME as its preferred desktop to be interesting. Previously I had used KDE almost exclusively, so having an opportunity to spend some time with GNOME piqued my interest.

          • I hate Ubuntu, but my mother-in-law loves it
          • Free as in awesome: our favorite open source apps for Ubuntu 12.04

            buntu 12.04, codenamed Precise Pangolin, was released last week, and I’ve been updating my Linux boxes to the shiny new version of the operating system. The upgrade system has gotten a lot smoother in recent years, but I still like to do a fresh installation for each release on my PC and netbook. In this short roundup, I’ll look at some great third-party applications that you can get from the Software Center to augment your Ubuntu installation.

          • Ubuntu 12.04 LTS – Scorecard

            Well, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an Ubuntu 12.04 review, with pictures, videos, step-by-step instructions and everything else imaginable. So rather than write yet another, I am going to take a different approach – a quick result run-down and a few comments about installing it on the various computers around here. As I have a fairly wide variety of hardware, in both configuration and age, this should cover a lot of different situations, and perhaps offer hope and encouragement to those considering upgrading (or especially those considering installing for the first time), and consolation to those who might have tried and run into trouble.

          • [Reviews]: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin Review
          • Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin Quiz
          • Ubuntu Accomplishments! – Ubuntu goes console?

            So what is/are Ubuntu Accomplishments? To keep it short, imagine achievements on console games that get added to your profile when you complete a certain action in a game. Its a nifty idea that extends the playability of game and surprisingly (though I would not have thought it before) acts as a very inspiring means to get people involved with Ubuntu.

          • Ubuntu 12.10 Open For Development With GCC 4.7

            This morning Matthias Klose announced Quantal open for development. While it has not even been a week since the release of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, with the six-month release cycle it’s already time to get working on the Ubuntu Quantal release. Coming up next week is also the Ubuntu 12.10 Developer Summit where some of the new features will be discussed for this release expected to land in mid-October, per the Ubuntu 12.10 release schedule.

          • Press Reaction to Ubuntu 12.04
          • Ubuntu 12.04 review
          • How to Install & Use GNOME Shell on Ubuntu
          • Ubuntu Linux Reveals Its Yearly Spring Awakening
          • 7 Reasons to Like and Dislike Ubuntu Unity

            The release of Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) hasn’t exactly made critics warm to Ubuntu’s Unity interface. However, Unity having gone through several versions, a definite tone of acceptance — or maybe resignation — colors discussion of the new release. Although Unity isn’t a critical favorite, the pundits are at least resigned to the fact that it isn’t going away.

            Partly, this change is simply the result of the passage of time. Obsessive outrage is hard for most of us to maintain for more than a few months. A couple of years of testing and use is also enough for the shock of the new to be blunted and replaced by a closer approximation of objectivity.

          • Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin review

            With roughly 98 percent of the desktop and laptop market spoken for, you’d be forgiven for thinking your only choices for powering your computer were Windows or Mac OS X. There is another way, though. Linux may only run on a tiny sliver of consumer PCs, but the number is growing and one of the biggest players propelling its popularity is Ubuntu. Since bursting on the scene eight years ago, the distro has grown to dominate the desktop Linux market and made plenty of fans (and a few detractors) along the way. Truth is, Ubuntu is completely unique and, at least compared to other distros out there, very user-friendly. It also happens to have a very active community of developers and users willing to lend help to those in need, which makes it appealing to Linux vets, enterprise users and *nix n00bs alike.

          • Mark Shuttlworth: We felt Blocked By Red Hat

            Ubuntu spans the whole open source ecosystem. I think it’s convenient for Ubuntu’s competitors to talk about a split between Ubuntu and GNOME. But I know lots of GNOME developers who don’t see things that way at all, they write apps because they want them to be used, and Ubuntu is an amazing conduit for their work to millions of users.

          • Mark Shuttleworth on Ubuntu 12.10 Plans, Netflix & What He Thinks of Windows 8

            He’s the founder of Ubuntu and its parent company Canonical, and is the creative force behind not on the Unity desktop but its expansion to new form factors.

          • Getting involved in Ubuntu by programming IS EASY!

            It seems to be quite a common belief among potential Ubuntu contributors, that it is very difficult to contribute source code to Ubuntu. I have met with such opinion many times, in bug reports, comments at OMG!Ubuntu!, at AskUbuntu. There is quite a lot of people who might help and write some real code, but are not willing to do so, because they are overwhelmed by the size of the project.

          • Upgrading to Precise
          • What’s Coming Next for Ubuntu Linux?
          • Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 263
          • Ubuntu Linux 12.04: Microsoft’s Worst Nightmare?

            I’m confident that any version of Ubuntu released in the last five years will have absolutely no problem beating [Windows 8],” said Slashdot blogger Barbara Hudson. Of course, “after the success of Windows 7, this is Microsoft snatching defeat from the jaws of victory,” she added. “What’s the logic? Did Steve Ballmer secretly invest a fortune in Apple stock or something? Off his meds? Run out of chairs?”

          • Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin – Five years of excellence

            I am officially kicking off the start of the spring hunting season with a long review of Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin. ‘Tis a silly name, but it’s a five-year Long Term Support (LTS) release. Previously, Ubuntu would only offer three years, and anyone using RedHat or CentOS would laugh at this. Not anymore, five years is a respectable figure, by all means.

          • Top 7 Ubuntu Desktop Backup Software
          • 4 Things You’ll Love About Ubuntu 12.04

            The new version of Ubuntu–12.04, codename “Precise Pangolin”– is officially here, meaning two things: I get to be really happy about new features, and some people get to complain about Unity in the comments. Horray!

            It’s been a year since Ubuntu made Unity the default interface, and man: many of you were not happy. I was thrilled, however: in my opinion Unity is better looking and easier to use than any other Linux user interface. Sure: there were some rough edges in that release, but overall I got the Linux desktop I’d been trying to hack Gnome into becoming for years.

          • Review of Ubuntu 12.04

            The arrival of Ubuntu 12.04 attracted a lot of attention just over a week ago, both from users and critics alike. In fact, Ubuntu’s new long-term support tempted attracted so many people that I was unable to connect to the project’s download servers on the day of the release and had to turn to the torrent files to get the latest version.

          • Ubuntu 12.10 ‘Quetzal’ Logo
          • Electronic Arts talks at Ubuntu Developer Summit

            In this phenomenal times for Linux Gaming there are even more great things to come for Linux soon. As some of you know, Ubuntu Developer Summit is going to take place in California on 7–11 May this year. As usually it is going to be an event for discussing new ideas, plans and solutions for the next Ubuntu release. However this time there will be a special guest talking to the audience, one of the biggest video games publishers – Electronic Arts.

          • Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Online Upgrade Review: Part 1
          • Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Online Upgrade Review: Part 2

          • Flavours and Variants

            • Xubuntu 12.04: don’t fix what is not broken
            • Blue Systems: ‘No Plans’ to Change Kubuntu

              Kubuntu’s new financial backers – Blue Systems – have ‘no plans’ to change the way Kubuntu is run or built.

              The Kubuntu Community will continue to decide and manage the direction of the KDE-based distro as they have done in the past.

            • Kubuntu 12.04 Updates Offer Stability, Performance Increases
            • Kubuntu 12.04 review – Precise what?

              Kubuntu is the second child in the line of Canonical kings, hence it gets less attention compared to the royal heir and favorite son, Ubuntu. Now, to add to the drama, starting and ending with Precise Pangolin, the company decided it will no longer officially support Kubuntu from its own resources, and it will become a community distro, like the other flavors. This means Kubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin will be the last in-house Ubuntu spin with the KDE desktop.

            • 4 things to do after installing Bodhi Linux
            • Xubuntu 12.04 LTS Review

              Xubuntu 12.04 is the only lighter weight distribution that is getting Long Term Support (LTS) from Canonical. Support for Xubuntu LTS will be for 3 years compared to the life-cycle of 18 months and shorter than the 5 years given to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

              Xubuntu uses the XFCE 4.8 desktop which is less resource hungry than Unity or KDE and comes in two flavors, 32 bit and 64 bit. It is also an installable Live distribution and is based on Linux kernel 3.2 series.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Raspberry Pi review

      The Raspberry Pi is one of the most eagerly-awaited computers of 2012. With more than 350,000 people on the Raspberry Pi waiting list, it’s an enthusiasts’ machine with mainstream appeal.

      The computer provides exceptional value. It’s a $40 computer with a range of intuitive programming tools and the capability of an average PC – browsing the web, running office software or playing HD video. The Pi is also suited to projects as diverse as controlling robots and building an in-car computer.

      But in its present form novice computer users – weaned on the simplicity of Windows PCs, smartphones and iPads – may struggle to get to grips with the Raspberry Pi.

    • Phones

      • Android

        • APP FOCUS: Blowtorch 1.1.3 for Android & a consideration of MUD

          I am encouraged by the the release of ebook readers and their massive popularity. As readers of this blog and listeners to the audio-cast will know, I am not a big fan of TV & Film, infact if it wasn’t for the PS3 and the once a year tradition of Doctor Who, I’d happily throw the insidious device away. Maybe the book will start to gain more ground on the film? You are probably wondering where I am headed with this article, but all will be revealed.

Free Software/Open Source

  • Is Apache overextending itself as rivals devour its core web server share?

    Has the Apache Software Foundation overextended itself by taking open source projects like OpenOffice and Cloudstack off the hands of proprietary giants while its famed HTTP web server continues losing ground to NGINX?

  • Web Browsers

    • Mozilla

      • Former Mozilla President inducted into Internet Hall of Fame
      • Firefox 12 Banishes the Endless Firefox Updates [Updated]

        Mozilla has released the final version of Firefox 12, which streamlines the update process and improves on the numerous developer tools that are now part of the popular open source browser.

        If you’re already using Firefox there’s no need to do anything; you’ll be automatically updated later today. If you’d like to give Firefox 12 a try, head over to the Firefox downloads page and grab a copy.

      • Find out What’s New in Firefox 14

        After taking a second look at Firefox 13, it is time to look at the current aurora version of the Firefox browser. Mozilla plans to introduce many new features in Firefox 14. Some of the features had been announced for previous versions of the browser but were postponed for a variety of reasons.

      • Firefox 13 Beta Arrives in Keeping with Mozilla’s Rapid Release Cycle

        Just as the company pledged it would early last year, Mozilla is marching ahead with its rapid release cycle for the Firefox browser. Version 13 of Firefox is out in beta now, and while it is a testing-focused version, it adds a number of notable features. Meanwhile, silent updates–a controversial feature disliked by those who like to tightly manage their own browsers–have arrived in Firefox 12, and Mozilla is taking steps to move people away from Firefox 3.6. Here is more on what to expect in Firefox 13.

      • Mozilla ponders major Firefox UI refresh

        Mozilla is working on a revamp of Firefox to synchronize its various versions — desktop, tablet, phone and Windows 8 Metro — into a single visual style, according to documents posted by members of its user interface (UI) design team.

      • A history of Mozilla browsers design

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • Libre Office is taking off ‘like a rocket’

      Michael Meeks is a long-time OpenOffice, now Libre Office, contributor and employee of Novell, now Attachmate.

      We caught up with him to get the inside perspective on the massive changes they, and desktop Linux as a whole, have gone through in the past few years.

    • LibreOffice 3.5.3 Released
    • European Court decision. Oracle and Google should note.

      The very short form: WPL created a re-implementation of the SAS Language, using the original documentation of SAS and a freebie version for personal and educational use. SAS claimed they thus infringed on copyright etc.

      Seems SAS lost big time.

      Now you can almost directly compare this case with Oracle v Google. Simply replace SAS Language with JAVA and watch this drama unfold. Note: IANAL but it seems Oracle wouldn’t have a chance in the EU with the current set of arguments used in the US case.

  • CMS

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

Leftovers

  • Hardware

    • Moore’s Law Nearing Collapse, Says Physicist

      In a 1965 paper, Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore predicted that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double approximately every two years. This prediction has proven to be uncannily accurate over the years and has come to be known as Moore’s Law. But it’s not going to hold true forever, is it? Well, it’s believed that like all things good, Moore’s Law too will come to an end one day. The question that remains, though, is when. Noted theoretical (and often theatrical) physicist Michio Kaku feels he has the answer.

  • Security

  • Censorship

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Copyrights

      • “The Pirate Party love Musicians!”
      • The Pirate Bay Proxy, an Open Internet and Censorship.

        The Pirate Party UK has hosted a proxy (tpb.pirateparty.org.uk), allowing people to connect to the Pirate Bay via Pirate Party servers since the 19th of April 2012. We provided the proxy as a tool for users on networks where the Pirate Bay is blocked through filtering, and in support of our sister party in the Netherlands. It continues to be a legitimate route for those affected by court orders issued to some (but not all) UK ISP’s requiring the site to be blocked. Whilst some providers continue to allow access to the web in an unfiltered manner, others are limiting access to specific parts of the internet.

