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‘Open Source’ Is Now a Word?

By Christine Hall on February 8, 2017 |

Humor and News

‘Open Source’ Is Now a Word?open source distionary

So far there’s been no news on Microsoft’s reaction to “open source” being officially recognized by the arbiters of the English language.

open source distionary

“Open source” is now officially a word according to Merriam-Webster, according to my good friends at Ars Technica. Actually, I don’t know anybody at Ars Technica, but whenever you’re stealing news from another news source, you’re traditionally allowed to refer to everyone who works there as “my good friends.” The theory is that if they think you’re a friend of theirs, they won’t sue you.

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Charlie Reisinger’s ‘The Open Schoolhouse’

By Phil Shapiro on February 7, 2017 |

Community, Reviews and Video

The Screening Room

Charlie Reisinger is the IT Director of the Penn Manor School District, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He recently finished writing a spellbinding book describing how his school district decided to adopt open source software and methods. When reading this book, I sent an email to Charlie saying: “This book reads as if it’s your doctoral thesis — it’s a multiyear capstone project.” Charlie responded, “It felt in some way like that while writing the book.” Charlie went on to tell me that the reason he wrote the book was to help other school districts make the plunge into open source. “Come on in – the water is warm!” is the reassuring tone throughout the book.

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Here is my video review of this book. Note — at 27-minutes long, it’s much longer than my other video book reviews. I had no choice but to give the book its due. It’s a masterful piece of storytelling that offers hope to students and teachers everywhere.

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Best Linux Distro Award: The Envelope Please…Arch Linux Best Linux Distro 2016

Best Linux Distro Award: The Envelope Please…

By FOSS Force on February 6, 2017 |

Distros, Polls and Site News

For the second year in a row, Arch Linux wins both rounds in our poll to determine the winner of our Readers’ Choice Award for Best Linux Distro.

The FOSS Force Readers’ Choice Awards Poll

Arch Linux Best Linux Distro 2016The readers of FOSS Force have made their voices heard and for the second year in a row you have chosen Arch Linux to be the recipient of the FOSS Force Readers’ Choice Award for Best Linux Distro. The recipient was determined by the results of a poll that opened on January 30 and closed at noon EST today.

The selection was a two part process that began with a qualifying poll in which readers could suggest distros to be included in the just ended final round of voting. The final round asked the question, “Which of the GNU/Linux distros listed below would you choose to win the FOSS Force ‘Best Desktop Distro’ Award for 2016?”

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This year, both rounds of polling set records for our site. As they like to say after political elections, voter turnout was very heavy.

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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.

** If you're finding this article useful, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **
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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.

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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.

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Leon Anavi’s Open Source News VlogLeon Anavi Open Source News

Leon Anavi’s Open Source News Vlog

By Phil Shapiro on January 31, 2017 |

News and Video

All of us at the FOSS Force office have become big fans of this new open source news blog from Leon Anavi and can’t wait until the next edition comes out in February. Don’t worry Leon, your English is fine. Keep ’em coming.

The Screening Room

Leon Anavi Open Source Video Blog

One of the nice things about open source is that contributions to open source culture come from around the world. Today, I’ve been watching an informative new video blog from Leon Anavi, in Bulgaria. Leon decided to flex his muscle as a journalist. The only thing he needs in order to succeed is willing viewers. Guess what? I’m a willing viewer and I like what I see.

** If our coverage matters to you, please consider supporting our work through our FOSS Force Independence 2026 fundraiser. **
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Best Linux Distro: Final Round of Voting Has BegunArch Linux Best Linux Distro 2015

Best Linux Distro: Final Round of Voting Has Begun

By FOSS Force on January 30, 2017 |

Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

Arch Linux wins the qualifying round for the second year, followed by Linux Mint. In addition, eight distros qualified by write-in votes to be included in our final round. Now it’s time to get out the vote in the all-important final round to determine the Best Linux Distro according to our readers.

The FOSS Force Readers’ Choice Awards Poll

Arch Linux Best Linux Distro 2015Through our qualifying round of voting, you have decided the final slate of candidates for our annual FOSS Force Readers’ Choice Award for Best Linux Distro. At 11 a.m. EST, final round voting began to determine which desktop Linux distro gets the prize for this year’s award.

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

Admittedly, there’s not much at stake here; the winning distro receives nothing more than bragging rights and a heartfelt symbolic pat on the back from our readers — which has to count for something.

Continue readingBest Linux Distro: Final Round of Voting Has Begun