Articles about Open Source

Last year, Microsoft released an open source project called "Cognitive Toolkit." This toolkit was designed with a focus on deep learning and artificial intelligence.

Today, after a fairly long beta period, Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit is finally updated to version 2.0. Not only does this production release have new features, but bug fixes too. Unfortunately, the release isn't entirely backwards compatible due to deprecated and renamed aspects of the toolkit.

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Bodhi is an interesting Linux distribution thanks to its lightweight nature. If you have an older PC that isn't particularly powerful, the operating system could breath new life into it. Unlike some other distributions that are light on resources, Bodhi is not ugly -- its Moksha desktop environment looks rather modern. I highly recommend giving the OS a try.

Today Bodhi reaches version 4.2.0. It is quite the boring release, as there isn't much to it. It is merely a rollup, incorporating many of the updates that were released since the previous stable version, 4.1.0. If you are already running Bodhi and have been installing updates, there is no reason to bother -- this is more for those that aren't already running the OS.

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Today was day one of Google I/O and there was no shortage of news. To name a few, the search giant is bringing its assistant to iPhone, Smart Reply to Gmail on mobile, and voice-calling to Google Home. These things should be very interesting to both consumers and technology enthusiasts.

With I/O being a developer conference, however, not all of the news is necessarily consumer-focused. Case in point, there was some rather big developer news that didn't get as much attention. You see, Google announces that it is making five of its "Firebase" SDKs open source.

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Facebook is set for a potentially explosive legal case after the company was accused of stealing proprietary technology.

In a California district court, a judge has laid out a detailed timeline regarding the upcoming legal battle between Facebook and UK data center company BladeRoom over allegations that the social network stole the latter's server and rack technology for use in its own Open Compute Project.

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GNOME is not just a desktop environment, but a collection of apps too. Some are useful, while others... not so much. Case in point, GNOME has a new program called "Recipes." It is quite literally a searchable database of cooking recipes. While there is nothing really wrong with creating such an app, it sort of duplicates the functionality of a search engine, like Google or Bing. If resources were unlimited, I'd say more power to the developers. The open source project largely relies on donations, however, and it could be argued that Recipes is a bit unnecessary.

There is one particularly interesting aspect of Recipes -- it is available for macOS. You see, the developers have successfully ported the app to Apple's desktop operating system. While I'm dubious that Mac users will actually want the app, it is still rather cool.

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When Microsoft brought Ubuntu to Windows 10, it was monumental. No, Microsoft wasn't abandoning its own operating system for Linux, but the company was showing developers that it was open-minded towards such things.

Today, Microsoft is taking its embrace of Linux a step further. With Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the company is delivering versions of three popular Linux distributions to its Windows Store. Yes, folks, Linux on Microsoft's app store -- shocking! For now, it will be limited to Fedora, Ubuntu, and SUSE.

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It's no secret that most people are rubbish at choosing passwords -- it's something that's proved time and time again when the annual list of common passwords is released. To help overcome the problem, and hopefully increase the security of people's accounts, a team of researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Chicago have created an open source password meter that provides advice about how to strengthen a password.

While it's quite common to encounter online forms that require you to create passwords that meet certain criteria, it still does not necessarily mean they are secure. CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS), in conjunction with the Institute for Software Research, has created a tool that provides real-time feedback that helps to explain why a password is insecure, and offers tips about how to strengthen it.

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Google has long been focused on artificial intelligence. Its Google Now and voice assistance projects have used AI to better the lives of users. The Google Home voice-based hardware unit brings its assistant to life, making traditional inputs and displays unnecessary. With just the power of your voice, you can interact with the device -- nothing else is needed.

The search giant has decided to take artificial intelligence to the maker community with a new initiative called AIY. This initiative (found here) will introduce open source AI projects to the public that makers can leverage in a simple way. Today, Google announces the first-ever AIY project. Called "Voice Kit," it is designed to work with a Raspberry Pi to create a voice-based virtual assistant. Please keep in mind that the Pi itself is not included, so you must bring your own. For this project, you can use a Pi 3 Model B, Pi 2, or Pi Zero. Want a Voice Kit? Here's how to get it. Heck, you might be getting one for free and you don't even know it.

