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Poverty Helps You Keep Technology Safe and Easy

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on February 9, 2017 |

Humor, Internet and Security

Poverty Helps You Keep Technology Safe and EasyPoor Linux

In the technology age, there might be some before unknown advantages to living on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. The question is, do they outweigh the disadvantages.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Poor Linux

Earlier this week I saw a ZDNet story titled Vizio: The spy in your TV by my friend Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. Scary stuff. I had a vision of my wife and me and a few dozen of our closest friends having a secret orgy in our living room, except our smart TV’s unblinking eye was recording our every thrust and parry (you might say). Zut alors! In this day of Internet everywhere, we all know that what goes online, stays online. Suddenly our orgy wasn’t secret, and my hopes of becoming the next President were dashed.

Except… lucky me! I’m poor, so I have an oldie-but-goodie dumb TV that doesn’t have a camera. There’s no way my old Vizio can spy on us. As Mel Brooks didn’t quite say, “It’s good to be the poverty case.”

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Back Yard LinuxLinux, supported around the world

Back Yard Linux

By Christine Hall on February 9, 2017 |

Community and Operating Systems

It’s not as lonely being a Linux user as it once was. These days you’re liable to find people throughout your neighborhood using Linux.

Linux, supported around the world

My how times have changed.

It wasn’t long ago that Linux users couldn’t get any respect. People on the street had absolutely never even heard of Linux, and if you needed the services of technical support, like from your ISP, you might as well forget it. Back in the day, the help desk’s favorite thing to say was “we don’t support Linux.”

What they meant, of course, was that they had no clue on how to do anything in Linux. They were skilled at guiding users through arcane parts of Windows to determine whether the problem was with the company’s servers or with the customer’s computer. If the truth be known, they didn’t really know anything about Windows either, but they had a script.

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

‘Open Source’ Is Now a Word?

By Christine Hall on February 8, 2017 |

Humor and News

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.

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?”

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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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.

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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.

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