Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 28/6/2011: Android Activations Surpass Microsoft Windows, Millions of OLPC XOs Noted





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



  • Server





  • Kernel Space

    • Kernel Log: BIOS bugs behind greater power use
      Since version 2.6.38, kernels have used more power because, in certain situations, they disable the power-saving ASPM feature. New stable and long-term kernels offer corrections; however, one of them is conspicuously lagging behind.

      In April, the Phoronix web site reported that some systems require more power with Linux 2.6.35 and 2.6.38 than they did with the previous versions. Phoronix says it has now found the reason for the increased power consumption in 2.6.38.


    • Linux Kernel Power Issue Workaround


    • The kernel column #102 with Jon Masters – celebrating 20 years of kernel history (and a look ahead to Linux 3.0)
      Jon Masters marks the 20th anniversary of the Linux kernel with a reflection on 20 years of Linux kernel history and a look ahead to Linux 3.0…

      Twenty years ago, in April of 1991, a young Finnish computer science student at the University of Helsinki began work on a piece of software that would fundamentally change the computer industry. Linus Torvalds had just recently acquired an Intel 80836 microprocessor-powered PC system and wanted to exploit its support for ‘Protected Mode’ paged virtual memory (the ability for the processor to isolate individual programs from one another and give each an entire memory address space of its own to work with), and in the process learn about how such features worked. At the time, contemporary consumer operating systems such as Microsoft’s Windows 3.0 had only very limited support for the advanced features of the new Intel processor, and commercial UNIX-based alternatives were extremely expensive propositions, while open source operating systems such as Minix used alternative (older) techniques like memory segmentation, which had been in older Intel CPUs.




  • Applications



  • Desktop Environments



    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)



    • GNOME Desktop

      • Nord: A Beautiful Glassy GNOME Shell Theme
        Nord is a new glassy GNOME Shell theme based on Zukitwo, created by WebUpd8 reader rAX.

        The theme is currently in beta and there are some known bugs but it already looks great, featuring some unique elements like the switches which look amazing (see the screenshots). If you use GNOME Shell, you must really give it a try!



      • making the jump to gnome 3
        Well the pros, well really the wants, finally won out over the cons and I upgraded my primary laptop that I use for work and just about everything else to Fedora 15 and gnome 3. What finally pushed me over the edge? Evolution 3 and Firefox 5.


      • Gnome 3, its got some issues…


        Since I switched to Gnome3 I’ve been finding some weird inconsistencies. The problem is, I can’t be sure its actually Gnome3 or something else?






  • Distributions

    • TLWIR 6: What City Is Your Distro?
      Which GNU/Linux distribution a person prefers is a very individual choice. Some people like distributions that give them total access: the freedom to do whatever they want. Others want a desktop OS that will hold their hand if they run into problems. There is no single distribution that provides all of the right answers; each GNU/Linux user has to find the operating system distribution that best meets their own needs. In this week’s TLWIR, I will look at some of the best GNU/Linux distributions with a unique twist: I will compare the distribution to the city that I think most embodies its fundamental spirit. This week’s stories are as follows:


    • DoudouLinux 1.0 Released, Now Available In 15 Languages [Linux For Children]
      DoudouLinux is a Linux distribution for children, designed to be both educational and fun. It can be used from a CD/DVD or an USB stick so you don't have to install it. We've reviewed it a while back so check out that post for more info.


    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

      • Open Framework Systems (OFS), a new strategic partner for Mandriva.
        Mandriva, Europe’s leading publisher of Linux solutions, announces the collaboration with the Norwegian company Open Framework Systems (OFS).

        Mandriva and OFS are working together to provide a secure collaborative solution to its customers. OFS Collab Collaboration Suite is designed to be a real time secure collaboration suite that can be accessed from different types of clients and editors. With simple mouse clicks, user will be able to secure parts of a document with read and edit access rights. The Collab Collaboration Suite is client server based. The server handles the security and stores the documents in a centralized document management storage.


      • PCLinuxOS KDE 2011.6 Released
        I will be installing this release on my other systems over the next day or two, and I will add the results of those installations to this post.




