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The Vivaldi Browser Now Has Mail, Calendar, and An RSS Reader Built-In
by Peter Reutemann 10 Jun '21

10 Jun '21

'The Vivaldi 4.0 release is launching today, and includes a built-in email, calendar, and RSS reader. The Verge reports: The email client supports IMAP and POP accounts, so you can connect the vast majority of email services to it, and you can easily have messages open up in tabs rather than taking over the current window -- handy if you're the type who often needs to bounce between emails. The search is also, in my experience, very quick. The calendar and RSS reader also include most of the features I'd expect, along with a few really cool bonuses. For example, the RSS reader also supports YouTube channels, which could be handy for those who are worried about an algorithm deciding not to show a creator's videos. The other headline feature of this Vivaldi update is built-in translation. The browser will be able to translate entire webpages (automatically, if you want) in 50 languages as of today, but the company says it'll be expanding to support 109 languages soon. While the Mail tools are desktop only, the translation is also available on Vivaldi for Android. Vivaldi has also come up with a solution for those who don't want these features taking up room in their browser: you'll be able to choose between three layouts, which will give you a basic web browser, one with a few power-user features, or the all-in-one experience with email, calendars, and RSS. All the features will still be available, even in the "Essentials" layout, but they won't be taking up space in the interface. ' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/06/09/2153249 Netscape anyone? Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linux X86/x86_64 Will Now Always Reserve the First 1MB of RAM
by Peter Reutemann 10 Jun '21

10 Jun '21

'Phoronix reports: The Linux x86/x86_64 kernel code already had logic in place for reserving portions of the first 1MB of RAM to avoid the BIOS or kernel potentially clobbering that space among other reasons while now Linux 5.13 is doing away with that 'wankery' and will just unconditionally always reserve the first 1MB of RAM. The Linux kernel was already catering to Intel Sandy Bridge graphics accessing memory below the 1MB mark, the first 64K of memory are known to be corrupted by some BIOSes, and similar problems coming up in that low area of memory. But rather than dealing with all that logic and other possible niche cases besides the EGA/VGA frame-buffer and BIOS, the kernel is playing it safe and just always reserving the first 1MB of RAM so it will not get clobbered by the kernel.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/21/06/09/2122210 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Space: (Not) The Final Frontier ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 09 Jun '21

09 Jun '21

You may know that a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin gets its value from a concept known as “proof of work” -- namely that in order to “mine” (create new units of) the currency, you performed a computation with a commonly-accepted minimum complexity (with no known shortcuts). Now there is another kind of cryptocurrency, based on “proof of space”, where the (agreed) value comes from permanently setting aside some amount of storage space. Instead of consuming some increasing percentage of the world’s electricity (and GPU) supply, this one is going to consume some increasing percentage of the world’s hard drive supply. <https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/08/chia_cryptocurrency_creates_euro_hdd…>

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KDE Plasma 5.22 Released
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jun '21

09 Jun '21

'KDE Plasma 5.22 is now available, bringing "hugely improved" Wayland support, better performance for gaming, adaptive panel transparency for the panel and widgets, and more. Phoronix reports: There is now support for variable rate refresh (VRR) / Adaptive-Sync on Wayland, vertical/horizontal maximization now working with KWin Wayland, global menu applet support under Wayland, support for activities, and a lot of other general improvements and fixes so the overall Wayland support is much more polished and nearly at par to the X.Org Server support. The performance for gaming with KDE Plasma on Wayland should also be better with now having direct scan-out support for full-screen windows. Rounding out the graphics fun with this release is also GPU hot-plugging support on Wayland for KWin, such as if using an external GPU or USB display adapter. KDE Plasma 5.22 also delivers on adaptive panel transparency for the panel and widgets, desktop notification improvements, Plasma System Monitor has replaced KSysGuard as the default system monitoring application, and a variety of other improvements. You can view the full changelog for Plasma 5.22 here.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/06/08/1938202 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter Is 18 Years Old
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Jun '21

