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Submission + - Linus Torvalds on insults: Respect should be earned (themukt.com) 1

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: During DebConf 2014 an attendee asked Linus about his ‘insults’ mentioning one of the episodes involving Kay Sievers of systemd where Linus said, “Who the f*ck does idiotic things like that? How did they noty die as babies, considering that they were likely too stupid to find a tit to suck on?” Unlike commercial companies where a boss can fire an employee for messing things up, Linus doesn’t have that luxury. It’s an open source project; he can’t fire people. One of the ways Linus can express his frustration when some top developer breaks something is through harsh words on mailing lists, which he says is kind of hyperbole and joke. Linus also said that he is abrasive and he likes arguements.

The attendee then said he was not talking about Linus being abrasive but about respecting orthers.

There was a loud applause. Linus said, “I don’t respect people unless I think they deserve the respect. There are people who think that respect is something that should be given, and I happen to be one of the people who is perfectly happy saying no respect should be earned. And without being earned, you don’t get it. It’s really that simple.”

Submission + - Smartphone Kill Switch A Consumer Safe Haven Or Just More Government 'Tyranny'? (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: We're often told that having a kill switch in our mobile devices — mostly our smartphones — is a good thing. At a basic level, that's hard to disagree with. If every mobile device had a built-in kill switch, theft would go down — who would waste their time over a device that probably won't work for very long? Here's where the problem lays: It's law enforcement that's pushing so hard for these kill switches. We first learned about this last summer, and this past May, California passed a law that requires smartphone vendors to implement the feature. In practice, if a smartphone has been stolen, or has been somehow compromised, its user or manufacturer would be able to remotely kill off its usability, something that would be reversed once the phone gets back into its rightful owner's hands. However, such functionality should be limited to the device's owner, and no one else. If the owner can disable a phone with nothing but access to a computer or another mobile device, so can Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia or Apple. If the designers of a phone's operating system can brick a phone, guess who else can do the same? Everybody from the NSA to your friendly neighborhood police force, that's who. At most, all they'll need is a convincing argument that they're acting in the interest of 'public safety.'

Submission + - Linus Torvalds Want to Dominate the Desktop (eweek.com)

Submitted by darthcamaro
darthcamaro writes: Linux is everywhere or is it? At the LinuxCon conference in Chicago today Linus Torvalds was asked where Linux should go next. Torvalds didn't hesitate with his reply.

"I still want the desktop," Torvalds said as the audience erupted into boisterous applause.

Torvalds doesn't see the desktop as being a kernel problem at this point either, but rather one about infrastructure. While not ready to declare a 'Year of the Linux Desktop' he does expect that to happen — one day.

Submission + - LiMux user says criticisms of Munich's Linux OS 'simply irrelevant' (cio.co.uk)

Submitted by Qedward
Qedward writes: The new mayor and deputy mayor of Munich don't like its custom-built Linux distribution, citing user complaints. However, the old mayor reported in 2012 monthly complaints dropped from 70 to a maximum of 46 as the LiMux OS was rolled out from 1,500 to 10,000 people — so should we believe the new officials (who may or may not be card-carrying Microsoft supporters)?

One LiMux user posted their views on the Suddeutsche Zeituing, saying the "much of the criticism of the system is simply irrelevant".

They said: "System faults under Windows were quite common before 2004. From my perspective, you have achieved success here — why chuck that in the bin?"
Open Source

Qt Upgrades From LGPLv2.1 to LGPLv3 117

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the who-doesn't-like-freedom-zero dept.
Digia has announced that existing Qt modules will now be covered under the LGPLv3 in addition to the LGPLv2.1, GPLv3, and the enterprise (proprietary) license. New modules will be dropping LGPLv2.1 and GPLv3+ and be released under the LGPLv3 and GPLv2+ instead. This should be a good move: new Qt modules will be Apache license compatible, LGPLv3 code can trivially be converted to GPLv3, and Digia is even releasing a few modules it intended to make proprietary as Free Software. The KDE Free Qt Foundation is on board. The move was made because of device vendors exploiting a loophole in the GPLv2/LGPLv2.1 that denied users the right to modify Qt or write their own applications. Digia has some self-interest as well, since those vendors were exploiting the tivoization loophole to avoid buying enterprise licenses. From the announcement: We also consider locked-down consumer devices using the LGPL’ed version of Qt to be harmful for the Qt ecosystem. ... Because of this, we are now adding LGPL v3 as a licensing option to Qt 5.4 in addition to LGPL v2.1. All modules that are part of Qt 5.3 are currently released under LGPL v2.1, GPL v3 and the commercial license. Starting with Qt 5.4, they will be released under LGPL v2.1, LGPL v3 and the commercial license. ... In Qt 5.4, the new Qt WebEngine module will be released under LGPL v3 in the open source version and under a LGPLv2.1/commercial combination for Qt Enterprise customers. ...

Adding LGPLv3 will also allow us to release a few other add-ons that Digia before intended to make available solely under the enterprise license. ... The first module, called Qt Canvas3D, will give us full WebGL support inside Qt Quick. ... The second module is a lightweight WebView module ... There is a final add-on that will get released under LGPL v3. This module will give native look and feel to the Qt Quick Controls on Android. This module can’t be released under LGPL v2.1, as it has to use code that is licensed under Apache 2.0, a license that is incompatible with LGPL v2.1, but compatible with LGPL v3.

