04.14.09
Posted in News Roundup at 7:40 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Contents
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A category long dominated by Apple’s $1,200 iMac is suddenly rife with nice-looking imitators that pack less power than traditional Windows desktops, but are also gentler on the wallet. They’re a subcategory of desktop PCs called Nettops, and, like Netbooks, they’re generally defined as a computing platform powered by the Atom processor that runs either Windows XP or a version of Linux. Combined with the all-in-one form factor and a smaller screen than most desktops (between 15 inches and 19 inches), they’re essentially the Netbooks of the desktop category.
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Why would you consider migrating from Windows to Linux? In my work as a volunteer computer service technician, the one thing which finds traction is the impending death of XP. That Vista is significantly different without necessarily being better, and requires hardware they can’t afford, while their current machine is still in good shape, and perhaps the fear (justified or not) which results from all the sales pitches they can’t avoid designed to prod them into buying the next new security package, are all contributing factors. But they don’t want a new hobby; they just want their computer to work with less hassle.Z
I tell these people there is no magic pill. Switching is a way of shifting the cost profile, which includes time and money. When you start having more time than money, Linux starts to look a lot better.
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Server
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End-to-end service, including assessment, advice, planning, design, validation and deployment. Calculators and online tools help customers assess their current IT environment and determine the ROI of implementing new technologies and platforms, including Dell’s new “Server Power and Space Savings Calculator,” which offers detailed summaries of projected costs savings from migrating to new Dell PowerEdge servers (a UNIX to Linux Migration ROI Calculator is also available).
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Over the years I have had to harden a great number of LAMP boxes, I have found some methods work for better than others. I will now share with you all my favorite 10 along with methods to implement them on Debian/Ubuntu.
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Being a Linux operating system, one gets a lot of bang for their buck: A couple of years ago, I replaced a Windows 2003 Small Business Server running on a Pentium 4 that had a 1GB of RAM (RAM was expensive then, remember) with an old Celeron 1.1 Ghz with 192 MB of RAM for an office of about 20 users. The SME Server running on the old hardware outperformed the bigger server in every way. It had a boot time under of under two minutes, versus almost 10 minutes. Stability, easy backups and immunity to viruses were just some of the other benefits.
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So I was happy to see that SYNNEX, a leading software and hardware distributor, had partnered up with Red Hat and other open-source ISV (independent software vendors) to form the Open Source Channel Alliance. It may just be what’s needed to get Linux and open-source software into more offices.
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But if it’s good for Red Hat, it’s also good for free software, since the latter’s use in small- and medium- sized companies is likely to rise. Moreover, the tie-up with “SYNNEX” means that open source has just gained a marketing army of 15,000 resellers who will go out and sing its virtues to their customers. Now that’s what I call channeling the power.
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Given that Jaunty is not a long-term support release, many server users are likely to opt instead for Ubuntu 8.04 (a.k.a ‘Hardy’) in production environments, since the latter receives security updates through 2013. This means that the features new to Jaunty server edition will be limited largely to testbeds. Nonetheless, those who opt to put Jaunty into production on their servers will benefit from incremental improvements and new features that, although not yet completely stable, offer cutting-edge functionality.
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Kernel Space
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At the Linux Collaboration Summit, several key Linux developers discussed kernel development during a discussion panel.
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With the release of PulseAudio 0.9.15 also comes an update to the PulseAudio Volume Control program. The PulseAudio Volume Control 0.9.8 update brings support for configuring sound card profiles and various other updates.
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Applications
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The guide doesn’t cover every available LInux backup option. But it will at least give you a good overview of what to expect from a quality backup product, and it really does offer something for almost everyone.
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Photo and video enhancer Cooliris has launched an updated version of its browser add-on that brings new features including support for viewing local media, file specific metadata, and a Facebook photo viewer that shows user name tags. It’s also available–for the first time, to Linux users.
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In this article I will leave command-line clients like rtorrent or ctorrent for some other time, focusing on KTorrent, Deluge, Transmission, Vuze and QBitTorrent.
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Linux Game Publishing has announced that Sacred: Gold Edition has gone, well, gold:
Get your swords and spellbooks ready, Sacred: Gold Edition is here and ready to order! Adventure through a massive land in the biggest RPG to come to Linux. Join other players online in collaborative adventuring as you seek to rescue the land of Ancaria from its evil nemesis!