04 Jun '21

<https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/02/mars_express/> In some industries, you really have to take the long view about your computing infrastructure: Wood recently shared a Twitter thread that began, much to the delight of retro-computing fans, with the recovery of data from two IDE drives from a long-dead PC and (spoiler alert) ended with the 25-year-old emulator for the Star Tracker software firing up on a 486-based machine running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (after more modern Microsoft operating systems rejected it.) ... Alternatively, hardware on Earth could give up the ghost. The mission control systems for Mars Express originally ran on Solaris 8 machines (and some tools ran on Solaris 6.) A migration to Solaris 10 occurred in 2013 although, with a hat-tip to the Unix team working around failing ancient hardware, Wood observed: "We have Solaris 10, running a Solaris 8 zone and that zone is configured in Solaris 6 compatibility mode. (it really is turtles all the way down!)" Virtualization efforts have played their part in reducing the reliance on hard-to-obtain components. Should ESA keep the funding tap turned on and extend the mission past the end of 2022, an upgrade to Solaris 11 servers is also on the cards (a joint activity with other ESA missions XMM and Integral) that should last until the end of Mars Express.

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Google Releases Dependency-Mapping Tool
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Jun '21

04 Jun '21

Report <https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/04/google_open_source_insights/> on a new service from Google where it examines millions of online source-code project repositories, and maps out their dependencies, letting you see information like licensing and security vulnerabilities. Because a vulnerability in a package you depend on could become a vulnerability in your code.

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How Facebook Architects Around Silent Data Corruption
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Jun '21

04 Jun '21

Seems like Facebook’s computation facilities have become so massive that it is starting to see intermittent errors in places you wouldn’t expect <https://www.nextplatform.com/2021/03/01/facebook-architects-around-silent-d…>: Engineers found that many of the cascading errors are the result of CPUs in production but not always due to the “soft errors” of radiation or synthetic fault injection. Rather, they find these can happen randomly on CPUs in repeatable ways. Although ECC is useful, this is focused on problems in SRAM but other elements are susceptible. The Facebook engineering team that reported on these problems finds that CPU silent data corruptions are actually orders of magnitude higher than soft-errors due to a lack of error correction in other blocks. The article mentions examples like a computation of 2×3 sometimes returning an answer other than 6, or a file size intermittently (and incorrectly) being computed as zero, leading to the file data not being copied. Such occurrences may be extremely rare, but when you are doing things on the scale that Facebook does, they start to become all too common. Facebook has published a paper (linked in the report) on their research into the problem. They have worked out some techniques to try to mitigate these issues, but of course they come at a cost.

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The Collective Code Construction Contract
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Jun '21

04 Jun '21

Came across this interesting document <https://rfc.zeromq.org/spec/42/> referenced from another project I was browsing. It is a set of guidelines for how Free Software projects should be managed. Some choice extracts: The project SHALL use the git distributed revision control system. The project SHALL use a share-alike license such as the MPLv2, or a GPLv3 variant thereof (GPL, LGPL, AGPL). All contributions to the project source code (“patches”) SHALL use the same license as the project. All patches are owned by their authors. There SHALL NOT be any copyright assignment process. Some specifics of how to use, and not to use, Git: The project SHALL have one branch (“master”) that always holds the latest in-progress version and SHOULD always build. The project SHALL NOT use topic branches for any reason. Personal forks MAY use topic branches. To make a stable release a Maintainer shall tag the repository. Stable releases SHALL always be released from the repository master. Actually that last one seems a bit questionable. For example, Blender does not structure its repos that way. Each stable release has its own branch, which may continue to accumulate bug fixes for as long as it is under support, while main development of the next version continues on the master branch. Plus there guidelines for handling people-management issues, of course: Administrators SHOULD block or ban “bad actors” who cause stress and pain to others in the project. This should be done after public discussion, with a chance for all parties to speak. A bad actor is someone who repeatedly ignores the rules and culture of the project, who is needlessly argumentative or hostile, or who is offensive, and who is unable to self-correct their behavior when asked to do so by others.

