Summary: The latest target of BT’s patent bullying (shakedowns and lawsuits) is the company that has turned into somewhat of a Debian proponent (albeit with DRM)

BT is a patent aggressor whose activities in the court we haven't heard of in a while (it even targeted Android). BT shows no sign of relenting. This unpopular strategy carries on and the latest suggests that “British Telecommunications (BT) have filed a lawsuit against Valve claiming patent infringement. The action was brought “based on Valve’s continued willful infringement” of four patents (I’ll go into what they are in a moment) and was filed in Delaware on 28 July.”

“It resorts to patent aggression to make up for commercial issues, just like IBM (it too became a patent bully).”Notice the choice of Delaware. The British and US media wrote quite a lot about this lawsuit [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21]. So far we have found 22 articles about this lawsuit alone (that’s a lot for patent news) and it looks rather obvious that BT is just getting desperate. It resorts to patent aggression to make up for commercial issues, just like IBM (it too became a patent bully). █

Article as ODF

Publicado en Debian, Decepción, GNU/Linux, IBM, Law, Microsoft, Patentes at 6:23 pm por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Una familia grande y felizcon montón de dinero en circulación y una agend pro-patentes de software

Sumario: Los últimos ejemplos de inéquivocosempujes por las patentes de software bajo el disfraz de ‘reportajes’ (pobre farsa) o ‘reforma’ de patentes (nada que ver con reforma), courtesía de IAM ‘magazine’ y David Kappos, respectivamente

LA cálidad de patentes en la USPTO bajo el mando de David Kappos ha sido pobre y en decadencia. Esto aparentemente fue su objetivo o (predictivamente) consequencia de la estrategia. Deja a los Estados Unidos en un estado de desórden total, donde un montón de compañías ´start-ups´ tosen ‘dinero por protección’ o se van a la quiebra. No sólo trolles de patentes están causando estos estragos pero también grandes agresores de patentes, como Microsoft y IBM. Imaginen lo que significaría esta clase de caos para la India, donde un montón de software es desarrollado y el presupuesto de las firmas locales es ajustado (contratar abogados en otro país es oneroso).

“No sólotrolles de patentes están causando estos estragos pero también grandes agresores de patentes, como Microsofty IBM.”

Haciéndo balance de la última propaganda del ‘magazine’ IAM, Techrights no puede dejar de regañar y el ridículizar a este llamado ‘magazine’ (parece mas un pamfleto de cabildeo). No es incluso un magazine, es Kool-Aid en forma de papel y un sitio de pago web (para mantener sólo el coro, voces disentivas no son permitidas). Aquí esta el lavado de cerebro de IAM acerca de ‘calidad’ de patentes hoy (el número de patetentes otorgadas creciendo al doble en sólo pocos años es una evidente indicación de su baja cálidad) e incluso peor lavada de cerebro es aquella que engañosamente representa el punto de vista de los Hindues, compuesto por un Anglo-Saxon quien es empleado para escribir tales callos. No Hindú es incluso citado en este artículo, excepto una firma de leyes (!obviamente no parcialidad!).

Incluso después de que Alice, desafíe las patentes de software en su país de origen, IAM sigue pataleándo por las patentes de software. IAM tiene su base en Londres, lo que hace que sea aún más indignante, hasta que uno comprueba que los fondos del IAM en realidad provienen de …

“Techrightsno puede dejar de regañar y el ridículizara este llamado ‘magazine’ (parece mas un pamfleto de cabildeo). No es incluso un magazine, es Kool-Aid en forma de papely un sitio de pago web (para mantener sólo el coro, voces disentivas no son permitidas).”

Robert R. Sachs del Bilski Blog (ástutamente nombrado como el famoso caso Bilski) esta preparando un reporte (y una serie de artículos derivados de el) acerca del porque las patentes de software son simplemente procesos mentales, por lo tanto abstráctas. En muchos aspectos, las patentes de software son un gran engaño, que explotan la incomprensión de la gente de cómo funciona realmente el software (no es difícil estafar o embaucar a los jueces de patentes que nunca escribierón una sola línea de código).

Temprano hoy confronté al editor en jefe de IAM, quien esta en negación de trolles (todavía pretende que ese problema exista, al igual que las personas que niegan el calentamiento global provocado por el hombre o el cambio climático). Este editor y sus chicos (la única mujer que hay administrativo) no están reportando. Están presionando por las patentes de software en la India hoy en día, con el uso de la distorsión de los hechos y mentiras. La culpa es de IAM por hacer esto. Como dije el día de hoy, en respuesta al editor: “Mientras ustedes hacen lavado de reputación de los trolles de patentes y de las patentes de software, mientras al mismo tiempo ellos son los que les pagan, esas son noticias falsas. PR “.

“Ellos están presionando por las patentes de software en la India hoy en día, con el uso de la distorsión de los hechos y mentiras .”

Es extremandamente importante sacar a la luz de quien IAM realmente es y quienes lo están financiando (y el porque).

Como dije el día de hoy, IAM “sigue demostrando que no es un verdadero periódico / revista, pero sólo esta cabildeando por dinero mientras pretendoe estar reportando. Asqueroso.”

IAM está lleno de maximálistas de patentes (miren de donde proviene el autor) quien quiere más patentes en más lugars, más dominios, más compañías, y así sucesivamente. IAM es financiado por aquellos intereses. ¿Qué dice esto de IAM? Es como una revista acerca de energía que es financiada por petroleras y compañías de carbon, en orden de suprimir información acerca de formas altenativas de energía. Por lo menos parcialismo por omisión. Este ‘magazine’ IAM conectado con villanos y la EPO ahora se atreve avergonzar a la India por su muy táctica decisión de bloquear las patentes de software, de la misma manera que lo hizo con Alemania por no hacer lo suficiénte (para disgusto del editor) para promover abiértamente a la UPC, la cual incidentalmente pagó a IAM para promover(incluso por la firma PR de la EPO). No se necesita ser un genio para ver lo que aquí sucede, quien paga, y cui bono etc. IAM dedicó su último número al troll de patentes más grande del mundo [EN|ES] — un asunto que fue incluído en este artículo, cuya sóla premisa (y titular) es una gran mentira. El título dice: “La actitud fuerte de la India contra las patentes de software podría obstaculizar los planes de impulsar sus “start-ups” digitales (no jodan!). Lo único y correctamente que la decisión India está obstaculizando es la criminal extorsión y cobro de cupos por supuesta protección de parte de los trolles de patentes y las grandes corporaciónes detrás de ellos, lease la Sagrada Familia: Microsoft, IBM, Apple y otros.

“Cada vez es más importante sacar a la luz lo que realmente IAM es y quienes lo están finánciando (y el porque).”

En realidad, lo opuesto es cierto, ya que las patentes de software obstaculizarían las ´start-ups´ de la India. Pregúntelo a estas nuevas empresas y ellas se lo dirán. Solicitar a Microsoft o IBM (o sus abogados de patentes en la India) y ellos hablarán ‘a favor’ de nuevas empresas sólo un montón de mentiras. Pregunte a los grupos de presión de las grandes empresas y sus abogados de patentes (como los que pagan IAM) y ellos también le dirá un montón de mentiras. Es el mismo escenario que vimos en New Zealand y en Europe, donde Microsoft paga cabilderos para supuestametne representar PYMEs y actualmente dice lo opuesto a o que las PYMEs Europeas piensan creen y necesitan. IAM ahora demuestra que no es mejor que esos cabilderos. La diferencia es la manera en que se carácterizan a sí mismos.

Indian startups necesitan código no patentes, las que están fuera de su alcanze de todas maneras, no importa el costo del litigio. IAM escribió: “Me parece que esto podría causar grandes problemas para las empresas de nueva creación digitales que el gobierno tiene tanto interés en apoyar. Muchos de ellos tendrán las innovaciones relacionadas con la informática en el corazón de sus modelos de negocio; si llega a ser mucho más difícil para ellos obtener protección de patentes sobre estos, entonces las razones para que consideren su reubicación fuera de la India podría llegar a ser aún más convincente.”

“Indian startups necesitan código no patentes, las que están fuera de su alcanze de todas maneras, no importa el costo del litigio.”

Esto son tonterías. ¿Dónde esta la evidencia que sin patentes de software aquellas start-ups se mudarían de la India y dado que el mercado de software es internacional (definivamente no local), ¿Qué diferencia la relocación tendría? Podría hacer una diferencia para corporaciones multinacionales como IBM or Microsoft, no duda acerca de eso…

Hablando de Microsoft, anoche descubrimos (no sorprendente) que Microsoft está poniéndo dinero en la mesa de Debian (conferencia). Se convierte en — gasp — un financista. Si, es E.E.E., pero ¿Entiénde Debian eso? Como notamos hace unos dias y el último fin de semana, Microsoft todavía financia conferencias de maximálistas de patetnes (con Microsoft financiados cablideros quienes promueven las patentes de software), donde pueda poner más adentro de la EPO su influencia (su socio criminal) y políticos Europeos. ¿Puede Microsoft ser confíado cuando continúa extorsiónando y chantajeando a fabricantes de aparatos basados en Debian usando patentes de software? Eso es una pregunta retórica.

“¿Puede Microsoft ser confíado cuando continúa extorsiónando y chantajeando a fabricantes de aparatos basados en Debian usando patentes de software?”

Incidentalmente habiéndo mencionado a David Kappos temprano, él también está actuando más como un grupo de presión (oficial convertido en cabildero de una manera clásica de convertir influencia en dinero), financiado por Microsoft y otras empresas con el fin de promover las patentes de software. Recuérden que Horacio Gutierrez y sus compañeros de Microsoft una vez (o más de una vez) pagarón a Florian Müller para hacer lo mismo. Aquí esta un artículo reciénte que un lector nos envió anoche.Se deja de mencionar el papel especial de Kappos allí. Sólo dice que “Apple está tomando un papel más importante en el impulso a la reforma de patentes en los Estados Unidos asociándose con IBM, Microsoft y otras empresas como parte de la Asociación Americana para la Innovación. El objetivo de la organización es para presionar al gobierno federal a adoptar los cambios que quiere mejorar sistema de patentes del país.

No, sólo quiere promover las patentes de software. Cuando Microsoft dice “reforma” de patentes significa cabildeo por las patentes de software (al igual que Apple e IBM). Ellos secuestran la palabra reforma y el jefe de su principal grupo de presión en el PAI es el mismo David Kappos.”

“¿Microsoft está ahora en el mismo grupo liderado por Kappos que promueve las patentes de software.”

“Por cierto,” nos dijo un lector, “nos hemos estado preguntando aquí acerca de por qué Microsoft es tá tan tranquilo y no ataca las legislaciones de implementación dee software libre. Nos dimos cuenta de que deben estar trabajando en algo con lo que se deshacerán de ambos. Escarbándo un poco, pueda ser que ellos esten confidentes que la TTIP, TISA, y CETA prohibirán FOSS. No hay cubrimiénto de ello en la prensa. Así mismo, Veo que me he subestimado la importancia de Wikileaks, así como los motivos de Microsoft y sus peones del gobierno de aplastarla. Por lo que yo sé, TISA o TTIP también está impulsando las patentes de software, pero he leído casi nada todavía y estoy a punto de comenzar.”