04.29.12

Links 29/4/2012: Linux Steam Client, CISPA Backlash

Posted in News Roundup at 8:00 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote

      The vote followed the debate on amendments, several of which were passed. Among them was an absolutely terrible change (pdf and embedded below—scroll to amendment #6) to the definition of what the government can do with shared information, put forth by Rep. Quayle. Astonishingly, it was described as limiting the government’s power, even though it in fact expands it by adding more items to the list of acceptable purposes for which shared information can be used. Even more astonishingly, it passed with a near-unanimous vote. The CISPA that was just approved by the House is much worse than the CISPA being discussed as recently as this morning.

    • How SOPA protests were used to push CISPA

      CISPA authors and supporters have tried everything they can to avoid another SOPA protest – except tell the truth about their bill.

04.25.12

Links 25/4/2012: FOSS Spendings Grows in France, Linux Australia Ponders Name Change

Posted in News Roundup at 9:56 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Calling out to the Linux Community to help new users

    There have several calls for help to the readers, but this post being one of them is targeting the entire Linux community. Every user who wants to install Linux on his computer starts at the scenario where he needs to boot from the CD or USB. This is something that has become natural to us, the Linux users. But it has the potential to make/break the experience for new users who want to try Linux. This is because an ordinary Windows or Mac user has never had the need to access the BIOS to set CD or USB as the boot device. Most likely Windows or Mac came pre-installed on his system.

  • LinuxDevices Killed in Ziff Davis Enterprise Acquisition?

    One of the oldest and best sources for news regarding Linux powered devices, LinuxDevices, is worryingly silent today. Attempts to reach both the main page and the forums return database errors. This comes a few months after its publisher, Ziff Davis Enterprise, was acquired by QuinStreet.

  • Linux Australia ponders name change

    Linux Australia president John Ferlito has asked the community of Australia’s peak Linux body whether it’s time to change its name, eliciting a strong response.

    “We think it is time for us to change the name of our organisation to have it more accurately represent the focus of our community,” Ferlito wrote in a message to members last night.

    Ferlito added that the organisation is now over a decade old, and its day-to-day operations are no longer accurately defined by the name Linux Australia.

  • Linux Australia: a new name is the least of the problems

    There is no move to get rid of the Linux Australia brand (15-odd years old right now) and the linux.org.au domain. These are deemed to be far too valuable.

    Then why change? The organisation has now expanded its activities – it sponsors conferences on other open source topic – Python, Drupal and WordPress as of this year.

  • Linux is Precise, Quantal and Longterm

  • Desktop

    • Artyom Zorin on Zorin OS, the gateway to Linux for Windows users

      Most often than not, the brand has an abstract name. General Electric, FIAT, Airbus, Pepsico, RedHat – all these companies have names which have nothing to do with names of their founders. Although, there are still some cases when person’s name becomes a name of the brand. Let me introduce a person who’s name became a brand. At least, in the Linux world. Please meet: Artyom Zorin.

    • Shifting Tide of Battle

      Despite all the good work in */Linux and efforts by government to restrain the largest excesses of M$, it is still a growing cancer in IT. The growth in the client division is radically curtailed but there’s still some. Until it quits growing, there is no hope of salvation from the cost and complexity in IT that M$ causes. I hope M$’s recent numbers are just some accountants’ tricks, but I will not declare the battle over until retail shelves are jammed with GNU/Linux everywhere.

  • Server

    • IBM fires Power-powered Penguins at x86′s weak spots

      Big Blue has not made any huge proclamations to date, but it is not exactly a secret that the people in charge of IBM’s Systems and Software Group want the Power7 processor and its follow-ons to grab a larger share of the systems racket.

      To that end, Big Blue is reviving a Linux-only variant of its Power Systems lineup with cheaper hardware and software pricing that it says gives better value on Linux workloads than an x86 setup.

  • Audiocasts/Shows

  • Kernel Space

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • Akademy Keynote: Dr. Mathias Klang – Freedom of Expression

        Dr. Mathias Klang is a researcher and senior lecturer at the University of Göteborg in Sweden. His research revolves within the field of legal informatics with particular interest in copyright, democracy, human rights, free expression, censorship, open access and ethics. He holds Master of Laws and Ph.D. degrees.

      • KDE Commit-Digest for 15th April 2012
      • LaKademy — First KDE Event for All of Latin America

        Latin America is a big place with many opportunities for KDE; major deployments of KDE software are proof. Over the years, groups of KDE developers have emerged in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and probably other places. These groups work together to make a better KDE. As we know, meeting and talking in person is important to strengthen the bonds in a community. So we decided to organize a Latin American meeting of KDE contributors following the lead of the first Akademy-br in 2009. Like Akademy-br, the first LaKademy will be similar to a sprint for developers and one for people interested in promoting KDE in this part of the world.

      • A look at the new Plasma Active File Browser

        Plasma Active is coming together nicely and quickly. When I watched the first videos published just a few months ago, I thought a lot of hard work was needed, but I was not the only one. Those videos were simply proving that Plasma Active was running successfully, but not even close to displaying the finished product. Today we are very close to seeing Vivaldi become available, and with it, the first official version of Plasma Active preinstalled on a device. It’s a serious thing, and Plasma Active developers are hard at work improving things like maniacs. A testament of that is the following video, which captures the Plasma Active file browser in action.

      • Calligra: The Other Office Suite Narrows the Gap

        On April 11, Calligra Suite announced its first release, version 2.4. This release takes Calligra several steps closer to being an alternative to LibreOffice, especially in its graphical applications.

      • Google Summer of Code & Season of KDE 2012 – there is place for everyone!

        Google has published the list of 60 student proposals that have been accepted for Google Summer of Code 2012 for KDE. It means that 60 students will be able to work full-time on changing the world this summer! A big thank you to Google for making this possible.

    • GNOME Desktop

  • Distributions

    • Slackware Website is Up and Running Well
    • Five Best Linux Distributions

      Whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been using Linux systems for years, you probably have an opinion on what the best distribution is. “Best,” is obviously a relative term, and we understand that what’s best for beginners may not be best for advanced users, and so on. Still, Linux distributions come in all different shapes, sizes, complexities, styles, and types. We asked you which ones you preferred, and now we’re back to take a look at the top five distros based on your nominations.

    • Chakra Archimedes-2012.04 review

      Chakra Archimedes-2012.04, the second iteration of the latest stable edition of Chakra, a desktop Linux distribution forked from Arch Linux, was released just this week. April 16 to be exact.

    • Reports of Slackware’s death way premature

      Concerns about the apparent health of Slackware Linux were eased after the community Linux distribution’s web site was back up and running, after several days of being dark.