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Google is Making it Harder for Android Apps To Track You Once You've Opted Out
by Peter Reutemann 04 Jun '21

04 Jun '21

'It's going to get harder for Android apps to track users who've opted out of receiving personalized ads, the Financial Times reports, after Google announced changes to how it'll handle the unique device identifiers that allow marketers to track them between apps. From a report: Starting later this year, Google is cutting off access to these "Advertising IDs" after a user opts out, and will show developers a "string of zeros" in its place. The news was announced in an email to Play Store developers, and Google has also updated its support page for Advertising IDs with the announcement. Google told developers the changes will "provide users with more control over their data, and help bolster security and privacy," the Financial Times reports. The change comes a few short months after Apple overhauled how advertising IDs work on iOS in an apparent attempt to compete with the new policy. ' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/21/06/03/140255 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Microsoft’s Package Manager Quality Issue
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Jun '21

03 Jun '21

Microsoft has officially launched “Winget”, aka the Windows Package Manager <https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/02/microsoft_introduces_moderation_for_…>. Unfortunately, it’s run into a bit of a snag: anybody can submit packages to be included in the repo willy-nilly, leading to problems like duplicates, bad links and other misbehaviour. “What is wrong with this picture?” as they say: Look at any of the common Linux distros, and you will see that every package has an official maintainer who will take responsibility for its quality, handling of bug reports, updating from upstream and so on. Nobody can simply submit a package to be included and then forget about it. There is a proper QA system.

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No More CLA For GCC
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Jun '21

03 Jun '21

The Free Software Foundation has long been one of those outfits that has refused to accept (significant) source contributions without the author signing a “Contributor Licence Agreement”. It’s not enough to release the code under the same licence as the project, you must also hand over the entire copyright to them. This is supposedly because they have received legal advice that it makes it easier to defend against copyright infringements if they own all the code. Quite a few other projects don’t agree <https://lwn.net/Articles/592503/>. For example, the Linux kernel project does not demand CLAs, only a “Certificate of Origin” (affirming that you have the right to contribute the code). And now the GNU Compiler Collection is joining them. <https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/02/gcc_fsf_code_copyright/>

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Alibaba's Huge Browser Business Is Harvesting The 'Private' Web Activity Of Millions Of Android And iPhone Users
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jun '21

03 Jun '21

'Security researcher Gabi Cirlig's findings, verified for Forbes by two other independent researchers, reveal that on both Android and iOS versions of UC Browser, every website a user visits, regardless of whether they're in incognito mode or not, is sent to servers owned by UCWeb. From a report: Cirlig said IP addresses -- which could be used to get a user's rough location down to the town or neighborhood of the user -- were also being sent to Alibaba-controlled servers. Those servers were registered in China and carried the .cn Chinese domain name extension, but were hosted in the U.S. An ID number is also assigned to each user, meaning their activity across different websites could effectively be monitored by the Chinese company, though it's not currently clear just what Alibaba and its subsidiary are doing with the data. "This could easily fingerprint users and tie them back to their real personas," Cirlig wrote in a blog post handed to Forbes ahead of publication on Tuesday. Cirlig was able to uncover the problem by reverse engineering some encrypted data he spotted being sent back to Beijing. Once the key had been cracked, he was able to see that every time he visited a website, it was being encrypted and transmitted back to the Alibaba company. On Apple's iOS, he didn't even need to reverse engineer the encryption because there effectively was none on the device (though it was encrypted when in transit). "This kind of tracking is done on purpose without any regard for user privacy," Cirlig told Forbes. When compared to Google's own Chrome browser, for instance, it does not transfer user web browsing habits when in incognito. Cirlig said he'd looked at other major browsers and found none did the same as UC Browser. ' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/21/06/02/185213 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Google Chrome's Top Web App Advocate Resigns
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jun '21

03 Jun '21

'Google is losing one of its strongest champions of the web. Alex Russell, who has led the Fugu project to make web apps as powerful as those running on Google's Android or Apple's iOS software, is leaving the company on Wednesday. From a report: Russell announced his departure on Twitter. He's not quitting in anger or being pushed out. But after 12 years at Google pushing his vision for a more powerful web, "I need some time off," he said in an interview. Russell has been an outspoken advocate for the web, using Chrome's dominant position to help test and introduce new abilities that let programmers build interactive apps on the web, not just relatively static websites. Project Fugu embodies this effort, as does the broader progressive web app, or PWA, movement that lets you install and launch web apps more like those that run natively on smartphones and PCs.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/06/02/1931236 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Huawei's HarmonyOS Arrives With iPad-Inspired Tablet UI, Apparent Android Base
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jun '21

