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Posts published in “Software”

Growing Young FOSS Programmers With Help of Scratch and Al Sweigart

By Phil Shapiro on March 17, 2017 |

Software, Tutorial and Video

Growing Young FOSS Programmers With Help of Scratch and Al SweigartScratch Cat

If your young child is showing an interest in learning computers, an introduction to Scratch and these instructional videos by Al Sweigart might be in order.

The Screening Room

Scratch Cat
Scratch Cat, the programming language’s mascot.

Talented book author Al Sweigart is a name familiar to many in the FOSS community. He writes books for kids and for adults — including the recently released Scratch Playground. Scratch is a free visual programming language developed at MIT Media Lab as an introduction to computer programming.

His zeal and talent for explaining is remarkable. I’ve been enjoying the “60 Second Scratch” screencasts (explanatory videos) he has been uploading to YouTube in the past two weeks. For example, check out this little gem:

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GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath on Open SourceOctocat GitHub

GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath on Open Source

By Phil Shapiro on March 14, 2017 |

Community and Software

Did you know that the software Stephen Hawking uses to speak is open source and that it’s available on GitHub? Neither did we.

The Screening Room

Octocat GitHub

At the Computer History museum, GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath explains how GitHub has grown far beyond its original scope of being a tool just for nerds.

Phil Shapiro

For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.

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Storytelling in the 21st CenturySafia Abdalla Plotcon 2016 nteract

Storytelling in the 21st Century

By Phil Shapiro on March 3, 2017 |

Community, Software and Video

Some words for thought from this week’s video on nteract: “Open science isn’t truly open and open source isn’t truly open.”

The Screening Room

Safia Abdalla Plotcon 2016 nteract

In her PLOTCON 2016 presentation, Safia Abdalla, an open source enthusiast in Chicago, starts off saying, “The need (for human beings) to write and draw things is not new. The desire to communicate with each other has existed since the dawn of our species.” She goes on to say, “I think we’re long overdue for a renaissance that’s going to help us to communicate with each other as people…. Interactive notebooks and nteract will play a key role in the New Knowledge Renaissance.”

Phil Shapiro

For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.

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New Open Source License Compatibility Company Debuts with a Bangexamining code compliance

New Open Source License Compatibility Company Debuts with a Bang

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on February 23, 2017 |

Business and Software

Finding compatibility issues in open source software is tedious and complex. Roblimo explains why organizations that look for compliance issues are a valuable asset to the FOSS community.

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Roblimo’s Hideaway

examining code compliance compatibility

When I heard about FOSSA, my first thought was, “Don’t Black Duck and Palamida already have the FOSS license compatibility thing pretty well sewed up? Do we really need another company doing it?”

This was, of course, the question I immediately asked FOSSA founder Kevin Wang. His answer, via email:

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

Robin “Roblimo” Miller is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief at Open Source Technology Group, the company that owned SourceForge, freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, ThinkGeek and Slashdot, and until recently served as a video editor at Slashdot. Now he’s mostly retired, but still works part-time as an editorial consultant for Grid Dynamics, and (obviously) writes for FOSS Force.

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Why I’m Not a Full-Throttle FOSS Advocate

Why I’m Not a Full-Throttle FOSS Advocate

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on February 16, 2017 |

Browsers, Community and Software

“Software Freedom” shouldn’t mean “use free software or else.” It should mean you are free to use the software you choose.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

I have the Chrome web browser running full-screen on my Ubuntu desktop. Not Chromium, but proprietary Chrome — because it suits my needs better than open source Chromium. I also like Chrome better than Firefox, and I say this after using only Firefox for a week and trying hard to like it.

Some of this may be habit. We humans tend to prefer the familiar to the unfamiliar, and I’ll admit that I have gotten used to Chrome and its features.

