Articles about Open Source

When you want a laptop running Ubuntu, you can always purchase a Windows machine and replace the operating system. Why bother with that hassle, though? Instead, it is smart to buy a machine pre-loaded with a Linux-based operating from a company like System76.

While System76 sells brilliant Ubuntu-powered laptops and desktops, it is not the only game in town. Actually, believe it or not, Dell has long been a proponent of Linux, even before 'Project Sputnik'. Its Ubuntu-powered XPS 13 Developer Edition laptops have been quite popular, and for good reason -- they are built well and are very beautiful. Today, Dell announces a refresh with 7th-gen Intel Kaby Lake processors. The 13-inch laptop even gets a new color option -- rose gold.

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Mozilla's love of open source is nothing new -- just look to the Mozilla Open Source Support (MOSS) program. Loving a philosophy is one thing, but Mozilla has also put its money where its mouth is.

In the third quarter of this year, MOSS awarded more than $300,000 to four projects which it either already supported, or which were aligned with the organization's mission. One of the smallest awards -- $56,000 -- was made to Speech Rule Engine, a text-to-speech style component that makes mathematical and scientific content more accessible.

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Next month, one of the most important desktop operating systems will get a major update. No, I am not talking about Windows or macOS; I am referring to Ubuntu. True, from a market share perspective Linux-based desktop operating systems are rather insignificant, but for those in the know, Canonical's open source OS is quite brilliant. Its fans and users are very loyal and passionate.

Today, the final beta of the upcoming Ubuntu Linux 16.10 becomes available. While this version -- dubbed 'Yakkety Yak' -- will not reinvent the wheel, it should offer enough to delight existing users of the open source operating system. Hey, if it's not broke, why fix it, right? That is a lesson Microsoft learned the hard way with Windows 8, but I digress.

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If you are a fan of Linux-based desktop operating systems, you probably have done this before -- buy a Windows PC and replace the pre-installed OS with your favorite distro. While this can be a fine practice, there are some problems with it. Of course, you may experience issues with drivers -- especially Wi-Fi cards. Even worse, if you ever need support, the manufacturer might turn you away when it finds out you loaded Ubuntu, Fedora, or something else.

A smart alternative is to buy a computer from a company that cares about Linux, such as System76. That company sells beautiful laptops and desktops running Ubuntu. But what if you prefer Linux Mint? The Mint team has previously partnered with manufacturers to produce desktops running its distro. Today, the all-new Mintbox Mini Pro goes on sale.

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Cloud storage is amazingly convenient. Unfortunately, the best part of the cloud can also be the worst. You see, having your files stored on someone else's severs and accessing them over the internet opens you to focused hacking, and potentially, incompetence by the cloud storage company too. As a way to have the best of both worlds, some folks will set up net-connected local storage so they can manage their own 'cloud'.

Today, Canonical and Western Digital (WDLabs) unveil an Ubuntu Core Linux-based cloud storage and 'Internet of Things' device called 'Nextcloud Box'. The box leverages the open source Nextcloud service and can be powered by a Raspberry Pi 2, Raspberry Pi 3, or oDroid C2. Will it be easier to use and manage than closed source solutions?

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GitHub has published The state of the Octoverse 2016, a very interesting report that offers an insight into how its 14 million users leveraged the hugely popular repository this year. Among them is a list of organizations with the most open source contributors, most popular coding languages, most used emoji reactions, new user interactions and much more.

The list of organizations with the most open source contributions is particularly interesting, because it shows Microsoft leading the pack with over 16,000 users. The software giant is followed by Facebook and Docker, with Google only coming in fifth place. For folks who associate Microsoft with closed-source this must come as a pretty big surprise.

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The Jenkins open-source automation server is popular with businesses, and is easily extended by community contributions.

But these contributions don't always receive the rigorous testing that enterprises require. Until now that is, Jenkins specialist CloudBees is launching CloudBees Jenkins Enterprise, a verified Jenkins distribution aimed directly at enterprise users.

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Regardless of your feelings about the iPhone, you cannot deny that this week belongs to Apple. The company is certainly dominating much of the world's attention. With that said, there is certainly more going on in the technology world than a new version of a popular smartphone. Some desktop Linux users for instance, would probably be more excited about a new version of a distribution, and today, a significant OS sees release.

