History is written years after the events it describes. But when the history of free software finally is written, I am increasingly convinced that this last year will be noted as the start of the decline of Ubuntu.
At first, the idea might seem ridiculous or spiteful. You can still find Ubuntu enthusiasts who exclaim over every move the distribution makes, and journalists still report founder Mark Shuttleworth's every word uncritically.
More than two years after unknown hackers gained unfettered access over multiple computers used to maintain and distribute the Linux operating system kernel, officials still haven't released a promised autopsy about what happened.
Linus Torvalds, who created the open-source Linux operating system 22 years ago, took the keynote stage at the LinuxCon conference along with fellow kernel developers to talk about the state of Linux kernel development.
Throughout the hourlong session Sept. 18, the panel was peppered with a barrage of questions on a wide variety of topics, with the outspoken Torvalds providing all manner of colorful comments.
Early in the morning at LinuxCon, Linus Torvalds and the other top Linux developers, talked to the Linux faithful about Linux, Microsoft, and other issues.
Torvalds was joined by leading Linux programmers including Red Hat's Ric Wheeler and Tejun Heo; Greg Kroah-Hartman, the master of all things Linux driver related; and Sarah Sharp, Intel Linux kernel developer.
Linus opened by admitting that, "I don't do any work anymore. I manage people. I've turned to the dark side." The crowd forgave him.
Linux users can use LibreOffice, Google Docs, and even Microsoft’s Office Web Apps, but some people still need — or just want — the desktop version of Microsoft Office. Luckily, there are ways to run Microsoft Office on Linux.
This is particularly useful if you’re still on the soon-to-be-unsupported Windows XP and don’t want to pay an upgrade fee to upgrade your computer to Windows 7 or 8. This obviously isn’t supported by Microsoft, but it still works fairly well.
Twenty-two years ago Linux was born as a "(free) operating system" that founder Linus Torvalds was quick to downplay as "just a hobby" that wouldn't "be big and professional." My, but how times have changed. So much so that Linux now dominates mobile (Android), servers and cloud. No wonder that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer derided Linux in 2001 as a "cancer" that "attaches itself... to everything it touches."
He was right. At least, as it relates to Linux's effect on Microsoft.
Of all the possible future of computing devices, one that seems so appealing—superficially, at least—is a single converged gadget that does it all. A pocketable thing that gives you computing and Internet connectivity when you're out and about, but it's equally capable of driving a big-screen monitor, mouse, and keyboard when you're sitting at a desk doing some work, watching streaming media, or playing a game on your TV.
Canonical , Ubuntu's parent company, made a bet. It wagered that there were enough visionaries out there to crowd-source 32-million dollars for the first Linux-powered combination smartphone/PC, the Ubuntu Edge. It seems that the company will lose that wager, but in the long-run, I think Canonical will rise from the gadget gaming table a winner.
If you maintain mission-critical data on your server, you probably want to back them up on a remote site for disaster recovery. For any type of offsite backup, you need to consider encryption in order to avoid any unauthorized access to the backup. In addition, it is important to use incremental backup, as opposed to full backup, to save time, disk storage and bandwidth costs incurred in ongoing backup activities.
Last year, Microsoft announced plans to host Linux in virtual machines -- along with Windows Server VMs -- in Windows Azure. But that's not the end of what Microsoft is doing to try to make its Windows server and cloud the best platform for running Linux workloads.
With the coming Windows Server 2012 "Blue" (Windows Server 2012 R2) release, Microsoft is adding improvements targeted at those running Linux on Hyper-V in Windows Server.
