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LXer Feature: 29-Jul-2012
The latest installment of the LXer Weekly Roundup for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!
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Dear Microsoft, Thanks For The 0xB16B00B5: In a not-so-surprising turn of events, Microsoft has fessed up to the now infamous ’0xB16B00B5? (Big Boobs) string of hex that was supplanted into the Linux kernel.
Linux will play games as well as they perform under Windows: All it began at July 16, 2012, when the American video game company called Valve made this glorified statement: Steam’d Penguins. For those who don’t know who Valve is, they are the company who brought Half-Life, probably one of the best First-Person-Shooting games ever. Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Day of Defeat, Left 4 Dead and DOTA 2 are some samples of their kick-ass titles. Even the most powerful tool for gamers, the Steam, is a another Valve’s work. So, what’s this excitement all about?
The 'Walled Garden' Approach Won't Work For Microsoft: This doesn’t bode well for Nokia, which has gambled it’s future on Windows, or Microsoft. Both companies would like us to believe the move was brought about by Redmond’s recent announcement there will be no upgrade path from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 8 when it’s released in a few months time. The truth seems to be that consumers simply aren’t interested in portable Windows devices, despite the gee-whiz advertising that’s been showing up on network TV recently.
Fedora 18 To Include UEFI Secure Boot By Default: In a FESCo meeting held on 23rd July, Fedora's Engineering And Steering Committee members have decided to include UEFI Secure Boot in Fedora 18. Codenamed Spherical Cow, this release is scheduled to be out this November. Only two votes out of nine were against inclusion of secure boot.
Seven Expectations of Linux Users: Claiming that Linux users are different reminds me of F. Scott Fitzgerald's comment that "the rich are different from you and I" and Ernest Hemingway's alleged reply, "Yes, they have more money." After all, computer users are computer users. A few geeks may argue over the differences in operating systems, but aren't average users more interested in simply getting work done?
Searching for Search in KDE: Many tell me that the default search tool, Kfind; is just spiffy. No it's not. Putting in the search string "music" and setting it up to search my home folder should have a least triggered a response for the music folder within Home. It didn't. It told me there was nothing referring to "music" in my home folder. Uh, yes there is. Kfind insisted that there wasn't. We are still at odds over this. But more so, I need a good search client for my desktop. Kfind is Kfired.
Meet Linux Viruses: There exists a conventional wisdom that Linux viruses are non-existent entities. For most Linux users this might be surprising that Linux viruses do exist! Though not in wild, and they are so less in number (when compared to counterpart OSs) that they can be counted on fingers! The post introduces to some popular Linux viruses detected to date on Linux systems to enlighten you with realistic facts so that you can even improve your security!
TLWIR Special: Three Signs That GNU/Linux Has Arrived: Three recent news items provided evidence that the age of GNU/Linux on the desktop is arriving. The years of GNU/Linux languishing on the pc desktop are finally drawing to a close. Whether you are looking forward to its release or not, no one can deny that Windows 8 will be a radical departure from the Windows of the past. I have had at least 1 Windows computer in my house from 1996 to today, but Windows 8’s arrival marks the first time that I am actually not considering upgrading. The reason? Two words: Ribbon Interface.
Valve's Newell: Windows 8 "catastrophe" driving Valve to embrace Linux: Valve head—and one-time Microsoft employee—Gabe Newell has branded Windows 8 "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space" at videogame conference Casual Connect in Seattle. The Valve boss continued, saying that in the fallout from Windows 8, "we'll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people."
Nokia is dismissing Meltemi, a Linux-based platform for feature phones: Meltemi, a Linux-based platform for feature phones, was planned to replace Series 40, the platform that has been around since 1999. Series 40, which runs on some of the top feature phones in the world, has brought a lot of success to Nokia. However, the software was getting old, and Nokia reportedly felt that Series 40 needs to be replaced by something new and Meltemi was that something new.
Gabe Newell: Windows 8 is a 'catastrophe' for PC biz: First it was Gartner, now Gabe Newell, the former Microsoft executive and billionaire computer games baron behind Half-Life, has laid into Windows 8. Newell, who oversaw the first three versions of Windows under Bill Gates among other roles during his 13 years at the software giant, has reportedly called Windows 8 a “catastrophe for everyone in the PC space”.
What’s new with Ubuntu?: Ubuntu 12.10, known as Quantal Questzal, will be releasing on 18 October 2012, but what can we expect from the forthcoming version?
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