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Posts published in “Software”

Ikey Doherty Talks Evolve OS & Budgie Desktop

By Ken Starks on April 24, 2014 |

Desktops, Distros, News, Operating Systems and Software

Ikey Doherty Talks Evolve OS & Budgie DesktopEvolve OS logo

Ikey Doherty is probably one of the most tech-smart people I know. Fact is, Ikey is much like that guy you hear about on the news, the guy that can hear a string of four digit numbers and tell you the sum of them in a couple of seconds. Now, I don’t know if Ikey is capable of that feat, but I do know what he can do.

Ikey Doherty can code. Ikey Doherty can code in a number of languages.

Ikey Doherty
Ikey Doherty, Linux programmer.
So you might say to me, “Well Ken, I can code too. Anyone who goes to college to study Computer Science can code something.”

OK, I’ll give you that. But let’s back up a bit. How much could you code before you went to college? A little bit? Was it a hobby until you decided you were interested in doing it professionally? The last time I did the calculations in my head, Doherty writes extensive and complex code in at least four languages.

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What a Layperson Can Gain From an Enterprise Open Source Conference

By Christine Hall on March 26, 2014 |

Business, Media and Software

Here at FOSS Force we’re very proud to be an official media partner for the Great Wide Open conference that’ll be held in Atlanta next week. Because this is an enterprise conference, I don’t think I need to explain to those who work in IT the benefits of attending such an event. However, those of you who are primarily home users may think there’s nothing for you at a conference focused on professionals.

This isn’t true.

Any open source user, whether a professional or not, will benefit from attending an enterprise conference. Remember, the user is considered just as important to any open source project as those who develop and distribute the product. In other words, an enterprise conference is just as much about the user as the developer — even if the user is never likely to call Red Hat on the phone to order service contracts for the RHEL stack on a hundred servers.

Here are just a few reasons for a living room Linux user to attend an enterprise conference such as Great Wide Open:

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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Breaking Microsoft’s Chains by Moving to LibreOfficeItalo Vignol with LibreOffice

Breaking Microsoft’s Chains by Moving to LibreOffice

By Christine Hall on March 11, 2014 |

Business and Software

Sometimes it’s necessary to let go of the past, even if that’s somewhat painful.

Anyone still using MS Office should consider the advantages of moving to LibreOffice. For most single computer users, the move can be made with ease. When multiple computers and users are involved, as would be the case with most businesses, migration must be handled with care. However, any effort in this direction would quickly pay for itself in reduced licensing fees to Microsoft.

Italo Vignol with LibreOffice
Italo Vignol, board member at The Document Foundation
There are other reasons besides saving money to move to LibreOffice. For one, since the program is platform independent, its use will make easier a later migration to another operating system, such as Linux, should that ever be wanted or needed. Also, LibreOffice defaults to the open standard Open Document Format or ODF, meaning that once this move is made, data once held hostage by Microsoft can be easily opened and edited on just about any office productivity suite. And because LibreOffice is quite handy at opening and saving files using Microsoft’s proprietary format, that function will remain available for those few incidences when it’s needed.

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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Ubuntu Keeps MySQL, Why XP Won’t Go Away & More…

By FOSS Force on March 7, 2014 |

Distros, Internet, Media, News, Politics, Security and Software

FOSS Week in Review

Cops tracking phones sans warrants

Tallahassee PoliceIt appears that the police in Tallahassee, Florida have been busy tracking folks by their cell phones without bothering to show up before a judge and ask for a warrant. Why would they violate the constitutional rights of their citizens this way? Evidently because they were using technology on loan and had signed a non-disclosure agreement.

According to Wired, this information came to light in an appeal of a sexual battery case dating back to 2008 in which a suspect was tracked using the technology to locate a phone that had been stolen from the victim. The police have admitted using the device 200 times, with no judge or warrant involved, since 2010. In a blog post made Monday, the ACLU said the device is “likely a Stingray made by the Florida-based Harris Corporation.” Evidently, the ACLU has long suspected that Harris has been loaning the devices to Florida police departments.

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Mars Kids Explore Their Potential With KanoAssembled KANO

Mars Kids Explore Their Potential With Kano

By Ken Starks on January 21, 2014 |

Hardware and Software

I call them Mars kids.

They are the children who will grow up to see the first human step foot on Mars. While the majority of them will watch the epic event of a human presence on Mars, some of them will have another role. They will be the ones that made it possible.

Working as the front man for Reglue, I have the opportunity to watch school kids learn, as opposed to merely seeing the grades they accomplish by learning. I am able to watch the learning process itself. Some of it anyway.

In the summer of 2009, our organization began a summer program called Camp HeliOS. We held a three day camp in which kids took a computer apart and then put it back together again. We made sure that every kid was equally invested in the project.