      The site’s unexpected unavailability led to lengthy and at times heated discussions about the overall life expectancy of the project on both LinuxQuestions.org and DistroWatch.

      The focus quickly shifted from the problems with the website to worries that Slackware itself was experiencing financial problems, when top Slackware contributor Eric Hameleers responded early in the LinuxQuestions thread with a brief “Old hardware, lack of funds…” statement.

    • New Releases

    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

      • Open Source: Mageia 2 (Cauldron) Looking Good

        If you have not been following the saga of the Mageia Linux distribution then you are unaware that Mageia 2 is slated to be released on May 15th. At this point the distribution is in Beta 3 testing and then will have a Release Candidate out right around May 2nd.

      • Mageia 2 Beta 3 – A Preview

        Another Linux distribution with an upcoming release I have been looking forward to made a Beta release. Mageia Linux 2 is on a fast track now, with the final Beta released a few days ago, the Release Candidate due in less than two weeks, and the final release due two weeks after that.

      • PCLinuxOS 2012 KDE Review

        Again PCLinuxOS delivers a release of impeccable quality in the face of a community that demands the highest standards. This distribution is becoming increasingly user-friendly, and the features continue to mount up.

    • Red Hat Family

      • What’s the Deal With Red Hat?

        Software giant Red Hat(RHT), a leader in open source technologies as well as cloud computing has now become one of these names that have placed me in the predicament of trying to justify its lofty valuation to potential investors. I’m not going to pretend that this a “rock and hard place” type of situation, but how do you rationalize taking a position in a stock sporting a P/E of 80 after it has already gained 50% on the year? It gets even more remarkable when you consider that a competitor such as VMware(VMW), which by many standards already qualifies as expensive but trades at a multiple that is 14 points less

      • Fedora

        • Stop wasting time and money, make the Fedora 18 release name “Fedora 18″

          Calling all Fedora users and developers. Please visit the official poll to choose the future of Fedora release names.

        • Fedora 17 + Xfce 4.10

          We are restarting the monthly LUG meetings and I planned to deliver a presentation about the imminent GIMP 2.8 release (there is a lot of disinformation about it). But since GIMP 2.8 RC1 cannot be installed on older Fedora releases due to missing dependencies, I had to move with the times and upgrade the OS on the netbook. Following are my candid impressions, as a person who skipped the last two Fedora releases, so part of it may be really old and known.

        • Fedora 18 Might Be A Frankfurter Or Spherical Cow

          After Red Hat Legal caused a delay in the Fedora 18 code-naming process, the list of possible code-names for this “Beefy Miracle” successor have been narrowed down to eight. As expected by now, all of the names are quite peculiar and the Fedora board is trying to decide whether to even continue this code-naming process.

        • Beefy Miracle Beta Review

          Well this Thursday I made my mind to install beta release of f-17. I had to make a boot able usb because my dvd drive gave up long back. So I used livecd-tools to make bootable usb. I started installing, it was going smoothly but suddenly I got notification for access Network for installing repo .. bad ah because you screwed :). Later found out there was bug in livecd-tools :(, even fedora wiki was not updated about use of livecd-tools that time (Now updated, thanks to FranciscoD). Well I install fedora in my office laptop VM, made again usb bootable with correct steps and finally able to Install.

    • Debian Family

      • People behind Debian: Samuel Thibault, working on accessibility and the Hurd

        Samuel Thibault is a French guy like me, but it took years until we met. He tends to keep a low profile, even though he’s doing lots of good work that deserves to be mentioned.

        He focuses on improving Debian’s accessibility and contributes to the Hurd. Who said he’s a dreamer? :-) Checkout his interview to have some news of Wheezy’s status on those topics.

      • First look at OpenMediaVault 0.2.5

        Next on my list of open source NAS platforms is OpenMediaVault, a Debian-based project.

      • Arduino Uno on Debian 6 Squeeze Stable (2012-2014)

        I recently received an Arduino Uno board as a gift and I needed to run the Arduino software on my Debian 6 + KDE machine in order to interact with this little beast. This should work on other desktops as well, such as Gnome or XFCE.

      • Derivatives

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • History of Ubuntu: Revisited & Updated

            Ubuntu has touched the lives of many among us in different ways. I can’t speak for everyone here and hence I will share a few of my experiences with Ubuntu. For me, Ubuntu was the gateway to Linux and the whole open source way of thinking. Ubuntu taught me that computers are not all about Windows OS and that there are far better alternatives than the “default” Windows desktop which you have been made to see and learn from a younger age. Lets go back in time and see how Ubuntu evolved over the years to become what it is now – a totally awesome, user friendly and fast changing Linux based distro for human beings.

          • Running The OMAPDRM On Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

            Besides Ubuntu 12.04 on ARMv7 being much faster, thanks to hard-float and other improvements, the Texas Instruments OMAP DRM driver is also available to provide a KMS experience for some hardware.

          • Ubuntu 12.10 Release Schedule Published

            Alpha 1 – 7 June
            Alpha 2 – 28 June
            Alpha 3 – 2 August
            Feature Freeze – 23 August
            UI Freeze – 30 August
            Beta 1 – 6 September
            Beta 2 – 27 September
            Kernel Freeze – 4 October
            Ubuntu 12.10 Release – 18 October

          • Shuttleworth: The Internet Is Changing, Not Dying

            The world is moving increasingly towards environments where consumers and employees download apps from sanitized app stores and use software that is native to the devices on which they run. This is happening as a result of the increasingly important role of mobility in business and consumer life, and the security threats that lurk in the World Wide Web. Not only are app stores becoming more prevalent in both corporate and personal contexts, but companies are using virtualization technology that allows them to serve employees virtual images of software, with the effect that data is isolated from the web, and servers are insulated from unknown intruders. So does the emergence of these closed systems mean the web is losing relevance?

          • If my mother-in-law can use Ubuntu Linux, anyone can

            One of the great Linux desktop myths is that it’s hard to use. People still think that you need to be some kind of mad computer wizard to use Linux. What nonsense. Desktop Linux has been as easy to use as any of the mainstream desktop operating systems for over a decade. How easy is it? My 79-year old mother-in-law, Hulvia, can use it.

            She arrived a few weeks ago with her Windows laptop, but without her power cord. So, she needed a computer of her own. As I went down to garage/server room/spare computer storage locker, “What the heck, if Jason Perlow’s father-in-law could pick up Ubuntu Linux in 2007 at the age of 71, why not my mother-in-law at 79 in 2012!”

