51712361
submission
jrepin writes:
Freedom on the Net 2013 is the fourth report in a series of comprehensive studies of internet freedom around the globe and covers developments in 60 countries that occurred between May 2012 and April 2013. Over 60 researchers, nearly all based in the countries they analyzed, contributed to the project by researching laws and practices relevant to the digital media, testing the accessibility of select websites, and interviewing a wide range of sources, among other research activities. This edition's findings indicate that internet freedom worldwide is in decline, with 34 out of 60 countries assessed in the report experiencing a negative trajectory during the coverage period. Broad surveillance, new laws controlling web content, and growing arrests of social-media users drove this overall decline in internet freedom in the past year. Nonetheless, Freedom on the Net 2013 also found that activists are becoming more effective at raising awareness of emerging threats and, in several cases, have helped forestall new repressive measures.
51517037
submission
jrepin writes:
The government of Portugal wants to increase its use of open source ICT solutions and open ICT standards, aiming to rationalise its IT and reduce costs. A pilot by Portugal's General Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC) shows that a switch can cut IT costs by half (to 169,000 from 329,000 euro per year) and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by 84 %, including an estimate of the cost of licences.
51467675
submission
jrepin writes:
Free and Open Source Software in Taiwan has made impressive strides thanks to the work of the 'ezgo' team. They have put together a pre-configured set of Free and Open Source software that makes it easy for teachers and students to get up and running. The New Taipei City government has decided to replace Windows with GNU/Linux on 10,000 PCs for elementary schools. They are using distribution called ezgo, which is based on Kubuntu distribution of GNU/linux operating system and is using KDE Plasma as the default desktop.
51388057
submission
jrepin writes:
Using an open source desktop lowers the total cost of ownership by 40%, in savings on proprietary software licences and by reducing costs on IT management. Using Ubuntu Linux massively reduces the number of local technical interventions, says Major Stéphane Dumond. "The direct benefits of saving on licences are the tip of the iceberg. An industrialised open source desktop is a powerful lever for IT governance."
51332065
submission
jrepin writes:
It is now 30 years since I launched the campaign for freedom in computing, that is, for software to be free or “libre” (we use that word to emphasize that we’re talking about freedom, not price). Some proprietary programs are very expensive, others are available gratis — either way, they subject their users to someone else’s power. That’s the fundamental issue: while non-free software and SaaSS are controlled by some other entity (typically a corporation or a state), free software is controlled by its users. Why does this control matter? Because freedom means having control over your own life.
51297277
submission
jrepin writes:
Which day could be better suited for publishing a set of Hurd package releases than the GNU project's 30th birthday? These new releases bundle bug fixes and enhancements done since the last releases more than a decade ago; really too many (both years and improvements) to list them individually, The GNU Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. It is a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux).
51194567
submission
jrepin writes:
The KDE libraries are being methodically reworked into a set of cross platform modules that will be readily available to all Qt developers. The KDE Frameworks, designed as drop-in Qt Addons, will enrich Qt as a development environment with functions that simplify, accelerate and reduce the cost of Qt development. For example, KArchive (one of the first Frameworks available) offers support for many popular compression codecs in a self-contained and easy-to-use file archiving library. Just feed it files; there's no need to reinvent an archiving function.
49801913
submission
jrepin writes:
The administration of the Spanish autonomous region of Valencia has completed its switch to LibreOffice, a free and open source suite of office productivity applications. Last week Friday the region's ICT department announced that the office suite is installed on all of the 120,000 desktop PCs of the administration, including schools and courts. The migration will save the government some 1.5 million euro per year on proprietary software licences.
49728653
submission
jrepin writes:
The KDE community is happy to announce the release of 1.1 for Plasma Media Center, an easy and comfortable way to watch your videos, browse your photo collection and listen to your music, all in one place. A major new feature is YouTube integration, other features include imprived playlist, complete keyboard/remote-like keys support, better keyboard navigation for All Music mode, and Places panel integrated into browsing flow.
49606375
submission
jrepin writes:
Music player Amarok 2.8 has been released and it brings a fancy audio analyzer visualization applet, smooth fade-out when pausing music, many UI improvements and visual tweaks including better support for alternate color themes, significantly enhanced MusicBrainz tagger, power management awareness with a pair of new configuration options, and performance optimizations and responsiveness tuning all over Amarok.
49586291
submission
jrepin writes:
A report from IT jobs specialist Dice that forecasts the Linux job market shows demand for Linux skills is on the rise but that finding talent is difficult. The report noted that this is triggering better salaries and bonuses for Linux professionals, as companies look to open-source IT specialists to solve their business challenges and provide growth opportunities. Eighty-one percent of survey respondents say that hiring Linux talent is a priority in 2012. This urgency is driving a substantial increase in recruiting activity, with 47 percent of hiring managers expecting to add more Linux professionals to their firms in early 2012 and 63 percent noting Linux hires are increasing relative to jobs created in other skill areas.
49516345
submission
jrepin writes:
The KDE community has released version 4.11 of Software Compilation, which is dedicated to the memory of Atul 'toolz' Chitnis, a great Free and Open Source Software champion from India. This version of Plasma Workspaces will be supported for at least two years, and delivers further improvements to basic functionality with a smoother taskbar, smarter battery widget and improved sound mixer. The introduction of KScreen brings intelligent multi-monitor handling. KWin window manager incorporates first experimental support for the X11 successor Wayland. This release marks massive improvements in the Kontact PIM suite, giving much better performance and many new features, like scam detection and scheduling e-mail sending. Kate text editor improves the productivity of Python and Javascript developers with new plugins, Dolphin file manager became faster and the educational applications bring various new features. The Nepomuk semantic storage and search engine received substantial performance improvements.
49202117
submission
jrepin writes:
The Calligra team is proud and pleased to announce the release of version 2.7 of the Calligra Suite, Calligra active and the Calligra Office Engine. Words, the word processing application, has a new look for the toolbox. In the same toolbox there are also new controls to manipulate shapes with much enhanced usability. Author, the writer’s application, has new support for EPUB3: mathematical formulas and multimedia contents are now exported to ebooks using the EPUB format. There is also new support for book covers using images. Plan, the project management application, has improvement in the scheduling of tasks. The formula shape now has new ways to enter formula: a matlab/octave mode and a LaTEX mode.
49147531
submission
jrepin writes:
Around a year ago, a school in the southeast of England, Westcliff High School for Girls Academy (WHSG), began switching its student-facing computers to Linux, with KDE providing the desktop software. The school's Network Manager, Malcolm Moore, contacted us at the time. Now, a year on, he got in touch again to let us know how he and the students find life in a world without Windows.
47898977
submission
jrepin writes:
Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman today joins the ranks of notable individuals who have been inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame for their significant contributions to the advancement of the global Internet. The Internet Hall of Fame inducted Stallman for his contributions as creator of the GNU Project, main author of the GNU General Public License, and his philosophical contributions as founder of the free software movement.