Ken Starks

Ken Starks is the founder of the Helios Project and Reglue, which for 20 years provided refurbished older computers running Linux to disadvantaged school kids, as well as providing digital help for senior citizens, in the Austin, Texas area. He was a columnist for FOSS Force from 2013-2016, and remains part of our family. Follow him on Twitter: @Reglue

linuxlock.blogspot.com/
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Blame FUD for Microsoft’s Dominance in SchoolsTime for Linux

Blame FUD for Microsoft’s Dominance in Schools

By Ken Starks on January 16, 2014 |

Politics and Software

What a difference a split-second decision can make.

Two possible scenarios:

  1. You cross the street to make your bus connection, stand at the bus stop, get on the bus and go about your business.
  2. You cross the street to make your bus connection but notice an ad in the window of a corner market, advertising that the lottery is up to ten million dollars. You buy a ticket. You win.

We are faced with life-changing decisions every day, never knowing that different, seemingly inconsequential actions will take us down amazingly different paths.

Ken Starks

Ken Starks is the founder of the Helios Project and Reglue, which for 20 years provided refurbished older computers running Linux to disadvantaged school kids, as well as providing digital help for senior citizens, in the Austin, Texas area. He was a columnist for FOSS Force from 2013-2016, and remains part of our family. Follow him on Twitter: @Reglue

linuxlock.blogspot.com/
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Linux Predictions for 2014? Let’s Talk Direction…

By Ken Starks on December 31, 2013 |

Software

2014 crystal ballThe last time I looked into my crystal ball, it told me to proceed with extreme caution if I invested in Google. Their business model was shaky at best. Needless to say, said crystal ball and I have parted company.

And yeah, I’m lousy at predictions. Sure, I could pick the “safe” things for 2014…

  1. Linux Torvalds will piss off a major tech company.
  2. Many will joke that 2014 will finally be “The Year Of Linux.”
  3. Apple will claim that Samsung infringed on their patent to patent patents.

So instead of predicting what might happen in 2014 within the Linuxsphere, let’s talk about what needs to happen and why.

Ken Starks

Ken Starks is the founder of the Helios Project and Reglue, which for 20 years provided refurbished older computers running Linux to disadvantaged school kids, as well as providing digital help for senior citizens, in the Austin, Texas area. He was a columnist for FOSS Force from 2013-2016, and remains part of our family. Follow him on Twitter: @Reglue

linuxlock.blogspot.com/
Continue readingLinux Predictions for 2014? Let’s Talk Direction…
A Few Grains of Sand in the FOSS BucketFilling the Linux bucket

A Few Grains of Sand in the FOSS Bucket

By Ken Starks on December 19, 2013 |

Desktops and Software

Last week, we talked about just how important even your smallest contribution to FOSS might be. It doesn’t matter whether you occasionally spend time in forums helping others or if you submit code for review into the kernel. Everything you do goes into the sand pail. Eventually, everything you do filters down to the place it’s needed most: the everyday computer user.

This could be my sister, your cousin or the guy who bags your groceries at the supermarket…even your doctor. Your contribution benefits tens of thousands of people you will never know, people who will never know you even exist. Thus the beauty of what we do. “We” as in you and I.

Ken Starks

Ken Starks is the founder of the Helios Project and Reglue, which for 20 years provided refurbished older computers running Linux to disadvantaged school kids, as well as providing digital help for senior citizens, in the Austin, Texas area. He was a columnist for FOSS Force from 2013-2016, and remains part of our family. Follow him on Twitter: @Reglue

linuxlock.blogspot.com/
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WordPress – Too Fast For ComfortWordPress logo

WordPress – Too Fast For Comfort

By Christine Hall on December 18, 2013 |

Internet, Software and Web Apps

Something’s got to give with the WordPress cycle.

Just three months ago, back in September, WordPress issued version 3.6.1 of their content management and blogging platform. Last week they issued 3.8. In between there was 3.7 and 3.7.1, the later release raising eyebrows when it included an automatic “minor point” upgrade feature that can’t be easily disabled.

That’s an average of one release per month, a burden for someone trying to keep sites safe from exploitation by the black hats. By quickening the pace of releases, WordPress may be inadvertently forcing webmasters into remaining with older versions, a potential security risk. Just as the enterprise balked at too much “release often” pressure from their vendors, folks who administer WordPress sites would be justified in complaining and pushing for a solution to this aspect of the WordPress development process.

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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Android On Nokia, SCOTUS On Patents & More…Nokia Asha phones

Android On Nokia, SCOTUS On Patents & More…

By FOSS Force on December 13, 2013 |

Business, Distros, Hardware, Mobile, News, Patents, Security and Software

FOSS Week in Review

FreeBSD rethinks encryption after Snowden leaks

Only three months after the Snowden leaks on NSA snooping began, we learn from Ars Technica that the developers at FreeBSD have decided to rethink the way they access random numbers to generate cryptographic keys. Starting with version 10.0, users of the operating system will no longer be relying solely on random numbers generated by Intel and Via Technologies processors. This comes as a response to reports that government spooks can successfully open some encryption schemes.

Continue readingAndroid On Nokia, SCOTUS On Patents & More…