          • Ubuntu 12.10 Named ‘Quantal Quetzal’
          • Theming update planned for Ubuntu 12.10, codenamed Quantal Quetzal
          • From Warty WARTHOG To Quantal QUETZAL [Ubuntu Mascots In Pictures]
          • Quality has a new name
          • Ubuntu 12.10 Gets a Release Date
          • Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin Latest New Features

            The latest Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is going to be released in (28 April 2012), that is less than a week! The latest features of Precise Pangolin are:

          • Ubuntu 12.04 Review: This is the Distro you’re looking for.

            There is a lot riding on Ubuntu 12.04 (aka “Precise Pangolin”) — this is a make or break moment for Ubuntu as a desktop platform.

          • Unsettings: Ubuntu Unity Desktop Tweaking Tool
          • Ubuntu 12.04 (LTS) Released This Week

            Ubuntu has done great things for the Linux community. Indeed, many of us many not be here if it wasn’t for Ubuntu and it’s newbie-friendly ways. However things have gradually changed over recent years. First the brown colour scheme changed to purple, as it seemed that Ubuntu was adopting a ‘Mac look’ (are the window maximise and minimise controls still in the top left hand corner?). Then last year, the Gnome 2 desktop evironment was dropped and replaced with Unity. Many users struggled with 11.04 as Unity was unstable, and as a result that release was for some (me included) unusable. Hwever it has been reported amongst Hull LUG members that Unity has been improved since its introduction last April, and the stability issues for the most part resolved in the last release in October 2011.

          • Hey Journalists! Know Your Ubuntu Names
          • Oscar-Winning Video Editor Demoed on Ubuntu
          • Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 262
          • Interview with Canonical’s Jono Bacon | Interview

            The Linux world is preparing for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS official release to use and evaluate the next “big” version of the world’s most successful Linux distribution. Much has been said about the last Ubuntu versions and Canonical’s strategies. Many expressed delight with the new technologies introduced lately by Canonical, while others expressed disappointment with some of the changes. This week, we talk to Jono Bacon who is the community manager of Ubuntu, in an attempt to disentangle the thoughts of the linux users community, and understand how a big community is organized and guided the Ubuntu way.

          • Most Popular Linux Distribution: Ubuntu (and Its Variants)

            Most Popular Linux Distribution: Ubuntu (and Its Variants) There are Linux distributions of all shapes and sizes, with varying levels of complexity and difficulty. Some are super-easy to install, and can be installed like any other OS, with minimal knowledge of the command line—you click “OK” a few times and you’re up and running. Others require you get your hands really dirty with the underpinnings of the system you’re building, making sure it’s just right for your specific needs. So which do you prefer? Well, earlier last week we asked you what you thought the best overall Linux distribution was, understanding that “best” is a relative term. Then we took a look at the top five Linux distros, based on your over-400 nominations, and put them to a vote. Now, we’re back to crown the overall winner.

          • Ubuntu 12.04 – Jane Silber talks Unity, community and ‘continuous computing’
          • Getting Help With Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin
          • Next Ubuntu Q to bring font, icon, Quantum Openstack service to Linux

            Ubuntu captain Mark Shuttleworth said the next cycle of Ubuntu releases, code named Quantal Quetzal, will incorporate new font and icon innovations to further dazzle the Linux client as well as the Quantum virtualized networking and possibly a new form factor

          • Ubuntu Linux Seeing HUGE Demand for OpenStack
          • Ubuntu Accomplishments: The Road To 0.1
          • Top things to do after installing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin

            Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin final is almost out. The final release it scheduled to be out in the 26th of April 2012. After you actually get done with the installation, there would likely exist a heap of things you still need to take care of. This post will share some interesting insight and ideas about what you can and should do after a successful installation.

          • Canonical To Launch Partner Program
          • A Sneak Peek at Ubuntu 12.04 ‘Precise Pangolin’

          • Flavours and Variants

            • Pantheon Notify: New Notification Daemon For elementary OS
            • Kubuntu remains healthy

              While my own interest in KDE is waning presently, that has nothing to do with Kubuntu itself, or what I feel was entirely needless panic by some over its continued status and development. I continue to think Kubuntu will be fine, and I believe being freed of direct Canonical sponsorship may offer tangible benefits for it. With GNOME 2 now essentially gone (there is that Mate fork though), Kubuntu was the only Ubuntu variant remaining that I felt had any serious enterprise desktop potential. In fact, I think it is potentially a more interesting distribution freed of it’s Canonical connection, where it seemed such possibilities were blocked. I also do like that their new sponsor, BlueSystems, which calls NetRunner, itself derived from Kubuntu, a GNU/Linux distribution. Say it loud, say it proud!

              Personally I hope they could eventually merge their work with upstream Debian directly. One advantage Kubuntu offers over Debian KDE presently is that they package and adapt KDE stable releases much quicker. Or maybe thier work could also enable KDE on Trisquel, which I recall converts the Ubuntu foundation into a fully free as in freedom core distribution by removing all non-free parts and offers it with a linux-libre kernel. As a KDE mother distribution, Kubuntu by itself is easy to rebrand to target commercial entities and other kinds of institutions, as well as to provide a base distribution for other projects.

            • Triple review – Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Linux Mint
            • LMDE 201204

              I’d like to thank all the people who tested the RC release and sent us feedback. We identified 68 bugs in this release and we’re currently down to 19 bugs left.

            • Linux Mint Debian 201204 released!

  • Devices/Embedded

    • News: The E-Pebble, gimmick evolved.

      The device sports an E-Ink display with a resolution of 144 x 168 , Bluetooth 2.1, a teeny-tiny vibrating motor for alerts, and app installation via the dedicated Pebble app store which is accessible on both Android and iOS. It also features a three-axis accelerometer which third party apps will be able to make full use of using the Pebble SDK. This is Allerta’s slimmest device to date and reduces some of the uber-geek stigma which came with its predecessors bulk.

Free Software/Open Source

  • Cisco On Board with SDN, OpenFlow

    Networking giant Cisco Systems has remained an industry leader by understanding and leading industry transitions. One such transition occurring is the emergence of software defined networking (SDN) and the OpenFlow protocol and it’s a transition that Cisco doesn’t plan to miss.

  • Graduating Apache Rave project demonstrates open innovation in software
  • Naming names
  • Design in the FOSS world

    As I told in a previous post, I came with the idea of a panel about design in the FOSS world at the upcoming Libre Graphics Meeting but then chickened-out and resumed to photography stuff, still the panel will happen anyway. I think is a good idea to write-down my thoughts on the matter, since the outcome of the panel is going to be a direct opposite of what I envisioned (that’s what I expect, giving the panelists).

