Author: Steven Ovadia

Letter of Recommendation: Bug Fixes

June 27, 2019

I like knowing how things are made. That’s the great lesson of software, to me: With open code and version control, the foundational document and the human process are one. We’re usually told to turn away from the sausage-making. With laws, TV shows, chicken nuggets or corporate mergers, it’s better not to know. Not in software, in which nothing is ever finished. Watching the commits, you can see the story taking shape. Or possibly shape the story yourself.

A very sweet, very accessible take on the beauty of free and open source software. Paul Ford gets into the technical strength, but also the political. It’s wonderful essay.

Letter of Recommendation: Bug Fixes | The New York Times

Even more evidence that Firefox wants to be the anti-Chrome

June 20, 2019

Mozilla is trying to encourage people to sign up for a Firefox account, which will be the conduit through which the company can offer paid, premium services like secure data storage and a virtual private network (VPN), which can protect you from hackers when you’re on a network that isn’t secure.

The Google issues are complex, but a huge part of what makes Google problematic is that a lot of people have so many eggs in the Google basket. Their email. Their passwords. Their files. Google can do what it wants, because people can’t easily exit their ecosystem.

So while I trust Mozilla and appreciate what they’re trying to do, I don’t think the answer is changing baskets. I think the answer is better egg distribution.

Even more evidence that Firefox wants to be the anti-Chrome | Fast Company

Scientific Linux and Antergos are shutting down: It’s time for Linux Mint to go

June 6, 2019

I agree with James Sanders that Cinnamon, the Linux Mint desktop environment, should be more distro-neutral (although, as the article points out, Fedora has a spin), but I see no reason for less choice in distributions. I like and use Mint and Ubuntu. I like that they’re not quite the same. And I really like how Mint does MATE!

Every distribution has a different approach and those subtleties make a big difference to users. More options rarely hurt anything with free and open source projects.

(link via Christine Hall)

Scientific Linux and Antergos are shutting down: It’s time for Linux Mint to go | TechRepublic

A quick recap of the Fedora 30 upgrade

June 4, 2019

Overall, I’m glad the upgrade went smoothly, and while I grumble about Fedora upgrades, they usually work, even though they take a long time.

I haven’t used Fedora in quite some time, but I’m always impressed with how well the upgrades work for people. I tend to repave Ubuntu when it reaches end of support, but maybe that’s old fashioned. Or maybe Fedora has more of the upgrade mentality baked into it.

A quick recap of the Fedora 30 upgrade | Steven Rosenberg

Why Play a Music CD? ‘No Ads, No Privacy Terrors, No Algorithms’

May 23, 2019

To be honest, my preferred way to listen to music is on CD, as unfashionable as that might be. You push a button, the music plays, and then it’s over — no ads, no privacy terrors, no algorithms!

Ben Sisario, of The New York Times, is right. CDs are still shockingly convenient, although I do tend to rip them and then send them off to be recycled. Plus, as long as you have the physical disc or the file, you always have your music.

He also prints out his writing drafts, as do I!

Why Play a Music CD? ‘No Ads, No Privacy Terrors, No Algorithms’ | The New York Times

LAS 2019 Call for Locations

May 16, 2019

The Linux App Summit (LAS) is looking for locations. What’s cool is that it’s being co-hosted by KDE and GNOME.

By co-hosting the conference with KDE, GNOME hopes to create a space for more widespread collaboration and working towards a common goal: expanding the Linux application ecosystem.

Cooperation and competition aren’t mutually exclusive!

LAS 2019 Call for Locations | GNOME

Ubuntu chief surprised by desktop support boom

May 14, 2019

In a discussion at the OpenStack Foundation’s Open Infrastructure Summit recently, Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu Linux and its commercial holding company Canonical, admitted he’d been caught on the hop by the change in demand.

“We have seen companies signing up for Linux desktop support, because they want to have fleets of Ubuntu desktop for their artificial intelligence engineers,” he said in the conversation as reported by ZDNet. It seems therefore that companies are placing literal dollar-value on the continuity of their development processes, to the extent that they need to ensure that Ubuntu keeps running.

It’s great to see the Linux desktop, and not just the kernel, getting some love.

Also, I would have linked to ZDNet, which has the original story, but it has a super-annoying autoplay video. So you’re welcome 🙂 .

Ubuntu chief surprised by desktop support boom | T_HQ