Linux News for Jul 31, 2009

• Editor's Note: Congratulations One Billion Firefoxes! (Jul 31, 2009, 23:03)
  If it weren't for Firefox what would we have? We would doubtless still have a range of browser choices, but it's hard to imagine that anything else would have risen so fast and so far.


• Dell's Inspiron 15n With Ubuntu: My Thoughts (Jul 31, 2009, 22:33)
  IT News Today: "I decided to get a Dell. Not just any Dell, an Ubuntu Dell. I ended up with an Inspiron 15n, and I thought I would take the time to write up a quick blog about it."


• 10 super-cool Linux hacks you did not know about (Jul 31, 2009, 22:03)
  Dedoimedo: "This article is a compilation of several interesting, unique command-line tricks that should help you squeeze more juice out of your system, improve your situational awareness of what goes on behind the curtains of the desktop, plus some rather unorthodox solutions that will melt the proverbial socks off your kernel."


• Twitter hack, Red Hat, Linux skewered with Pwnie Awards at Black Hat (Jul 31, 2009, 21:33)
  Network World: "Twitter, Linux and Red Hat were among honorees that didn't go unscathed this time around."


• Get back the ctrl-alt-backspace behavior in Ubuntu (Jul 31, 2009, 21:03)
  GHacks: "In the most recent release of Ubuntu (9.04) the developers decided (after a very lengthy discussion) that the old tried-and-true Ctrl-Al-Backspace key combination would no longer kill the X server."


• Does openSUSE need a default desktop? (Jul 31, 2009, 20:33)
  Disassociated Press: "The most popular feature in openFATE (at least of this writing) is a proposal from KDE e.V. member Frank Karlitschek to make KDE the “default” in openSUSE. Michael Loeffler has also blogged about this and put it on the opensuse-project mailing list."


• If You Pay for a Linux Word Processor, Is It Really Worth the Price? (Jul 31, 2009, 20:03)
  Linux.com: "The investment in a commercial word processor for Linux might be worth it to you--or not--depending on your own particular software needs. For those who want to test the waters first, free trial editions are often available."


• One billion Firefoxes (Jul 31, 2009, 19:33)
  Cyber Cynic: "Let me give you an Internet history lesson. Five-years ago, unless you were one of die-hard Netscape Navigator users or a handful of Opera users, your Web browser choices were Internet Explorer or... ah... Internet Explorer."


• AutoZone Trial Set for August 10, 2010 [Hardy Har] - Updated (Jul 31, 2009, 19:03)
  Groklaw: "The trial date for AutoZone has been set for August 10, 2010. But I think we can reasonably expect some summary judgment motions from AutoZone long before then."


• Javascript: The Open Source Solution for Multiple Mobile Platforms? (Jul 31, 2009, 18:33)
  Linux Magazine: "There is a never ending debate about which platform is best: Android, iPhone, Palm, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, or Symbian. But what if the correct answer is … JavaScript? Is this a joke?"


• Why Single Sign On Systems Are Bad (Jul 31, 2009, 18:03)
  Open...: "Wow, here's a really great article about identity management from, um, er, Microsoft. Actually, it's a rather remarkable Microsoft article, since it contains the following sentences:"


• Why Hackers Will Save the World (Jul 31, 2009, 17:33)
  Gran Canaria Desktop Summit: "But that's just the start: inspired by the ideas of free software, and building on its innovations, a wide range of other movements have been founded that aim to introduce freedom, openness and transparency to some of the most important areas of human activity."


• Using Graphs to Manage Networks and Devices with Cacti 0.8 (Jul 31, 2009, 17:03)
  Packt: "It is fairly easy to manage devices through the Cacti web front-end. It provides a fast poller, advance graph templating, and multiple data acquisition methods out of the box, wrapped in an easy to use interface that makes sense to the network administrator."


• More on journalistic integrity: Sys-Con, Ulitzer, theft and libel (Jul 31, 2009, 16:33)
  Javaworld: "In fact, it feels like those summaries were scraped from conferences I've done in the past, and I certainly don't remember ever giving Sys-Con (or any other conference) the right to reprint my presentation as an article."


• Is TomTom Really an Open Source Software Company? (Jul 31, 2009, 16:03)
  Dennis Byron: "Is Tom-Tom (TMOAF.PK) an open source company? Two separate blog posts—one on InfoWorld by respected tech journalist Bill Snyder and one by a self-proclaimed Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) zealot whose blog I'm not familiar with—popped up in my Google alerts on July 26 saying or implying that Tom-Tom is an open source company."


