FOSS Week in Review
GIMP 2.9.2 Released: The folks at the GNU Image Manipulation Program — more commonly known as GIMP — have announced the release of the first development in the 2.9.x series in 2.9.2. New and improved tools and color management highlight this particular release, and it appears that the GIMP team is playing their proverbial cards close to their chest. “We are not planning any epic changes in the next 2.9.x releases,” the GIMP site says. “We want to release it as fast as we can, so we will be focusing on wrapping up what we have already started and maybe merging a few feature branches we have.” In the words of the immortal (though very much still living) Jon Bon Jovi, we’ll give it a shot.
Ready for New Year’s Eve? No date? No problem. In case you have nothing planned as 2015 dovetails into 2016 on the final day of this month, Ubuntu has you covered. According to an article in Softpedia, the first alpha for Ubuntu 16.04 — bestowed with the release name handed down by The Mark as “Xenial Xerus,” for those of you keeping score at home — will be released on December 31, just in time for the lighted ball to fall in Times Square before the strains of “Auld Lang Syne” waft through the air. Enjoy the holiday!
Weighing in on SCALE: By this time, you should already have your talk confirmation, or talk rejection, from the Southern California Linux Expo SCALE 14X. The multi-tiered process by which talks are debated upon and fought over has completed and the acceptances and rejections were sent on Monday. Make sure that if you did get an acceptance to speak that you respond back to SCALE via email so they can put you on the schedule, which is being planned as you read this.
Oh, and one more thing, while we’re talking about SCALE 14X: Early Bird ticket rates end on Sunday, December 6. So after Sunday, the discount rate of $75 for the four-day, first-of-the-year Linux/FOSS event in 2016 ends, and you’ll end up paying more. Register here, and see you in Pasadena.
Yet Another Feature from FOSS Force: Okay, look to your left — no, look to your left on the screen — and you’ll find a new feature from FOSS Force. “FOSS Force News Wire” makes its debut this week, outlining news highlights from the FOSS realm over the last 24 hours (and, arguably, making this Friday wrap-up obsolete, God forbid!). This feed of FOSS news, updated every fifteen minutes, gives you yet another reason to visit our site and, if you like, subscribe. We’re still tweaking it, but it’s up and running now for your informational perusal. Oh, you can also view it on your favorite RSS reader. Enjoy!
If anyone needs me, I’ll be sitting in front of the fire reading the PC-BSD Handbook. See you Thursday.
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Larry Cafiero, a.k.a. Larry the Free Software Guy, is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate. He is involved in several FOSS projects and serves as the publicity chair for the Southern California Linux Expo. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero
“What does he mean by, ‘Look to your left’? I’ve written tons about that on the forums. I reckon it’s a political statement.”
“He means you. What are you doing?”
“I’m writing in your bits. That way I’ve got a complete transcript of the entire conversation. Wait until this hits the net! This’ll explode the egg forums!”