    • Gentoo Family

      • Sabayon Linux 6.0 released -- without GNOME 3.0
        The Sabayon community released version 6.0 of its Gentoo-based Linux distribution, moving up to Linux 2.6.39.1, but opting for GNOME 2.32.2 and KDE 4.6.4 desktop environments instead of the controversial GNOME 3.0. Sabayon 6.0 adds support for the Btrfs filesystem, switches to LibreOffice 3.3.3, and updates to version 1.0 of its Entropy package manager.




    • Red Hat Family



    • Debian Family





  • Devices/Embedded



    • Phones



      • Android

        • 500,000 Android device activations per day
          This number is, of course, great news for Google and the Android platform. With such a large number of activations per day, it really shows how popular the mobile operating system is around the globe, and how much demand there is for Android devices overall. Not only is this number high, but it’s also a more true representation of consumer activity as it directly relates to users purchasing (and activating) their devices, as opposed to numbers referring to shipments (to retailers), as companies often provide.


        • Android/Linux Activations Exceed “7″
          We were told that, once upon a time, “7″ was shipped on an average of 7 PCs per second. Growth of “7″ is about 1% per month. On 1400 million PCs, that’s about 14 million PCs shipping with “7″ per month, ~5.4/s per second. Android/Linux is activating 500K per day (500K/86400 = 5.8/s). Further, the growth rate of the growth is 4.4% per week…






    • Sub-notebooks/Tablets







Free Software/Open Source



  • The decline of ‘open source’ as an identifying differentiator
    One of the things that I have observed in relation to open source-related business strategies in recent months is the decreased use of the term ‘open source’ as an identifying differentiator in some companies’ marketing material, either to describe the company or its software.

    The way in which a company identifies itself in the opening lines of a press release may not necessarily describe accurately what the company does, but it is a clear indicator of how the company wants to be perceived.

    It seemed to me that a significant number of high profile open source-related vendors had stopped using the term open source as an identifying differentiator.


  • A window to open source OS
    Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others,' informs www.ubuntu.com. The word also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are', adds the site.

    “The vision for Ubuntu is part social and part economic: free software, available free of charge to everybody on the same terms, and funded through a portfolio of services provided by Canonical.”

    It was, therefore, a pleasant meeting that I recently had with Prakash Advani, Regional Manager - Asia Pacific, Canonical, Mumbai (http://bit.ly/F4TAdvaniP). “I have been using the latest Ubuntu 11.04 on a laptop that's almost three years now and I don't see any degradation of performance,” says Prakash. “It performs the same that it used to three years back when I installed Ubuntu 9.10. After that we released three more versions and they have all worked beautifully on the same hardware.” Our conversation continues over email.


  • Events



  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla

      • Firefox in the Enterprise
        Mozilla is committed to providing the best Web experience for people everywhere, for whom the Web has become such an important part of their daily lives. Providing updates to Firefox more frequently allows us to secure users against emerging threats and provide the platform for innovation that today’s rich and compelling Web experiences demand.

        The Mozilla Community has focused our efforts on the needs of the individual user, and prioritized the product roadmap and features accordingly. However, as is the case with many technologies, loyal Firefox users and their IT departments have sought to bring Firefox into their places of work.






  • SaaS

    • Future of cloud survey shows significance of open source
      The 451 Group was pleased to work with North Bridge Venture Partners, GigaOM and additional companies and players in the industry for the Future of Cloud Computing Survey 2011, which confirmed the early nature of the market, but also indicated customers and users have learned from previous trends, particularly open source software and virtualization. The Future of Cloud Computing Survey 2011 garnered 417 responses from both vendors and end users, focusing on current use, drivers, barriers and future plans regard‪ing cloud computing.




  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • GCC 4.6.1 Compiler Released
      As expected when mentioning the GCC 4.6.1 release candidate one week ago, GCC 4.6.1 has been officially released this Monday morning.




  • Public Services/Government

    • UK shakes dust off open source policy
      If it looked like UK open source policy, just recently exhumed, had already been swept back under the same carpet it has been kept under since it was first launched two and a half years ago, the announcement yesterday that Liam Maxwell had acquired responsibility for it with a Cabinet Office portfolio did surprisingly little to improve its mien.