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Almost three months after the release of Sabayon Linux Lite MCE, Fabio Erculiani announced yesterday, April 13th, the immediate availability of a new edition, entitled Sabayon Linux 4.1 GNOME and based on the Lite MCE version. This GNOME edition of Sabayon Linux 4 brings a “ready to use” version of the powerful and popular XBMC Media Center, multimedia applications, a dark GNOME desktop environment and all the other apps you’ll need. Sabayon Linux 4.1 GNOME is available for the x86 and x86_64 architectures, featuring a custom Linux kernel 2.6.29.1 with support for the EXT4 filesystem, which is enabled by default in the installer!
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In conclusion I would suggest all of you who are using Ubuntu or other Debian Derivatives to try Lenny. It is worth the time!
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The Fedora Project is an openly-developed project designed by Red Hat. It is a leader among Linux distros helping to set a high standard for all to follow. Graphically, Fedora includes some of the most eye pleasing artwork to be found. What it takes to make Fedora look so good is the subject of this article.
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While the current Ubuntu 9.04 is still in beta and is identified as “For testing only!”; the release date for Januty Jackalope is set for April 23, 2009, which is just two Thursdays away. The beta is available for download and testing. Reported major improvements for 9.04 are faster booting and 2.6.28.8 kernel support.
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Phones
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Google’s Android operating system is about to start showing up in a whole slew of consumer electronic devices other than cell phones, according to recent reports.
The Web site Android Guys reported late last week that Motorola is building a TV set-top box for Japanese telephone and broadband service provider KDDI. The new device is expected to be ready in time for the Japan’s largest electronics show, CEATEC, which will be held in October.
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Code-named “Cupcake,” the latest version of the Linux-based operating system adds numerous features to the Google-backed OS. One of the complaints of the Android-powered T-Mobile G1 is that it lacks an on-screen keyboard, but Android 1.5 fixes that issue.
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Here comes the next version of Android. Google has announced that developers can get an early look at the SDK for version 1.5 of Android, based on the “Cupcake” branch of the open source project. There are quite a few new capabilities that should make upcoming rounds of Android-based devices more flexible, including APIs for soft keyboards, home screen widgets, live folders, and speech recognition. Video features are also coming. Developers can download the early version of the version 1.5 SDK for Windows, the Mac and Linux here. Here’s more on what to expect as Android matures.
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Sub-notebooks
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The designs are based on Intel’s 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor and are intended for netbooks running Linux with 8.9-inch or 10.2-inch screens and priced as low as 1,750 yuan (US$256), according to Chinese media reports.
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To recap our initial thoughts on the Inspiron Mini 9, it is a small, well-built netbook that appears to be durable and has easy upgrade capabilities. What though is not nice about the hardware is the smaller keyboard and using a 4-cell battery instead of 6-cells. With Dell shipping Ubuntu on the Mini 9, it is of course Linux compatible. This version of the Dell Mini 9 is being sold for well under $300 USD.
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How do you manage, grow, and foster active involvement in a community? One way might incorporate planning several events at approximately the same time and venue. This is why you can rest assured that the organizers behind the Community Leadership Summit can help you learn to manage your project’s community in the most effective way possible.
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The PC-BSD developers have announced the release of version 7.1 – Galileo Edition of their open source operating system. PC-BSD 7.1 is based on the 7.2 Pre version of FreeBSD, an operating system derived from BSD UNIX that focuses on security and stability. PC-BSD development is sponsored by iXsystems.
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‘Cloud’
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My fear is that the web will be subsumed by the ‘Clouds’ servers and it will be controlled by hardware vendors.
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CollabNet is unveiling on Tuesday a successor to its CollabNet SourceForge Enterprise product, called CollabNet TeamForge 5.2, which offers cloud development capabilities.
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Business
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The Financial Meltdown May Suggest Some Lessons for IT
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Now, to square the circle and make sure we are indeed getting what we expect and pay for, we also have the responsibility as consumers to inspect and verify. The beauty of open source is that what runs our systems is now transparent.