Microsoft esta en le grupo liderado por Kappos que promueve las patentes de software. Como nuestro lector lo pone, “reforma resulta ser otra de sus palabras comadreja”

Lo mismo va por “amando” a Linux. Cuidado, Debian. Ya estás quebrado y fragmenta do debido a systemd. ¿Ahora dejas que un matón de patentes entre a tus conferencias? ¿Distribuiras botones que digan “Microsoft ama a Linux” a los asistentes, como es usual? Perfectamente va con el último perfil E.E.E..

“He matado al menos dos conferencias de Mac. [...] Mediante la inyección de contenido de Microsoft en la conferencia, la conferencia cerró. El tipo que lo dirigió, dijo, ¿por qué estoy haciendo esto? “

Jefe Evangelista de Microsoft

Summary: The latest examples of unequivocal pushes for software patents, under the guise of ‘reporting’ (poor-shaming) or patent ‘reform’ (nothing to do with reform), courtesy of IAM ‘magazine’ and David Kappos, respectively

PATENT quality at the David Kappos-led USPTO has been poor and declining. This was apparently the goal, or an obvious (predictable) consequence of the strategy. It leaves the United States in a state of total mess, where a lot of startups are forced to cough out ‘protection money’ or go out of business. Not only patent trolls are causing this havoc but also large patent aggressors, such as Microsoft and IBM. Imagine what this kind of mess would mean to India, where a lot of software is being developed and the budget of local firms is relatively tight (hiring lawyers in another country is extremely expensive).

“Not only patent trolls are causing this havoc but also large patent aggressors, such as Microsoft and IBM.”Taking stock of the latest propaganda from IAM ‘magazine’, Techrights cannot help but berate and ridicule this so-called ‘magazine’ (more like a lobbying pamphlet). It’s not even a magazine, it’s Kool-Aid in paper form and a paywalled Web site (to keep only the choir in the know, no dissenting voices allowed). Here is today’s IAM brainwash about US patent ‘quality’ (the number of granted patents doubling in just a few years is evidently an indication of declining quality) and even worse brainwash that misrepresents the views of Indians, composed by an Anglo-Saxon who is employed to write such tripe. No Indian is even quoted in this article, except a law firm (obviously no bias there!).

Even after Alice, which challenges software patents in their home country, IAM continues to bat for software patents. IAM is London-based, which makes it even more outrageous, until one checks where IAM’s funds actually come from…

“Techrights cannot help but berate and ridicule this so-called ‘magazine’ (more like a lobbying pamphlet). It’s not even a magazine, it’s Kool-Aid in paper form and a paywalled Web site (to keep only the choir in the know, no dissenting voice allowed).”Robert R. Sachs from Bilski Blog (shrewdly named after the famous Bilski case) is preparing a paper (and a series of articles derived from it) about why software patents are just mental processes, hence abstract. In many ways, software patents a major deception, exploiting people’s misunderstanding of how software actually works (it’s not hard to scam or bamboozle patent judges who never wrote a single line of code).

Earlier today I confronted the editor in chief at IAM, who is a trolls denialist (he still pretends that no such problem exists, just like people who deny human-caused global warning or climate change). This editor and his guys (the only woman there is clerical) are not reporting. They’re pushing for software patents in India today, using distortion of facts and outright lies. Shame on IAM for doing this. As I put it earlier today, in response to the editor: “As long as you guys do reputation laundering for patent trolls and software patents while they PAY you, you’re fake news. PR.”

“They’re pushing for software patents in India today, using distortion of facts and outright lies.”It’s increasingly important to shed light on what IAM really is and who’s funding it (and what for).

As I put it earlier today, IAM “continues to demonstrate that it’s not a real newspaper/magazine but just paid lobbying pretending to be reporting. Disgusting.”

IAM is full of patent maximalists (look at the authors’ background) who want more patents in more places, more domains, more companies, and so on. IAM is funded by those interests. What does that say about IAM? It’s like a magazine about energy which is funded by oil and coal companies, in order to suppress any coverage of alternative forms of energy. Bias by omission at the very least. This villainous, trolls- and EPO-connected IAM ‘magazine’ now shames India over India’s very tactful decision to block software patents, in the same way it repeatedly shamed Germany for not doing enough (much to the editor’s displeasure) to openly promote UPC, which incidentally IAM got paid to promote (even by the EPO's PR firm). It doesn’t take a genius to see what’s going on here, who pays, and cui bono etc. IAM dedicated their latest issue to the world’s largest patent troll [EN|ES] — an issue which apparently included this article, whose whole premise (and headline) is a big lie. The title says “India’s tough new line on software patents could hamper plans for boosting its digital start-ups” (no kidding!).

“It’s increasingly important to shed light on what IAM really is and who’s funding it (and what for).”In reality, the very opposite is true as software patents would hamper India’s plans for boosting its digital start-ups. Ask these start-ups and they will say so. Ask Microsoft or IBM (or their patent lawyers in India) and they will say ‘on behalf’ of these start-ups just a bunch of lies. Ask lobbyists of big companies and patent lawyers (like those that pay IAM) and they too will tell lots of lies. It’s the same scenario we saw in New Zealand and in Europe, where Microsoft even pays lobbyists to pretend to represent small businesses and actually say the very opposite of what European SMEs think and believe in. IAM now demonstrates that it’s no better than these lobbyists. The difference is the way they publicly characterise themselves.

Indian startups need code, not patents, which are priced out of reach anyway, never mind cost of litigation. IAM wrote: “It seems to me that this could cause some big problems for the digital start-ups that the government is so keen to support. Many of them will have computer-related innovations at the heart of their business models; if it becomes much more difficult for them to obtain patent protection on these, then the reasons for them to consider relocating outside of India could well become even more compelling.”

“Indian startups need code, not patents, which are priced out of reach anyway, never mind cost of litigation.”This is nonsense. Where is the evidence that without software patents those start-ups would move out of India and given that the software market is an international market (definitely not local), what difference would relocation make anyway? It might make a difference for multinational corporations such as IBM or Microsoft, no doubt about that…

Speaking of Microsoft, last night we discovered (not too shockingly) that Microsoft is putting money on Debian’s table (conference). It becomes — gasp — a sponsor. Yes, it’s E.E.E., but does Debian understand that? As we noted some days ago and last weekend, Microsoft still sponsors patent maximalism conferences (with Microsoft-funded lobbyists who promote software patents), wherein it can further influence the EPO (its partner in crime, so to speak) and European politicians. Can Microsoft be trusted at all while it’s extorting and blackmailing Debian-based device manufacturers using software patents? That’s a rhetorical question.

“Can Microsoft be trusted at all while it’s extorting and blackmailing Debian-based device manufacturers using software patents?”Incidentally, having mentioned David Kappos earlier, he too is now acting more as a lobbyist (official-turned-lobbyist a classic way of turning influence into money), funded by Microsoft and others in order to promote software patents. Remember that Horacio Gutierrez and his Microsoft chums once (or more than once) paid Florian Müller to do the same thing. Here is a recent article which a reader sent to us last night. It neglects to mention the special role of Kappos there. It just says that “Apple is taking a bigger role in pushing for patent reform in the United States by teaming up with IBM, Microsoft, and other companies as part of the Partnership for American Innovation. The organization’s goal is to lobby the Federal government to adopt the changes it wants to improve the country’s patent system.”

No, it wants to promote software patents. When Microsoft says patent “reform” it means software patents lobbying (same for Apple and IBM). They hijack the word reform and their chief lobbyist at PAI is David Kappos himself.

“Microsoft is now in the Kappos-led group that pushes for software patents.”“By the way,” told us one reader, “we’ve been wondering here about why Microsoft is so quiet and not attacking FOSS deployments and legislations. We figured that they must be working on something that can do an end-run around both. Digging a bit, it might be that they are confident that TTIP, TISA, and CETA will ban FOSS. There’s been no coverage of that to speak of in the mainstream press. In the same digging, I see that I’ve underestimated the importance of Wikileaks as well as the motives for Microsoft and its government stooges to crush it. As far as I know, TISA or TTIP is also pushing software patents, but I’ve read almost nothing yet and am about to start.”

Microsoft is now in the Kappos-led group that pushes for software patents. as our reader put it, “reform turns out to be one of their weasel words.”

The same goes for “loving” Linux. Watch out, Debian. You’re already fractured and fragmented due to systemd. Now you let the patent bully enter your events? Will buttons that say "Microsoft loves Linux" be distributed to put people off, as usual? It perfectly fits the latest E.E.E. pattern. █

“I’ve killed at least two Mac conferences. [...] by injecting Microsoft content into the conference, the conference got shut down. The guy who ran it said, why am I doing this?”

–Microsoft's chief evangelist

Publicado en Debian, GNU/Linux, Kernel, Microsoft at 7:54 am por el Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Sumario: Palabras de advertencia acerca de la dirección tomada por la Fundación Linux, donde el impacto de Micro$oft ha crecido considerablemente y el rol de la comunidad ha dismínuido o completamente decimado.

Hoy es un día especial. Es día del Pinguino, pero poniendo aparte Linux y su mascota, no hay mucho que celebrar por que la Fundación Linux se esta pudriendo. La Fundación de Software Libre FSF es para la Fundación Linux lo que astronomía (ciencia) es para la astrología (negocio basado en seudo ciencia) y habiendo tratado de BORRAR GNU FROM LA HISTORIA^* (fenomeno común), la Fundacion Linux ahora borra e ignora el rol que individuos han asumido en el desarollo del sistema. Intentamos o por lo menos guíamos a pensar que la kernel, Linux, está silenciosamente ´conquistada´ por un consorcio de corporaciones, muchos de los cuales tienen LEALTADES MIXTAS (no sólo a Linux).

“Intentamos o por lo menos guíamos a pensar que la kernel, Linux, está silenciosamente ´conquistada´ por un consorcio de corporaciones, muchos de los cuales tienen LEALTADES MIXTAS (no sólo a Linux).”Cubrimiento de la OEP nos ha impedido de cubrir acerca la Fundación de Linux como solíamos hacer, incluyendo PAGOS DE MICROSOFT, SERVICIOS PARA MICROSOFT, y abandono de las obligaciones del GPL por que éstos fueron trás los ejecutivos de Microsoft que manejan VMWare.

Matthwe Garred sugirió un punto importante y preguntó: ¨¿La Fundación Linux abandonó cualquier semblanza de comunidad representativa porque tiene MIEDO DE LAS OBLIGACIONES DEL GPL (Licencia Pública General)?¨

Ya hay cubrimiento proveniente de la denuncia originaria [1], que ha sido mencionada en muchos lugares hasta ahora, e.g [2, 3]. Hemos recibido la evidencia de arriba que sirve a reforzare esas denuncias que la Fundación Linux sigue navegando a cualquier lugar donde este el dinero (compañías que tratan de controlar o dominar Linux). La Fundación Linux NO representa Linux users (OSDL difícilmente pretendió hacerlo) pero muchas compañías de hardware que quieren influenciar el/los proceso[s] desarrollador. La Fundación Linux abandonó las obligaciones de la GPL por el caso de VMware. Esto es un buen ejemplo de E.E.E. El último disfraz de open de Microsoft, por instancia, le ayudó a obtener control/dominio a costo de V8, en el mismo modo que un pie dentro de la Fundación Linux (con la ayuda de Novell) dejo a Microsoft injectar código violatorio a la GPL dentro de la kernel (Linux), promoviendo el PROPRIETARIO Hyper-V a costa de FOSS hypervisors.

