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Posts tagged as “ubuntu”

Poll Results: Ubuntu & Mint End in Near Tie

By FOSS Force on March 21, 2015 |

Distros, Operating Systems and Polls

The FOSS Force Linux Distro poll is now one for the record books. The poll, which ran for a week, finishing just before midnight on Wednesday, asked the simple question, “What Linux distro do you use most?”

We figured this would be a popular poll going in. What we didn’t know was exactly how popular. By the time the dust had settled, over twenty-five hundred of you had voted — more than double the previous FOSS Force poll record, set back in 2013 for the third and final round of our Best Personal Linux or FOSS Blog poll. Back then, a little over a thousand of you voted, leading us to think we’d crossed the Rainbow Bridge into Valhalla.

Continue readingPoll Results: Ubuntu & Mint End in Near Tie
The Ubuntu, Microsoft & SUSE (Bermuda) TriangleUbuntu plus Microsoft

The Ubuntu, Microsoft & SUSE (Bermuda) Triangle

By Christine Hall on March 16, 2015 |

Business, Distros, Hardware, News, Operating Systems and Patents

There’s little doubt that a few eyebrows were raised by the news on Friday, when Larry Cafiero reported on FOSS Force about Canonical’s partnership with Microsoft involving Microsoft’s OCS hardware and Ubuntu’s open source Metal-as-a-Service (MAAS) deployment product. Those with a little memory might wonder if this is a case of history repeating itself, as we’ve seen Microsoft court aspiring princess distros before, with SUSE, not long after the distro was purchased by Novell, a company with an uneven history.

Ubuntu plus Microsoft
A graphic from the Ubuntu web site, touting the distro’s partnership with Microsoft.
Shortly after the turn of the century, Utah based Novell, desperate to stem shrinking revenues, announced it’s intentions of becoming a major Linux and open source player. During the 1980s and 90s the company had flourished in the networking market with its NetWare operating system, a business that was by 2001 in rapid decline, mostly because Windows was now able to network out-of-the-box, and partly due to a customer relations fumble by CEO Eric Schmidt which resulted in the loss of much of the company’s installed base.

In 2003, to establish its open source cred, Novell went on a buying spree, which began in August when it spent an undisclosed amount to acquire Ximian, the open source company behind Evolution, Mono and Red Carpet, the later being an early attempt at an universal package manager for Linux, a precursor to Linspire’s Click & Run. In November, just three months later, Novell spent $210 million, partly financed by an investment from IBM, to purchase SUSE (then SuSE), which was at the time one of the top three Linux distros by most estimations.

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
Continue readingThe Ubuntu, Microsoft & SUSE (Bermuda) Triangle
Linus Under Wraps, Fedora Tests Wayland & More…Ubuntu & Microsoft

Linus Under Wraps, Fedora Tests Wayland & More…

By Larry Cafiero on March 13, 2015 |

Business, Distros, Hardware and Operating Systems

FOSS Week in Review

To be honest, I’m really not finished going through all the materials I picked up at the Open Compute Project 2015 U.S. Summit this week in San Jose. There is a lot of interesting stuff here to wade through, and I’m still going through it.

Meanwhile, much of what makes the FOSS world interesting didn’t wait for me to finish. Like:

Linus Under Wraps? We all know Linus Torvalds. We “get it” — he’s a guy with a big vocabulary who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Many of us are okay with “Linus being Linus,” though some lately have begun to question how positive his criticisms can be. Earlier this week, Business Insider reported the Linux Foundation appeared to try to rein him in, slapping him on the wrist when they issued a new “Code of Conflict” policy that declared “personal insults or abuse are not welcome.”

Linux TorvaldsThe “Code of Conflict” says that if “anyone feels personally abused, threatened, or otherwise uncomfortable” while working on Linux, they should report the situation to the Technical Advisory Board who will step in and mediate.”

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingLinus Under Wraps, Fedora Tests Wayland & More…
An $89 Computer With Ubuntu PreinstalledSymple PC front

An $89 Computer With Ubuntu Preinstalled

By Christine Hall on March 2, 2015 |

Distros, Hardware, News and Operating Systems

There’s a new player in the preinstalled Linux world offering computers with Ubuntu preinstalled for $89, and although this price might suggest bottom of the line specs, the machines are more than powerful enough for most users. They’re also green — very green. They weigh in at 50% less than the average desktop, meaning they use less fossil fuel to ship, and are built in a case made of 100 percent recycled ABS plastic. They’re also shipped in packages completely made from non-virgin fiber.

Symple PC front
Front view of the Symple PC Workstation.
Everything inside the box is also green — or as green as possible, considering that modern electronics is nothing if not a toxic stew.

They come from a company out of Phoenix called Symple PC, founded by Jason Spisak, who also was the co-founder and marketing director of the once popular Linux distro Lycoris, which made news back in 2003 when Walmart offered the distro preinstalled on $199 PCs. He’s now reinventing how we recycle still usable electronics by going far beyond the mere refurbishing of old boxes.

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
Continue readingAn $89 Computer With Ubuntu Preinstalled
Xfce 4.12, Raspberry Pi’s Whole Number & More…Xfce logo

Xfce 4.12, Raspberry Pi’s Whole Number & More…

By Christine Hall on February 20, 2015 |

Desktops, Distros, Hardware, News, Operating Systems and Software

FOSS Week in Review

Larry’s at SCALE 13x, covering the event for us while fulfilling his duties as the conference’s publicity chair, so he twisted my arm to again take care of the week’s news review. Well, he didn’t really twist my arm; he asked politely. And promised to give me some piece of conference swag he has no use for. Can’t wait to see what it is.

New Xfce due next week

Speaking of Larry, back in December he helped quash a rumor that the popular Xfce desktop had been abandoned. Now we have further evidence that he wasn’t just talking through his hat — as if there was ever any doubt.

Today the folks at Softpedia announced that Xfce 4.12 will be released by the end of February, or most likely on March 1st:

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
Continue readingXfce 4.12, Raspberry Pi’s Whole Number & More…
Samsung’s Spying TVs, Ubuntu Phone Sells Out & More…Ubuntu phone

Samsung’s Spying TVs, Ubuntu Phone Sells Out & More…

By Christine Hall on February 13, 2015 |

Business, Hardware, Mobile, Operating Systems and Security

FOSS Week in Review

Larry Cafiero is busy working for SCALE (pun intended), so you’re stuck with me for another week. Sorry.

Ubuntu Phone sale is gone in a flash

The sale of the first ever Ubuntu phone through a European flash sale was evidently a success. Of course, we wouldn’t know as the phone isn’t available yet to those of us who live on this side of the pond, so it hasn’t been getting much press over here. However, EU sites are all atwitter with headlines like “Ubuntu Sells Out!”

Ubuntu phoneThat was referring to the first flash sale, held Wednesday morning EU time, in which all devices being made available were sold out in “just a few hours,” according to Softpedia. In fact, it sold so quickly that a decision was made to hold another flash sale that same afternoon. The original flash sale was supposed to last for nine hours. The number of devices sold hasn’t been released.

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
Continue readingSamsung’s Spying TVs, Ubuntu Phone Sells Out & More…
LQ Poll Results Expected and UnexpectedLinux's Tux

LQ Poll Results Expected and Unexpected

By Larry Cafiero on February 7, 2015 |

Browsers, Desktops, Distros, News, Operating Systems, Reviews and Software

Linux Questions — the place you go where you really need a Linux or FOSS question answered because, well, most of the smart FOSS folks are there answering them — released the results of its Members Choice Awards for 2015.

So when the membership of LQ speaks — or at least votes on FOSS programs — you should probably listen. Don’t take my word for it: Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols thinks so, too.

There were some expected results: For example, LibreOffice wins the Office Suite category by a ton, garnering 86 percent of the vote. To break this down, that’s nearly 9 in 10 folks favoring LibreOffice to the second-place finisher, Apache OpenOffice, and the others.

Same with categories like Browser of the Year — Firefox, need we say more? — with the blazing vulpini taking 57 percent in a crowded field. Same for Android, the Mobile Distribution of the Year which finished 40 percentage points ahead of the second-place finisher. Even vim, at 30 percent in a crowded field, heads up the Text Editor category with three times the votes of Emacs.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingLQ Poll Results Expected and Unexpected
Under the SCALE Big TopAda Initiative Ally Workshop

Under the SCALE Big Top

By Larry Cafiero on February 4, 2015 |

Business, Community, News and Software

As we get closer to the Southern California Linux Expo — SCALE 13x for those of you keeping score at home — it bears mentioning that the largest community-run Linux/FOSS show in North America has grown to host a lot of other sub-events during the course of the four-day expo.

In years past, Ubuntu, Fedora, PostgreSQL and Chef held their own sessions at SCALE — Ubucon, Fedora Activity Day, PostgreSQL Days and Intro to Chef respectively — and they’ll be back this year. Highlighting the “event within an event” lineup at SCALE 13x are also a few others.

Puppet Labs logoMost prominently, Puppet Labs is holding its Puppet Camp at SCALE 13x on Thursday, February 19. Puppet Camps are one-day, regional events held around the world for people who are currently using or interested in using Puppet. Attendees have the opportunity to talk to a diverse group of Puppet users, benefit from presentations delivered by prominent community members, share experiences, and discuss potential implementations of Puppet with their peers. There is a separate registration for this all-day event, and more information can be found at the link above.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingUnder the SCALE Big Top

Mea Culpas & Cranky Patients Named Ken

By Larry Cafiero on January 23, 2015 |

Community, Distros, Hardware, News, Operating Systems and Site News

FOSS Week in Review

One of the most discussed items of the week, arriving with much fanfare, comes from our friends at Canonical/Ubuntu, who brought you Ubuntu TV and Ubuntu Edge — oh wait, they said they’d bring them but never actually delivered — and who now wants to be the operating system behind the nebulously termed “Internet of Things.”

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols starts with a mea culpa in his ZDNet article for assuming that Ubuntu Core — Canonical’s entry in the Internet of Things operating systems — was “a pure server play.” The article, of course, outlines the plan, with details provided by Mark Shuttleworth himself. It’s definitely worth a read.

Larry Cafiero

Larry Cafiero is a journalist and a Free/Open Source Software advocate and is involved in several FOSS projects. Follow him on Twitter: @lcafiero

Continue readingMea Culpas & Cranky Patients Named Ken
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