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Government
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Literature
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I got an email from Jeremiah Gray announcing a new issue (#2) of Hackett and Bankwell, the educational comicbook about Linux and Free and Open Source Software from Intarcorp Ltd. Issue #2 is currently only available in electronic format (PDF) and they have decided to release it under a Creative Commons license. Thank you!
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Ubuntu Server Edition, built on Debian GNU/Linux, has established itself as one of the most popular and well documented GNU/Linux server distributions. The Long Term Support (LTS) version of Ubuntu Server is provided with security updates for five years from the release date. This long term commitment ensures a stable base for deployment. Beginning Ubuntu LTS Server Administration From Novice to Professional aims to teach all you need to know to begin administering Ubuntu Server. The book covers installing, configuring and the systems administration tasks for Ubuntu Server Edition.
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As repercussions from the weekend’s email-smear blogosphere meltdown continue to be felt at the highest levels in government, senior Labour figures are scrabbling to blame those responsible for the leaks of having obtained their story by unethical means – including hacking.
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Blogger and investment advisor Mike Morgan has registered the domain name goldmansachs666.com and is using it for a blog that criticises the investment bank and its practices.
Goldman Sachs wrote to Morgan asking him to stop using the domain name and claiming that his use of it interfered with its rights.
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Censorship/Web Abuse
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The European Commission has started legal action against Britain over the online advertising technology Phorm.
It follows complaints to the EC over how the behavioural advertising service was tested on BT’s broadband network without the consent of users.
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Copyrights
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A federal judge on Thursday rejected an online coupon-generating company’s bid to reopen a copyright infringement lawsuit against a North Carolina man who posted commands allowing users to print an unlimited number of valid coupons.
Nelson Pavlosky, Co-founder of Free Culture.org 08 (2005)
Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.
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Posted in Apple, Deception, Free/Libre Software, FUD, GNU/Linux, Google, GPL, Interoperability, Microsoft at 5:48 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“First They Ignore You, Then They Ridicule You, Then They Fight You.”
–Mahatma Gandhi
Summary: Phases of an ongoing Microsoft crisis, in detail
HOW CAN ONE tell that Microsoft stands on its last leg?
Well, there are many yardsticks one can use, but one of them is a purely behavioural one. Microsoft employees, for example, are attacking competitors out in the open right now. It’s not just quick smears but also well-orchestrated smears that are managed and planned by groups of seniors in an air-conditioned office. How about Microsoft’s attacks on Apple (e.g. 'Apple tax', which was mentioned the other day) and similar ones against GNU/Linux (e.g. the sub-notebooks lies, mostly seeded by Microsoft/NPD/IDG)? Here is another post on this subject.
Despite these attacks (including notorious lawsuits against Linux), Microsoft is pretending that everything is cool. Quoting from this story, writes Tony O’Bryan:
Subject: Lying Sack of Offal
> [Sam Ramji] said that Microsoft’s commitment to delivering compatibility with open source software is largely driven by user demand.
Any interoperability between Microsoft and FOSS comes from two sources:
1) Very hard work by FOSS developers despite unceasing interference, antagonism, and threats from Microsoft.
2) The butt-kicking Microsoft has received from the only government on Earth with the guts to protect its citizens from Microsoft: the E.U.
It seems that a prerequisite for working at Microsoft is the ability to lie without flinching.
It wasn’t long ago that Sam Ramji lied about the GPL and got caught.
So, Microsoft is not only fighting quite aggressively against GNU/Linux but it also relies on deception and ignorance. Who could blame Microsoft? Its Windows franchise shows signs of crumbling not only due to cost (Windows is now as cheap as a few bucks because of fierce competition from GNU/Linux).
Microsoft moving XP into reduced-support phase on Tuesday
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The move out of mainstream and into extended support also comes just days after a leaked Microsoft memorandum spelled out a relaxation of the rules for computer makers that want to continue selling new PCs with the aging operating system.
OEMs will be allowed to advertise new systems as XP PCs, something that hasn’t been allowed since June 2008, and can “downgrade” a license for Windows 7 — the operating system that hasn’t yet been released — to XP for at least six months after Windows 7′s launch.
That in its own right is bad and it shows that Microsoft anticipates problems with Vista 7 [1, 2, 3].
Lastly, how can one tell that Microsoft is close to giving up? Approximately half (or more) of its employees choose the competition’s product.
