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
- At Microsoft, "Buyouts" or "Global Voluntary Separation Agreement" (GVSA) Not Much Different From Layoffs (Severance Shockingly Low)
- From what we are able to gather, many people are leaving Microsoft 'voluntarily'
- Is Microsoft the Next Fake-Valued Corporation to Lose 35% in "Market Value"? Is Slop Bringing Microsoft Down?
- Will NDAs prevent people talking or journalists finding out the true cause?
- Silent Layoffs at IBM (and Red Hat) Continue in November 2026
- IBM's CEO is "a Palliative Care Doctor Who Slides [IBM] Gently Into the Night"
- Links 13/11/2026: "Apple Support Community Forums to Permanently Close" and "The Slop Market is Getting Nervous"
- Links for the day
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- United States Adding ~300 Billion in Government Debt Per Month, Wall Street Shaves Off Trillions in 'Value' in Less Than One Week
- cushioning "assets" by helping them fake "value"
- Microsoft: Pay Us for the Stuff That's Offline and We Cannot Fix
- Learn to take control of the technology that you rely on
- Links 13/11/2026: "Copyright-Strike-for-Hire" and "Stevie Wonder Photo Lawsuit"
- Links for the day
- The Slop Bubble (or Pyramid Scheme) Relied on Trust and Patience (Being Patient as Losses Grow and Debt Explodes, Trusting the Roadmap of Cheaters and Frauds)
- Remember that it all began with trust
- Anthropic's IPO Depends on $895.4 Billion in Debt (Money It Doesn't Have, It Loses Over 100 Billion Dollars Per Reporting Period), NVIDIA Has Just Lost Almost 2 Trillion Dollars In Value and Its Debt Trebled in Three Months
- This coming week will be very, very entertaining for slop critics/sceptics to watch
- Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) the Latest of Many to Quit Linux Development Over Linus Torvalds' Obsession With Slop (Linus Wants to Work With Bots, Not Humans Who Understand Whatever Code They Write)
- Linus caught the 'brain virus'
- Microsoft Asks 60,000 Workers to Leave, Some Leave, Services Go Down
- Microsoft laid off about 40,000-50,000 people in past years
- Gemini Links 13/11/2026: Roku Exits the Smart Home Market and Poor Reporting/Journalism Regarding Slop Plagiarism
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 12, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, November 12, 2026
- Gemini Links 12/11/2026: A Firing of a Boss and Geminispace Growing Fast
- Links for the day
- Bill Epsteingate-Funded BBC "Totally Ignoring the $1.7 Trillion Wiped off NVIDIA Stocks"
- Imagine how many pension funds are tied to this NVIDIA pyramid scheme
- A Few Hours Before NVIDIA CEO Canned (and NVIDIA Shares Plunged) the NVIDIA-Funded The Register MS Published Paid Spam With "AI" 18 Times in It
- Anything to inflate the bubble
- Links 11/11/2026: NVIDIA Decapitated, "The Company That Published Fake Journalists in Sports Illustrated is Collapsing Dramatically"
- Links for the day
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXIX - We Didn't Start the Fire
- It started in 2012
- Photo Ops Are Liabilities
- NVIDIA is not a "family business" and its CEO isn't some modest genius
- NVIDIA’s Total Debt Trebled in Three Months!
- Not the hallmark of a rich company unless its accounting is fraudulent
- NVIDIA Turns Out to be Serial Cheater, Stock Plunges 33% in 5 Weeks
- The "slop bros" have long relied on patience and blind faith
- Adopting LLM Slop is Still Suicide
- Suicide (in the literal sense) is also linked to adoption of chatbots
- On Laundering Licences and Code
- A "Second SCO" waiting to happen
- The Cyber Show on Slop and the Ministry Of Truth in "Nineteen Eighty Four"
- "cultural erasure" by slop
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXVIII - Keeping Both Eyes on the Ball
- One upside of these disputes is that they raise at least two very important issues concerning the law
- Gemini Links 12/11/2026: Encryption is Easy, Human Emacs, and Legislation in Italy
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 11, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, November 11, 2026
- Links 11/11/2026: End of Novaya Gazeta (Assassinated by Putin) and North Koreans Too Poor to Buy Rice
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 11/11/2026: The Tyrant’s Moat and Rants About Slop Causing Problems
- Links for the day
- Links 11/11/2026: Skydance Games and Boeing Hit By Layoffs, "Time Out for Timeouts"
- Links for the day
- IRC is for Communities, Social Control Networks Are for Broligarchs (by Broligarchs)
- Unlike Reddit, it's not a company
- JavaScript is the Problem, Not the Answer
- Making the Web better is about making things better, not slapping more JavaScript 'walls' at it
- Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXVII - "Making a False Complaint to Police is a Crime." (British Cops Aren't American Mercenaries)
- "In the United Kingdom, the Foreign Enlistment Act 1819 and the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 make it unlawful for British subjects to join the armed forces of any state warring with another state at peace with Britain."
- The Label 'Anti-AI'
- They make it sound like opposing plagiarism or cheating is an act of intolerance or hatred
- Intolerance and Violence
- Intolerance in the software world is not a new problem
- António Campinos Hiding From Staff Amid Strikes, Won't Participate in Dialogue
- They voted to continue striking until Christmas
- Silent Layoffs at IBM (Rolling Layoffs), Now Curbs on H1B (Mostly Indian Applicants)
- Little will change at IBM except the gravity (global distribution) of its workforce will go east
- Links 11/11/2026: Moving from Proton to Posteo and "Floating in Space"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, November 10, 2026