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Links 27/5/2015: Fedora 22 is Out, Mandriva Liquidated





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • Open Source Innovation: What's In and What's Out
    Open source innovation has not only revolutionized the software and biotech industries -- it's completely changed the way we think about creativity. To be derivative is now a form of being creative. That is, in order to do something new, we don't have to build something new -- we can use existing and emerging forms, made available through open access, and do something new with them. This promotes a democracy in the innovation game: with open source services, there is no discrimination against persons or groups or against fields or endeavors.


  • 4 steps to creating a thriving open source project
    Andrey Petrov spoke at a Sourcegraph open source meetup about lessons learned from his successes and failures creating open source projects.


  • Google turns its Android font Roboto into an open source project
    Designed by Christian Robinson, the Roboto font files were first released in 2011 under the Apache license. Now, the company is organizing the files and the font production toolchain into a fully realized open source project on Github.


  • SaaS/Big Data



  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice



    • Downgrading to stable
      The system works fine otherwise and can be accessed via ssh, but restarting kdm doesn't help to fix it, it just changes the pattern. Anyway, as explaining a toddler he cannot watch his favourite youtube cartoons because suddenly the computer screen has become an abstract art work is not easy I quickly decided to downgrade.




  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC



    • Richard Stallman Says He Created GNU, Which Is Called Often Linux
      Richard Stallman is the President of the Free Software Foundation and also the founder of GNU or GNU's Not Unix! operating system that contains only free software. One of his constant claims is that GNU/Linux is a misnomer and that it shouldn't be used. In fact, he's now saying that the GNU operating system is often called Linux.




  • Openness/Sharing



    • Researchers to track down obstacles to digital DIY
      An EU-funded research project wants to find regulations and other obstacles that hinder digital Do-It-Yourself companies. A consortium of universities and research institutes in Manchester, Milan, London, Thessaloniki and other cities intends to help small enterprises benefit from digital DIY, help policy makers and prepare teachers and educators.


    • Open Data



      • Open Government and geo-data infrastructures at AGIT 2015
        One of the themes at the AGIT 2015 conference will be Open Government and geo-data infrastructures. According to the organisers, the availability of standardised open government services has increased the importance of government geo-data infrastructures, taking the opportunities for using geo-information to a new level. Discussions will focus on questions like what value can be created by building a European 'spatially-enabled society' as part of the European knowledge society, and what are the challenges and prospects with regard to cloud computing.


      • How open data is transforming the business landscape
        Despite pledges by the G7 and G20 to boost transparency by opening up government data, fewer than 8% of countries publish data sets in open formats and under open licences on public sector budgets, spending and contracts.




    • Open Hardware



      • Hubble delivers a more affordable 3D laser cutter
        Hubble is an open source, mid-level laser cutter designed to be affordable, versatile, and hackable. Hubble was created to fill the current gap between amazing, entry-level projects, like MicroSlice, and the expensive, proprietary laser cutters on the market.






  • Programming



  • Standards/Consortia





Leftovers



  • Security



  • Defence/Police/Secrecy/Aggression



    • Stop Feeding the Troll: The Case for an ISIS Propaganda Blackout
      Now, there’s no actual evidence that any of this is anything more than deranged ranting, yet here we are: Millions of casual news observers who scrolled through western media this weekend came away thinking ISIS is plotting to acquire a nuclear bomb, kill the president and prostitute his wife.




  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife





  • Finance



  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying



    • EU dropped plans for safer pesticides after pressure from US
      EU plans to regulate hormone-damaging chemicals found in pesticides have been dropped because of threats from the US that this would adversely affect negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), according to a report in The Guardian. Draft EU regulations would have banned 31 pesticides containing endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that have been linked to testicular cancer and male infertility.

      Just after the official launch of the TTIP negotiations on 13 June 2013, a US business delegation visited EU officials to demand that the proposed regulations governing EDCs should be thrown out in favour of a further "impact study." Minutes of the meeting on June 26 show Commission officials saying that "although they want the TTIP to be successful, they would not like to be seen as lowering the EU standards." Nonetheless, the European Commission capitulated shortly afterwards.




  • Privacy



    • Glenn Greenwald, I’m sorry: Why I changed my mind on Edward Snowden
      I was wrong. So was most of the media


    • New surveillance laws must have full public debate, say top UK academics
      A group of 35 top academics have published an open letter calling on the UK government to ensure "the Rule of Law and the democratic process is respected as UK surveillance law is revised." This comes in response to the UK government previously turning to draft "Codes of Practice" and "clarifying amendments" to extend its surveillance powers, rather than using primary legislation that is subject to full parliamentary and public debate. Interestingly, the letter includes signatories both for and against such extensions, working in the fields of law, media, policy, and technology.




  • Civil Rights



  • Internet/Net Neutrality



    • Last chance for MEPs to save Net Neutrality?
      The negotiations on Net Neutrality comes to the end in June with next and probably final trialogue expected on 2nd of June. Until now, the different documents received from the negotiations1 have shown a very weak position of the Members of European Parliament (MEPs), abandoning the improvement on Net Neutrality that had been brought by the previous legislature. If the MEPs do not take this last chance to save Net Neutrality, it would have a critical impact on the way Internet is functioning, on the citizens' fundamental rights and on further regulations adopted within the so-called Digital Single Market.


