Articles about Open Source

Developers feel they should be paid for open source contributions

money envelope bung

A new survey of over 9,500 developers, of whom 4,400 actively participate in open source, finds that 54 percent of respondents feel that individuals should be paid for their open source work.

In fact the study from developer cloud company DigitalOcean finds that only 14 percent of respondents are currently paid for their open source contributions.

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Solus 4.2 Fortitude Linux distro is here with Budgie, GNOME, KDE Plasma, and MATE

Penguin_laptop_2019

So far, 2021 is a definite improvement over 2020, but it's not all great. Due to the ever-mutating COVID-19 virus, many of us remain isolated in our homes. Thankfully, we computer nerds have been training most of our lives for this -- we have experienced plenty of extended time away from other humans, instead tinkering with our computers.

One thing I have enjoyed doing to pass the time during the pandemic is installing Linux distributions. Distro-hopping isn't just fun, but educational too. Today, Solus 4.2 becomes available for download, and it is an operating system you should check out. It is offered with your choice of four great desktop environments -- Budgie, GNOME, KDE Plasma, and MATE.

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Ubuntu-based Linux Mint 20.1 'Ulyssa' BETA is here with Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce

mint_lady_mask

Back in October, we told you that Linux Mint 20.1 would be named "Ulyssa." There was excitement about this version of the operating system, especially since the developers planned to release it around Christmas. Unfortunately, there was controversy and drama surrounding Ulyssa too, as we learned the Linux Mint developers were foolishly wasting resources on an IPTV player named "Hypnotix."

So here we are -- Christmas is fast approaching, and today, the Ubuntu-based Linux Mint 20.1 'Ulyssa' BETA finally becomes available for download. The pre-release operating system can be had with your choice of three excellent desktop environments -- Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce.

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Sophos launches open AI developments to fight cyberattacks

AI security

Cybersecurity company Sophos is announcing four new open artificial intelligence developments with the aim of improving defenses and making the use of AI in cybersecurity more transparent.

Although in other industries it's become common to share AI methodologies and findings, cybersecurity has lagged which doesn't help understanding of how AI can protect against cyberthreats.

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Mageia 8 Beta 2 Linux distro now available with KDE Plasma, GNOME, and Xfce

nerd_man_laptop_glasses_blue_bg

Development of Mageia 8 seems to be moving along nicely, which is great news for users of that Linux-based operating system. Back in August, we shared that the first Beta of the distribution was available for testing, and now today, the second Beta arrives. As with the first Beta, the second is available with your choice of three desktop environments --  KDE Plasma, GNOME, and Xfce.

"We are happy to announce the release of Mageia 8 Beta 2. After a long time since the beta 1, we look forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts so that we can continue to get Mageia 8 ready for release. As we said in a previous post, a lot of work had to be done for the base system upgrade, java, kernel, and the graphical stack. These upgrades are now in a state that allows for the Beta 2 ISOs to be built and tested," explains The Mageia Development Team.

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Open source vs open core -- the development battle you may never have heard of [Q&A]

Fighting figures

There's a battle playing out in the enterprise open source arena right now, but it's one you probably haven't heard about.

It's a clash between pure open source and commercialized open source (or 'open core') versions. While this may be below the radar for anyone not directly involved it has important long-term implications for the industry.

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Linux Foundation launches open source identity and access management platform

identity management

Verifying digital identity is fundamental to building trust in online security and conducting commercial and personal transactions safely. But it can also prove a performance headache for businesses.

Non-profit organization, The Linux Foundation, is today announcing the launch of the Janssen Project, a cloud native identity and access management software platform that prioritizes security and performance.

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Open source developers spend less than three percent of their time on security

open source

The latest FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) contributor survey from the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) and the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard shows respondents spend on average, just 2.27 percent of their total time on security and express little desire to increase that time.

