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Posts published in “Internet”

CentOS Tops Our Web Server Poll

By FOSS Force on July 12, 2013 |

Distros, Internet and Polls

CentOS Tops Our Web Server PollCentOS web server winner

The polls are closed. The votes have been counted. CentOS hands down wins our Web Server OS poll.

About six weeks ago we offered-up a list of six GNU/Linux distros and asked which you’d choose for your web server if you were limited to the distros on that list. The list was composed of what we’ve found to be the most frequently offered Linux OS choices by web hosting companies for their virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated server customers. We offered each of the six in both their 32 bit and 64 bit implementations, which is also usually the case with web hosting companies.

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CentOS web server winnerMissing from the list were two distros that are almost exclusively associated with server environments, Red Hat and SUSE Linux Enterprise. They were not included in our list because they’re rarely offered without additional cost by hosting companies because they’re not freely available to download and install.

Continue readingCentOS Tops Our Web Server Poll
Are You Making PRISM or Other NSA Changes?

Are You Making PRISM or Other NSA Changes?

By FOSS Force on July 8, 2013 |

Internet, Politics and Security

If you’re a regular visitor to free software sites like FOSS Force, the recent revelations regarding the NSA and PRISM were probably not news to you. Probably most of us who are concerned about such luxuries as civil liberties understood from the first time we went online that we might as well assume we’re being watched and that there might one day be personal legal consequences, even if we never do anything illegal.

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The Locked FOSS Door

By Christine Hall on July 2, 2013 |

Internet and Media

Today I found this really cool FOSS site. I mean really cool. The people who run the site want to do things for the FOSS community. They’re looking for community involvement. They’re a bona fide nonprofit; they’re not looking to use their site to make their car payments or put their children through college. Their site isn’t cluttered with ads like, say, FOSS Force.

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Christine Hall

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

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Continue readingThe Locked FOSS Door
RMS Inducted, Nook Tablet RIP & More…

RMS Inducted, Nook Tablet RIP & More…

By FOSS Force on June 28, 2013 |

Desktops, Hardware, Internet, News, Politics and

Friday FOSS Week in Review

Texas stands up for email rights

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Texas? Did you really say Texas? The state that leads the world in the number of executions–that Texas? Well, la-di-da, who would’ve ever thought the folks down there in the Lone Star State would be the first to stand up and protect our inboxes? Does this mean that the spirits of Ann Richards and Maury Maverick, Jr. are looking over the Texas legislators?

Continue readingRMS Inducted, Nook Tablet RIP & More…

Army Blocks Access to The Guardian

By FOSS Force on June 27, 2013 |

Internet, Media and News

According to a story posted by Phillip Molnar at the Monterey County Herald, the U.S. Army is blocking access to parts of The Guardian, the UK based news website which broke the story about the NSA’s surreptitious data collection programs. When the Herald’s story was first posted last night, it was unknown how widespread the outage was or who was behind it, only that employees at the Presidio of Monterey, California were unable to connect with certain pages of the UK website:

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WWPL: The World Wide Party LineOnline with Univac

WWPL: The World Wide Party Line

By Christine Hall on June 26, 2013 |

Humor, Internet and Security

I don’t think there are very many people my age who’ve ever expected much in the way of privacy online.

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Oh, maybe in the very early days some might’ve naively figured that if they didn’t actually interact with a site, like if they just went to the New York Times to read an article or something, they were pretty private, but they soon learned about tracking cookies and hackers with keystroke logging tools and right away understood that everything done online might possibly be being observed.

Christine Hall

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

FOSSForce.com
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Microsoft Nemesis Dies, SCO Lives & More…Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson

Microsoft Nemesis Dies, SCO Lives & More…

By FOSS Force on June 21, 2013 |

Internet, Mobile, News, Obits, Politics and Security

Friday FOSS Week in Review

We may be paranoid but they are out to get us

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In week three (or is it week four?) of the Spy vs. Spy scandal, the Obama folks keep saying things like “what’s the big deal?” while trying to convince us that the secret oversight court called FISA (we prefer “the Star Chamber”) has nothing but our constitutional rights in mind when it rubber stamps requests to secretly steal our privacy. Obama likes to talk about transparency. Indeed, he becomes more transparent by the moment; we’re beginning to see right through him. The 22nd amendment should now be seen as a face saver for Mr. Obama–as we would think no self respecting liberal or progressive would vote again for this man who once represented our best hope. Pity.

Continue readingMicrosoft Nemesis Dies, SCO Lives & More…
Opening Pandora’s BoxPandora logo

Opening Pandora’s Box

By Dave Bean on June 19, 2013 |

Business, Copyright, Internet and Media

I first placed music online in 1996, a WAV file recorded through a microphone to promote the sale of an album I had under license on my indie BeanBag label featuring Georgie Fame and Van Morrison. I cheered for other music industry executives like Larry Rosen of GRP Records when he launched Music Boulevard online around 1997. I licensed songs by Jesse Colin Young (founder of The Youngbloods) to music publishing expert Bob Kohn’s eMusic.com for a cash advance against future royalties that had us partying like it was 1999.

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Dave Bean

Dave Bean is an Internet Radio pioneer who has worked for Musicmatch Internet Radio, baseBeat.com, OnRadio.com; and currently as a Music Curator for Internet Radio at Slacker.com. As an owner of independent record labels, he was one of the first to license songs to eMusic and iTunes.

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Windows Blue Blues, Symantec’s Kernel Confusion & More…

By FOSS Force on June 14, 2013 |

Hardware, Internet, News and Politics

Friday FOSS Week in Review

Looking at life through the prism of the NSA

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We thought last week was the week for leaked government secrets on government spying. Nope. Last week was just the tip of the iceberg coming over the horizon, with the helmsman going into full reverse attempting to avoid a collision. This week the slow motion ship of state made contact with the iceberg. Damage assessment is being done now as we write these words.

Continue readingWindows Blue Blues, Symantec’s Kernel Confusion & More…
Seeking Surveillance Safe Search Enginesixquick Safe Search Engine

Seeking Surveillance Safe Search Engines

By Christine Hall on June 14, 2013 |

Internet, Politics and Security

While helping our colleague Dave Bean as he worked to get his essay on Google and the NSA ready for publication, I found myself wondering if any of this latest news on the government’s forcing their nose into everybody-in-the-world’s business would have any lasting effect. Sadly, I figured not–if there was any change, it’d only be temporary. I’ve spent too many years on this planet to expect too much in the way of permanent change for the better.

** If our coverage matters to you, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **
Christine Hall

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

FOSSForce.com
Continue readingSeeking Surveillance Safe Search Engines