      It is then just as well Cabinet Office is about to announce long-overdue progress in its cause of creating a level-playing field for open source software. Because the new appointment will need all the help he can get.




  • Openness/Sharing



    • Open Access/Content

      • Afghans Build Open-Source Internet From Trash
        In light of events that occured in the Middle East earlier this year, many worry that in the future, rogue governments could cut off access to the internet as a way to control political "threats."

        Douglas Rushkoff has championed the idea that the current corporate-controlled internet is far from the open commons we pretend it is.






  • Standards/Consortia

    • BIRT 3.7 Released
      Open Document Text (ODT), Open Document Presentation (ODP), and Open Document Spreadsheet (ODS) outputs are also available with the addition of three new emitters.










Clip of the Day



I'm A Climate Scientist (HUNGRY BEAST)



[an error occurred while processing this directive]



Credit: TinyOgg

Recent Techrights' Posts

While GAFAM/Microsoft Disguise Financial Crisis as "Investment in AI" the Slop Giants Make Up a Narrative of Wilful Slowdown
A BS artist is good at the art of BS when the artist's failures or weaknesses get twisted as moral or professional leadership
It Has Cost $215,000 in Legal Costs to Sue IBM for Wrongful Termination
IBM typically settles out of court and demands secrecy (to avoid anyone else benefiting from the very expensive outcome)
 