Half Of Microsoft Employees Use Google To Search Web
Forget about selling Live Search to the American public—Microsoft is struggling to get its own employees to use the search engine.
This is also covered here. Shall Steve Ballmer ever have his wish granted, his employees might struggle to get work done. █
“I’m going to f—ing kill Google.”
–Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO (quote from Sydney Morning Herald)
“Every time you use Google, you’re using a machine running the Linux kernel.”
–Chris DiBona, Google
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Posted in Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 2:54 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”
–Bill Gates
Summary: Beware of the Microsoft bearing “addictive” gifts
THIS is not another post about EDGI, but it sure illustrates how Microsoft spins its “addiction” trips (see quote at the top) as something of charitable value. Todd Bishop captured the situation pretty well under the headline:
Microsoft: Sorry, you can’t use these vouchers to learn Linux
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The vouchers are being made available as part of Microsoft’s Elevate America retraining program, announced in February, which aims to train up to 2 million people over the next three years.
They also neglect to comment on one crucial ingredient: competition. It’s not about training; it’s about training for Microsoft, turning civilians into customers.
This “Elevate America” scam is a subject that we remarked on before and we are finding a similar scam in the Australian press right now. A fortnight ago we saw Microsoft exploiting poverty in east Africa to turn people into agents of the company. Now there’s this:
Microsoft Corp. announced Monday it would be giving away more than 30,000 vouchers over the next 90 days to help unemployed people in Washington state get new computer skills.
By “computer skills” they mean Microsoft products. It’s about “Microsoft skills”. It’s a good time to stare again at the Gates quote appearing above. Microsoft did this in Africa too — using financial distress to spread Microsoft software even more. The sad thing is that the press usually parrots Microsoft press releases that spin anti-GNU/Linux dumping as one of a variety of benevolent euphemisms. This is very typical and there are many examples, e.g. [1, 2]. █
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Posted in Europe, Microsoft, Patents at 2:17 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A summary of new reports that reveal a brutal, unethical system for information control and monopolies
THOSE GOOD folks from Wikileaks continue to show the world that juicy, truthful journactivism is far from dead. Having recently exposed the censorship plans from Australia, they also leaked ACTA drafts a few days ago and Glyn Moody, as usual, commends them.
Given that a draft is now available, and that others will doubtless follow, the best thing would be for for the ACTA nations to acknowledge that we live in different, more open times, and to embrace them. Let them release an official ACTA draft for everyone to comment on – and not just the chosen few that are permitted to walk the hallowed corridors of power.
Watch what is happening in Germany: Germany deletes WikiLeaks.de domain after raid
cording to claims of German registration authority DENIC, the Wikileaks.de domain has been sent to DENIC by the Internet domain registrar, “Beasts Associated” and therefore is “In Transit”. The registrar claims this had happened as a consequence of “contract breach” by the domain owner. WikiLeaks has open questions that cannot be answered at this point in time. It also remains unclear whether the “breach of contract” is related to content on the website or administrative issues. An update will be posted as soon as we have all information required to assess the situation.
The raid was blunt enough, but there are no clear answers in this later case. What really was the cause?
Another detested process in the making is the patent deform bill, which puts to shame the need to change for the better. Watch this report from ACS which names the stakeholders.
A group representing Silicon Valley giants such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Cisco has also endorsed the measure. Similar patent reform legislation (H.R. 1260) is awaiting action in the House.
What about the small companies? Or consumers? Who are these laws for anyway? Shades of the ACTA, which similarly involves only giant companies and thus leaves all the rest completely in the dark and/or without ability to make substantial impact.
Mind another AstroTurf which is going for this reform (a Microsoft-esque AstroTurf).
Lobbyists Get Random Unsuspecting Groups To Rally Against Patent Reform
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Well, it appears that the same thing is happening with patent reform. Wired has done a little digging, and was curious why an anti-communist Hungarian group, the Minutemen (vigilante border guards), and various religious groups have suddenly come out against patent reform. In pretty much all cases, the groups don’t seem knowledgeable at all about the actual issues, and were basically told to “sign on” after being given a one-sided presentation that falsely claimed that patent reform was designed to harm American inventiveness and help foreign companies. The best explanation, however, goes to Laszlo Pasztor, the 87-year-old “honorary chairman” of the National Federation of American Hungarians, who is very much opposed to patent reform, though he seems rather confused why:
“It was in Chicago or Detroit, I can’t remember. Somebody brought this up, I don’t know for what reason… So I gave them permission to use my name.”
Here is the seminal report from Wired. It gives another example.
When asked if we could talk to other members of the group to understand their perspective on patent reform, Pasztor replied that it will be the last year that the organization was going to be around. “I am a 87 and a half years old,” he explained. “And our treasurer is 91 years old. Our chairman, who is a Roman Catholic priest, is so busy working on church issues in Ukraine and Slovakia, it is impossible to reach him.”
Pasztor volunteered to get us more information once he reaches Washington. “I will try to reach the still living members of the board,” he said.
While we’re on this abominable subject of intellectual monopoly, watch this report about the Czech Presidency, which is sponsored by Microsoft, making another move to legalise software patents in Europe. It could be part of another mighty lobby.
Despite all odds, the present Czech EU Presidency has prepared another patent policy Document 8588/09 titled “Revised proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent”. It conveys a revised Presidency proposal for a Council Regulation on the Community patent, based on recent discussions in the Working Party on Intellectual Property (Patents). Changes to the previous version of the proposal (Document 9465/08) are underlined. The Working Party will be invited to have a first exchange of views on this Working document at its meeting on 22 April 2009.
Don’t let software patents pass without a democratic process. █
“Small Software companies cannot afford to go to court or pay damages. Who is this software patent system for?” —Marco Schulze, Nightlabs Gmbh
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Posted in Microsoft, Novell, Virtualisation, Xen at 1:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Musical chairs at Movell and Nicrosoft
Summary: Two more members of the board of directors have prior relationships with Microsoft
THE direction of any company is determined by the people who run it. As such, we keep track of evidence that’s inter-personal and use it to explain particular decisions sometimes. We have a pretty decent track record of getting things right. One example would be XenSource, which was scooped up by a very close ally of Microsoft. Jeff Vance is unable to make sense of this deal, so Jose X fills him in by saying: “Microsoft, whose bestest partner is Citrix, probably can put a figure on Xen’s value. Lots of strategy going on with that partnership I have little doubt.”
But today’s development is not about XenSource (or Xen), which changed a lot after Microsoft veterans had approached it with money. It’s actually about Novell, which is in many ways similar to Xen. Quite a few former Microsoft employees have already joined the ranks of Novell’s management and now we find this press release about changes in the Board of Directors.
Novell today announced the appointments of Gary G. Greenfield and Judith H. Hamilton to its Board of Directors.
Mr. Greenfield has held multiple executive level positions at leading technology organizations and currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Avid Technology, Inc. Prior to joining Avid, he served as CEO of GXS, Inc. and during the same period, also served as an Operating Partner with Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm. Previously, Mr. Greenfield served as CEO of Peregrine Systems and President and CEO of Merant PLC. Mr. Greenfield is also a Director of Vocus, Inc.
There is also this subsequent report which an informant mailed to us.
Novell Inc .. on Friday (10 April) announced the appointments of Gary G Greenfield and Judith H Hamilton as directors to the company’s board.
Greenfield currently serves as chairman and CEO of Avid Technology Inc. Prior to that he was CEO of GXS Inc and during the same period, also served as an operating partner with Francisco Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm. Before that he served as CEO of Peregrine Systems and President and CEO of Merant PLC.
Our informant shows that Microsoft and GXS have an actual alliance, and Avid Technology too is a ‘buddy’ of Microsoft.
Looking back at the second among those two appointments, we have:
Hamilton currently serves on the board of directors of R.R Donnelley & Sons as well as the Wildlife Conservation Society. She has previously served as a director of Artistic Media Partners Inc, Markettools Inc and the National Parks Foundation. Prior to her retirement, she was president and CEO of Classroom Connect Inc as well as FirstFloor Software.
R.R Donnelley collaborates with Microsoft and this lady was a director of a company that Microsoft commissioned.