“Hemos recibido la evidencia de arriba que sirve a reforzare esas denuncias que la Fundación Linux sigue navegando a cualquier lugar donde es te el dinero (compañías que tratan de controlar o dominar Linux).”NO HAY ¨Nuevo¨ Microsoft. ¨Microsoft no añadió apoyo al OpenDocumente Format para iOS y Mac OS X,¨ por instancia. Microsoft sólo quiere PROMOVER SU CANDADO PROPIETARIO. Eso es lo que Microsoft hace dentro de Android, dentro de Linux, incluso dentro de Debian estos días. Hay por lo menos un empleado de Microsoft infiltrado dentro de Debian,¨ iphk nos advirtió, citándo esta página de Microsoft. ¨José Miguel Parrella,¨ dice es un ¨desarrollador de Debian y miembro del equipo de estrategía (recuerden E.E.E) ´abierta´de Microsoft.¨ -¿Cómo puedes combinarse lo LIBRE con lo PROPIETARIO, ESCLAVIZADOR´?- Recuerden que la Fundación Linux está llena de ¨antiguos¨ empleados de Microsoft), incluso en posiciones de gerencia. Debian en luz de algún acuerdo con Microsfot (no tuvimos tiempo de cubrir) debe estar al cuidado ya que esta sucediendo un E.E.E. La Fundación Linux también esta en riesgo de convertirse obsoleta (a nuestros usuarios boycoteemos sus certficaciones), (perdida de apoyo público) porque públicamente ¨APOYA LAS CORPORACIONES NO A LA COMUNIDAD,¨ para citar el títular de hoy de Susan Linton, fundadora de Tux Machines. Para convertir a la Fundación Linux un fuerte jugador a favor de copyleft (e.g. GPL obligaciones) ayuden a elegir a la FSF- y SFLC Karn Sandler. Ella está postulando a la Fundación Linux Board de Directores. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Linux Foundation quietly drops community representation

   The Linux Foundation is an industry organisation dedicated to “promoting, protecting and standardising Linux and open source software”[1]. The majority of its board is chosen by the member companies – 10 by platinum members (platinum membership costs $500,000 a year), 3 by gold members (gold membership costs $100,000 a year) and 1 by silver members (silver membership costs between $5,000 and $20,000 a year, depending on company size). Up until recently individual members ($99 a year) could also elect two board members, allowing for community perspectives to be represented at the board level.

2. Garrett: Linux Foundation Says Let Them Eat Cake

   Matthew Garrett, kernel contributor and social activist, today posted of his discovery of a little change at the Linux Foundation. The foundation left regular users and individual developers behind for large corporate sponsors years ago, but today Garrett said they made it official. One little clause was removed from the by-laws, but it removes so much more from the foundation.

3. Linux Foundation shows it backs corporates, not community

   The Linux Foundation has given its clearest indication yet that it caters to corporates rather than the community, by making it impossible for community representatives to be elected to its board.

____
^* In a very recent Linux Foundation video, GNU is only mentioned as a joke (“they make me say it”).

Summary: Words of warning about the direction taken by the Linux Foundation, where Microsoft impact has grown and community role has been diminished or completely decimated

TODAY is a special day. It’s Penguin Awareness Day, but putting aside the Linux and the Tux mascot, there’s not much to celebrate because the Linux Foundation reveals signs of rot. The FSF is to the Linux Foundation what astronomy (science) is to astrology (big business around pseudo-science) and having already attempted to delete GNU from history^* (a common phenomenon), the Linux Foundation now deletes the role that individuals played in the development of the system. We’re meant or at least led to thinking that the kernel, Linux, was quietly ‘taken over’ by a consortium of corporations, many of which have mixed loyalties (not just to Linux).

“We’re meant or at least led to thinking that the kernel, Linux, was quietly ‘taken over’ by a consortium of corporations, many of which have mixed loyalties (not just to Linux).”EPO coverage has prevented us from covering as much about the Linux Foundation as we used to, including payments from Microsoft, services to Microsoft, and abandonment of GPL enforcement efforts because GPL enforcers went after a Microsoft executives-run VMware.

Matthew Garrett raised an important point and asked: “Did the Linux Foundation just drop all semblance of community representation because it’s afraid of GPL enforcement?”

There is already coverage stemming from the original rant [1], which has been mentioned by several news sites so far, e.g. [2,3]. We have received the above evidence which serves to reinforce these claims that the Linux Foundation keeps drifting away to wherever the big money is (usually companies that try to control or dominate Linux). The Linux Foundation does not represent Linux users (OSDL hardly ever pretended to do so) but mostly hardware companies that want to influence the development process/es. The Linux Foundation dumped support for GPL enforcement because of VMware. This is a good example of E.E.E. The latest Microsoft openwashing, for instance, reportedly helps it grab control/foothold at V8′s expense in the same way that a foot inside the Linux Foundation (with Novell’s helping hand) let Microsoft inject GPL-violating code into the kernel, promoting the proprietary Hyper-V at the expense of FOSS hypervisors.

“We have received the above evidence which serves to reinforce these claims that the Linux Foundation keeps drifting away to wherever the big money is (usually companies that try to control or dominate Linux).”There is no ‘new’ Microsoft. “Microsoft have not added support for OpenDocument Format to iOS and Mac OS X,” for instance. Microsoft only wants to promote proprietary Microsoft lock-in. That’s what Microsoft does inside Android, inside Linux, and even inside Debian these days. “There’s at least one Microsoft staff inside Debian,” iophk warned us, citing this page from Microsoft. “Jose Miguel Parrella,” it says, is “a Debian Developer and member of Microsoft’s Open Source Strategy team.” Remember that also the Linux Foundation is full of ‘former’ Microsoft staff, even at relatively high positions (like management). Debian, in light of some recent agreement with Microsoft (we didn’t find time to cover it), should definitely watch out as there’s E.E.E. going on. The Linux Foundation too is now at risk of becoming obsolete (loss of support from the public) because it publicly shows that it metaphorically “Says Let Them Eat Cake,” to quote today’s headline from Susan Linton, founder of Tux Machines. Sam Varghese says the Linux Foundation “backs corporates, not community,” to quote his own headline (below). To make the Linux Foundation a strong player for copyleft (e.g. GPL enforcement) help elect the FSF- and SFLC-connected Karen Sandler. She’s running for the Linux Foundation Board of Directors. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Linux Foundation quietly drops community representation

   The Linux Foundation is an industry organisation dedicated to “promoting, protecting and standardising Linux and open source software”[1]. The majority of its board is chosen by the member companies – 10 by platinum members (platinum membership costs $500,000 a year), 3 by gold members (gold membership costs $100,000 a year) and 1 by silver members (silver membership costs between $5,000 and $20,000 a year, depending on company size). Up until recently individual members ($99 a year) could also elect two board members, allowing for community perspectives to be represented at the board level.

2. Garrett: Linux Foundation Says Let Them Eat Cake

   Matthew Garrett, kernel contributor and social activist, today posted of his discovery of a little change at the Linux Foundation. The foundation left regular users and individual developers behind for large corporate sponsors years ago, but today Garrett said they made it official. One little clause was removed from the by-laws, but it removes so much more from the foundation.

3. Linux Foundation shows it backs corporates, not community

   The Linux Foundation has given its clearest indication yet that it caters to corporates rather than the community, by making it impossible for community representatives to be elected to its board.

____
^* In a very recent Linux Foundation video, GNU is only mentioned as a joke (“they make me say it”).

Summary: Techrights mourns the loss of Ian Murdock and will devote the coming years to more coverage of abuse by police

NEWS has come out that Ian Murdock is dead. Assuming the most likely explanation for this, abuse by the police had a lot to do with it. Among the latest articles about it we have:

• Debian Founder in Trouble, Ubuntu’s Wrong Turn

  A big story getting a little attention today was the shocking news of Debian founder Ian Murdock’s desperation at the hands of law enforcement. Much of the story is unknown, but Murdock was on the verge of suicide Monday evening. In other news, Brian Fagioli reported that the System76 Oryx Pro is the gaming machine of your dreams and Matt Hartley thinks he knows where Ubuntu went wrong.

• In Memoriam: Ian Murdock

  It is with great sadness that we inform you that Ian Murdock passed away on Monday night. This is a tragic loss for his family, for the Docker community, and the broader open source world; we all mourn his passing. To Ian’s children, family and loved ones, we offer our full support and deepest sympathies.

• Debian founder and Docker employee Ian Murdock has died at 42

  Docker today announced that Ian Murdock, a member of the startup’s technical staff and a former Sun and Salesforce employee known for founding the Debian Linux operating system, has passed away. He was 42.

  A cause of death was not provided in the blog post announcing the news. Docker declined to comment. The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately have information on Murdock’s cause of death.

  Murdock’s Twitter account posted several tweets (PDF) on Monday that suggested he had been involved in an incident involving police, and one tweet said that he would commit suicide that night. Some people speculated that his account had been hacked. It has since been deleted.

• Ian Murdock has died

• R.I.P Ian Murdock, Founder of Debian Linux, Dead at 42

  The cause of death is unclear at present, but Murdock tweeted the same day that he would commit suicide that night. His Twitter account had since been deleted.

• Debian Founder Ian Murdock Passes Away

  On Monday via Twitter he was threatening suicide over alleged police abuse in California. His Twitter account has since been removed. Other information about his suicide or alleged police detention and abuse has yet to be made public.

• Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock

  With a heavy heart Debian mourns the passing of Ian Murdock, stalwart proponent of Free Open Source Software, Father, Son, and the ‘ian’ in Debian.

  Ian started the Debian project in August of 1993, releasing the first versions of Debian later that same year. Debian would go on to become the world’s Universal Operating System, running on everything from embedded devices to the space station.

• Debian founder Ian Murdock dead: Tributes pour in from colleagues

  Debian GNU/Linux founder Ian Murdock has died.

  Murdock, who lived in San Francisco, founded the open-source distro in 1993, and just recently started working for Docker in the city.

  “It is with great sadness that we inform you that Ian Murdock passed away on Monday night,” Docker CEO Ben Golub blogged a few moments ago on Wednesday.

Murdock did not stay alive “to fight against the police” (see below); but those of us who are alive can do so for him. █

–Microsoft's chief evangelist

Summary: Microsoft’s entryism strategy is proving effective as Microsoft successfully embeds itself inside the idealogical competition, subverting the competition’s overall message and diluting the competition’s focus on Free software

Debian is out and “PCWorld manages to make the event about Microsoft,” iopkh says. IDG’s aggravation in this case is due to Microsoft spin and PR. The headline says “Debian 8.0 ‘Jessie’ is out and even Microsoft is celebrating”; it was preceded by a number of days by Softpedia, which wrote “Microsoft’s Open Source Team Invites You to Celebrate the Release of Debian 8 Jessie”. It turns out that Microsoft is now trying to aggravate the Debian community from within. Articles with concerns about it were too few, let alone anyone who resorted to rebutting Microsoft’s shameless charm offensive. Our interpretation of this is that by interjecting itself into the Debian announcement Microsoft itself became the ‘news’, even though Debian, which runs on many millions of machines (mostly servers), should be huge news in its own right. The only press coverage about this Debian release (a rare occasion) in corporate media is very limited (embarrassingly so). Given just how many servers out there are running Debian and this scarce (very low amount) of press it received, it is clear that corporate media remains disproportionately brand-oriented and unless there’s profit in coverage of some brand, it simply won’t do it. The most ‘mainstream’ article is now simply titled “Debian 8.0 ‘Jessie’ is out and even Microsoft is celebrating”. Well, of course “Microsoft is celebrating” because “Microsoft loves Linux”, according to Microsoft, which is attacking GNU/Linux all the time. Non-’mainstream’ news sites published decent articles, but who is going to notice them? This is a great example of IDG works; it can claim to have covered important GNU/Linux news, but it has spun it as Microsoft news.

“That’s like the US celebrating Russia’s Victory Day,” Cronos wrote.

“I thought they just fired their “open source” team,” Will Hill responded. Microsoft recently shut down its "open" proxy, but the abusive entyrism is not necessarily over.

In our assessment, this is designed to annoy the developers and further alienate critics of Microsoft. It’s a provocative strategy. It’s effective.

Seeing that Microsoft’s previous mole in FOSS, Mr. Sam Ramji, is now appearing in the Linux Foundation site (a bit like is like seeing Ballmer performance or interview in gnu.org) is equally disgusting and it serves nobody except Microsoft. It sells the impression of acceptance by the GNU/Linux community. Ramji is pro-Linux like that Microsoft mole Elop was pro-Linux. Elop received a $20m reward for destroying Nokia and then returned to Microsoft. Ramji too might one day return to Microsoft. We have mentioned him before along with other Microsoft people who entered the Linux Foundation.

“I got a call from Jim Zemlin,” says Ramji. If he got a phonecall from Zemlin, then it means that Zemlin himself is now wilfully allowing people from Microsoft to lead his foundation — an error which we wrote about before.

Zemlin uses the term “right side of history”, as if working for Microsoft and annoying FOSS communities is nothing to be learned about from history.

Let’s face it; Ramji is no stranger. In fact, everyone in FOSS knows him, but not for the reasons he would hope. People who remember what he did would hate him with a true passion, not baselessly. He did a lot of damage and he has a lot of making up to do, more so than Neela (another former Microsoft guy who now leads a group at the Linux Foundation). Neela also worked for VMware, the GPL violator, which is currently openwashing nasty lock-in to seduce developers into proprietary software with back doors. Ramji will help VMware. Unsurprisingly enough, VMware pays the Linux Foundation, which helps it acquire influence. The Linux Foundation used to promote Free software; now it just promotes proprietary software and given the sources of funding, nobody should be so shocked. The focus of the Linux Foundation is long gone, probably ruined from the inside through staff transitions.

Microsoft’s infiltration into its competition shows that no lessons have been learned from the likes of Nokia or Yahoo! If the “right side of history” is Microsoft demolishing rivals from the inside, then Zemlin is correct. █

Linux Mint, which does not come with Amazon spyware (unlike Ubuntu, which fell behind Mint in DistroWatch), seems to be leaning more and more towards Debian with this new release [1] which was reviewed some hours ago (in the publication sense) [2] and surely has momentum [3]. Even the release candidate (RC) [4] received such coverage [5] (mind the UEFI ‘secure’ boot rant), proving that there is definitely some interest from users (Jim Lynch’s/IDG’s sensationalist headline merely links to screenshots like these [6]).

Debian recently added OpenRISC support [7,8] (Debian is perhaps best known for huge hardware diversity) and there is a new project for better security [9] (think of it like SELinux, except intervention of the criminal NSA, which wants back doors in Linux [1, 2, 3, 4]). Red Hat's Systemd may not be the only option [10], but we don’t know for sure yet. Someone needs to continue to offer alternatives to Systemd. Debian is very important with its many new derivatives [11], role in hardware [12] and embedded domination [13] (bar Android and closed Linux-based systems), hence the importance of its decision on init systems.

A strong Debian (and derivatives like Ubuntu) acts as an essential regulating force in the face of Red Hat/CentOS domination; lack of diversity, history teaches, limits security and increases vulnerability. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Linux Mint Debian 201403 released!

   The team is proud to announce the release of LMDE 201403.

2. Debian, Mint (LMDE), SolydX and Tanglu, compared and contrasted

   The four distributions obviously have a lot in common; Debian is well known as one of the oldest, best established and most respected Linux distributions, Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) is derived from Debian, with a lot of the goodies which have been developed for the Linux Mint ‘main’ distribution added, and both SolydXK and Tanglu are derived from a combination of those two plus a good bit of work in packaging, repositories, updates, appearances and such.

3. Are there enough users for Linux Mint Debian Edition to survive?

   The Linux Mint blog is reporting that Linux Mint Debian Edition 201403 has been released. LMDE is a semi-rolling distro that is based on Debian Testing. It is a good alternative for those who want the features of Linux Mint without having to use Ubuntu as its base.

4. Linux Mint Debian 201403 RC released!

   We look forward to receiving your feedback. Thank you for using Linux Mint and have a lot of fun testing the release candidate!

5. Hands-on with Linux Mint Debian Edition 201403 release candidate

   The installation was absolutely routine with the exception of the well-known difficulty with UEFI firmware configuration on the HP Pavilion. There was even good news on that system, though, because the very difficult wi-fi adapter (Ralink 3290) seems to work just fine.

6. Linux Mint 201403 Debian Cinnamon

7. Debian for OpenRISC

8. Debian Ported To OpenRISC Architecture

9. Debian Mempo Still Aiming For Better Security

   Mempo is a project started in H2’2013 that’s been trying to provide a secure yet robust Debian platform that currently classifies itself in a “pre-alpha” state. Mempo is patching Debian packages with better security and privacy, providing newer versions of packages than what’s found in Debian, using a hardened “GrSecurity” Linux kernel, and is working to support other work in and outside of Debian.

10. Debian TC Won’t Pass Resolution Over Init System Coupling

    Since the Debian technical committee decided they will use systemd over Upstart, the latest vote on their agenda was over init system coupling and how Debian developers maintaining packages should deal with different init systems or what guidance the technical committee should send to these package maintainers.

11. A look at Tanglu 1.0 ‘Aequorea Victoria’ GNOME

    Tanglu is a fairly young project and perhaps has flown under the radar somewhat. The 1.0 release is a major milestone for the distribution, which is based on a mixture of Debian Testing, Debian Unstable and in some cases even Debian Experimental.

12. Debian 7: PCI Serial, at last

13. Tiny ARM/FPGA Zynq COM does Debian

    PLDA has launched an SODIMM-like computer-on-module claimed to be the smallest Xilinx Zynq COM yet, supported with a carrier board and Debian Linux BSP

Summary: The Far East is gradually moving to Debian-derived distributions of GNU/Linux, creating its own localised versions

ACCORDING TO numerous reports, China is moving to GNU/Linux and its home-bred GNU/Linux distribution, Linux Deepin (recently reviewed in [1,2]), is sort of replacing an old one which was based on Red Hat. Linux Deepin is based on Ubuntu and it represents Canonical’s special partnership and new major source of income (as Canonical recently reported it). Linux Deepin may one day outpace the growth of Ubuntu because China has a vast population and it is the largest base of Internet surfers.

One report says [3] that “China switches on to Ubuntu in hunt for Windows XP successor”, but a lot of media focuses on the demise of Red Flag Linux [4-7], which is basically a loss to Red Hat. It seems like the Debian camp is starting to gain more ground in China (same in North Korea and South Korea) — a promising trend which will probably be debated in the media for a long time to come. China also has COS in he making (Linux-based but focused on mobile).

Debian 7.4 was recently released [8] and despite some hostilities [9,10] (nothing new to Debian) related to the Systemd debate [11,12] there are signs of strength and leadership in the GNU/Linux world. As for Ubuntu, it is following Debian for the most part [13] (although Debian follows Red Hat in this case) and with reduced interest from developers [14] due to controversies [15] such as Canonical’s demand for licence-signing by derivatives (noted the other day and covered here months ago) it will have to work hard on restoring confidence [16], not just by letting the “community” use an SDK [17] or vote on wallpapers [18] but also by opening up the development process, as Debian does. When Ubuntu turned to mobile it notoriously shunned community participation, not just when it comes to development but also voting/steering.

Ubuntu is gaining elsewhere in east Asia [19], so let’s hope it will improve privacy policies. In some Asian countries surveillance by the government can lead to imprisonment and even death. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Linux Deepin is a fringe Linux distribution that could steal your heart

   Jack Wallen digs into Linux Deepin and comes out impressed. See what this fringe Linux distribution has to offer, and discover if its your next platform.

2. Linux Deepin, Ubuntu systemd and Licensing, and Red Flag Scuttled

3. China switches on to Ubuntu in hunt for Windows XP successor

4. Chinese software pioneer Red Flag bites the dust

5. Chinese Linux Distributor Red Flag Software Disappears Overnight

6. China shutters Windows ‘rival’ Red Flag Linux

7. Linux distributor Red Flag Software disappears overnight

8. Debian 7.4 Rounds Up Stable Updates

9. Debian Tech Committee Falling Further Into Disarray

   While it was clear that systemd overtook Upstart in this weekend’s Debian init system voting by the Debian technical committee, some fits are still being had over the results. Some committee members are now calling for resignations.

10. Fake Debian Developers Try To Get Free Linux Games

11. Debian inches towards new init system decision amid fallout

12. An Exploit In GNOME Shell With Systemd?

    It looks like there might be a big bug in systemd-using GNOME Shell Linux systems.

13. Shuttleworth says Ubuntu will switch to systemd

    The head of Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution and the creator of the upstart init system, has announced that it will switch its init system to the Red Hat-developed systemd.

14. Ubuntu Is Short On Developer Membership Board Nominations

15. Ubuntu and Privacy and how it really works now.

    Firstly the Amazon lens is nothing special, and it is perhaps the internet connected lens I am least worried about. I trust Amazon to do what I expect them to do, I am a customer so they know what I bought, sending them random strings like “calcul” and “gedi” and “eclip” does not give them valuable data. It is junk. I am much more concerned about stuff like the Europeana, jstor, grooveshark lenses which do exactly the same thing but I have no idea who those organisations are or what they do. Even things like openweathermap, sounds good, but are they really a trusted organisation?

16. Why do you need license from Canonical to create derivatives?

17. Ubuntu Planning For HTML5, SDK Improvements

    Jono Bacon of Canonical has shared some new details after a developer sprint was held last week in Florida for the platform, SDK, and security teams along with desktop and design stakeholders. Those developers focusing upon Ubuntu’s next-generation platform can find all of the details in full via Jono’s blog post but some of the key takeaways include:

18. Everybody Can Submit Wallpapers For The Trusty Tahr Wallpaper Submision Contest

    The wallpaper contest for Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr is taking part right now, everybody being able to submit their photos until the 5th of March 2014.