The survey of almost 1,200 respondents working on FOSS software shows the majority of respondents (74.87 percent) are already employed full-time and more than half (51.65 percent) are specifically paid to develop FOSS.

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LibreOffice 7.1 Beta 1 for Linux, Windows, and Mac is here -- get the FREE open-source Microsoft Office alternative now

Happy user

Is LibreOffice better than Microsoft Office? No, and it's not even close. Say what you want about Microsoft, but Office is in a league of its own -- the best productivity software on the market.

Why would anyone not use Microsoft Office? Well, for one, it costs money -- potentially hundreds of dollars. Secondly, it is not available on all operating systems. Linux users, for instance, simply can't use Microsoft Office (except the web version). Not to mention, Microsoft Office is closed-source software, and some folks only want to use open source options.

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Ubuntu Linux maker Canonical publishes curated container images to help secure software supply chains

cloud containers

A good deal of software development now relies on open source images, but it can be hard for businesses to know if they're introducing security flaws by using them.

Canonical -- the company behind Ubuntu Linux -- is addressing this by publishing the LTS (Long Term Support) Docker Image Portfolio, a curated set of secure container application images, on Docker Hub.

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IBM makes it easier for clients to use public cloud services

IBM logo

IBM is using this week's KubeCon to announce an initiative enabling clients to take better advantage of public cloud services in any environment they choose.

From today the company will open source Kubeflow Pipelines on Tekton to provide a standardized solution for creating and deploying machine learning models in production and to make machine learning models portable across hybrid cloud environments.

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Fedora Linux 33 with GNOME 3.38 now available for PC and Raspberry Pi

penguin-how-to

Last month, we told you about Fedora 33 Beta. This Linux distribution is significant for several reasons, including the fact that Linus Torvalds himself uses it. Yes, the father of Linux uses Fedora, and that is saying a lot. In fact, many expert-level Linux users choose Fedora because of its focus on truly free software.

While it may not be ideal for all beginners, even those new to Linux may find Fedora to be a pleasing experience. I personally use it as my distro of choice, but I must confess that System76's Pop!_OS keeps enticing me more and more nowadays. Despite my distro-hopping activities, Fedora remains the rock that I can always count on.

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How to install Microsoft Windows Calculator on Linux

WinCalcLinux

Microsoft is no longer an enemy of the Linux or Open Source communities. Believe it or not, the Windows-maker is an ally these days. Shocking, I know, but totally true. Linux is now built into Windows thanks to WSL, and Microsoft has several apps available for Linux.

The company has even made some of its apps open source as well. For instance, back in 2019, Microsoft released the source for Windows Calculator on GitHub. And now, that calculator app has been ported to Linux by Uno Platform. Best of all, its insanely easy to install as it is packaged in Snap format.

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Ubuntu-based Linux Mint 20.1 is named 'Ulyssa' and you can download it soon

mint_woman_leaves_leaf

There are many great Linux-based desktop operating systems nowadays. There are arguably too many Linux distros, but I digress. For instance, if you are an experienced Linux user, you can opt for something like Debian or Fedora, while novices are better served by Ubuntu or Linux Lite.

One of the best operating systems for beginners and Windows-switchers, however, is Linux Mint. This is a no-nonsense Linux distro that looks good, is very stable, and ultimately "just works" for many users. New versions of the operating system are named after women, and today, we learn what Linux Mint 20.1 will be called.

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Fedora 33 Beta Linux distro with GNOME 3.38 now available for PC and Raspberry Pi

penguin-how-to

Fedora 33 Beta was scheduled to be released during September, and on the eve of the final day of that month, the pre-release operating system is finally here! Yes, if you love Fedora and want to give an early version of 33 a try, today is your lucky day.

As you can imagine, Fedora 33 Beta comes with the excellent GNOME 3.38, which was only released a couple of weeks ago. The biggest change, however, is BTRFS being made the default filesystem -- ext4 is no longer the standard. Wow. Also significant? The new default editor is nano.

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