Lunduke Pens Book, Year of the Desktop Won’t Happen & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Mea culpa: I went to bed last night thinking it was Wednesday, woke up today thinking it was Thursday, went along with my usual Thursday work plan (which differs little from any other weekday) until Christine Hall emailed me and asked, “Where’s the wrap?”

Oops. With apologies and with a brand new calendar in hand, here’s the weekly wrap-up.

Bryan Lunduke at SCALE: While all the speakers and keynotes are not yet chosen (though, truth be told, there will be a big announcement coming soon regarding one of the keynoters for SCALE 14X; remember where you heard it first), one of the speakers already tapped for the show is FOSS raconteur Bryan Lunduke, who will bring his annual “Linux Sucks” talk to the first-of-the-year Linux/FOSS event in 2016. Lunduke’s talk, oft given at SCALE and LinuxFest Northwest and other events, will be given in a venue that can fit his popularity, for starters, as well as being professionally filmed this time around. But wait, there’s more: You don’t have to wait for the movie when the book — that’s right, Lunduke has penned a book entitled, wait for it, “Linux Sucks” (spoiler alert: it doesn’t) — will be available on Oct. 8. More information can be found at the “Linux Sucks” link above. See you in Pasadena, Bryan.

Glad that’s finally straightened out: Year of the Linux Desktop? Not happening. Ever. According to a ZDNet article by our good friend Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: “You can see where I’m going. I think Linux can’t possibly become the top desktop operating system because traditional desktops are on their way out.” Well, of course — that would explain it. Do I agree that “traditional desktops are on the way out,” as mentioned? No, but that’s another discussion for another time. Thanks for the heads-up, though, Steven.

Dropbox alternative: Over at Datamation, Matt Hartley talks about some Linux-friendly Dropbox alternatives and lists a variety of adequate programs for those who may be seeking a change. “Let’s face it, there are a ton of solutions out there. And there may even be some options available I’ve never heard of,” Hartley writes. What he presents to the Datamation readers are BitTorrent Sync, Syncthing, SpiderOak, Google Drive (hmmm, never heard of that one), Tarsnap, and ownCloud. In typical fashion, Hartley provides pros and cons for each and, of course, the caveat here is that “your mileage may vary,” as the car ads say.

On a personal note: I’m moving. No, I’m staying here in beautiful downtown Felton, Calif., however my commentary on FOSS Force will be appearing on these pixeled pages on Monday. Don’t worry, I’ll continue with my Friday Week In Review as well. See you Monday.

Help keep FOSS Force strong. If you like this article, become a subscriber.