About this Study Microsoft has commissioned MarketTools, Inc, a marketing research firm, to build and maintain the panel on Microsoft’s behalf. For more information about MarketTools’ relationship with Microsoft, please contact us at: itpanel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
It seems fairly important to emphasise that Novell does not fear Microsoft influence inside its board. After all, Novell and Microsoft openly rave about their many partnerships. They hardly compete. █
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Posted in News Roundup at 7:51 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Contents
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Earlier this year the Linux Foundation launched a competition for budding writers, film makers and just general Linux enthusiasts to make their own grassroots advertisement to compete with Apple’s highly-successful “I’m a Mac” series of adverts. The winner has now been announced.
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The computing marketplace is nearly unique in its lack of customer choice. In most other industries we have many good choices. If you don’t like your Ford, you can buy a Toyota, Saab, Chevrolet, Audi, Dodge, or any of several other good brands. If you don’t like Pepsi you can try Coke, Shasta, Western Family, RC. Ever notice how particular some people are about pens? There are dozens, if not hundreds of different styles and brands of pens. Milk comes from cows that are all pretty much the same, but you still have a choice of brands. Ever count how many different brands of tortilla chips are on your store’s shelves?
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Before I joined IBM in September of 2007, I had just completed a project for a large government agency that needed a system that could accomplish approximately 5,500 database row inserts and reads per second, or approximately 18 million transactions per week. And as a customer requirement, we had to do it with COMMODITY HARDWARE. Read as, Intel Chips and Linux.
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Neowin, the site which for the most part is Microsoft dedicated has just announced another revelation. Its editor Marshalus is trying out Ubuntu 9.04 beta.
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Featuring your choice of Vista or Linux, the Open7 has enough configuration options to custom tailor this computer to meet your needs. Add up to three video cards with support for triple NVIDIA SLI for maximum performance.
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@cshirky notes Apple Works insists on proprietary file formats, and won’t save to ODF. IMO, Apple sees Linux as desktop threat.
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Making simple, big-button distros with lots of truly great commercial games, instant access to every conceivable media, dedicated support and brand-name endorsement by the titans like Dell or Google – it must work and it will.
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There are two major platforms: Apple and Windows, and Macs generally cost more than PCs. Thus ends the latest propagandistic report. But what about Linux?
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This is not particularly earth-shattering news. Linux is never mentioned, of course, and some might argue that this report is a smokescreen to keep people from looking at the third alternative. And since this report emphasizes both short- and long-term costs and expenses, Linux is actually the elephant (or the jaunty jackalope) in the room.
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K Desktop Environment
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A current assessment of KNotificationAreaIcon is that it’s a really long name but it works right out of the box, including with xembed-only system tray environments, with only a few minor (though quite fixable) caveats at the moment. It needs some tweaking and polishing, but it should be in great order before 4.3.0 given it’s current state.
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After many broken promises and much procrastination, I finally made it onto Arch Linux and that’s where I’ve been for the past couple of weeks now. I had a failed attempt at Arch last year when my hard drive died; not Arch’s fault in any way, but since then I haven’t really had a chance to get back to it. It’s a distro a lot of people tell me about. The Arch fans are always really passionate and enthusiastic in describing it to me; so I figured it was high time I found out for myself what all this fuss was about…
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The installed KDE apps work perfectly in my PCLOS 2009 Gnome system. Great performance, no stability issues and now I have what I consider to be the best of both worlds working in harmony.
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By using gNewSense you can show that the freedom of the software you use is truly important to you. Hardware manufacturers can thereby be motivated to provide free drivers and firmware for their products and to allow transparency and innovation in this area of software production in the process. In addition, you can show the mother projects of gNewSense, Debian and Ubuntu, that you want to stick to principles and contracts consistently and are not content with phony exceptions.
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Red Hat
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The first video profile for WCED will feature the Raleigh-based company Red Hat, Inc. Founded in 1993, Red Hat (www.redhat.com) is the world’s leading provider of open source solutions and is one of the most recognized open source brands. Headquartered in Raleigh and with more than 65 offices across the globe, Red Hat serves global enterprises with open source technology and services. Solutions include Red Hat Enterprise Linux, JBoss Enterprise Middleware and a range of related management tools. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting services to its customers worldwide.
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I have always wanted a good quality audio player that works well with Linux and plays Ogg Vorbis files. Even though the Sansa Clip was originally released in 2007, I somehow missed it.
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I give the Sansa Clip two thumbs up. It is affordable, it has a lot of features, it is durable… the software works well and it sounds great. It works great with Linux.