03 Jun '21

'Two years into its ban from the US Government and, in turn, access to the Play Store on its Android-powered devices, Huawei is unveiling HarmonyOS. The platform is an alternative to Android that powers TVs, smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches. 9to5Google reports: Announced at an event today, Huawei is positioning HarmonyOS as an operating system that can handle just about everything, from the smartphone in your pocket to IoT devices such as "power sockets and lamps." The company says the goal of the platform is to have one set of code that can be used across virtually any device, saying that it is not aware of "any other operating system in the world" that can cover such a wide range of devices. Leaning into this ability, Huawei developed a "Control Panel," which gives users the ability to connect multiple devices together, with the example of using the "music widget" to throw audio playback to nearby speakers or TVs. A "Super Device" widget shows icons for other nearby devices and enables a quick and easy pairing mode. On smartphones, the HarmonyOS homescreen can use a swipe-up gesture on apps developed for the platform to see a widget pulling information from that app. Those widgets, apparently, can also be used across devices because of the shared codebase Huawei says HarmonyOS offers. The homescreen can also intelligently add apps to a folder based on the category. Interestingly, Huawei says HarmonyOS devices will also be able to move running apps from one device to another, which is really neat and unique. Moving apps between devices apparently also works between watches and TVs, with a workout app being used on both simultaneously given as an example. A video calling app was also shown moving between devices. Huawei says that performance of HarmonyOS is "superior" to Android with EMUI, specifically calling out long-term use. While there are certainly new elements in HarmonyOS, it appears to be a "fork" of Android. The Verge spent time with the HarmonyOS-powered MatePad Pro and described the act of installing Android APKs as "though I was using an Android device." Visually, there are also a tremendous number of similarities between HarmonyOS and Android, though there are some distinct elements of Apple's iPad OS in the platform's tablet-optimized homescreen, seen below as Evan Blass posted to Twitter. Android Authority further described HarmonyOS as "ultimately a spin on Android 10" with a "slight rebrand." TechRadar said the software was "clearly" based on Android. These findings from the media appear to back up a previous report from ArsTechnica, which showed the developer preview as basically a clone of EMUI-skinned Android. ' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/06/02/2114259 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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China Cracking Down On Cryptomining
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 02 Jun '21

02 Jun '21

This article <https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/24/china-crackdown-forces-crypto-m…> reports on how many large cryptomining operators are moving out of China in the wake of the Government’s actions against them. But the main reason I’m posting this link is because of that picture. That’s what it looks like inside a cryptomining farm. Look at those power cables, like ships’ hawsers. It’s even more impressive at full resolution.

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Multinational Meat Producer JBS Hit By Ransomware Attack
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 02 Jun '21

02 Jun '21

The world’s largest meat-producing company, Brazil-based JBS SA, has been hit by a ransomware attack that has forced the closure of its US installations <https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/6/1/slaughterhouse-closures-spread-a…>. That means 20% of beef supply in the US has been cut. There are also reports of outages in its Australian and Canadian operations, so there is very likely more bad news to come. On the bright side, the company says its backup servers are fine, and it is in the process of restoring from them.

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The State Of NZ Online Media
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 02 Jun '21

02 Jun '21

Just saw this report <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/mediaworks-sale-revealed-how-much-disco…> that Discovery paid about $20 million for MediaWorks (TV channels Three, Bravo, Edge, Breeze and their “+1” repeaters, streaming service ThreeNow and Newshub). Contrast this against the $700-million valuation of MediaWorks back in 2007. There was an assumption it would be worth much less; “Much of this was ostensibly driven by the $1 sale of the Stuff news business”. Speaking of Stuff, seems Fairfax didn’t do well after acquiring it <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/stuff-the-laggard-among-fairfax-busines…>. I remember the head of the NZ Open-Source Society saying in a radio interview that it actually used to be a profitable business, but after the acquisition, Fairfax ripped out the open-source software it was built on and replaced it with some proprietary and expensive Adobe platform.

