FOSS Force

SUSE Pulls ‘Game of Thrones’ Parody From YouTube to Foil FOSS Force

By Christine Hall on September 4, 2017 |

SUSE Pulls ‘Game of Thrones’ Parody From YouTube to Foil FOSS Force

Actually, FOSS Force had nothing whatsoever to do with SUSE pulling the video, but the headline piqued your interest, didn’t it?

The Every-Other-Monday Column

Sometimes the best laid plans…

A week ago Sunday I wrote and scheduled an article to be published last Tuesday. In it, I poked fun a little fun at SUSE, while giving a thumbs up to what I thought was a very well executed — and funny — parody of “Game of Thrones.” It was also very clever, insofar as it managed to paint rival Red Hat in a less-than-open light, without ever mentioning the company by name. In the parody, the not-so-open guys all wore red hats.

SUSE Vs Funny People Wearing Red Hats

By Christine Hall on August 29, 2017 |

Business, Humor and Video

Watching this video from SUSE, you might be excused for thinking you’re watching a trailer for a new Netflix original which looks suspiciously like “Game of Thrones.” To paraphrase an old Dodge commercial: “You can tell they’re bad guys because they all wear Red Hats.”

SUSE

Okay, it’s a funny little five minute parody of House of Thrones. But it looks to me as if SUSE has thrown down the gauntlet and is challenging Red Hat…or a bunch of medieval guys wearing red hats…to who knows what. Are the gals and guys in Germany growing a little tired of being the perennial second fiddle — or now third fiddle now that Ubuntu is in server rooms everywhere, especially in Amazon’s cloud.

Wanted: GNU Project Maintainers — Part 2

Wanted: GNU Project Maintainers — Part 2

By Isaac Carter on August 28, 2017 |

Community and Software

Want to use your skills to aid in the development and maintenance of GNU projects? Here are four more projects that could use your help.

Carter’s Corner

This article is a continuation of my last article on GNU projects that are in current need of maintainers. When I first read about the projects GNU needed help with, I was drawn to Gnubik from my own personal love of Rubik’s Cube puzzles. I ended up liking the program and wanted to help so I reached out to the maintainer, who replied back asking about my background and letting me know where help was needed at if I was still interested. Since then, I’ve slowly been helping out where I could and enjoying learning more about the code behind the program. I’m hoping that by writing about these projects, someone will have the time and skill set to help out that wasn’t aware of these projects. I also hope that even if people can’t help out they will download the software, try them out and maybe end up like me.

Another Behind-the-Scenes Niche Where Open Source is Winning

Another Behind-the-Scenes Niche Where Open Source is Winning

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on August 17, 2017 |

Business, Internet and Software

Hook one of these BLE babies up with facial recognition technology and we’ll be living smack dab in the middle of a Philip K. Dick novel.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Do you spend a lot of time thinking about Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons? Unless you run a retail store, probably not. But if you do run a store (or stores) along with an e-commerce operation, BLE is a hot new thing you are either using already or thinking about using before long.

Wanted: GNU Project Maintainers

Wanted: GNU Project Maintainers

By Isaac Carter on August 14, 2017 |

Software

Would you like to give Linux a boost by contributing your coding skills in the service of a GNU project? Here’s a partial list of some projects that are looking for a little help.

Carter’s Corner

While the GNU Project does have some high priority areas that need help, there are currently a list of GNU packages that are needing immediate assistance in keep them maintained. This article is going to cover a little about the purpose of each project, what makes up the project and how to get in touch with that project. I’m only going to touch on half the list this week and cover the rest of the list in the next article. I’m hoping that by writing about these packages, people will be able to contribute some much needed help.

Where in Hell Has FOSS Force Been?

Where in Hell Has FOSS Force Been?

By Christine Hall on August 6, 2017 |

Site News

We promise you that FOSS Force hasn’t deserted you. We’ve just been making a few adjustments.

You might have noticed that we’ve pretty much been missing in action since the first of May. Roblimo’s been here, when he can. So has the “Mr. Rogers of open source” — that would be Phil Shapiro — who never takes a negative viewpoint when there’s a positive to be found. But me? I’ve been completely out-of-the-loop. The last time I wrote anything for FOSS Force was back on May 11.

What the heck happened? A couple of things, starting with blindness.