19. After Vodafone, Smart Communications Has Also Joined The Ubuntu’s Carrier Advisory Group (CAG)

    Recently, Smart Communications, a mobile carrier from Philippines, has joined Ubuntu’s Carrier Advisory Group (CAG), in order to support Ubuntu Touch, the mobile version and Ubuntu, and sell phones with Ubuntu for phones pre-installed.

Debian

• Updated Debian 7: 7.4 released

  The Debian project is pleased to announce the fourth update of its stable distribution Debian 7 (codename “wheezy”). This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories were already published separately and are referenced where available. Please note that this update does not constitute a new version of Debian 7 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away old “wheezy” CDs or DVDs but only to update via an up-to-date Debian mirror after an installation, to cause any out of date packages to be updated.

Systemd in Debian

• Systemd Is The Future Of Debian

  Since this weekend we have known that systemd was winning the Debian init system battle, but now it’s official: systemd has prevailed over Upstart in Debian.

  After a very heated fight between the Debian technical committee and also Debian stakeholders, Bdale Garbee as the chairman of the tech committee has announced systemd will be used in Debian 8.0 Jessie.

• Finally, Debian chose* systemd as default init systemd, bye bye upstart

  systemd already has a wide adoption withing the GNU/Linux distribution with all major distros including openSUSE, Fedora, Arch Linux, etc using it as their default init system. Upstart was either way not getting much support from the free software community due to the restrictive CLAs Canonical requires which is often criticized by the community. With Debian going* for systemd, it will get even more developer power whereas Canonical will be left alone to deal with Upstart along with many more project that it’s trying to do on its own – including the recently discussed File Manager which may replace Nautilus (Files).

Systemd in Ubuntu

• Debian init decision further isolates Ubuntu

  Going forward, systemd will be Debian’s default init system for Linux distributions, an init system soon to be used by every other major Linux distribution other than Ubuntu.

• Losing graciously

• After Linux civil war, Ubuntu to adopt systemd

• Ubuntu to ditch Upstart and switch to systemd

  With this move Canonical has slowed the alienation of Ubuntu from the rest of the Linux community. It also shows that Canonical also understand that it can’t fork it’s path too much from the mainstream Linux community, especially from mommy Debian. In a nutshell it’s a wise and welcome decision by Ubuntu leadership and will help them focus on more pressing issues which will help make Ubuntu better.

Systemd

• Broken by design: systemd

  My view is that this idea is wrong: systemd is broken by design, and despite offering highly enticing improvements over legacy init systems, it also brings major regressions in terms of many of the areas Linux is expected to excel: security, stability, and not having to reboot to upgrade your system.

• systemd analysis: a personal perspective

  As usual in these cases, not just Lennart, but many of those who supported him, also those who sponsored these efforts, has suffered all kind of attacks. Sadly not just for technical, I mean ATTACKS. Even journalists have been involved. Yes, Free Software is also mature enough to have “yellow (technical) press” associated, political and business interests and people in different communities willing to use them against anybody who threaten the current status quo.

Mobile

• Ubuntu delays its planned PC mobile convergence

• Ubuntu mobile takes two steps forward, one step backward

  Vodafone joined Ubuntu’s Carrier Advisory Group, as Ubuntu demoed progress on a unified desktop/mobile UI, but a Debian decision may further isolate Ubuntu.

• An Ubuntu Phone/Mobile Announcement Is Coming Next Week

• Ubuntu store apps won’t work across mobile and desktop in 14.04

  One of Canonical’s main goals in bringing Ubuntu to mobile devices is to create a converged platform across smartphones, tablets, and PCs. As such, a developer should be able to write an app that has a single code base yet runs on all three types of devices, presenting a different interface to the user on each form factor.

Licence Agreement

• Canonical Explains Why Linux Mint and All Other Distros Must Sign a License Agreement

  Canonical has issued an official explanation for the reason why Linux Mint developers have to sign a license agreement in order to continue to distribute the package straight from the Ubuntu repos.

Valve

• Valve Is Now Giving Away Their Games To Ubuntu Developers

• Fake DDs Steal Games, Linux on Laptop, and Candy Hearts

LTS

• Early Benchmarks Of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS vs. 14.04 LTS

  After this weekend sharing benchmarks of the recent Ubuntu 12.04 LTS point releases, here’s some complementary tests that offer a look at the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS “Precise Pangolin” performance against the current state of the “Trusty Tahr”, a.k.a. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

• Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS released

  The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS
  (Long-Term Support) for its Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products,
  as well as other flavours of Ubuntu with long-term support.

• Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) – Alpha 1 Released ! Time to Upgrade !

Development

• Forward Momentum in the Ubuntu App Developer Platform

  Last week I was in Orlando sprinting with my team as well as the platform, SDK, and security teams and some desktop and design folks. As usual after a sprint, I have been slammed catching up with email, but I wanted to provide a summary of some work going that you can expect to see soon in the Ubuntu app developer platform.

• The Next Ubuntu Developer Summit: 11-13 March 2014

  The Ubuntu Developer Summit is the primary place where we discuss, debate, and plan the future of Ubuntu. The entire event takes place online, is open and accessible to all, and every session is recorded so everyone can see how decisions are made. It is a useful, fun, and rewarding event to join.

Ubuntu Variants

• Ubuntu 14.04 Derivatives Do Their Alpha 2 Release

  Various flavors of Ubuntu 14.04 have come out today with their Trusty Tahr Alpha 2 spins.

Bodhi Linux

• Interview: Jeff Hoogland Talks About Bodhi Linux

  We are huge fans of Jeff Hoogland’s work as a Software Developer and his efforts with Bodhi Linux. So we invited Jeff for a quick chat with Unixmen Australia. We were privileged when Jeff accepted our invitation. Here is what he had to say.

Linux Mint

• Why Did Linux Mint Ax mintConstructor?

  It’s no great secret that our organization Reglue uses Linux Mint on many of our outgoing computers. I run Mint on one of my work computers and at home as well. Linux Mint has given us the opportunity to create a respin for educational purposes within our non profit, largely due to an app named mintConstructor. It provides a fairly simple method of making custom systems using Linux Mint as the base.

• Revisited: Linux Mint 16 “Petra” KDE + Xfce

Debian, which SteamOS is based on, may already be the world’s most widely used GNU/Linux distribution (Red Hat leads only in revenue, not necessarily code or deployments), so now that Red Hat’s Systemd 197 is released (full announcement here) there is an important crossroad where init systems fight for domination. Systemd is not for everyone and dependence on Red Hat might not be ideal because of security risks in Linux [1, 2, 3, 4] among other factors. It’s up to Debian developers now; they can judge it from a technical point of view.

Debian was the distribution promoted in the “Goodbye Microsoft” Web site (which would also be a PRISM break) several years ago and it continues to be somewhat of a major choice there [1-6]. Based on [7-12], the init system for the next Debian continues to be a subject of great controversy. This is going to have an impact on Debian derivatives such as SolidXK [13] and maybe even Ubuntu [14] (although it has its own init system), not to mention the freedom-oriented gNewSense (gNewSense 3.1 has just been released [15-17]), Live CD pioneer Knoppix [18,19], and Kali [20], to name just a few that made the headlines very recently.

Whatever Debian chooses to do is a very big deal because no Linux-related project is as big as Debian (in terms of number of developers and general impact).

Now that Valve extends its offer from Debian developers [21,22] to Ubuntu developers [23,24] it should be noted that whatever Debian does is going to affect Ubuntu as well.

An “unCivil War” [25] is not needed right now. It would be best to merely follow the rivalry of init systems, not create hostilities as some journalists are currently doing. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Debian 7: X.arrrrrgh

2. Debian 7: Menu Cleanup

3. Debian 7: Applications

   Having got Debian 7.3.0 installed, I had to install all the application programs that I used on my previous computer. Over the years, I had installed a lot of applications; many of them turned out to be not so useful, or were obsoleted by other applications, or (in the case of anti-virus software) I want to start over with. So I began by making a list of those applications that I really used. Then I started to install them, from scratch, on Debian 7.

4. Debian 7: rsync

   I have a new computer with a clean Debian 7 installed. I have an old computer with many years’ worth of files in several partitions. How do I copy them over? I could restore my backup media to the new PC, but that’s a lot of fiddly manual work, and not all my files are backed up that way (anything I can download again from the Internet gets rarely backed up). Besides, the latest version of everything is the version actually on my desktop.

5. Debian 7: MATE

   In our last episode, I had decided that I was going to do a clean install of Debian 7 on the new computer. What I really want is to install the MATE desktop (pronounced Ma-Tay). I’ve liked MATE a lot since using it with Linux Mint — but Debian doesn’t (yet) make a MATE install disk. For Debian 7, the choices are Gnome 3, KDE 4, LXDE, or XFCE. I did not want to install all the baggage of Gnome or KDE. And I’m already using LXDE, which is clean and fast. So that’s what I installed as my starting point.

6. Debian 7: In Search of the Lost Driver

   Partway through the install process, I was informed that I needed to install a “non-free” driver, “rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw”. “Non-free” software is software that can’t be distributed under the GPL; for various reasons, Debian does not include such software on the install disk. Often these are manufacturer-specific hardware drivers. The installer helpfully offered to accept that file from either a CD or a USB memory stick.

   So off to Google, where a search for “rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw” pointed me to…a Debian package, “firmware-realtek”. Actually I got links to two packages: one for Debian 6 “Squeeze”, and the other for Debian 7 “Wheezy”. I chose the latter and downloaded the package (.deb) file.

7. Voting Proposed For Debian Jessie’s Init System

8. Debian init system vote has become a farce

   The Debian GNU/Linux Project’s bid to reach agreement on which init system it would have as default for its next release appears to have gone completely off the rails.

9. Bid to bring Debian init debate to a head fails

   A move by Debian technical committee head Bdale Garbee to bring the debate on the default init system to a head by calling for a vote appears to have failed.

10. Debian technical committee votes for systemd over Upstart

    Debian technical committee was discussing the default init system for Debian and it bioled down to basically systemd, which is developed by the larger free software community (lead by Lennart Poettering), and Upstart which was developed by Canonical employees.

11. Debian Init System Discussion Is Still Unsettled

    The Debian init system debate by Debian technical committee members that is largely a fight between systemd and Upstart remains unresolved.

    A few days ago there was a call for voting on the init system by the Debian technical committee members but that vote has now ended and it basically comes down to more discussion and clarifying the voting process is also needed.

12. Call for votes on default Linux init system for jessie

    I propose we take the simplest possible “next step”. Let’s vote just on the question of what the default init system for Linux architectures should be in jessie. Once we have an answer to this question, it seems to me that we would be “over the hump” and more likely to be able to re-focus our attention on all the secondary questions, like what our transition plan should be, whether we should try to dictate a default for non-Linux architectures, how and to what extent alternate init systems should be supported, and so forth. Most importantly, we could start *collaborating* again… which is something I fervently wish for!