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

Robin “Roblimo” Miller is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief at Open Source Technology Group, the company that owned SourceForge, freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, ThinkGeek and Slashdot, and until recently served as a video editor at Slashdot. Now he’s mostly retired, but still works part-time as an editorial consultant for Grid Dynamics, and (obviously) writes for FOSS Force.

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What’s New in LibreOffice 5.3LibreOffice

What’s New in LibreOffice 5.3

By Phil Shapiro on February 3, 2017 |

Software and Video

Open source’s premiere office suite keeps getting better with each new release. Here’s a look at some of the new features in LibreOffice 5.3.

The Screening Room

LibreOffice

LibreOffice, an already very strong free office suite, keeps getting better and better. See an overview of the new features in LibreOffice 5.3 in this video.

Phil Shapiro

For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.

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Open Source Eye for the Android GuyAndroid FOSS free software

Open Source Eye for the Android Guy

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on February 2, 2017 |

Distros, Mobile, Operating Systems and Software

Android may be a free operating system, but unlike GNU/Linux, keeping it free is next to impossible if you want to make it useful.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Android FOSS free software

Do you ever look at your Android phone and wonder how much of the software on it is open source? I just did, and I was surprised at how little FOSS I had on it. Could I change that? After a bunch of searching, I did. But only a little.

Android itself is an open source project. Google controls the main branch and can keep you from using the “Android” trademark if you fork the project, but otherwise you can do anything you like with the code.

Now let’s talk about Android applications. Maybe I shouldn’t admit this in public, but until the idea for this essay came up last week in a conversation with FOSS Force editor Christine Hall, I hadn’t thought much about Android app licenses, not even when choosing apps for my own use.

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

Robin “Roblimo” Miller is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief at Open Source Technology Group, the company that owned SourceForge, freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, ThinkGeek and Slashdot, and until recently served as a video editor at Slashdot. Now he’s mostly retired, but still works part-time as an editorial consultant for Grid Dynamics, and (obviously) writes for FOSS Force.

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The Open Source Way of Reaching Across Languages

By Phil Shapiro on January 24, 2017 |

Community, Software and Video

Open source enthusiasts have no shame in explaining that they’re involved in building a better world. One way of doing that is reaching across language barriers. When this Spanish screencast about FreeCAD caught my eye on YouTube, I knew I had to write about it for FOSS Force.

Phil Shapiro

For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.

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FOSS Compositing With NatronNatron

FOSS Compositing With Natron

By Phil Shapiro on January 17, 2017 |

Software and Video

Anyone who likes to work with graphics will at one time or another find compositing software useful. Luckily, FOSS has several of the best in Blender and Natron.

<h3the Viewing Room

Natron

Get a quick overview of Natron, cross-platform open source digital compositing software in this new YouTube video.

Phil Shapiro

For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.

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MongoDB Ransomware Attacks Grow in NumberMondoDB ransomware

MongoDB Ransomware Attacks Grow in Number

By Christine Hall on January 9, 2017 |

Admin, News, Security and Software

Evidently DevOps running MongoDB haven’t heard the word about the latest round of ransomware targeting the database, as the numbers of deployments with data being held for ransom continues to rise.

MongoDB ransomware

Last week when the news started hitting the net about ransomware attacks focusing on unprotected instances of MongoDB, it seemed to me to be a story that would have a short life. After all, the attacks weren’t leveraging some unpatched vulnerabilities in the database, but databases that were misconfigured in a way that left them reachable via the Internet, and with no controls — like a password other than the default — over who had privileges. All that was necessary to get this attack vector under control was for admins to be aware of the situation and to be ready and able to reconfigure and password protect.

Guess what? It hasn’t gone down that way — at least not so far.

On Wednesday when I wrote about this there had been about 2,000 databases attacked. By this morning, according to eWeek, over 10,000 databases have been affected. What’s more, last week it appeared as if all of the attacks were being carried out by one person or organization. Now there are at least five organizations steadily working in an attempt to turn unprotected databases into bitcoins.

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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