Submission + - Munich's Future Groupware Kolab Released New Version (kolab.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Linux project in Munich has been under fire recently. One criticism was the lack of proper Groupware that enabled BYOD. But few people know that the city already contracted the Open Source groupware Kolab to be deployed.

Today, an awesome new version of Kolab with dozens of features was released. This brings this Open Source groupware to the same level of the proprietary competitors, if not beyond.

Submission + - Kolab.org 3.3 Release Adds Tags, Notes and Dozens of Other New Features (kolab.org)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: Version 3.3 of Kolab.org, a free and open source groupware solution, has been released. It is now possible to add tags to email messages, work with notes right in the webclient, and manage your resources more easily. Kolab.org 3.3 introduces a new folder navigation view that allows you to search and subscribe to shared calendars, address books, task lists etc. directly from within the respective view. The calendar got a quickview mode which allows you to open an undistorted view on a single calendar. The user interface can now be fully operated with the keyboard and has support for screen readers as well as voice output as suggested by the WCAG 2.0 Guidelines and WAI ARIA standards.

Submission + - RISC Creator is Pushing Open Source Chips (gigaom.com)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: Computer scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are joining the fight for open source chips with an instruction set architecture called RISC-V. They view it as a true open source project that can empower smaller companies and even researchers to innovate on chip design.

Submission + - Operating systems still matter in a containerized world

Submitted by Jason Baker
Jason Baker writes: With the rise of Docker containers as an alternative for deploying complex server-based applications, one might wonder, does the operating system even matter anymore? Certainly the question gets asked periodically. Gordon Haff makes the argument on Opensource.com that the operating system is still very much alive and kicking, and that a hardened, tuned, reliable operating system is just as important to the success of applications as it was in the pre-container data center.

Submission + - C++14 Is Set In Stone

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: Apart from minor editorial tweaks, the ISO C++14 standard can be considered completed. Implementations are already shipping by major suppliers. C++14 is mostly an incremental update over C++11 with some new features like function return type deduction, variable templates, binary literals, generic lambdas, and so on. The official C++14 specification release will arrive later in the year, but for now Wikipedia serves as a good overview of the feature set.

Submission + - TEDxGeneva2014: Freedom in the Digital Age (tedxgeneva.net)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: The stories of Echelon, Wikileaks, Snowden and the NSA scandal lead the information society to question the notions of information privacy, transparency, common sense, and the use of personal data for commercial purposes. To be “free”, is it simply the freedom to enjoy without restraint? Freedom of speech? Freedom of opinion or free will? Freedom to use gratis everything we find on the Net? How to distinguish freedom with free access? And what is it about in our daily lives? As we know that every single click is recorded, analyzed What are the real choices we have in the digital age? These are many issues that were highlighted by our speakers, who, each in their own way, replied to these questions and shared their opinions with us.

Submission + - Linux Kernel Git Repositories Add 2-Factor Authentication (linux.com)

Submitted by LibbyMC
LibbyMC writes: For a few years now Linux kernel developers have followed a fairly strict authentication policy for those who commit directly to the git repositories housing the Linux kernel. Each is issued their own ssh private key, which then becomes the sole way for them to push code changes to the git repositories hosted at kernel.org. While using ssh keys is much more secure than just passwords, there are still a number of ways for ssh private keys to fall into malicious hands. So they've further tightened access requirements with two-factor authentication using yubikeys.

Submission + - Wikileaks releases Australian gag order on corruption charges (wikileaks.org)

Submitted by solanum
solanum writes: I recently put up a story on my blog noting that Wikileaks had released the contents of a gag order, here in Australia, covering reporting of investigations into corruption in the note-printing arm of the Reserve Bank of Australia. This goes back to a story a few years ago about RBA officials covering up bribes for note printing contracts overseas. Then I read an article stating that Australians are being threatened with charges for even linking to Wikileaks, despite the website no longer being banned in Australia, and I took it down (my blog is on an Australian server). The gag order is not to prevent the investigation being derailed, which I could just about understand, it is to prevent the names of foreign leaders being published in relation to these charges as some are major trading partners of Australia. Ironically, it has been reported by press in some of those countries that the Australian government was seeking to protect from embarrassment! Is this right? I don't think so.

Submission + - China Bans iPad, MacBook Pro, And Other Apple Products For Government Use (hothardware.com) 1

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: China seems to be on a mission to isolate itself from the world, at least in terms of technology. After banning Windows 8 on government PCs and raiding several of Microsoft's offices in China as part of an anti-trust investigation, Chinese officials have now prohibited to purchase of several Apple products for government use. The list of banned Apple products include the iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and half a dozen other items, all of which were left off of a final government procurement list distributed in July. This is a potentially big hit to Apple, which generated around 16 percent of its $37.4 billion in revenue last quarter from China. Apple saw its iPad sales jump 51 percent and Mac sales boosted 39 percent in China.

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