    • How people power took on big business in the fight for net neutrality in India
      At the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Jan Koum, chief executive of WhatsApp, made an announcement that would cause much unease 4,000 miles away in New Delhi. “We want to make sure people always have the ability to stay in touch with their friends and loved ones really affordably,” he said. “We’re going to introduce voice on WhatsApp in the second quarter of this year.”




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights



      • Court Order Forbids ‘Poor Pirate’ To Use BitTorrent
        A federal court in Oregon has signed off on a highly peculiar judgment against a Dallas Buyers Club pirate. Citing "financial hardship," the woman doesn't have to pay the $7,500 in costs and fees as long as she promises not to download any infringing material in the future, and removes any and all BitTorrent clients.


      • Rightscorp Offered Internet Provider a Cut of Piracy Settlements


        Rightscorp, the piracy monetization company that works with Warner Bros. and other prominent copyright holders, goes to great lengths to reach allegedly pirating subscribers. The company offered Cox Communications a cut of the piracy settlements if they agreed to forward their notices, the ISP revealed in court.








Recent Techrights' Posts

Network Plumbing
We hope it'll help speed things up
"My Hands Are Shaking While Writing" About IBM's Mass Layoffs at Red Hat (Bluewashing)
Shame, shame, shame on the corporate media for not covering Red Hat's layoffs this year
Taking a Look at the Last Articles of Bob Cringely at Forbes, They Were All About IBM and Its Collapse
It's all about IBM
What is "Computer Science"? It is What Broligarchs Reject.
Nowadays some people call themselves informal terms or made-up titles (with terms like "AI" or "big data" or "data" tossed into the mix)
Brigading Against Women - Part XXVII - Americans and Public Executions
"People who work for Facebook / Xitter / Bytedance's Tiktok / Microsoft / Oracle / IBM / Apple / Uber / Lyft / Wolt / DoorDash / AirBnB / Bolt / and so on are doing some world-class projection when they have the audacity to call others Bad People(tm)"
Gemini Links 12/10/2026: Westminster Quarters, Civilization, Luddites, and More
Links for the day
 
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Again (October 2026), So-Called 'AI' Units Impacted Because Slop ('AI') Has No Real Future
So much for the future of Microsoft being "hey hi" (AI)
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Normalising cocaine in in Europe's largest institutions (the people running these) is a slippery slope
For Half a Year the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Has Had Water Problems in the Toilets
And it's not being fixed
Intercontinental Brigading - Part I - The Failed Attempt to 'Swat' Our Series About the Attacks and Crimes Committed Against Us
This coincided with threats to our lives
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GNU/Linux will soon exceed 10%
Lessons of Margaret Hamilton (Software Engineer)
Stop abetting men who attack women in the sciences
RIP, Bob Cringely
He was too young to leave us, his articles were still brilliant and his mind as lucid as ever
Linus Torvalds Has a Conflict of Interest Regarding Slop
Linus Torvalds is paid by the slop pushers
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
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IRC logs for Sunday, October 11, 2026
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It wasn't always like this. It used to be measured at 1 or 2 percent.
Slop-ware Is Not Newsworthy
LLMs are exceptionally loquacious and create large code bases
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Voice for the Impoverished
the country's leaders attack the country's own press
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Running a Country's Economy by Borrowing Over $400,000,000,000 Per Month
This is the hallmark of an economy in irreversible decline
Brigading Against Women - Part XXVI - Trying to Deplatform Critics of Microsoft's Restricted Boot
Like James Bottomley, Matthew Garrett served Microsoft's agenda while employed and salaried by other companies
Anderon Is Not a Real Company, It's an IBM Bailout Dressed Up or Wrapped Up In Buzzwords
It certainly does seem like they receive money from taxpayers for nothing, or for IBM to do mass layoffs/closure at Albany under the guise of "making a new spinoff"...
Over at Tux Machines...
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Links for the day
The 2026 Slop Prediction (Slopfarms Perishing)
Morality in the "digital world" has deteriorated profoundly
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Microsoft Cuts
GAFAM enshittification
NVIDIA Acts Like It Cannot Pay Salaries (Too Many Obligations, Sales in Circular Financing, or Basically Accounting Fraud)
Masters of acting as clients of themselves
Paying for elections, Reform UK illegal confession in High Court
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Contemptuous Law Firm Accusing Others of Contempt of Court
Keeping a running tally can help
Links 10/10/2026: Let's Encrypt Making Changes (Problem for Small Sites/Operations), Quartz is Officially a Slopfarm (Busted)
Links for the day
Microsoft Abuses PERM and Lays Off Workers in India
The US government has made it easier for Microsoft to hide the mass layoffs
The GAFAM Elections in the United States
If the election is run by platforms that have back doors "baked-in" and if the communications are overseen by GAFAM, you would not have to be a "nutty MAGAt" to dispute the outcome
More GAFAM Layoffs (Late on Friday Night)
They say they are worth trillions, but they don't even make money
Male-Dominated EPO Fails to Have "Concrete Measures to Support Female Staff"
Being a female at the EPO is exceptionally hard
Brigading Against Women - Part XXV - No Anonymity for People Who Did Illegal Things
"Empathy is the sunlight to the vampire of culture."
Production Freeze at the European Patent Office (Opposing Monarchy, Institutional Maladministration and Corruption)
Eight reasons to participate
Links 10/10/2026: Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' Silencing Critics, "Data Centres are the New Front Line in the Russia-Ukraine War"
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Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 09, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 09, 2026
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