In this interview, Gail Duval talks about his days at Mandrake, the Linux distro he founded, as well as his current project, /e/, a Googleless phone.
Posts tagged as “open source”
Google’s failed social network is now just another empty storefront on the Boulevard of Abandoned Tech
Has FOSS traded its shared values for success?
Part of the Linux culture for nearly as long as Linux itself, Linux Journal has announced that its November edition was its last.
Linux Journal is no more. On Friday, publisher Carlie Fairchild wrote that unless “a savior” rides in to save the day, the magazine born in 1994, just two years after Linus Torvalds posted that he was working on an operating system, has already released its last issue.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
Actually, FOSS Force had nothing whatsoever to do with SUSE pulling the video, but the headline piqued your interest, didn’t it?
The Every-Other-Monday Column
Sometimes the best laid plans…
A week ago Sunday I wrote and scheduled an article to be published last Tuesday. In it, I poked fun a little fun at SUSE, while giving a thumbs up to what I thought was a very well executed — and funny — parody of “Game of Thrones.” It was also very clever, insofar as it managed to paint rival Red Hat in a less-than-open light, without ever mentioning the company by name. In the parody, the not-so-open guys all wore red hats.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
Watching this video from SUSE, you might be excused for thinking you’re watching a trailer for a new Netflix original which looks suspiciously like “Game of Thrones.” To paraphrase an old Dodge commercial: “You can tell they’re bad guys because they all wear Red Hats.”
Okay, it’s a funny little five minute parody of House of Thrones. But it looks to me as if SUSE has thrown down the gauntlet and is challenging Red Hat…or a bunch of medieval guys wearing red hats…to who knows what. Are the gals and guys in Germany growing a little tired of being the perennial second fiddle — or now third fiddle now that Ubuntu is in server rooms everywhere, especially in Amazon’s cloud.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
Want to use your skills to aid in the development and maintenance of GNU projects? Here are four more projects that could use your help.
Carter’s Corner
This article is a continuation of my last article on GNU projects that are in current need of maintainers. When I first read about the projects GNU needed help with, I was drawn to Gnubik from my own personal love of Rubik’s Cube puzzles. I ended up liking the program and wanted to help so I reached out to the maintainer, who replied back asking about my background and letting me know where help was needed at if I was still interested. Since then, I’ve slowly been helping out where I could and enjoying learning more about the code behind the program. I’m hoping that by writing about these projects, someone will have the time and skill set to help out that wasn’t aware of these projects. I also hope that even if people can’t help out they will download the software, try them out and maybe end up like me.
In addition to hosting a Raspberry Pi meetup in Washington D.C., Isaac Carter is a co-host on mintCast. He’s also a software engineer who enjoys working with Java, JavaScript, and GNU/Linux. When he’s not coding, you can find him reading on any number of subjects or on the golf course.
Hook one of these BLE babies up with facial recognition technology and we’ll be living smack dab in the middle of a Philip K. Dick novel.
Roblimo’s Hideaway
Do you spend a lot of time thinking about Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons? Unless you run a retail store, probably not. But if you do run a store (or stores) along with an e-commerce operation, BLE is a hot new thing you are either using already or thinking about using before long.
Robin “Roblimo” Miller is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief at Open Source Technology Group, the company that owned SourceForge, freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, ThinkGeek and Slashdot, and until recently served as a video editor at Slashdot. Now he’s mostly retired, but still works part-time as an editorial consultant for Grid Dynamics, and (obviously) writes for FOSS Force.
Would you like to give Linux a boost by contributing your coding skills in the service of a GNU project? Here’s a partial list of some projects that are looking for a little help.
Carter’s Corner
While the GNU Project does have some high priority areas that need help, there are currently a list of GNU packages that are needing immediate assistance in keep them maintained. This article is going to cover a little about the purpose of each project, what makes up the project and how to get in touch with that project. I’m only going to touch on half the list this week and cover the rest of the list in the next article. I’m hoping that by writing about these packages, people will be able to contribute some much needed help.
In addition to hosting a Raspberry Pi meetup in Washington D.C., Isaac Carter is a co-host on mintCast. He’s also a software engineer who enjoys working with Java, JavaScript, and GNU/Linux. When he’s not coding, you can find him reading on any number of subjects or on the golf course.
We promise you that FOSS Force hasn’t deserted you. We’ve just been making a few adjustments.
You might have noticed that we’ve pretty much been missing in action since the first of May. Roblimo’s been here, when he can. So has the “Mr. Rogers of open source” — that would be Phil Shapiro — who never takes a negative viewpoint when there’s a positive to be found. But me? I’ve been completely out-of-the-loop. The last time I wrote anything for FOSS Force was back on May 11.
What the heck happened? A couple of things, starting with blindness.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux