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First it was the NSA, the FBI and every big city cop shop on the planet insisting we need legislation to force safe, secure and for their eyes only back doors in damn near every device on the planet, presumably including light switches, garbage disposals and dishwashers. Eventually they came to see that doors, hidden or not, are merely temptations for hackers to break on through, and just decided to go on the down low for a while so they could pull a sneak attack later when we least expect it, which is a favorite trick of government types.

Emmabuntüs is a GNU/Linux distribution that's definitely set apart from the crowd, as its developers are motivated less by a love for technology than by a connection with humanity.

FOSS Force has learned that we shouldn't write obituaries until we actually see a death certificate. SCO intends to file an appeal over the dismissal of its case against IBM.

Normally this last-of-the-month article would be a summary of the biggest stories that happened during the month of March concerning the Raspberry Pi. This month, though, I thought I would change it up and discuss some of the biggest projects that were talked about this past month. In no particular order, here is what the month of March had to offer in the way of amazing DIY Raspberry Pi projects.

The same 2D annimation software that's used by Studio Ghibli in the making of its feature length anime films is now available as OpenToonz under an open source license.

“I had 25 laptops I was going to bring with me from work. They had been released for recycle so they were mine to do with as I pleased. But after looking them over, I decided they were just too old and I would be burdening you more than helping you. I pulled the hard drives and crushed the rest.”

In recent years, it has become common for the terms "open source" and "FOSS" to be used interchangeably. While it's true that all FOSS is also open source, it's also true that being open source doesn't necessarily mean it's FOSS.

While Facebook and Google work to better identify you by your typing skills and Red Hat counts the bucks from its best ever year, Ubuntu finally makes it possible to launch from the bottom.

When a group of talented people get together to create a Linux distribution optimized for use on Chromebooks, a suitable way of giving thanks is to install that operating system on a Chromebook and make a screencast showcasing the operating system at work. Back in December 2015, I did that with the outstanding GalliumOS distro.

While the entire BSD world has been buzzing over Ubuntu's BSD release, the FreeNAS project has been busy releasing version 9.10 as a major precursor to version 10.

We presented each tester a set of sample tasks, one task at a time. Throughout the test, we watched each volunteer as they completed the sample tasks, and noted any problems they had with the software. We asked the testers to speak aloud during the usability test, to describe what they were looking for; if they were looking for the “Print” button, they should say, “I’m looking for the ‘Print’ button.” After each set of tasks, we took a “comment break” so participants could share their thoughts about the software and the problems they encountered.

After two days, Matt had it working in a kinda, sorta way. There were too many variables. What worked on Ubuntu wouldn’t work on Fedora. What he built to work on Fedora, wouldn’t work on Arch. And so it goes….

Sometimes learning how to use software such as Inkscape only seems difficult because you don't have anyone to show you how it's done.

Dell has been quite successful recently selling a line of computers preinstalled with GNU/Linux. So much so that the company posted a blog on March 10 extolling the fact that Precision 5510, 3510, 7510 and 7710 mobile workstations are all available worldwide with Ubuntu preinstalled. What’s more, the company doesn’t hide Linux availability in the fine print or make potential customers find a special page to order from, which had once been its practice. Just go to the page for Precision laptops, find the one you want and tic the Ubuntu Linux option in the Operating System box in the Build My Dell section.

This week we heard news of a tax incentive program I can get behind: How about a tax break for the developers of open source software? It seems that a couple of state senators from the Empire State want to do exactly that. Senate Bill S161, sponsored by Senator Daniel Squadron (D-26th) and co-sponsored by Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D-36th), provides a maximum $200 tax credit for taxpayer expenses associated with the development of open source and free software licensed programs.

On March 7, the FCC slapped a $1.35 million fine on Verizon in a privacy case, a move that’s being hailed as a victory by some privacy advocates. If so, it would seem to me to be a hollow victory. For starters, the fine is too low to be much of a deterrent against a company which last year had income of over $63 billion. But there is much more wrong with the agreement the carrier reached with the FCC than merely the price tag.

Sometimes you have to quit cleaning your code long enough to clean your room. The people at the FreeBSD Foundation have already been doing some spring cleaning. They've even called the decorator.

If there was ever an open source conference that doesn’t need any help from the press, it’s this year’s Great Wide Open in Atlanta. In spite of getting very little media attention, IT-oLogy, the nonprofit behind the event, was able to announce nearly two weeks ago that tickets to the second day of the two day conference were already sold out, with less than 200 remaining tickets for day one. Day one was Wednesday, and as logic would dictate, day two is today.

Some of the most visited sites on the Internet began delivering malware laden ads this weekend. The sites affected included The New York Times, the BBC, MSN, and AOL. Those who visited a site delivering the ads are not at risk unless they clicked on an infected ad. After clicking, users are taken to another website which attempts to infect them with either Cryptowall ransomware or a trojan that gives the attackers control of the infected computer. The good news for FOSS Force readers is that the malware seems to only works against Windows, so GNU/Linux users are considered safe.

When last we left, I had summarized an interview conducted by The Pi Podcast with Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton concerning the release of the Raspberry Pi 3. Since then, I was lucky enough to purchase one of the devices and spent the last several days getting to use it for the first time to see how well it lives up to the hype.