    So, what’s the problems? while proper Free and Open Source Software happens in the bazaar, traditionally design is done the opposite way, in the cathedral, an unavoidable conflict. On top of that, there is also the problem of the designers being primadonas, considering their work dark magic, voodoo, incomprehensive by mere mortals. It doesn’t help a lot of volunteer developers participating in communities have big egos too, as they are doing the work for free, so they expect at least that.

  • With leaders like these, Free Software will never win

    Those are the things you should tell people first, if you want to spread Free Software. And you should do it in a balanced way, mentioning software as such just en passant. You should explain that problems like those above are tales of stupidity and incompetence that waste mountains of public and private money, at levels where it almost doesn’t matter what the license of the involved software is. Let’s help people to fight software-related wastes and proprietary standards, without caring at all if they do not give back to the “Free SW community”! This will create an environment much more conducive to Free Software than we could ever obtain by continuing to repeat ad nauseam the GNU Manifesto.

  • The role of critics in FOSS development

    I’ve been thinking a lot over the past couple of years of the role that critics play in the course of free/open source development.

  • Open source companies create shared value

    The free-market capitalistic definition of companies’ goals was, for a long time, very simple: to make as much profit as possible. With that in mind, the only difference between a success and a failure was the investor’s return on investment. Short-term profit became priority number one. However, this classic definition of capitalism hastransformed the way companies are perceived in the population over time.

  • Open source teaches people how to fish
  • Further lessons of closed source software

    Recently I was on the task of getting some scripts together for handling FTP commands to run several time a day to move files around. Unfortunately, the platform that was already in place is a Windows 2008 R2 server. But, being optimistic we moved forward on the project. After digging around we soon found out that the list of options is slim on solutions for doing FTP transfers from scripts on Windows. There are really no known good solutions that are free that offer extensible scripting abilities. We ended up selecting CuteFTP Professional which was purchased by somebody else a few years back so a license was already owned for the software. I’ve used the client for CuteFTP in the past so I felt fairly comfortable with this selection. I also thought about installing Perl for Windows and trying to script something in there, which might still be a viable option.

  • Web Browsers

  • SaaS

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • TDF Releases Getting Started Guide for LibreOffice 3.4

      Getting Started with OpenOffice.org was a handy user guide chocked full of information on the care and feeding of the Open Source office suite. But like the suite itself, it has been superseded by the efforts of The Document Foundation. With updates, rewrites, and the addition of illustrations and images for 3.4, reading up on the popular application is easier than ever.

  • Healthcare

    • The power of the 1 and how open innovation changed global health

      It is sometimes said that computer scientists worry about only three numbers: 0, 1, and N, where N tends to get very large. Sometimes such oversimplifications can lead to astonishing insights, such as the one that I had 25 years ago in June of 1987.

      Do you remember 1987? Greed was good, junk bonds were king, and zero was the biggest and most important number on Wall Street. Zero drove all the arbitrage equations, because both sides of the arbitrage are supposed to sum to zero. Arbitrage is a special case of the zero-sum game, a prominent theory promulgated by all respectable business schools of the day. Zero-sum logic made it a moral imperative to ensure that success was not just about winning, but about making sure that everybody else lost. You were not forced to like the terms of the game, but you were damn sure forced to accept them as they only way to play.

    • Open source medicine puts health above profits

      Open source is powering a revolution in medicine and health care in multiple ways. Open source software and methods make large-scale collaborative research projects feasible, multiplying the brainpower applied to a project, expanding the data pool, and creating transparency and accountability. This is a huge win for the advancement of new treatments and cures, and cutting the costs of research. Open source practice and records software cut the costs of running medical practices, and puts practitioners in charge instead of software vendors.

  • BSD

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Another Hatchet Job From Michael Larabel

      Here’s my wishlist. I think there is plenty of good software in FLOSS so it is not a high priority to create more unless someone has the urge. I think the highest priority of the Free Software movement should be to educate people about Free Software.

  • Project Releases

  • Public Services/Government

    • Sarkozy: Administration open source spending grows 30 percent annually

      French president Nicolas Sarkozy says that 15 percent of the IT budgets of the country’s public administrations is spent on purchasing services on free and open source software and that this amount is growing by 30 percent per year, reports CNLL (Conseil National du Logiciel Libre), a trade group representing IT companies providing free and open source software services. Sarkozy told the group that free software is “strategic for the development of France’s digital sector.”

  • Openness/Sharing

  • Programming

  • Standards/Consortia

Leftovers

  • Is Sierra Leone, without Internet and Free Software, just a knowledge landfill?

    I asked to see the library and found there mostly old Windows books, clearly “decommissioned”: technologically old, useless books. Can it be that, even when it comes to books (and, by extension, knowledge), underdeveloped African countries are just a landfill for the Global North?

  • Review: Kooky, Humble Bundle’s First Movie
  • Mind-sets in Software

    My latest career was teaching and it was natural to use IT to collect and analyze data on the performance of students but also to use IT for teaching and later to teach students how to do IT for their lives. Before I used GNU/Linux I owned a variety of PCs, some home-built but I used DOS and Lose 3.1 on them. After a few years I was using Lose ’95 in a classroom and the damned machines were frequently crashing, just like Bill Gates’ experience (He laughed. I didn’t.). I switched to Caldera GNU/Linux and was suddenly and dramatically free of crashes.

  • Generation @ – inspired by @smarimc

    I think Smári McCarthy, a fellow transnational citizen, Uberhacker and admired activist, touched a special nerve when he recently twittered:

    Ours is a world where @ is replacing ©. Attribution, not restrictions.

  • Report: The alternative OS, my top 5

  • Security

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Emerging Forces in Global Oil Consumption: The Middle East and Africa

      Over the past decade, Asia’s transition to the leadership position in global oil consumption is well known. Starting in 2002, OECD countries slowed their consumption growth for oil and subsequent to 2005 actually saw their consumption decline. This process freed up limited oil supplies to Asia, which now accounts for 31% of total global oil use, as of the latest data. | see: Regional Share of Total Global Oil Consumption (as of Q4 2011).

  • Finance

    • From Financial Crisis to Stagnation: An Interview with Thomas Palley
    • Goldman Sachs under pressure to reveal lobby ties

      The Needmor Fund, a small foundation based in Toledo, Ohio, wants Goldman Sachs to lift the veil on its lobbying activities and the advocacy groups it backs financially.

    • Music Stops for Wall Street Bankers

      Amid new regulation, lower profits and a dreary market for mergers and acquisitions, several banks are planning to trim investment-banking units that were built for an era of deals aplenty.

