Articles about Open Source

Although it has a reputation as a safe and secure operating system, Linux is not immune to malware. Indeed it's become an attractive target as increasing numbers of servers and other devices run Linux-based OSes.

Data analyzed by the Atlas VPN team, based on malware threat statistics from AV-ATLAS, shows new Linux malware threats hit record numbers in 2022, increasing by 50 percent to 1.9 million.

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Today, the Linux community is treated to yet another new distribution version. An ISO of MX Linux 21.3, the third point release in the "Wildflower" series, can be downloaded here immediately with your choice of Xfce, KDE Plasma, or Fluxbox.

Most notably, the operating system (which is based on Debian 11.6 "Bullseye") has Linux kernel 6.0 available (in addition to 5.10). The Xfce variant of MX 21.3 now uses version 4.18 of the desktop environment, which is the latest and greatest. Obviously, many packages and applications have been updated too.

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Just as machinery becomes less reliable as it gets older and people develop more health issues with age, so it seems software is more likely to have security flaws later in its life.

A new report from security testing company Veracode shows that while 32 percent of applications are found to have flaws at the first scan, by the time they have been in production for five years, nearly 70 percent contain at least one security flaw.

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The cybersecurity world never stands still, with threats and the technology to combat them constantly evolving.

That makes predicting what might happen difficult, but we can still extrapolate current trends to get an indication of where things might be headed. Here are some expert predictions for cybersecurity in 2023.

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Tomorrow is one of the most important days of the year -- Jesus Christ's birthday! Also known as "Christmas," many people celebrate the holiday by giving gifts to friends and family. And of course, Santa Claus will be delivering many great presents to all the non-naughty children of the world too.

As an early Christmas gift, the Linux community is getting something very special today -- Manjaro 22.0! Code-named "Sikaris," this operating system is based on the excellent Arch Linux. If you love using a modern kernel, you will be happy to know Manjaro 22.0 comes with version 6.1. There are three desktop environments from which to choose -- GNOME (43), KDE Plasma (5.26), and Xfce (4.18).

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Grandmothers can be great ladies, but let's be honest -- they aren't very good at using computers. It's not their fault though -- they didn't grow up with them. That's why every time you visit grandma for Christmas, she asks you to fix her computer.

If you are sick of removing malware from grandma's PC, there is a simple solution -- install Linux! Yes, by formatting grandma's hard drive and replacing Windows with Linux, she will have the best Christmas ever.

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Google has announced a new tool designed to help identify vulnerabilities in open source software.

The OSV-Scanner is described as a frontend to the existing OSV (open source vulnerabilities) database and one of the aims is to alert developers to security issues in the code their projects depend on.

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One of the big reasons some people don't switch to Linux is a lack of video editors. While it's true there are more video editing programs on macOS and Windows, there are some great options on Linux too, such as Kdenlive and DaVinci Resolve.

Another popular video editing application that runs on Linux is the open source OpenShot. This cross-platform video editor can run on Windows and macOS too, meaning you can try it on one of those platforms to see if it meets your needs before switching to Linux. And now, OpenShot has reached a new major milestone -- version 3.0. The developers brag that it includes over a thousand changes.

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This week marks the first anniversary of the Log4j/Log4Shell vulnerability affecting the Java logging library and as we noted recently many organizations are still vulnerable even though patched versions were quickly available.

Sonatype has produced a resource center to show the current state of the vulnerability, along with a tool to help businesses scan their open source code to see if it's affected.

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Increasingly consumers and businesses alike are relying on portable devices, and that means it's important that apps are available across several different systems.

We spoke to Jerome Laban, CTO of Uno Platform -- which allows Microsoft developers, using traditional C# and XAML, to take their apps to iOS, Android, Mac, Linux, and the web -- to find out more about cross-platform development and how it can future-proof applications.

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This year's annual Call for Code Global Challenge, backed by IBM and the Linux Foundation, invited innovators across the world to help accelerate sustainability and combat climate change with open source-powered technology.

It's been won by GardenMate for creating an app that uses the IBM Watson AI platform to connect gardeners with excess produce to people in need.

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The Linux Mint developers are targeting Christmas as the release date for version 21.1 of the operating system. Before Santa Claus delivers the stable version, however, we will first need a BETA to test for bugs. And so, today, that is exactly what we get.

Code-named "Vera," Linux Mint 21.1 BETA can be downloaded immediately for testing with your choice of three desktop environments - Cinnamon (5.6), MATE (1.26), and Xfce (4.16). Vera is based on the rock-solid Ubuntu 22.04 and comes with Linux kernel 5.15. The stable version will be supported until 2027.

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Apple switched to its own ARM-based desktop processors for Mac computers in 2020. Believe it or not, despite it now being 2022, not all macOS apps are optimized for Apple Silicon. While M1 and M2 Mac computers are also compatible with Intel apps (with some emulation sorcery), the software won't run as well -- developers really need to embrace the Apple Silicon future.

Thankfully, after much waiting, one of the world's most popular open source image editors, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), has finally been optimized for Apple Silicon. Yes, a stable M1/M2 version of the excellent (and free) Adobe Photoshop alternative can now be downloaded for macOS.

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Digital transformation remains a highly important topic for enterprises that keeps evolving. With ongoing economic uncertainties, like rising inflation, market turbulence, and the energy and cost of living crisis, businesses are realizing they must do more with less over the coming year. 

Organizations are gearing towards technologies that can enable their systems and processes to support each other seamlessly and enable them to drive efficiencies. In particular, they are turning to open source technologies to improve connectivity, observability and security in their ever-growing tech stacks. 

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This website may be called "BetaNews," but today, we have some Alpha news to share with you. If you aren't familiar, an Alpha release of software is even earlier than Beta, and as a result, it is often quite buggy. And so, such a release should never be used for anything but testing.

With all of that said, today, Mageia 9 Alpha becomes available for download. Yes, you can begin testing the pre-release Linux-based operating system immediately. If you have a 64-bit computer, you can choose from three desktop environments at installation -- KDE Plasma, GNOME and Xfce. 32-bit machines are limited to Xfce

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