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Quic Gives the Internet's Data Transmission Foundation a Needed Speedup
by Peter Reutemann 01 Jun '21

01 Jun '21

'One of the internet's foundations just got an upgrade. From a report: Quic, a protocol for transmitting data between computers, improves speed and security on the internet and can replace Transmission Control Protocol, or TCP, a standard that dates back to Ye Olde Internet of 1974. Last week, the Internet Engineering Task Force, which sets many standards for the global network, published Quic as a standard. Web browsers and online services have been testing the technology for years, but the IETF's imprimatur is a sign the standard is mature enough to embrace fully. It's extremely hard to improve the internet at the fundamental level of data transmission. Countless devices, programs and services are built to use the earlier infrastructure, which has lasted decades. Quic has been in public development for nearly eight years since Google first announced Quic in 2013 as an experimental addition to its Chrome browser. But upgrades to the internet's foundations are crucial to keep the world-spanning communication and commerce backbone humming. That's why engineers spend so much effort on titanic transitions like Quic, HTTPS for secure website communications, post-quantum cryptography to protect data from future quantum computers, and IPv6 for accommodating vastly more devices on the internet.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/05/31/168221 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Amazon Devices Will Soon Automatically Share Your Internet With Neighbors
by Peter Reutemann 01 Jun '21

01 Jun '21

'If you use Alexa, Echo, or any other Amazon device, you have just over a week to opt out of an experiment that leaves your personal privacy and security hanging in the balance. From a report: On June 8, the merchant, Web host, and entertainment behemoth will automatically enroll the devices in Amazon Sidewalk. The new wireless mesh service will share a small slice of your Internet bandwidth with nearby neighbors who don't have connectivity and help you to their bandwidth when you don't have a connection. By default, Amazon devices including Alexa, Echo, Ring, security cams, outdoor lights, motion sensors, and Tile trackers will enroll in the system. And since only a tiny fraction of people take the time to change default settings, that means millions of people will be co-opted into the program whether they know anything about it or not. The Amazon webpage linked above says Sidewalk "is currently only available in the US." [...] Amazon has published a white paper detailing the technical underpinnings and service terms that it says will protect the privacy and security of this bold undertaking. To be fair, the paper is fairly comprehensive, and so far no one has pointed out specific flaws that undermine the encryption or other safeguards being put in place. But there are enough theoretical risks to give users pause.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/21/05/31/2024259 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Remote Desktop with Linux: 5 Apps Which You Can Use
by Peter Reutemann 01 Jun '21

01 Jun '21

'With more people working from home than ever before, having the right remote desktop access software has become very important. Maybe you’re helping a family member or colleague with an IT issue, or perhaps you’re working from home. Accessing any system remotely is the need of the day. Generally, a remote desktop connection is defined as any software allowing you to remotely access a device from a geographical distance. In addition to desktop sharing, many tools can now conduct file transfers and offer highly secure remote access. The main purpose of this article is to help Linux users to find out the remote desktop app for usage with the Linux distro which they are using.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/remote-desktop-with-linux/ NB: Not all are open-source software. But Apache Guacamole looks promising - anyone used it? Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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The Quest For Faster Python
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 31 May '21

31 May '21

This report <https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/06/the_quest_for_faster_python/> on Facebook’s new “Cinder” project for speeding up Python code also mentions some other existing alternatives for doing the same. Python is commonly considered slow, yet note this one interesting comparison that was done with JavaScript: In May 2020 AI specialists DLabs tested JavaScript versus Python performance for machine learning. For JavaScript Node 12.16.1 was used, and for Python 3.7.6. The results seem surprising: although JavaScript benefits from an excellent JIT in Node (which uses the V8 engine as used by Google Chrome), Python easily outperformed it. "The learnings from the tests I ran are stark. JavaScript couldn’t get close to Python’s tasks — across the board. JavaScript’s computational performance is still much better than Python’s. However, the maturity of the libraries — which often have underlying modules written in C — means that operations on large datasets can offer so much more than sheer computational power," said developer Krzysztof Miśtal. Which is what Guido van Rossum has long advised: write performance-critical parts as extension modules in C.