      Having already slashed bonuses, banks including Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley are preparing to cut dozens of jobs, including some held by senior bankers, according to people familiar with the matter. As they pursue this targeted round of trims as soon as next month, they and rivals are also revisiting profit expectations for their advisory businesses, people familiar with the matter said.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

      • Apple doesn’t own iPad trademark, says Chinese official

        A Chinese official said on Tuesday that Apple does not have ownership of the iPad trademark in China, signaling that authorities could be favoring local company Proview in its battle with the U.S. tech giant over rights to the iconic brand name.

        Fu Shuangjian, the vice minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), made the comment as Apple faces an ongoing court battle with Proview for ownership of the iPad trademark.

      • China backs Proview in Apple iPad trademark war

04.22.12

Links 22/4/2012: Linux 3.4 RC4 is Out, Linus Torvalds Respects Ubuntu

Posted in News Roundup at 10:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • RIM may make BlackBerry OS open source

    Research In Motion, which makes BlackBerry phones, may be looking at making the operating system open, which will allow other manufacturers to make smartphones using the platform.

  • BlackBerry to go open source?
  • Scientists: All Research Should Be Open Source

    Phys.org is reporting on a recently published paper that suggests all scientific journals should require the full disclosure of source code as a condition of publication. The paper states that only 3 science journals currently require source code.

  • Why Google secretly switched to an open-source networking technology in 2010
  • CSCO, JNPR: ‘OpenFlow’ Takes Stage, Says ISI (Correction)
  • Google revamps network via OpenFlow
  • Ex-Magento CTO And Co-Founder: eBay Doesn’t Understand The Meaning Of Open
  • Open source WEM from Rivet Logic

    Consulting and systems integration firm Rivet Logic has released Crafter Rivet V. 2.0, an open source Web experience management (WEM) offering built on Alfresco 4. The WEM solution is the latest addition to Rivet Logic’s suite of solutions for content management, collaboration and community leveraging open source software.

  • Research lab extends host-based cyber sensor project to open source

    A Department of Energy (DOE) lab is taking research done to develop a host-based security sensor and open-sourcing the software to encourage community feedback and participation.

  • Open Source Integrity Report : Key Findings
  • Open Source Integrated Photonics Software Launched

    Ghent University and nanoelectronics research center imec of Leuven have launched IPKISS, an open source software platform for designing photonic components and complex photonic integrated circuits, they announced.

  • Photonics integration goes open-source with IPKISS
  • Radical Idea: Open source social networking
  • First Open Source Online Gambling Platform Launched by Cubeia Ltd.

    In a recent press release from Stockholm Sweden the software developer Cubeia Ltd, has announced its launch of the first open source multi-player server focused on the online gambling industry.

  • Events

  • Web Browsers

  • SaaS

    • High stakes for open source in the commercial cloud

      Cloud computing has been described by some of the more radical thinkers as a profound challenge to the heart of software freedom. There’s some justification to this accusation.

      First, you need more than your software’s source code to take your cloud activity into your own hands. Although open source gives you the freedom to use, study, modify, and distribute the software, it doesn’t necessarily allow the use of the place it runs or the APIs needed to access that place. As such, considering your software-freedom-derived business flexibility in the area of cloud computing is more complex than for in-house desktop or server solutions.

    • Puppet equipped to be OpenStack interface
    • OpenStack Is Not A Proprietary Cloud, Kemp Argues

      Former NASA CTO and Nebula founder Chris Kemp says private clouds will need to be based on a flexible, general purpose set of open source code that can work with public clouds.

    • Open vs. proprietary debate heats up the cloud

      The familiar debate of open source vs. proprietary IT offerings now seems in full swing in the cloud, and the rhetoric shooting back and forth between some of the major vendors is intensifying. The most recent round really picked up a few weeks ago when Citrix announced it would bring its CloudStack cloud building platform to the Apache Software Foundation, creating a competing model to OpenStack. Before that, OpenStack had been gaining momentum in the open source cloud worlds. While Citrix’s move was initially seen as a competition to OpenStack, both companies have more recently taken aim at a common foe: VMware.

  • Databases

  • CMS

  • Funding

  • BSD

  • Public Services/Government

    • Get rid of ‘digital handcuffs’, says European commission vice-president

      The openness of the web needs to be protected and “digital handcuffs” need to be removed, Neelie Kroes, the vice-president of the European commission with responsibility for Europe’s digital agenda, has said.

      Speaking at the World Wide Web (WWW2012) conference in Lyon on Thursday, Kroes examined the idea of an open web and spoke of its benefits. “With a truly open, universal platform, we can deliver choice and competition; innovation and opportunity; freedom and democratic accountability,” she said.

      Holding up a pair of handcuffs sent to her the previous day by the Free Software Foundation along with a letter asking if she was “with them on openness”, she said: “Let me show you, these handcuffs are not closed, not locked. I can open them if and when I want. That’s what I mean by being open online, what it means to me to get rid of ‘digital handcuffs’.”

    • ‘Make M’sia open-source software hub’

      Malaysia should take the lead and implement policies to transform the country into an international open-source software (OSS) hub, Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) said here today.

      CAP president SM Mohamed Idris suggested that the government form a specific agency to formulate policies to make Malaysia the leader in the promotion and development of OSS.

      He urged the government to take the initiative to make the country an OSS hub that would save millions of ringgit for Malaysian consumers and companies.

      He said it would create jobs and develop skills for local manpower, providing the competitive cutting-edge expertise and support services for the huge OSS market worldwide.

    • Dev: keep government tech open source

      Linux admin Richard Harvey has made an impassioned plea for support in influencing UK government policy on open source.

      The government is currently consulting on the use of open standards and open source as an alternative to proprietary software. Corporations that stand to lose out are lobbying the government in an attempt to discredit open source and open standards, he claimed on his Support Open Standards website.

      “As the open source community, we have generally not responded to the consultation because we may have read it and thought ‘that’s really good’,” said Harvey on the site. “We need to feed this back, otherwise this will become a one-sided debate. Don’t let large corporates buy UK policy.”

  • Openness/Sharing

    • Real-life, working Tricorder developed by Trekkie-scientist and made open source available

      Sometime at the beginning of the year I mentioned in post that once stepping into the age of Terahertz electromagnetic waves (T-rays), which can penetrate any molecule and and then interpret it for identification, we will come to know a slew of new, grand applications, from surveillance , to medical, but possibly the most interesting prospect would be the passing of Star Trek’s iconic handheld device, the tricorder, to the realm of reality. It might take a while for a full fledged tricoder to be created, not until T-ray scanner/emitters become reasonable enough, however Dr. Peter Jansen, a PhD graduate of the Cognitive Science Laboratory at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, has come up with the best working tricorder-spin off so far. His handheld device is capable of sensing temperature, pressure, humidity, distances, location, motion and even electromagnetic measurements to test magnetic fields, and is open source available – anyone has access to the device’s plans and can build one at home.

