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Submission + - UK forces Microsoft to adopt Open document standards (itproportal.com)

Submitted by Barsteward
Barsteward writes: Microsoft has confirmed it will start supporting the Open Documents Format (ODF) in the next update to Office 365, following a lengthy battle against the UK government. In 2014, Microsoft went against the government’s request to support ODF, claiming its own XML format was more heavily adopted. The UK government refutes the claim, stating that ODF allows users to not be boxed into one ecosystem.

Submission + - We're Living In The Golden Age Of Star Trek Webseries Right Now

Submitted by DakotaSmith
DakotaSmith writes: "We're Living In The Golden Age Of Star Trek Webseries Right Now"

If you're a true geek, you already know about Star Trek Continues and Star Trek: Phase II .

(If you're a true geek and you don't know, run — do not walk run — to watch "Lolani". Your brain and — and more importantly, your heart — will love you for the rest of your life.)

But there's more to it than that. A lot more.

How about the years'-long wait for Act IV of Starship Exeter : "The Tressaurian Intersection"?

Or Yorktown: "A Time to Heal" — an attempt to resurrect an aborted fan film from 1978 starring George Takei?

For fans of old-school Star Trek (the ones who pre-date "Trekker" and wear "Trekkie" as a badge of honor) only since 1969 has there been a better time to watch Star Trek: The Original Series.

(Oh, and there's plenty content out there for you "Trekkers" and NextGen-era fans. It all varies in quality, but it doesn't take much effort to find them. This is truly a Golden Age. It'll have a place in the history books, alongside the Golden Age of Hollywood and the Golden Age of Television. Recognize it and enjoy it while it lasts.)

Submission + - systemd team forks the Linux kernel (distrowatch.com)

Submitted by Celarent Darii
Celarent Darii writes: The systemd developers have occasionally bumped heads with developers working on other projects, perhaps most notably Linus Torvalds, lead developer of the Linux kernel. Since systemd's init software works to bring the operating system on-line at boot time, systemd needs to work closely with the kernel and this can cause problems. In fact, some conflict and proposed solutions have resulted in at least one systemd developer getting banned from contributing to the Linux kernel.

Now it appears as though the systemd developers have found a solution to kernel compatibility problems and a way to extend their philosophy of placing all key operating system components in one repository. According to Ivan Gotyaovich, one of the developers working on systemd, the project intends to maintain its own fork of the Linux kernel. "There are problems, problems in collaboration, problems with compatibility across versions. Forking the kernel gives us control over these issues, gives us control over almost all key parts of the stack."

Submission + - Systemd Devs Fork Linux Kernel (distrowatch.com) 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Now it appears as though the systemd developers have found a solution to kernel compatibility problems and a way to extend their philosophy of placing all key operating system components in one repository. According to Ivan Gotyaovich, one of the developers working on systemd, the project intends to maintain its own fork of the Linux kernel. "There are problems, problems in collaboration, problems with compatibility across versions. Forking the kernel gives us control over these issues, gives us control over almost all key parts of the stack."

Submission + - India Mandates Use of Open Source Software in Government (trak.in)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: The Indian government announced a policy yesterday that makes it mandatory to use open-source software in building apps and services, in an effort to “ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs.” The new policy [PDF] states that all government organizations must include a requirement for their software suppliers to consider open-source options when implementing e-governance applications and systems. The move will bring the Indian government in line with other countries including the US, UK and Germany that opt for open-source software over proprietary tools.

Submission + - European Commision Will Increase Use of Open Source Software (europa.eu)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: The European Commission has updated its strategy for internal use of Open Source Software. The Commission, which is already using open source for many of its key ICT services and software solutions, will further increase the role of this type of software internally. The renewed strategy puts a special emphasis on procurement, contribution to open source software projects and providing more of the software developed within the Commission as open source.

Submission + - Why Not Utopia? Mark Bittman on basic income and increasing automation (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Paul Fernhout
Paul Fernhout writes: Mark Bittman wrote an op-ed in the New York Times suggesting a basic income as a solution to increasing automation leading to job loss. He concludes: "We have achieved a level of social equality barely imagined by progressives 50 years ago, but economic equality has gotten much worse. No one knows what the world will look like in 50 years, but if we resign ourselves to dystopia — in which capital has full control, as it nearly does now — we'll surely have one. Let's resolve to build something better. In the long run we know that we'll make the transition from capitalism to some less destructive and hopefully more just system. Why not begin that transition now? If there is going to be a global market that will further enrich capitalists, there must be guarantees that the rest of the population can at least afford housing and food. And things can be even better than that: We'll have the robots work for us."

Submission + - Stallman joins Internet, talks net neutrality, patents and more

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: According to Richard Stallman, godfather of the free software movement, Facebook is a “monstrous surveillance engine,” tech companies working for patent reform aren’t going nearly far enough, and parents must lobby their children’s schools to keep data private and provide free software alternatives. The free software guru touched on a host of topics in his keynote Saturday at the LibrePlanet conference, a Free Software Foundation gathering at the Scala Center at MIT.