What is the desktop OS of which I speak? Linux Mint 18 'Sarah'. True, that distribution is not really new, but this variation is -- KDE. Yes, a new version of Mint -- featuring the Plasma desktop environment and associated apps -- is available today. Could the open source operating system be a good alternative to Windows 10?

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Android 7.0 Nougat may be making its way out to Nexus devices, but this accounts for only a tiny proportion of Android users out there. Owners of other handsets are starting to wonder when they will get their hands on Nougat, but rather than waiting for an official rollout, OnePlus 3 users can run Nougat right now thanks to an unofficial Cyanogenmod 14 build.

As this is an unofficial build there are -- as you will no doubt have gathered from the headline -- a few issues to bear in mind. The bad news is that battery life is described as 'horrendous', but the good news is that developers are beavering away trying to improve things. So if you decide to slap this build on your OnePlus 3, what can you expect?

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Not everyone is in a position to pay for their office software and this led to a market for free Microsoft Office competitors. One of the best known and most popular is OpenOffice, but the open source project is in trouble.

Volunteer vice president Dennis E. Hamilton has warned that retirement of the project "is a serious possibility". The problem is a combination of a lack of volunteers willingness to work on the project, and the increasing popularity of LibreOffice. The lack of developers means that important security updates are at risk.

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Fedora is one of my favorite Linux-based operating systems for multiple reasons. As a big GNOME fan, I like that the distro treats the desktop environment in a pure manner. It is also rock solid with regular updates -- including very modern versions of the Linux kernel. Plus, if you want a true "free" open source experience, it is not corrupted by closed source and other non-free packages. Of course, you can always add those types of packages through repos if you absolutely need them.

Today, Fedora 25 Alpha sees release. While the pre-release distribution is not ready for end users, it does give testers an early start at poking around.

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Linux celebrated a 25th birthday yesterday -- a spectacular open source milestone. For some folks, rather than eat cake, they reflected on how the kernel impacted their lives. For many, Ubuntu would be a big part of the picture -- the desktop OS is wildly popular in the Linux community.

Today, the first beta of Ubuntu Linux 16.10 sees release. Once again, a silly animal name is assigned, this time being the letter "Y" for the horned mammal, "Yakkety Yak". This is obviously a play on the classic song "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters. Please be sure not to "talk back" while testing this beta operating system!

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Today, Linux celebrates its 25th birthday. This is certainly cause for celebration in the open source community. Surprisingly, however, after all this time, many people don't understand that Linux is simply a kernel, and not an operating system. Yes, it is used as a component of operating systems, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Android, Tizen, and more, but a kernel alone does not an OS make.

Linux's longevity is a testament to the open source community as a whole, and not just one man, such as Linus Torvalds. True, he invented the kernel back in 1991 and maintains it to this day, but if he didn't have help along the way, it would have died long ago. Speaking of death, how much time does Linux have left to live? Some folks wonder if the kernel could meet its demise at the same time Torvalds does (or shortly thereafter). In other words, does the man have too much control with no real contingency plan?

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Android and iOS are the only two mobile operating systems that matter. That's a problem for consumers. Why? Well, while duopolies at least give them some choice, being limited to just two options isn't ideal. Sure, there are other options like Ubuntu for phones and Windows 10 Mobile, but neither are lighting the world on fire.

Consumers aside, phone manufacturers don't have access to Apple's iOS, leaving Android as the only viable option. In other words, for OEMs, there is almost no choice. Samsung is apparently not satisfied with being limited to Google's mobile operating system. The company has been experimenting with devices running a different Linux-based open source mobile OS -- Tizen. Today, it launches the first ever 4G smartphone running that OS. The catch? Besides a small 4 inch screen and 5 megapixel camera, it is only available in India.

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As the importance of software to almost all businesses has grown, so the competition to bring new releases to market and ensure they're error free is fierce.

Open source code collaboration specialist GitLab is addressing this issue with a new tool that enables developer teams to improve the software release management process, providing real-time visibility of project issues across an organization.

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