Showing headlines posted by sakgarg

These are good times for Linux users. Ubuntu's 8.10 release recently went live, Fedora's 10 release is coming up in mere weeks, and openSUSE will finalize its 11.1 offering in December. Even if none of these distributions are your first choice for daily use, they are popular and are frequently worth checking out on liveCD, even if you plan to continue using your current distribution.

Yesterday, I noted in a post that the first extension has been created for Mozilla's Fennec mobile browser (Fennec means small fox). Mozilla quietly reported this news in a blog post. With this in mind, and for several other reasons, I think many people are underestimating the impact Fennec will have as a mobile browser. Here is why.

Much is being said about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's comments on open source in Australia this week. As GigaOm notes, Ballmer took a bold swipe at Google's Android platform while speaking Down Under, but he also directly said he found open source browser engines "interesting." Among other things implied here, there could be some big changes in how browsers compete.

There is one universal truth in desktop computing, regardless of operating system: There are more music players out there than you'd be inclined to try (never mind use) on a regular basis. Some focus on the simpler, basic functions, and others strive for improved music and media management and delivery. A few of these players achieve their goals and gain a loyal user base. More fall short and get lost in the noise. New music players, then, need something distinctive (that's well developed and delivered) to draw new users, and keep them coming back.

In an intriguing interview with kernel developer, Greg Kroah-Hartman, he says he has evidence that Linux now supports more devices than any other operating system. In the lengthy interview, he talks about why this is true now, and how hardware suppliers and open source developers can work together to bring more peripherals to life.

openSUSE 11.1 is moving ever closer to its December release date. The fourth beta release became available Monday, with some new bug fixes, updated versions of GNOME, Banshee and the kernel, and webcam support re-enabled. One of the changes long time openSUSE users will notice right away is the new YaST disk partitioner.

We've made the point before that as good as Google's Chrome browser is, many users will still want to stick with Firefox because of how incredibly useful Firefox extensions are. In fact, at this point, I see the new beta version 3.1 of Firefox as the most useful browser available. I'm still using Chrome, though, and expect big things going forward from it, including a mobile version from Google. For now, though, as developers work on variants of and extensions for Chrome, it's worth being careful.

There is an interesting story regarding open source hardware making the rounds today. Have you ever heard of TV-B-Gone? I hadn't, until today. It's an invention from Mitch Altman that works like a universal remote, except that it has only one purpose: turning off any TV that is on anywhere, especially in public places. Admittedly, this device could easily get its owner killed during the fourth quarter of a football game in any number of watering holes, but there is a notable open source twist to the story.

Eucalyptus is an open-source (under a FreeBSD-style license) infrastructure for cloud computing on clusters that duplicates the functionality of Amazon's EC2, using the Amazon command-line tools directly. Now RightScale, a leader in cloud computing management and support, has announced a partnership with the Eucalyptus team at U.C. Santa Barbara to foster cloud computing research, experimentation and adoption.

With the economy as volatile as it has been, there has been a good deal of speculation (both positive and downright pessimistic) about how open source companies will negotiate the ups and downs to come. Today, Open-Xchange must be feeling quite optimistic, as it announced it's just closed a round of venture funding totaling $9 million and has four times the number of paid mailboxes now than it did last year. The company is focusing on a decidedly rosy looking future.

Could open source software benefit from more usability testing? It sure seems so, and usability labs are heavily emphasized at big proprietary software companies, especially Microsoft. In fact, early interface standards in Windows applications, such as common menu options, were largely driven by the experiences of usability testers. Here are some open source projects that are setting a good example when it comes to usability.

Though it may not be as epically geek as the NetBSD toaster, there is a certain appeal to Chumby, the Linux alarm clock. The hardware and software are open and hackable, for the hands-on type. For the rest of the population, it's still an interesting and functional little device.

On October 24th, as Lisa reported, a serious vulnerability was discovered in the Google Android powered G1 mobile phone. Though security researchers classified the flaw in the Android browser as serious, Google assured users that the risk wasn't necessarily as dire as it seemed, due to the way the Android operating system restricts each application to its own area.

Google introduced the beta version of its open source Chrome browser nearly two months ago, and issued its third update to the beta yesterday. (The update pushes to you automatically if you're running Chrome.) Although there are signs that the very early popularity of this browser has calmed down somewhat, it's still generating a lot of buzz, Google has confirmed that many extensions are coming for it, and I expect to see it in a mobile version very soon. If you're running Chrome, here are seven tips for customizing and getting the most out of it.

The New York Times is running an interesting piece from IDG News on how administrators and IT chiefs for higher educational institutions are at odds over whether it makes sense to deploy open source software instead of proprietary products. The flap went on this week at the Educause conference in Florida. Within the argument that's going on, a number of surprising fallacies about open source are apparently cropping up. Here are the details.

Today Yahoo! officially introduced their "open strategy" platform, Y!OS. The Yahoo! Open Strategy platform consists of three development components, the Yahoo! Application Platform, the Yahoo! Social Platform, and the Yahoo! Query Language.

The Linux Foundation recently posted a video interview with Linus Torvalds that took place at September's Linux Kernel Summit. Torvalds, the man behind the Linux kernel, and the project's chief coordinator, is always interesting to hear and the ten minute video is well worth watching.

Last week, I had the pleasure of getting some unique insight into the Ubuntu 8.10 release ("Intrepid Ibex") from Canonical's marketing manager, Gerry Carr. The finalized server and desktop editions of the 8.10 release will be available for download October 30th, and host a variety of new tools and features.

Reports are emerging of a serious security flaw with the Android software that powers T-Mobile's newly-launched G1 smartphone. Charles Miller, the researcher who discovered it, says he notified Google of the flaw this week but decided to also go public with the information to protect users from becoming exploited by people with nefarious intent.

A common lament from home videographers is that Linux lacks video editors. It's not exactly true. There's Kino, which edits video and acts as a frontend to dvgrab. Jahshaka edits videos, and uses openGL to add special effects (though many say Jahshaka's strength is its user interface). Cinelerra is a professional grade editor, and while someone working with video regularly might find this is the only option, those needing simple edits and common effects will find it overkill.