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One Startup's Quest to Take on Chrome and Reinvent the Web Browser
by Peter Reutemann 31 May '21

31 May '21

'"The web browser is a crucial part of modern life, and yet it hasn't really been revised since the '90s," writes Protocol. "That may be about to change." The browser tab is an underrated thing. Most people think of them only when there are too many, when their computer once again buckles under Chrome's weight. Even the developers who build the tabs — the engineers and designers working on Chrome, Firefox, Brave and the rest — haven't done much to them. The internet has evolved in massive, earth-shaking ways over the last two decades, but tabs haven't really changed since they became a browser feature in the mid '90s. Josh Miller, however, has big plans for browser tabs. Miller is the CEO of a new startup called The Browser Company, and he wants to change the way people think about browsers altogether. He sees browsers as operating systems, and likes to wonder aloud what "iOS for the web" might look like. What if your browser could build you a personalized news feed because it knows the sites you go to? What if every web app felt like a native app, and the browser itself was just the app launcher? What if you could drag a file from one tab to another, and it just worked? What if the web browser was a shareable, synced, multiplayer experience? It would be nothing like the simple, passive windows to the web that browsers are now. Which is exactly the goal. The Browser Company (which everyone on the team just calls Browser) is one of a number of startups that are rethinking every part of the browser stack. Mighty has built a version of Chrome that runs on powerful server hardware and streams the browser itself over the web. Brave is building support for decentralized protocols like IPFS, and experimenting with using cryptocurrencies as a new business model for publishers. Synth is building a new bookmarks system that acts more like a web-wide inbox. Sidekick offers a vertical app launcher and makes tabs easier to organize. "A change is coming," said Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker. "The question is just the time frame, and what's actually required to make it happen." They have lots of different ideas, but they share a belief that the browser can, and should, be more than it is. "We don't need a new web browser," Miller said. "We need a new successor to the web browser." While he was at the White House, Chief Digital Officer (and Miller's boss) Jason Goldman said something Miller couldn't forget. "Platforms have all the leverage," is how Miller remembers it. "And if you care about the future of the internet, or the way we use our computers, or want to improve any of the things that are broken about technology ... you can't really just build an application. Platforms, whether it's iOS or Windows or Android or Mac OS, that's where all the control is." ' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/05/30/2140208 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Millions Can Now Run Linux GUI Apps in Windows 10
by Peter Reutemann 31 May '21

31 May '21

'"You can now use GUI app support on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)," Microsoft announced this week, "so that all the tools and workflows of Linux run on your developer machine." Bleeping Computer has already tested it running Gnome's file manager Nautilus, the open-source application monitor/task manager Stacer, the backup software Timeshift, and even the game Hedgewars. Though it's currently available only to the millions who've registered for Windows 10 "Insider Preview" builds, it's already drawing positive reviews. "With the Windows Subsystem for Linux, developers no longer need to dual-boot a Windows and Linux system," argues the Windows Central site, "as you can now install all the Linux stuff a developer would need right on top of Windows instead." Finally formally announced at this week's annual Microsoft Build conference, the new functionality runs graphical Linux apps "seamlessly," according to Tech Radar, calling the feature "highly anticipated." Arguably, one of the biggest, and surely the most exciting update to the Windows 10 WSL, Microsoft has been working on WSLg for quite a while and in fact first demoed it at last year's conference, before releasing the preview in April... Microsoft recommends running WSLg after enabling support for virtual GPU (vGPU) for WSL, in order to take advantage of 3D acceleration within the Linux apps.... WSLg also supports audio and microphone devices, which means the graphical Linux apps will also be able to record and play audio. Keeping in line with its developer slant, Microsoft also announced that since WSLg can now help Linux apps leverage the graphics hardware on the Windows machine, the subsystem can be used to efficiently run Linux AI and ML workloads... If WSLg developers are to be believed, the update is expected to be generally available alongside the upcoming release of Windows. Bleeping Computer explains that WSLg launches a "companion system distro" with Wayland, X, and Pulse Audio servers, calling its bundling with Windows 10 "an exciting development as it blurs the lines between Linux and Windows 10, and fans get the benefits of both worlds."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/21/05/29/1755229 My personal comment: What's the benefit of Win10? Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Free Software Foundation's Executive Director Resigns
by Peter Reutemann 31 May '21