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Linux Mint is a very popular operating system -- for Linux, anyway. It is based on Ubuntu, but it ditches one of the most maligned aspects of its base OS -- the Unity desktop environment. Instead, it primarily offers the Cinnamon DE, which is reminiscent of Microsoft's Windows 7. Mint's popularity and relevance is in question lately, however, as Ubuntu itself has decided to stop using Unity too. It remains to be seen if GNOME 3 being the default DE for future Ubuntu releases will decrease the number of folks switching to Mint.

The uncertainty about Ubuntu has not deterred the Linux Mint team, however, as they are moving ahead with plans for version 18.2. While details about the upcoming version of the operating system are scarce, we have learned two important details. First, the code name for the OS will be "Sonya," and second, the distro will use LightDM as default display manager.

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Apps that come with open-source code are putting organizations at risk, according to a new report by Black Duck. As you might imagine, many companies are using apps with open-source code.

Black Duck’s Center for Open Source Research & Innovation analyzed 1,071 apps audited during 2016 and found that 96 percent of them had open source. Of those, more than 60 percent had open source security vulnerabilities.

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The Internet of Things is gaining in popularity just as many pundits have predicted for years. Having a connected home is easy and cost effective, thanks to devices like Amazon Echo, WeMo lights, and Nest thermostats. It really is an exciting time to be a tech-enthusiast consumer.

Unfortunately, while IoT is exciting, it can also be confusing and scary. Many devices do not work together due to fragmentation, and even worse, there can be security exploits that put the consumer's home network at risk. In other words, an internet connected refrigerator or webcam could be abused by hackers. Today, The Linux Foundation launches the open source EdgeX Foundry -- an attempt to unify and simplify the Internet of Things.

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Today is finally the day. Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" is available for download. No, this is not an Alpha or Beta, but an official stable version of the Linux-based operating system. Unfortunately, the release is a bit tainted -- it uses Unity as the official desktop environment, which Canonical has announced will be killed. Not to mention, there has been some controversy regarding some comments by Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth. Just yesterday, the CEO of Canonical announced she is leaving the position.

With all of the aforementioned controversy and chaos, it is understandably hard to get too excited for "Zesty Zapus," especially as this is not a long term support version. With that said, if you are an existing Ubuntu user that likes Unity, this is certainly a worthwhile upgrade if you are OK with the shorter support. Unity may no longer have a future, but version 7 will continue to be supported -- for a while, at least.

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If you are a Linux desktop user, you know that buying a laptop can be a pain. You undoubtedly have purchased a Windows machine, formatted the drive, and then installed your favorite distro. This sometimes works well, although you then have that Windows logo on your keyboard. Look, I'm not an anti-Microsoft Linux user, but having the Windows icon on your keyboard takes away from the overall experience.

Luckily, there are companies like System76 that sell computers pre-loaded with Linux-based operating systems (with no Windows key on the keyboard!). Its machines come with Ubuntu, but they can run any Linux distro, such as Fedora, like a champ. The company's newest offering, the all-new 'Galago Pro' laptop, looks drop-dead gorgeous. It delivers a thin and light notebook experience -- like the MacBook Pro -- but without sacrificing specifications or ports. It even has a HiDPI screen, backlit keyboard, and optional NVMe storage. Best of all? Pricing starts at $899!

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Unity is a fine desktop environment, but many users of Ubuntu hate it. In fact, due to how much negativity there is towards the DE, Linux Mint has experienced popularity thanks to Cinnamon and Mate. Quite frankly, maintaining Unity has been somewhat foolish for Canonical -- a waste of resources and money when there are plenty of wonderful existing environments.

Today, the company admits that it is throwing in the towel on Unity, as well as its vision for convergence with devices like phones and tablets. Starting with Ubuntu 18.04, the wonderful GNOME will once again become the default desktop environment!

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Microsoft is closing down CodePlex on December 15, 2017. The company says that its repository for open source software projects has seen a dramatic fall in usage, and points to GitHub as the "de facto place for open source sharing."

With 11 years of service under its belt, CodePlex is not just giving way to GitHub, Microsoft is actively recommending migrating to the renowned service -- and is making it easy to do so.

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