Submission + - Linux Mint Debian Edition 2 released ( "LDME Betsy" )

Submitted by MouseTheLuckyDog
MouseTheLuckyDog writes: The latest version of Linux Mint Debian Edition 2 released ( "LDME Betsy" ) the web page offering ther MATE version describe Mint as

LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is a very exciting distribution, targeted at experienced users, which provides the same environment as Linux Mint but uses Debian as its package base, instead of Ubuntu. LMDE is less mainstream than Linux Mint, it has a much smaller user base, it is not compatible with PPAs, and it lacks a few features. That makes it a bit harder to use and harder to find help for, so it is not recommended for novice users. LMDE is however slightly faster than Linux Mint and it runs newer packages. Life on the LMDE side can be exciting. There are no point releases in LMDE 2, except for bug fixes and security fixes base packages stay the same, but Mint and desktop components are updated continuously. When ready, newly developed features get directly into LMDE 2, whereas they are staged for inclusion on the next upcoming Linux Mint 17.x point release. Consequently, Linux Mint users only run new features when a new point release comes out and they opt-in to upgrade to it. LMDE 2 users don’t have that choice, but they also don’t have to wait for new packages to mature and they usually get to run them first. It’s more risky, but more exciting.

Downloads available are:

For those wanting different window managers, other can be downloaded and installed from the repositories.

Submission + - OEMs Allowed To Lock Secure Boot In Windows 10 Computers (arstechnica.com) 1

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: Hardware that sports the "Designed for Windows 8" logo requires machines to support UEFI Secure Boot. When the feature is enabled, the core software components used to boot the machine are verified for correct cryptographic signatures, or the system refuses to boot. This is a desirable security feature, because it protects from malware sneaking into the boot process. However, it has an issue for alternative operating systems, because it's likely they won't have a signature that Secure Boot will authorize. No worries, because Microsoft also mandated that every system must have a UEFI configuraton setting to turn the protection off, allowing booting other operating systems. This situation is bound to change now. At its WinHEC hardware conference in Shenzhen, China, Microsoft said that the setting to allow Secure Boot to be turned off will become optional when Windows 10 arrives. Hardware can be "Designed for Windows 10", and offer no way to opt out of the Secure Boot lock down. The choice to provide the setting or not, will be up to the original equipment manufacturer.

Submission + - New Descent on Kickstarter, for Linux! (kickstarter.com)

Submitted by elfindreams
elfindreams writes: Several of the Star Citizen team have separated out and are re-birthing Descent, the original 6doF space shooter. It will be being released as a PC/Mac/Linux game and will include a single player campaign and multiplayer with up to 64 combatants on a map!

They are working with a number of members of the current D1/D2 community to make sure the flight/gameplay feels "old school" and they are updating the technology and game to a new generation.

Head to the kickstarter to get your descent on or read more about it on the ars technica article (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/classic-fps-descent-to-be-rebooted-by-star-citizen-alums/).

Submission + - The Pirate Party now the biggest party in Iceland (visir.is)

Submitted by jrepin
jrepin writes: The Pirate Party now measures as the largest political party in Iceland, according to a new servey from the Icelandic market and research company MMR which regularly surveyes the support for the political parties in Iceland. Support for political parties and the government was surveyed in the period between the 13thand 18th of March. The results show that The Pirate Party has gained increased support. Now, support for The Pirate Party totals 23.9%, compared to their previous 12.8% in the last MMR survey.

Submission + - Apple dismisses screen faults as cosmetic damage

Submitted by Andy Smith
Andy Smith writes: MacBook owners who have experienced large "stains" on their laptop screens are trying to force a change of repair policy from Apple, who have dismissed the damage as cosmetic and want to charge $800 for repairs. So far 480 people have registered with the Staingate web site.

Submission + - SeaLion – Linux server monitoring tool gets a major revamp (sealion.com)

Submitted by stylusbroke
stylusbroke writes: SeaLion was built for users who need to monitor hundreds of categories and servers from a single dashboard. However, some of you have 2-3 categories to monitor, resulting in lot of empty space. The new adaptive layout now magnifies your graphs, utilizing all screen real estate available.

Submission + - The GNU Manifesto Turns Thirty (newyorker.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It was March, 1985 when Richard M. Stallman published the GNU Manifesto in Dr. Dobb’s Journal of Software Tools. Thirty years on, The New Yorker has an article commemorating its creation and looking at how it has shaped software in the meantime. "Though proprietary and open-source software publishers might appear at the moment to have the upper hand, Stallman’s influence with developers (among whom he is known simply by his initials, 'rms') remains immense. When I asked around about him, many people spoke of him as one might of a beloved but eccentric and prickly uncle. They would roll their eyes a bit, then hasten to add, as more than one did, 'But he’s right about most things.' I told Stallman that I’d spoken with several developers who venerate his work, and who had even said that without it the course of their lives might have been altered. But they don’t seem to do what you say, I observed; they all have iPhones. 'I don’t understand that either,' he said. 'If they don’t realize that they need to defend their freedom, soon they won’t have any.'"

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