31 May '21

'John Sullivan became the Free Software Foundation's Executive Director back in 2003 (at the age of 26). But now after 18 years, "I've decided to resign my position..." he tweeted Friday, "effective at the end of a transition period." "We'll be sharing further details, including information about that transition, and a few more words, in the coming days." Meanwhile, the Free Software Foundation announced Thursday that it's seeking "a principled, compassionate, and capable leader" to be its new executive director, working remotely out of their Boston office with the Foundation's current staff and board of directors. "The executive director, working with the president, is the public face of the Foundation." The FSF faces many challenges as software becomes increasingly central in the exercise of all fundamental human freedoms, including speech, association, privacy, and movement, and as software owners seek to exploit their control over us to profit at the expense of those freedoms. The executive director has a vital role in enabling the FSF to continue meeting these challenges, starting from the strong base that has been built in the last thirty-five years. The Foundation has recently reached record-high membership numbers and was awarded a perfect score from Charity Navigator, as well as its eighth consecutive four-star rating. Efforts to improve the Foundation's governance are underway. The executive director is the FSF's chief employed officer. The position reports to the president/CEO and the board of directors, and is responsible for management of all other staff, all day-to-day operations, and oversight of the Boston physical office. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to hire for additional key positions in the management team. One interesting item on their list of job responsibilities: Mentor, inspire, coordinate, and manage all FSF staff, building a culture that upholds the FSF's ideological principles and includes accountability, empathy, efficiency, and excellence A blog post on the FSF site also notes that the last month saw 11 new GNU releases. "A number of GNU packages, as well as the GNU operating system as a whole, are looking for maintainers and other assistance: please see https://www.gnu.org/server/takeaction.html#unmaint if you'd like to help."' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/21/05/29/0144223 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Freenode Apologizes as Prominent Open Source Projects Switch to Libera Chat
by Peter Reutemann 31 May '21

31 May '21

'Ubuntu has announced that, with immediate effect Ubuntu's IRC channels are moving to libera.chat. The move follows a "hostile takeover" of Ubuntu's namespace by Freenode's new management that appears to be happening to many other distributions including Gentoo as well as other projects that have used Freenode [including channels associated with the programming languages Raku, Elixir, and Haskell]. For Ubuntu, and many other FOSS projects, Freenode has long been one of the major official forms of communication... With IRC channels often used for important system advice, and project communication, this becomes not just an inconvenience but even a security problem. For this reason Ubuntu's replacement network, libera.chat has a more clearly open organisational structure than Freenode had before being taken over. "All told, it appears something like 700 irc.freenode.net channels have been seized and re-permissioned," reports The Register, "supposedly because the channels mentioned Libera Chat in violation of Freenode's advertising policy." Wednesday Freenode owner Andrew Lee posted a blog post explaining that "in retrospect, we should have handled the action of closing down channels slightly differently..." "The intent of doing this was not an attempt of a hostile takeover nor hijack like many people are saying. Since certain projects were disrupting their users' ability to chat on freenode via mass kicks, force closures, spam, we decided to enact this policy in those places which were deemed in violation and could cause an issue later... "We believe we should have done this in a much more communicative way to circulate the right message and keep things transparent which of course did not happen. As we move forward I'd like to fully assure you that we will be working in complete commitment to restore projects, namespaces and channels that were closed on accident as a part of this event and we welcome them to use freenode as before as their very own homebase. "Lastly, there are no excuses for this, and I'm willing to admit that I was wrong with Tuesday's move and apologize for the inconvenience that may have caused."' -- source: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/21/05/29/0224246 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 577-5304 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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