13. Upstart SolidXK Distro Seeks First Business Customers

    SolydXK started last March as the unofficial Linux Mint Debian Edition with KDE. Though there had been speculation that an official KDE version of the popular desktop distribution would surface, ZDNet wrote recently, SolydXK co-founders Arjen Balfoort and Amadeu Ferreira took it upon themselves, with the support of other Mint community members, to actually build it.

14. Ubuntu 14.04 vs. Debian 7.3 vs. Debian Jessie Preview

    For those curious about performance differences between the current Debian 7.3 “Wheezy” stable release and the upcoming but currently unstable Debian 8.0 “Jessie”, here are some performance benchmarks comparing Debian’s stable and testing releases on the same hardware. Making things more interesting, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS in its current development form was also tossed into the mix.

15. gNewSense 3.1 released

    Current users of gNewSense 3.0 don’t have to reinstall. They get all updates automatically.

16. gNewSense GNU/Linux – News: gNewSense 3.1 released

17. gNewSense 3.1 Available For Free Software Purists

18. Knoppix Review, Shotwell’s Future, and 5 Insults

    A perusal through today’s newsfeeds netted several interesting topics. Jamie Watson published a Knoppix 7.2.0 review. Bryan Lunduke reported that the Elementary OS team has taken over maintenance of Shotwell. And a ZDNet blogger has listed his five reasons for using Windows 8 instead of Linux, but they are all really just jabs at Linux. All this and more in tonight’s How the Linux Turns.

19. Hands-on with Knoppix Linux 7.2.0: A well-established and very stable Linux distribution

    If my memory is correct, the first generally available release of Knoppix (on a Live CD) was made sometime in late 2000. I don’t think it is exaggerating to say that Knoppix set the standard for Live Linux distributions when it was released, or that the Linux world as a whole learned a lot about how Live distributions should be done, and how powerful, versatile and useful they could be.

20. Kali Linux 1.0.6, hands-on

    Exploring this Debian GNU/Linux derivative that is tightly focused on security analysis and penetration testing – and it comes with a mind-boggling array of utilities for that purpose.

21. Valve showers Debian Linux devs with FREE Steam games

22. Linux Top 3: Valve Gives Back, FreeBSD Updates and openSUSE 12.2 EOL

    For a variety of reasons, Valve Software decided to base its SteamOS gaming console operating system on Debian GNU/Linux. While it’s likely that Valve’s SteamOS will result in code contributions and enhancement that can benefit the upstream Debian project, Valve also want to give back in other ways.

23. Expansion of Valve free games offer to Ubuntu developers

    As I’m sure most will be aware, for the last couple of weeks, Valve have
    offered access to all Valve produced games free of charge to Debian
    Developers [0].

    As of today, they have kindly extended this to all registered Ubuntu
    Developers [1].

24. Valve offers free games to Ubuntu developers

    Valve Software recently announced that they would offer free Valve games to all Debian developers, which was considered a way of saying thank you to the base that is used to create Steam OS.

25. Systemd Init System In Debian Jessie – Democratic Decision or unCivil War?

DEBIAN has got somewhat of a trophy now that Valve uses Debian GNU/Linux by default. It receives gratis proprietary games in return [1,2,3].

Debian recently made a lot of headlines because of the init debate [4-12]; Debian, being a dominant distribution (competing only with RHEL/CentOS for the #1 spot), is seemingly leaning in Red Hat’s direction and it is winning support from those whom Fedora let down [13]. As Sam Varghese put it, this “means that the future direction of Linux development will be determined by Red Hat, the company that is behind systemd, and the biggest commercial entity in the Linux game.”

It might actually be more beneficial to have Debian as the flag bearer, not Red Hat, which is working with the NSA. Debian has reported its share of flaws recently [14,18], but the problem is that by inheriting more code from Red Hat it is becoming more dependent on a company which admits (to me personally) that it sends to Linux patches that the NSA writes (not just SELinux) because the NSA is a major customer. We already know that the NSA wanted back doors in Linux [1, 2, 3, 4], e.g. through weak random number generators. Given what happened in RSA, NIST, etc. we found it rather hard to blindly trust RHEL, especially the binary build (Red Hat staff has admitted to me that they don’t do a thorough audit of the build process). If Debian gets compromised, the same problem gets inherited by Ubuntu and its derivatives. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Valve Wants To Give You All Of Its Games On Steam (If You’re A Debian Linux Developer)

2. Valve games for Debian Developers

   At $dayjob for Collabora, we’ve been working with Valve on SteamOS, which is based on Debian. Valve are keen to contribute back to the community, and I’m discussing a couple of ways that they may be able to do that [0].

3. Valve Is Making All Their Games Free To Debian Developers

   Valve will be making all of their games — past, present, and future — available for free to Debian Linux developers.

4. The Six Stages of systemd [linux.conf.au 2014]

5. To Systemd Or Not To Systemd. That Is The Question

6. Init wars: Shuttleworth’s copyright licensing hangs over debate

   As the debate on the default init system for the next Debian release winds down, one fact emerges: the copyright licensing model adopted by Canonical has been a decisive factor in the choice made by the technical committee.

7. Which init system for Debian?

   The Debian project is no stranger to long, vehemently argued email threads, though, like the rest of us, Debian developers appear to be getting older and calmer as time goes by. If there were to be an intense thread now, one might think that the recent shift to XFCE as the default window system might be the cause. Indeed, there was some discussion of that topic, but that thread was easily buried by the hot-button issue that almost all distributions appear to need to debate at length: which init system to use. This is not the first time Debian has argued over init systems (see this 2011 article, for example), but, just maybe, it might be the last.

8. Debian May Be Leaning Towards Systemd Over Upstart

   For months now the Debian Technical Committee has been tasked with deciding between systemd and Upstart for the future init system of the Linux distribution that also has a FreeBSD kernel port, etc. The debate has been long and ongoing. Among other opinions, Ian Jackson of the committee came out last month in favor of using Upstart while Russ Allberry came out in favor of systemd.

9. A Major Music Company Now Backs Systemd In Debian

10. Init wars: Debian tech panel may end up deadlocked

    The Debian technical committee may end up in a stalemate when it votes on which init system should be the default for the next release of its community GNU/Linux distribution.

11. Red Hat must be rejoicing as Debian tilts towards systemd

    The Debian GNU/Linux Project’s technical committee appears to be split down the middle on the question of the default init system for the next release.

12. Spotify uses Debian, endorses systemd instead of Upstart as default

    Debian is considering between Upstart and systemd – two competing daemons. While Upstart was developed solely by Canonical, systemd was developed by contributors from different distributions (edited, thanks to Jos Poortvliet).

13. When life hands you lemons, go back to Debian

    To keep a short story short, the mantainer of the proprietary AMD Catalyst (aka fglrx) driver for the Fedora-focused RPM Fusion repository doesn’t want to do it anymore.

    And he made this decision not before the release of Fedora 20 with lots of notice — and not after with lots of notice BUT PRETTY MUCH DURING THE RELEASE with no notice.

14. Debian: 2840-1: srtp: buffer overflow

15. Debian: 2835-1: asterisk: buffer overflow

16. Debian: 2832-1: memcached: Multiple vulnerabilities

17. Debian: 2830-1: ruby-i18n: cross-site scripting

18. Debian: 2828-1: drupal6: Multiple vulnerabilities

THE NUMBERS don’t lie. A lot of companies move to distributions like Debian and CentOS, not necessarily paying for their migration to GNU/Linux (Gartner and IDC only count revenue, not installed base). Hosts statistics [1] show just how massive GNU/Linux has become, physically and virtually (a lot if GNU/Linux servers are hosted jointly under hypervisors [2]), and many systems maintainers or administrators increasingly adapt to a UNIX- or Linux-dominated world, where desired skills relate to operation of GNU/Linux [3] for the most part (command line for performance and debugging). It’s not just about Red Hat. Recently, Zimbabwe had Debian, Ubuntu and CentOS mirrors set up [4] and Red Hat saw itself having to embrace CentOS, which is a free clone of RHEL [5-11]. Both sides were happy, based on their announcements [12-13], and the biggest loser was probably Microsoft, which at one point wanted to coopt CentOS and use it against Red Hat (without success and without much publicity, either).

By some estimates, CentOS is the most widely used distribution of GNU/Linux (other estimates say that Debian is the most widely used, but it’s hard to verify).

Generally speaking, Red Hat’s embrace of CentOS, only weeks after announcing surging revenue, is an indicator of the fact that GNU/Linux is attaining world domination on servers and there’s no monopoly by Red Hat or by paid (subscription) distributions. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. GNU/Linux is Kicking Ass At Netcraft

   This is how hosting providers monitored by Netcraft see the operating system universe. The majority use GNU/Linux when it counts, not just because someone offers them that other OS. GNU/Linux offers great price/performance/reliability. You can get that kind of performance on your desktop too from Debian.

2. Exclusive Research: Server Virtualization Usage Varies by Enterprise Size

3. New Year’s Resolutions for SysAdmins

   Ah, a new year, with old systems. If you recently took time off to relax with friends and family and ring in 2014, perhaps you’re feeling rejuvenated and ready to break bad old habits and develop good new ones

4. ZOL relaunches local mirror for largest Linux distros: Debian, Ubuntu & CentOS

   As we step into a new year, I can’t help but look back on the current year and wonder that there has been a lot of talk in the broadband/internet side of things locally but not a great amount actually done about it.

   Now I know that sounds very negative, ISP’s have innovated quite a bit this past year, from uMax starting things by changing the game somewhat with fixed (non 3g) internet with their 20gigs for $75 plan and free modem, then ZOL blew that out of the park by saying that all their packages would no longer have a bandwidth caps forcing other providers like YoAfrica to follow suit. I’m still waiting for TelOne to also do similar across there packages as the last “big” ISP in Zimbabwe that’s yet to update/improve their packages (unlikely I know).

5. As focus shifts to OpenStack, Red Hat embraces (coopts) Linux clone; The week in cloud

   Put this one in the strange bedfellows department: Red Hat, the company known for its supported enterprise Linux, is now working with its chief clone, CentOS. Since CentOS is seen as a free option to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in many businesses and Red Hat threatened legal action against CentOS in the past, last week’s news raised some eyebrows.

6. Hell Freezes Over in Linux Land as Red Hat Makes Nice With Its Clone

7. CentOS to boost its Linux distribution with Red Hat

8. Red Hat Officially Joins Forces with the CentOS Project

9. Red Hat and CentOS team up to push Linux and Openstack

10. Red Hat Embraces Rival CentOS

    Red Hat’s CTO explains why the Linux giant is now working with the community group that has been cloning its flagship enterprise Linux platform.

11. Red Hat incorporates ‘free’ Red Hat clone CentOS

    For almost a decade, expert Linux users who didn’t need the Red Hat Enterprise Linux support used its clone CentOS instead. Now, Red Hat has adopted this community Linux. Don’t panic!

12. CentOS Project joins forces with Red Hat

    With great excitement I’d like to announce that we are joining the Red Hat family. The CentOS Project ( http://www.centos.org ) is joining forces with Red Hat. Working as part of the Open Source and Standards team ( http://community.redhat.com/ ) to foster rapid innovation beyond the platform into the next generation of emerging technologies. Working alongside the Fedora and RHEL ecosystems, we hope to further expand on the community offerings by providing a platform that is easily consumed, by other projects to promote their code while we maintain the established base.

