LXer Weekly Roundup for 27-Nov-2011

LXer Feature: 27-Nov-2011 In the Roundup this week we have why Linux isn't just for geeks, Steven Rosenberg wants to keep it our Internet, LibreOffice might get a visual touch up, syslog may not be around for long and an apology to the Debian community. Enjoy!

Why Linux Isn’t Only for Geeks: If you’ve ever owned a Windows computer chances are your computer was at one point infected with a virus. The solution to this problem is not purchasing antivirus software. The answer to this problem is abandoning Windows as your main operating system, however to some this might seem an impossible thing to do. Apple computers are rather expensive and while they can run Windows as a secondary operating system most people would prefer to be able to run Windows applications on their primary operating system without a noticeable slowdown

An apology to the Debian community: Yesterday I wrote an article that explained that I'd been searching for the Out Of The Box Linux for over a year to give to people as a Working OS cd to replace their gacked Windows OS. I'd been pushing Linux Mint for quite awhile for windows users because it used to do exactly what they wanted. Now it doesn't. And being a child of Ubuntu I found the bug there and submitted a report that never got a response to since July. One user replied that I had submitted my bug in the wrong area – figgers... I didn't know they had areas for different things – I was new to the whole Launchpad idea. I will re-submit it to the right area, assuming I can find it.

It's becoming their Internet -- it should be our Internet: Blogging had already 'jumped the shark,' when it became easy for the average person to create a blog with downloaded software installed on their own web space, be that a physical, wholly owned server, a leased server, a virtual private server, or a shared-hosting account. We don't need to depend on Google/Blogger, Wordpress.com, Livejournal, Tumblr or Typepad to run a blog for us. This is a good thing, and it is a good thing to have the option of doing this with social networking as well.

Linux Mint 12 released - A Peacemaker?: One of the most anxiously-awaited Linux releases in quite some time --Linux Mint 12 -- is now available for download on the Linux Mint Mirrors worldwide According to this ZDNet article, some are hoping that this release will be the "Peacemaker" of the recent Linux desktop disputes, between Gnome 2, Gnome 3 and Ubuntu Unity.

The Perfect Desktop - OpenSUSE 12.1 (GNOME): This tutorial shows how you can set up an OpenSUSE 12.1 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

Want My Help? Speak My Language...: I was pretty firm, if not too much so in explaining to him....again...that Windows programs did not work on Linux. I made it a point to remind him that I spent well over an hour going over this stuff with him then spent another 10 minutes on the phone with him explaining the difference between "download" and "install". I thought I was done. No.

LibreOffice May Get Cosmetic Surgery: One of the areas where LibreOffice needs massive changes is layout and design of the suite. There are some developers and designers who are working on 'possible' design changes to the LibreOffice. That doesn't mean that the LibreOffice team has made a decision to change the UI. The good news is unlike Microsoft's Office's Ribbon interface which is an aweful waste of spcae, LibreOffice design team is looking at more sensible approach.

Linux syslog may be on the way out: In an effort to foil crackers attempts to cover their tracks by altering text-based syslogs, as well as improve the syslog process as a whole, two Red Hat developers are proposing a new binary-based tool called The Journal that could replace the syslog daemon in as early as the Fedora 17 release.

Porn Folder: "So I thought I found your porn folder, in calendar/backup/PORN..."

Cheap-as-chips kit smashes Intel's HD video encryption: German boffins have pulled off a successful attack on HDCP copy protection – using cheap hardware and a lot of clever coding. Intel's HDCP (high-bandwidth digital content protection) allows the encrypted transfer of high definition video signals via DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort and other connectors and between TVs and Blue-ray discs or set-top boxes. The HDCP master key was leaked last year but there was no easy way to exploit this.