Articles about Open Source

Most enterprises rely on databases in some form or another, but they can be vulnerable to attack from people looking to steal information. They can also lead to performance problems as the amount of data stored grows.

Open source database specialist MariaDB Corporation is launching its latest MariaDB Enterprise aimed at tackling the most pressing enterprise data management challenges.

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Facebook's biggest news recently has been the global roll out of Reactions. But bubbling away in the background over recent weeks have been changes to the Instant Article program. Initially made available only to larger publishers, Facebook Instant Articles help to improve user-engagement by providing articles that load internally up to ten times faster than linking to external sites.

Facebook then announced that Instant Articles would be made available to publishers of all sizes, and today a WordPress plugin has been launched that means any blogger can take advantage of the feature. The partnership between Facebook and Automattic opens up Instant Articles to millions of users.

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Friends and colleagues often tell me I am a bit of a hypochondriac. As soon as a virus makes its way to the news, I am convinced I have it. Hell, I even bought respiratory face masks from Amazon in case Ebola somehow spread to Long Island! Ultimately, I end up looking foolish -- my fears were for naught.

The Zika virus has me worried, however, and this time, sadly, my fears are warranted. Carried by mosquitoes, the virus itself is usually fairly harmless to the infected, but can spread globally. The true devastation caused by Zika is birth defects for babies, such as microcephaly, caused by virus-infected mothers. Luckily, Google is working to fight the Zika virus by contributing money and resources and, more good news, the resulting platform will be open source.

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Linux is such a wonderful kernel for many reasons, but I find its adaptability to be the tops. You can get an operating system based on the kernel running on such a broad range of hardware -- something Microsoft can only dream about with its venerable Windows.

Even though Linux can run on damn-near anything, it is beneficial for developers to have a reference platform to use for creating. Of course, they can always expand from that jumping point. Today, Canonical announces that the Dragonboard 410c hardware will be the reference platform for Ubuntu Core on ARM 64-bit.

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Ah, Linux. What can't the open source kernel do? For many projects, operating systems based on it have proven remarkably adaptable -- being made to work with countless hardware configurations. While Windows may remain king of the desktop -- for now -- Linux has its fingers in many pies for which Microsoft's offering is just too bloated. It remains to be seen if Windows 10 IoT will be embraced.

Today, Canonical announces that it will be releasing an Ubuntu Core image for Samsung's IoT-focused ARTIK platform (5 and 10 modules). What does this mean? Well, developers can now leverage one of the most popular Linux distributions on this hardware. This creates amazing potential for ARTIK.

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IBM is looking to move blockchain technology beyond Bitcoin and money transfer as it announced Blockchain-as-a-service on Tuesday.

Blockchain-as-a-service allows developers to "create digital assets and accompanying business logic to more securely and privately transfer assets among members of a permissioned blockchain test network".

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The Linux community has a lot to shout about. In addition to a seemingly endless choice of distros to suit every taste and need, there's also the highly-prized security. This is helped to a large extent by the open source nature of Linux, but Linus Torvalds has revealed that being open source was not part of the original plan.

Torvalds made the revelation in a rare interview at the TED conference in Vancouver saying that Linux started off as a personal project that he intended to keep to himself. The computing landscape certainly would have panned out into something very different to that which we see today had he not made that crucial decision.

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Following the release of the Swift programming language as open source back in early December 2015, Apple has followed up by releasing the code for its Benchmarking Suite on GitHub.

By releasing the Benchmarking Suite as open source, Apple is trying to assist developers to create faster, more efficient code. It will allow programmers to find areas where their code is running slowly, so that they can find a faster way of coding their applications before they are committed. Specifically, the suite consists of tools, benchmark libraries and utilities.

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When you decide to embrace Linux on the desktop, it can be quite exciting. There is a good chance you started your computing journey with Microsoft Windows, but now you want something different. While choosing the open source route can be a smart move, it can, unfortunately, be confusing too. What operating system should you pick?