13. Red Hat and the CentOS Project Join Forces to Speed Open Source Innovation

COINCIDING with the release of Debian 7.3 [1] it was discovered that SteamOS runs games on a Debian-based system, not Ubuntu. This has been a major bragging right for Debian. SteamOS is still not ready for the public at large [2] as tweaks continue to be made [3] to improve performance [4]. One of the advantages of using Debian is that one can choose what to install, not what to un-install. One starts with a rather bare-bones base and then adds well-tested and properly-tailored packages (or meta-packages), such as KDE. antiX, a lightweight distribution that got some attention a few days ago, uses Debian as its base system [5]. Debian is good when one wants to avoid bloat and optimise for performance (Gentoo or Arch are more advanced in that regard).

There are those who criticise SteamOS for technical [6] and philosophical [7] reasons. Putting aside the latter, which can only alienate Valve and thus be counter-productive, it is argued that Debian Wheezy is “outdated which is not ideal for gaming”. Actually, stability is more important than cutting-edge. Does one want Steambox (or “Steam Machine”) to crash while people play games, perhaps due to faulty drivers? Probably not.

Valve’s choice of Debian Wheezy was probably wise. It’s a safe bet. Sitting next to me (I am using my secondary workstation) is my Debian box with an uptime of 80+ days. This machine has just half a gigabyte of RAM, yet it runs the latest KDE with many applications and remote sessions running. Stability- and performance-wise Debian is fantastic. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Debian 7.3 Officially Released

2. SteamOS ‘Alchemist’ Enters Public Beta

3. New SteamOS Build Updates the Intel Graphics Stack

   Valve has released a couple of days ago, December 19, a new build of its SteamOS gaming Linux operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux, bringing updated Intel drivers, as well as many other interesting features that were missing from the initial build of the distro.

4. SteamOS vs. Ubuntu 13.10 Linux Benchmarks

   Complementing the SteamOS vs. Windows 8.1 performance benchmarks published earlier in the week, here are more NVIDIA OpenGL Linux benchmarks when comparing Valve’s Debian-based SteamOS performance to Ubuntu 13.10.

5. Give that old computer a boost with antiX Linux

   The antiX homepage says that it is designed to be fast, lightweight and easy to install.

   Based on Debian’s testing branch, antiX is truly one of those distributions designed to run on older machines.

   The homepage states that it will comfortably work on a Pentium PII computer with 64 megabytes of RAM.

   There are 3 versions of antiX available varying in size from 690 megabytes down to a core version weighing in at just 135 megabytes. Last but not least antiX is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

6. What is wrong with Steam OS ?

   Valve has warned non-hackers to stay away from the beta version but if Steam OS is based on Debian Wheezy, how can the OS be unstable ? Debian has no definite release cycle and most of the stuff under the hood is pretty outdated which is not ideal for gaming as Linux is going through an evolution, Nvidia and AMD are working hard to optimize their drivers for Linux and each Kernel update brings a lot of performance improvements. So it is very important to use up to date kernel & graphic drivers and that is what Valve is doing. They have picked the good old debian core and pumped it with new Kernel, DE and graphic drivers but then why does the title of the post says ‘What is wrong with Steam OS ?’

7. Opinion: Steam and DRM

   DRM (Digital Rights Management) is often thought of as, well, a naughty concept. Especially amongst GNU/Linux users, as many often think about their freedoms and openness.

DEBIAN has inspired more derivatives than any other distribution. Among them there are Skolelinux, Knoppix (new interview [1]), and of course Ubuntu, which brings many new users to GNU/Linux [2] (even nations [3]) and has many derivatives of its own. Debian 7 has a new release whose version number is 7.3 [4]. However, what much of the corporate press fails to realise or emphasise (especially reviews [5] and performance tests [6]) is that SteamOS is Debian with a new gown. Screenshots [7] reveal a polished operating system and it is important to remember what it’s derived from. If Valve gets its way, then Debian will soon have millions of new users. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Debian Edu interview: Klaus Knopper

   It has been a while since I managed to publish the last interview, but the Debian Edu / Skolelinux community is still going strong, and yesterday we even had a new school administrator show up on #debian-edu to share his success story with installing Debian Edu at their school. This time I have been able to get some helpful comments from the creator of Knoppix, Klaus Knopper, who was involved in a Skolelinux project in Germany a few years ago.

2. How And Why I Switched to Ubuntu

   You may not agree with everything that they do, but Canonical is the most interesting company in the tech industry today. They have a vision, a wild vision, of a single user interface backed by open source software running on all computing devices, both personal and professional. Cloud infrastructure, basic servers, workstations, laptops, tablets, phones, and televisions could, if Canonical plays its cards right, be powered by Ubuntu and the Unity interface. I find this fascinating, and bold. Ubuntu is not just another distribution, it is a vision of what computing could be.

3. Ubuntu Might Replace Windows XP in South Korea

   South Korea is considering the replacement of the old and dying Windows XP with a free Linux alternative, namely Ubuntu.

4. Updated Debian 7: 7.3 released

   The Debian project is pleased to announce the third update of its stable distribution Debian 7 (codename wheezy). This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories were already published separately and are referenced where available.

   Please note that this update does not constitute a new version of Debian 7 but only updates some of the packages included. There is no need to throw away old wheezy CDs or DVDs but only to update via an up-to-date Debian mirror after an installation, to cause any out of date packages to be updated.

5. Hands-on preview: SteamOS

   Valve’s revolutionary take on living-room gaming has entered its public beta phase, but is SteamOS ready for primetime or should Linux-nerds only apply?

6. SteamOS vs. Windows 8.1 NVIDIA Performance

   Overall, the SteamOS vs. Windows 8.1 results aren’t too far removed from other Linux vs. Windows NVIDIA GeForce graphics card benchmarking results delivered in the past on Phoronix. Generally the NVIDIA Linux graphics driver can deliver comparable performance to that of the Windows GeForce driver due to the largely shared code-base between platforms, which again is the case here with SteamOS just being a derivative of Debian Linux.

7. SteamOS GNOME Screenshot Tour

   At our users’ request, we’ve decided to create a quick screenshot tour of the brand new SteamOS Linux operating system from Valve, showcasing the GNOME 3 desktop environment used in the regular desktop mode.

   SteamOS is a gaming Linux distribution based on the powerful and popular Debian GNU/Linux operating system, using Linux kernel 3.10 and version 3.4 of the controversial GNOME desktop environment, with the GNOME Shell interface.

Summary: How Canonical impedes dissemination of work that Ubuntu inherits from other projects, such as Debian and GNU

Linux Mint KDE [1] and Linux Mint Xfce [2] are two examples of Linux Mint releases that widely deviate from Ubuntu, unlike the GNOME (and derivatives like Mate and Cinnamon [3]) version of Linux Mint 16. When there were gentle arguments about security of Linux Mint Clement Lefebvre made it known that Canonical wanted Mint to license Ubuntu binary packages. This angle is being explored again [4] because products like MintBox [5] rely on Canonical giving access to those binaries (otherwise they become less secure). Jim Lynch’s studying of this relies on a bit from DistroWatch that says: “Clem claims he has been asked by Canonical’s legal department to license the binary packages used by Ubuntu. To me this is a scary thought. Ubuntu is a base distribution for many projects, some of them (such as Mint and Kubuntu) are quite successful.

“Clem’s statement makes me wonder if Canonical has approached other open source projects about licensing the right to access Ubuntu’s package repositories. If so, what might follow? Would derivative distributions need to pay to use Canonical’s packages? How would Canonical enforce such a policy, with lawyers, by blocking access to the repositories if a user isn’t using Genuine Ubuntu?”

Should Canonical start signing licences to use Debian packages too? It looks like trademarks are no longer the only type of Intellectual Monopolies we should debate.

Canonical is growing increasingly selfish and isolated, with hardware deals around something called “Ubuntu Touch OS” [6,7,8] (hardly GNU/Linux) and work around Canonical copyrights [9] (Unity). No wonder some people see the “ugly” side [10]. In his latest talks across the UK Richard Stallman was discouraging adoption of Ubuntu by members of the audience. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Linux Mint 16 KDE Edition Release Candidate Uses KDE 4.11

   Clement Lefebvre has announced earlier today, December 8, that the Release Candidate (RC) version of the upcoming Linux Mint 16 KDE Edition operating system is available for download and testing.

2. Linux Mint Xfce 16 RC “Petra” Still Looks Beautiful and Minimalistic, Download Now

3. Will Canonical force Linux Mint to license Ubuntu binary packages?

4. MintBox 2 review – not as fresh, still as minty

   The MintBox 2 is here, and it’s more powerful than ever. Just how much power are you getting for nearly £400 though?

5. Hey Linux newbie: If you’ve never had a taste, try perfect Petra … mmm, smells like Mint 16

   The recently released Mint 16, nicknamed Petra, might be the perfect Linux desktop for newcomers.

   At its core is Ubuntu 13.10, but on top of this are desktops Mate and Cinnamon, the latter being the Mint project’s homegrown user interface.

6. Ubuntu Touch OS wins its first smartphone partner

   Canonical has inked its first deal with partner who’ll put the Linux-basd operating system on its phones, founder Mark Shuttleworth reveals.

7. Report: Ubuntu Touch OS Finally Finds a Smartphone Partner

8. Canonical Sign First Ubuntu Touch Hardware Partner, ‘High-End Phone’ To Debut in 2014

9. Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to Integrate Default Torrent Scope for Unity

10. Ubuntu 13.10: The good, the bad and the ugly

Photo from Ilya Schurov, Computerra Weekly

Summary: Bits of news about Debian and its extended family

Debian, the most widely used GNU/Linux distribution (on servers in particular), has a new bugfix release [1] and some exciting news about its impact (see “Debian increases its popularity on web servers” [2]). MATE is now becoming part of Debian [3] and the default init system is to be decided on [4]. Virtualisation is an area where Debian provides many choices [5] and for those who prefer a different (from default) desktop environment there is KDE as part of the default in Kwheezy, which received some positive reviews lately [6].

In many ways, owing to extensive repositories and lack of focus on just one particular market or purpose, Debian has got in it much of the best of GNU/Linux, including choice. It remains a leading choice in many enterprises. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Debian 6.0.8 Officially Released

   The Debian project announced the immediate availability for download of the eight maintenance release of the Debian 6 Linux operating system.

2. Debian Project News – October 28th, 2013

   Bits from the Release Team
   s390 removed from the archive in favour of s390x
   manpages.debian.net now an official service
   Debian increases its popularity on web servers
   Other news
   Upcoming events
   New Debian Contributors
   Important Debian Security Advisories
   New and noteworthy packages
   Work-needing packages
   Want to continue reading DPN?

3. MATE to make it into Debian repositories

4. Init wars: Debian technical panel to decide

   The leader of the Debian GNU/Linux project, Lucas Nussbaum, has announced that the question of which init system will be the default in the next release, Jessie, will be decided by the project’s technical committee.

