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The Dog Ate Our Poll Results

Or desparately seeking Schrödinger’s cat’s data

Right about now is the time we told you we’d be giving you the results of the poll we started last week detailing the methods our readers use to receive and send emails. Well, it ain’t going to happen. Nor are we going to tell you next Wednesday about the results of the poll we put up late Sunday night on how you feel about Microsoft as an open source company. Why? The best we can come up with is “the dog ate our homework.” Actually, none of us has a dog, so that’s out. We’ll just say the poll data ran away from home.

November’s Top Ten

These are the ten most read articles on FOSS Force for the month of November, 2015.

1. The Devil & BSD: Leaving Linux Behind by Larry Cafiero. Published November 23, 2015. Mr. Cafiero takes a stand and makes a statement by wiping Linux from his go-to laptop in favor of PC-BSD.

2. System Requirements: When Is ‘Enough’ Enough? by Ken Starks. Published November 10, 2015. Do you have a computer that still runs great, but you can’t install anything on it because it doesn’t meet modern “system requirements”? Well, our Mr. Starks says that enough might be enough.

October’s Top Ten

These are the ten most read articles on FOSS Force for the month of October, 2015.

1. A Miracle Comes to Linux by Ken Starks. Published October 27, 2015. This story is so fantastic that it had many of you convinced that it was a work of fiction. Not so. To paraphrase Mary McCarthy: Every word is the truth, including “and” and “the.”

2. Is Oracle Abandoning Java? by Christine Hall. Published October 6, 2015. A report on news from “a former high-ranking Java official” that Oracle might no longer be interested in continuing development of Java.

3. Microsoft Infects Windows Computers With Malvertising by Christine Hall. Published October 15, 2015. It appears that our friends in Redmond have seen it necessary to upgrade their malicious software removal tool to include the ransomware TelsaCrypt. As well they might, since the MSN website was downloading the program through malicious ads for a while.

September’s Top Ten

These are the ten most read articles on FOSS Force for the month of September, 2015.

!. Real Linux Coming to Tablets by Christine Hall. Published September 7, 2015. This month saw the announcement of two impressive tablets, both running versions of Linux. One’s running Sailfish OS from Jolla. The other will run the much anticipated Ubuntu Touch.

2. Booting Windows 10…Out the Door by Ken Starks. Published September 15, 2015. Our irrepressible Mr. Starks finds out a few things that make him angry about Windows 10 and goes on a rant. He’s mad. Really, really mad. We can’t imagine how angry he’d be if he actually used Windows.

July’s Top Ten

These are the ten most read articles on FOSS Force for the month of July, 2015.

1. Yet Another Reason to Avoid Windows 10 by Christine Hall. Published July 20, 2015. Microsoft’s EULA for Windows 10 not only forces its users to accept all updates. it allows Redmond to install software at will.

2. Using the New iproute2 Suite by Don Parris. Published July 14, 2015. A look at the basics on getting the most out of iproute2 utilities.

3. How I Discovered Linux & Changed the World by Ken Starks. Published July 7, 2015. In which the question is asked: How is your involvement with FOSS making a difference in this world of ours?

Microsoft Writes Check, Free OSCON Passes & More…

FOSS Week in Review

Money: Can’t live with it, and can’t live without it. OK, maybe you actually can live with it, but money seems to be the overriding theme this week when it comes to FOSS news. With this being payday for most of you, try not to spend too much mental currency on some of the developments this week, like:

OpenSSH logoMS Writes a Check: Well, this was probably inevitable. With a generous donation, Microsoft has become a gold contributor to the OpenBSD project — the first gold contributor — in an effort to get OpenBSD’s help in porting OpenSSH to Windows. This comes from a report on ZDNet, where Steven Vaughan-Nichols tells the tale of checkbook participation in open source as “the best option…for our team to adopt an industry proven solution,” says Microsoft’s Angel Calvo. A gold contributor writes a check for anywhere between $25,000 to $50,000, so even at the minimum, the OpenBSD Foundation scores big. In exchange, Microsoft gets to port OpenSSH, which arguably is the gold standard for remote administration. Of course, it isn’t revealed how much, in code, Microsoft is going to contribute going forward, but as long as the money is there…I guess the money is there.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

June’s Top Ten

These are the ten most read articles on FOSS Force for the month of June, 2015.

1. SourceForge Not Making A Graceful Exit by Christine Hall. Published June 11, 2015. We look at why many well known FOSS projects are fleeing a once popular code repository, and what this means for its future.

2. A Look at Mageia 5’s Magic by Christine Hall. Published June 22, 2015. A first look at Mageia latest and greatest release, and putting this release in historical context.

Our Funraiser Fell Short – But Good Enough for Now

First of all, we’d like to thank the 49 contributors who generously contributed to our IndieGoGo fundraising campaign and to all who helped support and get the word out about our efforts. Special thanks go to Elizabeth K. Joseph, Todd Lewis and his incredible team at IT-oLogy and Ken Starks for supplying us with items to offer as perks during the campaign. We’d also like to thank Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols and Carla Schroder for writing articles for FOSS Force supporting our efforts.

At just before midnight pacific time Monday night, our IndieGoGo fundraising effort ended after a six week run. In the end, we raised exactly $2,300, or 38.33% of our goal of $6,000 (its nice to see that the folks at IndieGoGo are nothing if not precise when it comes to figures). The money is to be used to expand our coverage of FOSS and free tech by offering compensation to writers. Although this is not enough to fund our planned expansion for six months as intended, it is enough to get us started while we put “Plan B” into effect.

Last Day of Our Fundraising Campaign – Please Contribute!

Today is the last day of our IndieGoGo fundraising campaign, which we at first called our “May Pledge Drive” until we extended it into June. At somewhere about a second before midnight tonight, the fine folks at IndieGoGo will pull the plug on our campaign and quit taking contributions. In other words, if you haven’t made a contribution yet, the time is now.

Two dollar bills.So far we’ve raised $2,225 of our $6,000 goal. While reaching our target doesn’t appear doable at this late stage of the game — that’s okay. The money that’s been generously contributed will get us started on our planned editorial expansion and you should see us ramping up our coverage considerably in about three or four weeks time, after we receive the funds from IndieGoGo and start putting our new policies in effect.

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