Allegedly Many PIP Layoffs in Nepal, IBM Does This Before a Known Death Toll in Avalanche (Caused by China-, Europe-, and US-Induced Global Warming)
Fresh wounds, before the bodies are even recovered (thousands still missing)
"Wail" by Alexandre Oliva
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) 4.0 International
This Morning The Register MS Published a Page With "AI" 83 Times in it. The Register MS Got Paid to Do This.
The Register MS is not a serious publisher and a lot of the stuff about "AI" on the Web isn't journalism but paid-for SPAM
SLAPP Censorship - Part 184 Out of 200: A Tiny Law Firm That Knows Nothing But Microsoft (But Merely Pretends to Understand "IT")
They've managed to trick some mainstream media into thinking they're "Tech" experts or "Social [Control] Media" gurus; nothing could be further from the truth
Links 15/09/2026: Sweden’s Far Right Perishing and "Iceland Just Got Played"
Links for the day
It's Not About How Developers Vote
This isn't about politics, it's about users being in control of their own computers and computing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 14, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, September 14, 2026
Gemini Links 15/09/2026: Poetry, Enshittification of Ebay, and Mecha System
Links for the day
LG Lies to Cover Up Lies About Its Spying TVs (It Records and Transmits Conversations in Rooms)
This is what a lot of "modern" technology is like
Oracle's Debt Continues to Soar (Increase of 60 Billion Dollars in 15 Months, Not Counting the Secret Debt, With Off-balance-sheet Debt Having "Grown Roughly Thirtyfold in Four Years")
Oracle debt continues to grow
Apple's iOS and macOS Measured as Bigger Than Windows in the US, Linux-Based OSes at Almost 30%
Expect the silent layoffs at Microsoft to continue at a rapid pace
Oracle, Like Microsoft, Drowns in Debt and Discards Tens of Thousands of Staff (Microsoft Does the Same More Discreetly)
The main difference between Microsoft and Oracle is that the latter is honest about what's going on
Gemini Links 14/09/2026: First Android Phone, Leaving Sony, and Rant About Gemini-to-HTTP Proxy Providers
Links for the day
Links 14/09/2026: "Scam Altman Now Trying to Gain Control of Electric Grid" and Sweden Moving to the Right
Links for the day
Vista 11 Flunked
Microsoft cannot start a "Vista 12" campaign as it would only make matters worse
Microsoft Urgently Needs Distraction: There's No "Next XBox", But There's a New Boot Screen (Like 'Dark Mode', a Feature That Can be Implemented in Mere Minutes/Hours)
Anything to distract from XBox fiasco
The PIPs or 'Voluntary Termination Offers' Help IBM Fake Its Situation
"IBM is not a tech company"
IBM Flying Away to Sweatshops (So Will Red Hat)
Even on Sunday people post about 'leaving' IBM
RFID Ambitions Already Established by Widespread Skinnerbox Adoption
A society that cannot maintain privacy for those who deserve it will not manage to assure dignity of citizens
SLAPP Censorship - Part 183 Out of 200: What Actually Happened Two Months Ago (Based on People Who Attended)
It's dangerous to assert what happened in a hearing you did not attend (there was no video stream or recording, either)
Phil Harvey, an Editor-in-Chief in a B2B Site, Explains Why ChannelFutures (Connected to TechTarget) and Other Sites That Used to Cover Linux Deleted Many Articles
Every old article in channelfutures is gone!
Software Freedom Day 2026 is 5 Days From Now, Fresh Reminder to Boycott Proprietary Software
Let this be a timely reminder of why people should avoid proprietary software
Links 14/09/2026: Slop Hardly Used for Actual Work (Chatbots Are for Lonely People), Slop Bots (Scrapers, Plagiarism) "Are Thirsty for Power"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/09/2026: Trip, Hiding, and OCR
Links for the day
IBM PIPs Are Layoffs (RAs Come Later Even If You Satisfy the "Performance" and "Plan")
Notice how "the media" almost never mentions silent layoffs, as if just because they're silent, there's nothing to investigate, nothing to see there
Slop Companies Engage in Plagiarising the Web, Now They Pay People to Contaminate the Web With Their Lies
Remember that the lawfare against us is funded by slop salaries!
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 13, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 13, 2026
Microsoft is Laying Off All Year Long (It's Just Keeping Quiet About It)
The issue here is also the media. It's complicit.
MElon's Twitter Takeover Was Meant to Amplify People Like Himself or David Heinemeier Hansson (Slop Pyramid Schemes and Bigotry)
Social control media is not neutral
Microsoft Lunduke of 'Linux Sucks' (and Microsoft Corp.) Tries to Replace GNU/Linux With Toxic Discussions About Toxic Politics
Poisoning the well people drink from
General Assembly Covers EPO Strikes on Thursday, September 17th (2026)
The EPO's staff representation at The Hague has asked people to join an upcoming online session about industrial actions
Links 13/09/2026: Republican Campaign Aide Uses Nazi Photo and Convicted Felon is Wielding Power to Stifle Speech
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/09/2026: Never Settling, Plain Text Digital Life, and Newsgroups
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 182 Out of 200: UK Dockets With Machine-Generated Applications to the Court (From American Slop Companies)
Earlier this year Garrett was using machine-generated output as legal papers and submissions
Efforts to Cancel Matt Mullenweg Have Made Us More Sympathetic Towards Mullenweg and More Sceptical of the People Who Run Automattic (Named After Mullenweg)
Mullenweg, unlike Automattic, is not "in it for the money"
Boosters of Omarchy Are No 'Underdogs'
There are many Arch derivatives that do not rely on "viral" marketing in MElon's child porn-pushing social control media and are instead relying on real development, not slop
PIPs Are a Setup: They Set Workers Up to Fail While Working Their Arse Off Before Getting Kicked (Out) in the Arse
Malicious and exploitative
SLAPP Censorship - Part 181 Out of 200: This is Really More Like Brett Wilson LLP v Schestowitz (Using Money From American Slop Companies, Plagiarism Pushers)
We approach the parts where we explain that the Application to the Court with Garrett's name on it was instead complaining about fair criticism of the combative law firm (irrelevant to any injunctions) as if it was impermissible to explain what it had done - and still does - to my wife and I
It Sometimes Feels Like Slop Companies Are Committing Online/Digital Crimes
"GPT" out of control
Gemini Links 13/09/2026: Why Omarchy is "Plain Disgusting" and "AI Slop" and Why "Plain Text To Do List" Rocks
Links for the day
Links 13/09/2026: Scam Altman Admits Issues (Financial), Rival Says Stop Slop (Plagiarism)
Links for the day
Windows Down to New Lows as Switzerland's Federal Government Abandons Microsoft (Where Feasible for Now)
That's how it starts...
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 12, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 12, 2026