New Articles About GNU/Linux Success on Desktops
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-11 13:33:10 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-11 15:20:15 UTC
Summary: This month's articles about success stories and debates regarding GNU/Linux on the desktop
GNU/Linux Distributions
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GNU/Linux largely uses open standards so whatever applications and computers you have can all talk to each other and speak the same languages. That allows you to turn a lab or a school into a super-computer as needed. That allows you to set up as many databases, search engines, web-servers, clients thick (resourceful) and thin (using resources of a server), as you need, want or can afford. Basically, you don’t need a brand new PC to get great performance if you can connect to another powerful computer running the software you need. GNU/Linux lets you do that transparently.
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Even if you’re a Windows (or Mac) user, knowing how to use Linux is a valuable skill and it can run a bunch of awesome things in your home — even if it isn’t your main desktop OS. Here are 10 ways you can use Linux even if you’re not ready to go full Ubuntu.
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Engaging in arguments about the superiority of one computing environment over another with individuals who are every bit as convinced of their view as your are of yours is a fruitless endeavor. I used to have lengthy discussions on the relative merits of Linux over Windows or Mac OS X, or BSD, or BeOS, or any combination thereof, none of which turned out to be a productive use of my time, or anyone else's time involved. I like to think that I've grown out of the need to defend my choice of computing platform, and instead focus on what I can do. It is always best to let your work speak for itself.
Chrom*/OS
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A few years ago, Google completely took the web by surprise by launching its own browser. The crowd, which was busy transitioning from the outmoded Internet Explorer to the trendy Firefox, initially took little notice of the search giant's endeavor. However, due to its availability across all platforms, and also its blazing fast speed, Google Chrome became a darling of the web user within a few months. This, in turn, pushed Google to bring more features to Chrome thereby sending the partially open-source browser into a spiral of success.
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First, ASUS announced the ASUS Chromebox, then HP followed with the HP Chromebox, and not to be left out, Google followed with the announcement of the Chromebox for meetings.
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A few days after Asus announced the first Chromebox mini-PC to be introduced the original Samsung Chromebox, HP unveiled its own Chromebox model, which similarly runs on Google’s Linux-based Chrome OS. Meanwhile, Google announced “Chromebox for Meetings,” an enterprise video-conferencing system that initially will be built on the Asus Chromebox, but later this year be available with the HP Chromebox and an upcoming Dell Chromebox (see farther below).
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That processor will also mean the HP Chromebox will cost more its Asus competitor, which will start at just $179 (though probably with a less-powerful Celeron CPU). We'll find out this spring, when HP's model becomes available. With that company onboard, the Chromebox platform looks a lot more viable than just a week ago, when the only Chromebox you could buy was a refurbished Samsung model.
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Have you noticed that a Chrome process always runs in the background when there are Chrome apps active, even if you do not have Chrome browser opened? Even though Chrome apps run like native apps they need the whole Chrome process to run in the background. Google is trying to change this and is working to make Chrome web apps API needs minimal.
Terminology Debate
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Jack Wallen believes that a language barrier is preventing Linux from being adopted, en mass, on the desktop. Do you think a simplified, standardized language for Linux is the solution?
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On the other hand, there's such a thing as dumbing something down too far. One of the big attractions of Linux is the power and control that comes with it. Many of the people who opt for Linux are eager to learn what is necessary for them to truly take control of their computers.
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I've been in technology for more than twenty years. Along the way I've worked for and with many different women that have served in different roles. Some wrote or managed editorial content, while others were focused on the business side as marketing managers or vice presidents, and still others managed the back end and programming parts of the company.
They all had one thing in common though: THEY. JUST. DID. IT.
Education
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No, not literally, but figuratively, the generosity of many IT-companies to “help” schools afford IT is more about enslaving students to use and be locked-in to those companies’ products rather than choosing what works best for the students and teachers. I am surprised that M$ is not on the list…
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In most countries these days, kids start learning computers at a very early age in school and even in still developing countries, computer education is a top priority. Computers are as important part of our daily lives as food and clothes are. Computer Education is considered a very vital part of our kids education today but are we doing it right?