Many people choose Ubuntu, which is a solid choice, but some people prefer others. Linus Torvalds, for instance, famously uses Fedora. While that operating system can be quite rewarding, setting it up can be a frustrating experience for those new to Linux. Enter Korora. This operating system takes the best of Fedora and mixes it with user-friendly software and pre-configured RPMFusion repositories. Version 23, code-named 'Coral', is now available for download.

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Convergence is all the rage in the technology industry nowadays and for good reason -- our handheld devices are insanely powerful. It makes sense to leverage a smartphone or tablet's processor for desktop computing. By connecting a monitor, mouse, and keyboard to the mobile device, it can serve as a full-fledged computer. Those with more hardcore computing needs, such as editing video, for example, may have to wait a while for more powerful handheld devices.

Microsoft has shown off its Continuum functionality, which turns a Windows 10 Mobile smartphone into a desktop, but because of shocking limitations, it really isn't ready for prime-time. Canonical has long been working on its own convergence plans with Ubuntu -- it is not copying Microsoft's. Quite frankly, it can be argued that the open source Linux kernel is a more adaptable base for such Swiss Army-like devices as Windows could be too bloated. Today, Canonical unveils the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet which fulfills its Linux convergence vision. Not only can a user be productive with the tablet itself, but it can be connected to peripherals to create a full desktop experience.

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2015 was the year that adblocking became one of the central debates concerning the web, and this looks set to continue through 2016. Adblock Plus is one of the best-known names in the field, but Apple also got in on the action by permitting adblocking tools for iOS. Now it's Samsung's turn to get in on the action.

The handset manufacturer is today starting the rollout of an over-the-air update that adds a new adblocking API to Android. Samsung has partnered with Rocketship Apps, and the company's Adblock Fast is the first app to take advantage of the API -- and there is a claimed 51 percent speed boost to be enjoyed.

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When it comes to government agencies at all levels, and things like the voting process, I am a hardcore believer in open source being necessary. To truly know that votes are being counted correctly by machines, only open source would allow independent auditing. It will also help to prevent unknown backdoors in secure government computer systems.

Closed source technologies from companies like Microsoft could, in theory, contain backdoors or vulnerabilities that hackers and evildoers could exploit. Even worse, Microsoft or its employees could purposely alter voting software to influence outcomes. Am I saying the company is doing this? Not at all. But with closed source software, there is no way to know for sure. Now, Bernie Sanders' campaign is questioning Microsoft's technologies being used in Iowa Caucuses. You know what? They have a point.

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The current perceptions of Microsoft by some home users can be quite negative. This is likely due to privacy concerns with Windows 10, which is a legitimate issue. With that said, the company is still the darling of the enterprise. After all, Windows 7 and Office are integral tools for many successful businesses.

Windows and Office aside, another wildly popular business tool from Microsoft is Azure. This cloud platform is great, but some companies wisely prefer an on-premises solution. Enter Azure Stack. Today, Microsoft announces that the first Technical Preview of its hybrid cloud/datacenter product is coming this week. Bigger news, arguably, is that Canonical's operating system, Ubuntu Linux, will play a key role. Once again, Microsoft is leveraging open source -- noticing a trend here, folks?

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Microsoft has announced new offerings regarding the recently acquired Revolution Analytics and its R language for statistical computing and predictive analytics.

Most importantly, its Revolution R Open is now called Microsoft R Open and will remain open-source and free for download.

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As 2015 comes to a close, we must again face the reality that Linux is a failure on the desktop -- its share of the pie is almost nonexistent. While the kernel is wildly popular on smartphones and servers, Windows is still the dominant force on home and business workstations. You know what? That's fine. Regardless of popularity, or lack thereof, desktop operating systems based on the Linux kernel aren't going anywhere. We Linux users aren't going anywhere.

Today, a beautiful  operating system from China, deepin, hits version 15. No longer based on Ubuntu -- the project has switched to a Debian base -- it is gorgeous and has an intuitive HTML5-based environment. And yes, it is available in English. Happy New Year, fellow Linux users!

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