5. Debian Virtualization: LXC debootstrap filesystem

6. Introducing Kwheezy 1.2

   Once the interface was pleasantly bland and once the additional services had been disabled, I found I slowly grew to like Kwheezy. The combination of the KDE desktop with a lot of useful software and Debian’s rock solid base is a winning formula. I certainly liked the Kwheezy installer and the basic concept behind its design. I would have enjoyed my time with the distribution a good deal more if it had a quieter interface and fewer features enabled out of the box. I feel a calmer desktop would be more in line with Debian’s design. In the end, I came around to enjoying Kwheezy, but only after I convinced the desktop to stop distracting me from my work.

Summary: Some news from the land of Debian, which by some measures is the most widely used distribution of GNU/Linux

Debian 7,1 is still used by many (like myself or some derivatives [1]), but a new release is announced [2] and other Debian news [3,4] from key people [5] can suggest that a piece of software called Distro Tracker is created to enhance what we have. The new project page says that “Debian Package Tracker is a set of services tailored to distribution developers, package maintainers, and anybody who might have to interact with those people (upstream developers, bug reporters, advanced users, etc). It lets you follow almost everything related to the life of a package (or of a set of packages).” This will hopefully make Debian GNU/Linux even more excellent than it presently is. Thanks to Raphaël Hertzog for this. Credit also goes to Marko Lalic, who was funded by Google to work on this. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Skolelinux / Debian Edu 7.1 install and overview video from Marcelo Salvador

   The other day I was pleased and surprised to discover that Marcelo Salvador had published a video on Youtube showing how to install the standalone Debian Edu / Skolelinux profile. This is the profile intended for use at home or on laptops that should not be integrated into the provided network services (no central home directory, no Kerberos / LDAP directory etc, in other word a single user machine). The result is 11 minutes long, and show some user applications (seem to be rather randomly picked). Missed a few of my favorites like celestia, planets and chromium showing the Zygote Body 3D model of the human body, but I guess he did not know about those or find other programs more interesting. And the video do not show the advantages I believe is one of the most valuable featuers in Debian Edu, its central school server making it possible to run hundreds of computers without hard drives by installing one central LTSP server.

2. Debian 7.2 Update Released

   Debian 7.2, an update to the “Wheezy” branch, was released over the weekend fixing quite a few issues. As usual, The Debian Project encourages users to update through the package managers. Images are available for new installs.

3. Debian Project News – October 14th, 2013

4. Bonus: D is for Debian

5. My Free Software Activities in September 2013

Summary: Fedora, despite leading in much of the technical side, fails to catch up with the reliability of Debian-derived desktop distributions

Fedora is Red Hat’s breeding ground for innovation in GNU/Linux, especially when it comes to the desktop side. Yum is being phased out and Fedora repositories (with binary packages [1]) leave room for desire [2]. I used Fedora with KDE numerous times before, from version 1 (Fedora Core) through to 14, which I used only for a few months. Fedora 11 is the one that I used the most with KDE and it was never as satisfactory as Kubuntu, especially because packages were not as simple to install (I have 3 Kubuntu installations at the moment, one Debian). My experiences with KDE in Fedora are not unique [3] and staff inside Fedora calls for testing of Fedora 20 [4], hoping this would help identify bugs. Based on the quality of previous releases, it’s hard to believe this one would offer a high level of polish.

Fedora does not have many derivatives. There are some like Hanthana [5] and Korora [6], which are now derived from the latest stable Fedora, but neither one is exceptionally popular (or at least not ubiquitous). In my view, and based on my many experiences with Fedora since the project was born, desktops that are derived from Debian are generally more reliable and easier to maintain. At work, Debian is our standard system to use. Red Hat needs to recognise this and put more effort into the desktop side. Phoronix has some new benchmarks [7,8] and Tecmint has a comparison from an administrative point of view [9]. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Conky Manager Fedora Packages

2. Handbrake for Fedora, it’s a thing

   I was reading today about how the Korora spin on Fedora includes Handbrake, the popular cross-platform video transcoding/DVD-ripping utility.

   But I am running regular Fedora 19, albeit with proprietary-package assistance from RPM Fusion and a few other repositories.

   Still, Handbrake isn’t in any of those repos.

3. I tried Fedora 19 KDE one more time

   My first attempt to use Fedora 19 KDE was not very successful. I was not able to even login into the system, spinning on the login screen endlessly. So much for that. In the beta phase before that, I discovered a whole bunch of bugs, including a severe kernel panic that would kick in on the graphical stack approx. five minutes into the session. All in all, it was a blunder.

4. Upcoming Test Days, and Fedora 20 status

   If anyone’s noticed I haven’t been around as much lately – I’m in Europe visiting family and friends (and, later this week, the Brno office!) If anything I’m busier than usual, but there’s a lot of dealing with personal administrivia and seeing people, so I’m not getting as much work done as usual. (Plus my internet connections here are much slower and I’m on my laptop instead of my usual mission control, which makes me a lot less efficient). Normal service should be resumed around Oct 19th, please do not adjust your sets!

5. Hanthana 19.0 Review: Sri Lankan spiced up Fedora, has some bugs but quite good in overall

6. Korora 19.1 released

   Today we have released Korora 19.1 which is a 3 month update to the original 19 release. Anyone already running Korora doesn’t need this, however if you are planning do any more installs we highly recommend downloading this new release as it includes all updates, a few tweaks and fixes a number of bugs. This release also includes versions of the MATE and Cinnamon desktops which we’ve created to gauge community interest.

7. Ubuntu 13.10 vs. Fedora Linux CPU Benchmarks

   A few days back I shared OpenGL benchmarks of Fedora 19, Fedora 20, Ubuntu 13.04, and Ubuntu 13.10. For those not interested in the CPU performance of these four Linux distributions, those results are now available.

8. The First Wayland Benchmarks From Fedora 20 Show Great Promise

   Since last week it’s been possible to run the GNOME Shell on Wayland with Fedora 20. The user-experience isn’t yet refined and easy, but Linux enthusiasts can easily get a GNOME 3.10 session running on Wayland for testing purposes using F20 packages. In this article are the first graphics benchmarks from Fedora 20 when running GNOME 3.10 on Wayland with XWayland support and then from running a clean X.Org Server.

9. RedHat vs Debian : Administrative Point of View

Summary: A roundup of news about Debian GNU/Linux, the biggest distribution in terms of number of developers and perhaps users too

A new introduction to Debian 7 (code-named “Wheezy”) [1], a distribution which offers plenty of choice when it comes to desktop environments [2], is aiming to capture new users. I am myself a Debian user and I have installed half a dozen desktop environments on it. Some of the latest Debian news [3,4] says that students are being recruited to work on Debian, which is also popular among students as users. Kwheezy (KDE and Wheezy) [5,6] and SolydX 201309 reviews [7,8] show that there is a thriving developers community around Debian (Ubuntu too is Debian-derived) and examples from education [9] including Skolelinux [10,11] and Knoppix [12] (its founder is now teaching at Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences) help demonstrate the academic side of the distribution, which is widely favoured among teachers and schools. It was the distribution of choice for Brazil’s schools.

When it comes to contributions to GNU/Linux, the only group which can compete with Fedora (Red Hat) is Debian. Ubuntu (Canonical) is mostly marketing. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Newbies Guide to Debian 7 – Part Three

   So here you are with your new Debian system. Now you might be wondering, “Which programs do I use?”

2. Debian LXDE with LXLE Added Features

   LXDE is a desktop environment, which aims the low-performance hardware and old computers. However, you can use it on with modern computers and accessories too, making them flashing fast.

3. Debian Project News – September 16th, 2013

4. Debian Project News – September 30th, 2013

   The Google Summer of Code has now come to an end, and the 15 students working the whole summer on improving Debian have sent in their final reports. They’ve worked on various subjects such as ZFS on Linux integration, a rewrite of the package tracking system, improvements to Debian search, scan-building the Debian archive, a MIPS N32/N64 port, and a redesign of metapackage creation for Debian Blends. The full list of Debian GSoC students and their projects can be found on the Debian blog. The Debian project thanks the GSoC students for their amazing work and the Debian mentors who followed them during these four months.

5. Kwheezy 1.2 Review

   I have always been a categorically against the KDE desktop experience. I’ve never understood it, and never really tried. Part of that might be because I started with GNOME, I don’t know. What I do know for certain is that I have always shied away from KDE desktops and therefore I have avoided many distributions. Something about Kwheezy however, has intrigue me enough to make me want to take a look. I have many presuppositions that will have to be overturned in order to be unbiased, but I am willing to give it a very good try. Whether you are a fan or foe of KDE, put some of your biases aside and join me for this review.

6. Kwheezy 1.2

   Debian has not always had a good reputation when it comes to being welcoming to new Linux users. Kwheezy is a Debian-based distribution that aims to change that by making Debian easier to install, and by offering the slick KDE desktop environment. Kwheezy is a blend of Debian 7.1 (Wheezy) and KDE 4.8.4.

7. SolydK 201309 Review: Rock-solid Debian spin offering KDE 4.11.1

   Linux Mint has some serious competition it seems! SolydXK is gradually growing on me and like me, on many other devoted Linux users. This distro right now comes in KDE and XFCE versions and is a spin off from the Linux Mint Debian. LM Debian as of now has two desktop environments, Cinnamon and Mate, and no longer supports XFCE or KDE. That is where SolydXK contributes; more specifically providing users a simple and ready to use spin of Debian with all the qualities of Linux Mint. It is targeted towards small and medium enterprises and non-government organizations in addition to the home users.

8. SolydX 201309 Review: Simple, effective and efficient, as good as Linux Mint!

   All those users fretting over the demise of Mint Debian XFCE spin can now rejoice with SolydX. It aims to provide users a simple, stable and secured operating system and targeted to small businesses, non-profit organizations in addition to the home users. SolydX is based on Debian testing branch and hence, gets updated applications more quicker than Debian stable. I tested the earlier releases and was very happy with it. However, I didn’t get time to pen down a review. So, here I am finally with a review of one of my favorite distros, SolydX, more specifically the 201309 release of the same.

9. Debian GNU/Linux Works In Education

   I was never happier than when I discovered that a working lab could be converted to GNU/Linux or updated in an hour simply by making machines boot PXE, installing Debian GNU/Linux as a LTSP server. If you need thick clients, it’s simple to install on one and re-image the rest in parallel with Clonezilla and multicasting. Clonezilla is being tested for inclusion in the Debian GNU/Linux distribution for the next release.

10. Debian Edu / Skolelinux Wheezy — a complete Linux solution for your school

    Debian Edu is a complete operating system for schools. Through its various installation profiles you can install servers, workstations and laptops which will work together on the school network. With Debian Edu, the teachers themselves or their technical support can roll out a complete multi-user multi-machine study environment within hours or a few days. Debian Edu comes with hundreds of applications pre-installed, but you can always add more packages from Debian.

11. Skolelinux 7.1 Beta 2 Available for Download, Last Development Version Before Release

    Skolelinux, a Linux distribution based on the Debian Edu project that provides an out-of-the box environment of a completely configured school network, is now at version 7.1 Beta 2.

12. The Klaus Knopper Interview

    A couple of weeks ago I approached Klaus Knopper (Founder of Knoppix) via email asking whether he would be interesting in answering a few questions about the Knoppix project.