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ABI Research predicts that Linux and “alternative operating systems” (OSes) will overtake Windows XP in netbook sales by 2012. Reasons cited by ABI include the arrival of low-end ARM-based netbooks, as well as mobile stacks such as the Linux-based Android that are suited for these platforms.
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Firefox
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All has been quiet on the new tab front for the last couple of weeks. We’ve been up to two things in the process of getting the new tab ready for potential uplift into Firefox.
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So, while Chrome is faster and more secure and IE 8 is vastly improved over IE 7 and 6, the bottom line is that Firefox and its friends still give me a better over-all Web experience. And, when you’re like me and you need to find information quickly on the Web all day long, that’s no small thing.
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As most people who use Firefox know, its hugest advantage over other browsers is the powerful galaxy of extensions available for it. Lifehacker’s top 10 list includes a few extensions that I don’t use but will have to try out. In particular, I like the idea of AutoCopy, which lets you copy text online by simply selecting it, and fixes long and unweildy URLs. For anyone who writes online, it sounds like a time-saver.
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If you are using Firefox and haven’t yet gotten down to trying any add-ons, then hopefully this guide will help get acquainted. Sure it may seem daunting at first for the neophyte – but with a little bit of practice, you’ll soon be zipping along like a pro and enjoying the experience to boot. For those of who haven’t yet tried Firefox, this guide will surely help you open your horizon on what the competition offers.
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Our new list keeps some, tosses others, and remains our go-to, Grandmaster list of the best Firefox add-ons.
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They’ve made my work a lot easier, and they all can be downloaded in just a few seconds.
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Licensing
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The Phoronix Test Suite is our GPLv3 software for running automated tests on Linux, OpenSolaris, MacOS X, and BSD operating systems.
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ODF
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Documents are available in Excel (.XLS) and OpenDocument(.ODS) formats. Before viewing the OpenDocument format you may need to download the free OpenOffice software.
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This is the description of a project on the PHP PEAR site. I have to say that it looks abandoned, but that could be a false impression. Here’s hoping that work continues on this. This could give every PHP developer the potential to import or export ODF documents within his project.
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Internet law expert Susan Crawford has joined President Barack Obama’s lineup of tech policy experts at the White House, according to several sources. She will likely hold the title of special assistant to the president for science, technology, and innovation policy, they said. Crawford, who was most recently a visiting professor at the University of Michigan and at Yale Law School, was tapped by Obama’s transition team in November to co-chair its FCC review process with University of Pennsylvania professor Kevin Werbach.
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THE MPAA has found that its nasty habit of paying hackers to steal emails from TorrentSpy and the Pirate Bay has ended it up in court again.
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President Barack Obama is tapping another RIAA attorney into the Justice Department.
Monday’s naming of Ian Gershengorn, to become the department’s deputy assistant attorney of the Civil Division, comes more than a week after nearly two-dozen public interest groups, trade pacts and library coalitions urged the new president to quit filling his administration with lawyers plucked from the Recording Industry Association of America.
The move makes it five RIAA lawyers Obama has appointed to the Justice Department.
Nelson Pavlosky, Co-founder of Free Culture.org 07 (2005)
Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.
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Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Vista 7, Windows at 4:06 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
• Microsoft Still On Track To Cut Another 3,600 Jobs
Any hope that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has turned the corner and won’t need to make those deep job cuts after all has been snuffed out.
• Infosys fires 2,100
Pai is catching flak for his seeming ruthlessness. One blogger on the Indian IT-insider webite Techgoss, for example, wrote: “No other country has this system of publicly humiliating ex employees. No other industry in India follows such blatant heartlessness.”
• Windows 7: 83% Of Businesses Won’t Deploy Next Year
The open source Linux OS also could benefit from slow uptake of Windows 7 in the enterprise market, as could Google’s Android OS — which some computer makers are reportedly testing as a netbook platform. Fifty percent of those surveyed by Dimensional Research said they’ve considered switching to a non-Windows OS to avoid Vista or Windows 7
• Report: Most Businesses To Give Windows 7 Wide Birth
A new report indicates that, even though Windows 7 will be released in the near future, it may be quite some time before the average company decides to deploy the new operating system.
Via OpenBytes
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