Hardware
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My intentions were different: as I had a play with it in the showroom, I was salivating as I thought of how Linux would fly on such hardware. I planned to replace Windows with Debian GNU/Linux and use the laptop for my work; my existing laptop, an IBM Thinkpad, is entering its 10th year of service and its age is showing.
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The other side of that coin is that barebones PCs can be good for people who aren’t planning on paying for an OS. You can use your favorite Linux distribution on a barebones PC without paying the added cost for some Windows license you have no intention of using.
Recent Techrights' Posts
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- Despite all the attacks, I'm enjoying life, I'm keeping productive, and our audience continues to grow
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- Links for the day
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- Google itself is trying to promote its own slop ("Overview") at the expense of original and credible sources
- Links 19/01/2026: ChatGPT’s Defects and The Guardian on Why So-called "AI Companies Will Fail"
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- GAFAM and IBM are war companies
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- Over at Tux Machines...
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- misleading PR
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- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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- "3 Reasons to Buy IBM Stock Right Now"
- IBM: Spying on Staff Like Never Before and Implementing Silent Layoffs This Month, Say Insiders
- what we heard from whistleblowers seems to corroborate
- IBM is Not a Free Software Company (It Never Was)
- Red Hat's main product, RHEL, is full of secret sauce and has 'secret recipes' (it is basically proprietary)
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- Sometimes it feels like today's executives at IBM view IBM workers as a liability
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- Links for the day
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- Feedback can be sent to us
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- Links for the day
- Eventually the Joke (and Financial Fraud) is on Microsoft, Stigmatised for Slop
- Is Microsoft trying to commit suicide?
- GNU/Linux Leaps to All-time Highs in Virgin Islands
- it seems to have started around the "end of 10"
- Place Your Bets: Who Will Die First? Microsoft or IBM?
- Not even joking; make a guess
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- Sometimes less does mean "more" (or "MOAR")
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- To better overlap industrial actions we might delay/postpone/pause this series for a bit
- Restoring Professional Pride in the Tech Sector
- Rejecting slop isn't being a Luddite
- Benefiting by Adding Presence in Geminispace
- As the Web gets worse, not limited to bloat as a factor, people seek alternatives
- Google News Recently Started Syndicating Another Slopfarm, Linuxiac
- Even if Google is aware that there is slop there, it's hard to believe that Google will mind
- Slop Bubble "Is Worse Than The Dot Com Bubble"
- Edward Zitron Says It like it is
- Software Patents and USMCA (or NAFTA)
- We recently pondered going back to issuing 2-3 articles per day about patents and common issues with them
- IBM Sued Over PIPs
- PIPs are "performance improvement plans"
- Sites With "Linux" in Their Name That Are in Effect Slopfarms and Issue Fake Articles
- We try to name some of the prolific culprits
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- Links for the day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, January 17, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, January 17, 2026
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
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- Links for the day
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- What a shame. A once-decent site about "Linux" bites the dust.
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- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
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- you know what's gonna happen next...
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- Working in an atmosphere like this sounds like a nightmare
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- Links for the day
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- Links for the day
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- Indeed
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- It's always ending up this way
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- Embassies and consulates habitually fail at this
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- If more people adopt encryption, it'll be easier for us to deal with whistleblowers
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- even the highest media judges aren't aware of how to protect sources
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- It seems like good news that the women escape this workplace
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- In short, avoid slopfarms
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- There are risks they don't like talking about
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- Knowing what we know (and heard/saw), the sinister silence of the media is perceived by some to be complicity of the lower order.
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- He has done a lot philosophically, politically, and so on
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- it's never too late to join
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- The EPO's management is highly evasive, weak, and vulnerable
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- No wonder we keep hearing from Red Hat people who say they hate IBM
- Over at Tux Machines...
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- IRC logs for Friday, January 16, 2026