Munich Council: To Hell With Linux, We're Going Full Windows in 2020
by Peter Reutemann
'The German city of Munich, which received much popularity back in the
day when it first ditched Microsoft's services in favor of open-source
software, has now agreed to stop using Linux and switch back to
Windows. If the decision is ratified by the full council in two weeks,
Windows 10 will start rolling out across the city in 2020. From a
report:
A coalition of Social Democrats and Conservatives on the committee
voted for the Windows migration last week, Social Democrat councillor
Anne Hubner told The Register. Munich rose to fame in the open-source
world for deciding to use Linux and LibreOffice to make the city
independent from the claws of Microsoft. But the plan was never fully
realised -- mail servers, for instance, eventually wound up migrating
to Microsoft Exchange -- and in February the city council formally
voted to end Linux migration and go back to Microsoft. Hubner said the
city has struggled with LiMux adoption. "Users were unhappy and
software essential for the public sector is mostly only available for
Windows," she said. She estimated about half of the 800 or so total
programs needed don't run on Linux and "many others need a lot of
effort and workarounds." Hubner added, "in the past 15 years, much of
our efforts were put into becoming independent from Microsoft,"
including spending "a lot of money looking for workarounds" but "those
efforts eventually failed." A full council vote on Windows 10 2020
migration is set for November 23, Hubner said. However, the Social
Democrats and Conservatives have a majority in the council, and the
outcome is expected to be the same as in committee.'
-- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/11/13/1714220
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
2 years, 4 months
Today I Learned ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro
... what a “Layer 8 issue” is.
You know how the ISO/OSI networking model has 7 layers, from the
physical hardware up to the actual application that the user is using?
2 years, 5 months
Roll On The Feudal Internet
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro
Quoted in
<https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/12/amazons_door_lo.html>:
The Key-compatible locks are made by Yale and Kwikset, yet don't
work with those brands' own apps. They also can't connect with a
home-security system or smart-home gadgets that work with Apple and
Google software.
And, of course, the lock can't be accessed by businesses other than
Amazon. No Walmart, no UPS, no local dog-walking company.
And so Amazon becomes a gatekeeper (literally) for access to your very
home.
2 years, 5 months
All 500 of the World's Top 500 Supercomputers Are Running Linux
by Peter Reutemann
'Linux rules supercomputing. This day has been coming since 1998, when
Linux first appeared on the TOP500 Supercomputer list. Today, it
finally happened: All 500 of the world's fastest supercomputers are
running Linux. The last two non-Linux systems, a pair of Chinese IBM
POWER computers running AIX, dropped off the November 2017 TOP500
Supercomputer list. When the first TOP500 supercomputer list was
compiled in June 1993, Linux was barely more than a toy. It hadn't
even adopted Tux as its mascot yet. It didn't take long for Linux to
start its march on supercomputing.
>From when it first appeared on the TOP500 in 1998, Linux was on its
way to the top. Before Linux took the lead, Unix was supercomputing's
top operating system. Since 2003, the TOP500 was on its way to Linux
domination. By 2004, Linux had taken the lead for good. This happened
for two reasons: First, since most of the world's top supercomputers
are research machines built for specialized tasks, each machine is a
standalone project with unique characteristics and optimization
requirements. To save costs, no one wants to develop a custom
operating system for each of these systems. With Linux, however,
research teams can easily modify and optimize Linux's open-source code
to their one-off designs.
The semiannual TOP500 Supercomputer List was released yesterday. It
also shows that China now claims 202 systems within the TOP500, while
the United States claims 143 systems.'
-- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/11/14/2223227
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
2 years, 5 months
Fear And Loathing In Open-Source Clothing Design
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro
Seems the Valentina project, to create an open-source clothing design
package, has split in two over the usual reason--disagreements among
the project members
<http://libregraphicsworld.org/blog/entry/valentina-seamly2d>.
In that article, Alexandre Prokoudine tries to give an even-handed
account of the saga, which can sometimes be quite difficult.
The proprietary software in this field is extremely expensive--to the
point where it becomes hard for clothing makers/designers to hire
people who are familiar with using it.
An alternative project, called SodaCAD <http://www.sodacad.org/>, takes
a very different view: more direct control over the design (as I
understand it), rather than trying to automatically fit a predefined
design to given measurements, as Valentina does. It hasn’t seen much
activity in over three years, though.
2 years, 5 months
Why Linux HDCP Isn't the End of the World
by Peter Reutemann
'"There is no reason for the open-source community to worry..." writes
Daniel Stone, who heads the graphics team at open-source consultancy
Collabora. mfilion quotes Collabora.com:
Recently, Sean Paul from Google's ChromeOS team, submitted a patch
series to enable HDCP support for the Intel display driver. HDCP is
used to encrypt content over HDMI and DisplayPort links, which can
only be decoded by trusted devices... However, if you already run your
own code on a free device, HDCP is an irrelevance and does not reduce
freedom in any way....
HDCP support is implemented almost entirely in the hardware. Rather
than adding a mandatory encryption layer for content, the HDCP kernel
support is dormant unless userspace explicitly requests an encrypted
link. It then attempts to enable encryption in the hardware and
informs userspace of the result. So there's the first out: if you
don't want to use HDCP, then don't enable it! The kernel doesn't force
anything on an unwilling userspace.... HDCP is only downstream facing:
it allows your computer to trust that the device it has been plugged
into is trusted by the HDCP certification authority, and nothing more.
It does not reduce user freedom, or impose any additional limitations
on device usage.'
-- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/12/16/0320227
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
2 years, 5 months
Net Neutrality Repeal --- What It Means For NZ
by Rowan Schischka
<https://list.waikato.ac.nz/pipermail/wlug/2017-December/015504.html>
So you are agreeing with me that USA has a problem of poor competition?
In NZ if my provider gives me crap access to certain services, I have
options, but in many places in the US they do not. Net Neutrality rules
did not increase competition in USA, and I do not see how dropping
regulations in US will affect NZ's access. Just like Internet
censorship from the department of internal affairs is optional, so will
any media business arrangement with our ISPs. I can choose one that
does it and I can choose one that does not.
2 years, 5 months