    • Updated: Virtual MS research community emerges

      Stakeholders in the development of multiple sclerosis drugs have taken their fight against the neurodegenerative disease online with the launch of a virtual community intended to connect researchers of MS and related disorders. The effort has emerged after earlier crowd-sourcing and open source efforts to discover new treatments.

    • Open Data

      • City to Allocate $50,000 for Open-Source Data

        Raleigh is talking the talk and walking the open-source walk. In a 6-to-2 vote, city councilors agreed Tuesday to provide $50,000 annually for an open-source data catalog.

        The funding will be included in next year’s budget, which will be presented by City Manager Russell Allen next month. Councilor and Technology and Communication Committee Chair Bonner Gaylord, who originally proposed the idea, said the catalog is a necessary step for a more open and transparent government.

      • The Open Source Public Tree Inventory Platform – OpenTreeMap
      • Opening Up the Inner Workings of New York City

        One of the most fascinating impacts of the open data and open source (software code that’s available to the public to improve and reuse) movements has been the influx of new web tools, developed by private companies and nonprofits, that help people better engage with, and navigate, their city.

        In March, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a law mandating that all city agencies put their data online over the course of the next six years.

        The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT), which oversees how new technologies are being used by other city agencies, began putting city data online in a Socrata site — technology created in Seattle — in 2011, and will enforce the city’s new requirements.

        The benefits of open data can be seen in the work of the nonprofit company OpenPlans, which has been at the forefront of the open source movement in New York City. The products and services it creates using data and code from the MTA and other city agencies illuminate how New Yorkers might live in the near future, as the physical and digital versions of the city merge together.

    • Open Access/Content

      • A cornerstone for success

        An open source textbook library that would be available to students free of charge is a promising step toward the future.

    • Open Hardware

      • Open-source Hardware Movement Seeks Legitimacy

        Inspired by the success of the open-source software movement, a group of technology enthusiasts is looking to unite the fragmented open-source hardware community in an effort to promote hardware innovation.

  • Standards/Consortia

Leftovers

  • Study Calls on EU Regulators to Free Up the Airwaves

    The European Commission released a ground-breaking study on shared access to radio spectrum. The study, conducted by SCF Associates Ltd, calls for a sweeping reform of wireless communications policies, so as to free up more airwaves and pave the way for “super-WiFi” networks. The EU is severely lagging behind the US when it comes to adapting spectrum policy to new needs and possibilities, and this study should sound as a wake-up call for policy-makers.

  • Security

  • Finance

    • SEC, CFTC Retreat On Swap Dealer Regulation

      Corporate America, with help from the Obama administration, has struck yet another blow against the scary financial regulations it claims will hurt the economy.

      On Wednesday they undercut new regulations on derivatives, which the detail-obsessed among us might point out didn’t just hurt the economy but nearly destroyed it. Just a few years ago.

      It’s just the latest in a growing string of defeats and surrenders by regulators to the same financial industry that helped nearly destroy the economy, and needed massive bailouts as a result. Just a few years ago.

      Under heavy pressure from the energy industry and other corporate interests, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission are retreating from a plan to regulate many reaches of the U.S. trade in financial derivatives known as swaps, including the credit derivatives that nearly brought down the financial system.

04.21.12

Links 21/4/2012: Linux on the Watch, More Migrations to Linux in India

Posted in News Roundup at 11:22 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Finance

    • Sequoia Fund Manager Campaigns Against Goldman Board Member, Former Fannie CEO Jim Johnson

      A telling taboo in elite circles is the issue of corruption. At INET last year, after a panel discussion on the financial crisis, Jamie Galbraith said he was astonished that there was not a single mention of fraud. His observation was met with a resounding silence.

    • The Risk of ‘Hot’ Inflation

      The answer is a ‘cold’ inflation, marked by a steady loss of purchasing power that has progressed through Western economies, not merely over the past few years but over the past decade. Moreover, perhaps it’s also the case that complacency in the face of empirical data (heavily-manipulated, many would argue), support has grown up around ongoing “benign” inflation.

      If so, Western economies face an unpriced risk now, not from spiraling deflation, nor hyperinflation, but rather from the breakout of a (merely) strong inflation.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Possible hepatitus C cure stymied by deadlocked patent owners

      The two companies “owning” the drugs, however, are refusing to enter serious negotiations. Instead, they seem to be guarding their current patent monopolies and the profits generated thereby, while offering the public pablum justifications for not getting on with a deal that seems obvious and hugely in the public interest.

    • Copyrights

      • ACTA

        • Is the G8 already working on a new ACTA?

          A leaked G8 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and USA) document gives the strongest indication yet that the leading countries behind ACTA are working on the basis that the Agreement is now in serious trouble and needs to be fundamentally re-thought and re-worked – and in its current form even abandoned.

          The leaked document, apparently prepared in the context of law enforcement working groups, appears to consciously address some of the criticisms that have been made of ACTA. In particular, the document avoids repeating the most obvious failure in ACTA – seeking to propose a “one size fits all” solution for every IPR issue from counterfeiting to unauthorised copying of digital goods. Instead, it narrows its focus wholly to counterfeit goods and medicines.

04.20.12

Linux Device for Retro Games, Raspberry Pi Pre-orders @ 350,000

Posted in News Roundup at 2:41 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Links 20/4/2012:

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Security

  • Finance

    • The European Stabilization Mechanism, Or How the Goldman Vampire Squid Just Captured Europe

      By December 2011, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, former vice president of Goldman Sachs Europe, was able to approve a 500 billion Euro bailout for European banks without asking anyone’s permission. And in January 2012, a permanent rescue funding program called the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was passed in the dead of night with barely even a mention in the press. The ESM imposes an open-ended debt on EU member governments, putting taxpayers on the hook for whatever the ESM’s Eurocrat overseers demand.

      The bankers’ coup has triumphed in Europe seemingly without a fight. The ESM is cheered by Eurozone governments, their creditors, and “the market” alike, because it means investors will keep buying sovereign debt. All is sacrificed to the demands of the creditors, because where else can the money be had to float the crippling debts of the Eurozone governments?

  • Privacy

    • Privacy Advocates vs. The Government: Why CISPA Will Become Law

      Have you heard about CISPA? It’s the acronym for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.

      CISPA is being likened to the now-moribund SOPA and PIPA bills smothered by Congress after widespread public opposition.

      However, only opponents see similarities. Advocates see it as completely different.

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