Finding an Ergonomic Computer Chair an Ubuntu User Can Afford

Finding an Ergonomic Computer Chair an Ubuntu User Can Afford

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on August 3, 2017 |

Humor

Are you looking for a chair that’s guaranteed to work with any and all Linux distros and at a price you can afford? Ask Roblimo, he’ll steer you in the right direction.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

I loved seeing an article by our friend Bruce Byfield about buying an ergonomic office chair. Bruce is a smart guy, a Linux user to the max, and author of the excellent book, Designing with LibreOffice. But what’s all this about choosing a Herman Miller chair? Those things are priced for SuperMac UltraPro users!

The Many Loves of Richard M. Stallman

The Many Loves of Richard M. Stallman

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on July 13, 2017 |

Community and Humor

Here’s a blast from the past. A tale about RMS from back in the days when Roblimo was young — younger than he is now at least — and Stallman was…well, Stallman.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

This is a true story about something that happened at a Department of Commerce treaty hearing in Washington D.C., the kind of event that gets (nearly) zero press even though it’s important. In fact, I was the only reporter there, covering it for Linux.com because some of the proposed treaty language had to do with software patents and licensing — and also because two people I knew were testifying, namely Jamie Love and Richard M. Stallman.

Why Is Open Source Important to You?

Why Is Open Source Important to You?

By Phil Shapiro on July 11, 2017 |

Community and Video

While watching this video called “Why Is Open Source Important to Us,” we suddenly found ourselves wondering why it’s important to you.

By Johannes Spielhagen, Bamberg, Germany
[CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

The Screening Room

Interesting comments from people working the open source way at Liferay.

Liferay is a CMS used for intranets, portals, etc.

“Anytime I want to learn something new, open source actually makes that available to you… By contributing, you put yourself out there and you give other people the opportunity to help you grow…”

Should the Fair License Replace the GPL?

Should the Fair License Replace the GPL?

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on July 6, 2017 |

It seems to us that enterprises have adopted “permissive” licenses because they see them as a way to “have their cake and eat it too.”

Roblimo’s Hideaway

The GPL has many good points, as well as restrictions that make it unappealing to many commercial software producers and users. Plus, over the years, it has accumulated tons of political baggage only marginally related to its utility as a software license. So should we consider the Fair License as a possible replacement? And, whether we like it or not, are permissive licenses — like the Fair License, BSD License, and MIT License taking over anyway?

FOSSY 2025

Black Hat USA 2025

AlmaLinux Day: Vancouver

Nextcloud Community Conference

SeaGL (the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference)

SUSE Pulls ‘Game of Thrones’ Parody From YouTube to Foil FOSS Force

Actually, FOSS Force had nothing whatsoever to do with SUSE pulling the video, but the headline piqued your interest, didn’t it?

The Every-Other-Monday Column

SUSE Vs Funny People Wearing Red Hats

Watching this video from SUSE, you might be excused for thinking you’re watching a trailer for a new Netflix original which looks suspiciously like “Game of Thrones.” To paraphrase an old Dodge commercial: “You can tell they’re bad guys because they all wear Red Hats.”

Wanted: GNU Project Maintainers — Part 2

Want to use your skills to aid in the development and maintenance of GNU projects? Here are four more projects that could use your help.

Carter’s Corner

Another Behind-the-Scenes Niche Where Open Source is Winning

Hook one of these BLE babies up with facial recognition technology and we’ll be living smack dab in the middle of a Philip K. Dick novel.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Wanted: GNU Project Maintainers

Would you like to give Linux a boost by contributing your coding skills in the service of a GNU project? Here’s a partial list of some projects that are looking for a little help.

Carter’s Corner

Where in Hell Has FOSS Force Been?

We promise you that FOSS Force hasn’t deserted you. We’ve just been making a few adjustments.

Finding an Ergonomic Computer Chair an Ubuntu User Can Afford

Are you looking for a chair that’s guaranteed to work with any and all Linux distros and at a price you can afford? Ask Roblimo, he’ll steer you in the right direction.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

The Many Loves of Richard M. Stallman

Here’s a blast from the past. A tale about RMS from back in the days when Roblimo was young — younger than he is now at least — and Stallman was…well, Stallman.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Why Is Open Source Important to You?

While watching this video called “Why Is Open Source Important to Us,” we suddenly found ourselves wondering why it’s important to you.

The Screening Room

Should the Fair License Replace the GPL?

It seems to us that enterprises have adopted “permissive” licenses because they see them as a way to “have their cake and eat it too.”

Roblimo’s Hideaway