• Enterprise IT Hits Bottom--Open Source Holds an Intervention (Jul 31, 2009, 15:33)
  Linux.com: "Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom before you can get the help you need. IDC acted as an "interventionist" today publishing a new report showing how open source is growing in the down economy."


• Open-source Project Aims to Makes Secure DNS Easier (Jul 31, 2009, 15:33)
  PC World: "A group of developers has released open-source software that gives administrators a hand in making the Internet's addressing system less vulnerable to hackers."


• Go Back to School With Linux: Part One (Jul 31, 2009, 15:03)
  OStatic: "This week, I'm going to take a look at three of the most popular open source software bundles created just for student and classroom use. First up, Ubuntu Education Edition, better known as Edubuntu."


• Intel Linux Graphics On Ubuntu Still Flaky (Jul 31, 2009, 14:33)
  Phoronix: "This new development release of Ubuntu carries the latest kernel, Mesa, and Intel driver packages as we see how the graphics performance is with an Intel 945 and G43 chipsets."


• CentOS team responds to community reaction (CentOS is not going away) (Jul 31, 2009, 14:02)
  TechSentry: "CentOS is not dead or going away. The signers of the Open Letter are fully committed to continue the CentOS Project. Updates and new releases will continue."


• Firefox nears 1 billion downloads (Jul 31, 2009, 13:51)
  Netstat -vat: "Mozilla's Firefox is nearly a major milestone - 1 Billion downloads. That's BILLION with a B."


• Oops, e-mail security vendor McAfee spills 1400 private names (Jul 31, 2009, 13:32)
  Computerworld AU: "In a story just dripping with irony, e-mail security vendor, McAfee, has accidentally sent the contact details of more than 1400 conference attendees in a spreadsheet attached to a thank you message."


• How Wolfram Alpha could change software (They think they own search results) (Jul 31, 2009, 13:02)
  Fatal Exception: "But that's not all that separates Wolfram Alpha from traditional search engines. Try cutting and pasting from the results page. You can't."


• Choosing the right Linux File System Layout using a Top-Bottom Process (Jul 31, 2009, 12:32)
  LinuxConfig: "In this article, I will give some reasons for a better consideration of the file-system and of its layout. I will suggest a top-bottom process for the design of a ``smart'' layout that remains as stable as possible over time for a given computer usage."


• 17 Cool Firefox about:config Tricks (Jul 31, 2009, 12:02)
  Ubuntu Blog: "about:config page contains most of Firefox configuration options as you know.So it is the most powerful and effective way to tweak and enhance your Firefox experience.Here is 17 coolest about:config tricks i gathered from all around web and my experience"


• 10 Cool Unix/Linux Personalized License Plates (Jul 31, 2009, 10:32)
  Tech Source From Bohol: "Some people have taken their love for Unix and Linux on the streets literally by displaying their Unix/Linux-related personalized license plates."


• Fun with NULL pointers, part 2 (Jul 31, 2009, 09:02)
  LWN.net: "But this exploit suggests that there could be a whole class of related problems in the kernel; there is a definite chance that similar vulnerabilities could be discovered - if, indeed, they have not already been found."


• Fun with NULL pointers, part 1 (Jul 31, 2009, 07:32)
  LWN.net: "This vulnerability, which affects the 2.6.30 kernel (and a test version of the RHEL5 "2.6.18" kernel), is interesting in a number of ways. This article will look in detail at how the exploit works and the surprising chain of failures which made it possible."


• Canonical Makes it Easy to Switch to Ubuntu (Jul 31, 2009, 06:02)
  Canonical press release: "Canonical's Desktop Support Services includes three offerings: Starter, Advanced and Professional:"


• Howto migrate to Linux (Jul 31, 2009, 04:32)
  Knol: "Rentalia.com was a small company when I migrated it to Linux. But it had the typical problems that a small or medium company may have when migrating to Linux. This guide tries to help to avoid these problems, and you can learn how we did it at Rentalia.com."


• Nearly Two Dozen X.Org Drivers Get Updated (Jul 31, 2009, 03:02)
  Phoronix: "In time for the X.Org 7.5 release (whenever that may come), David Airlie has put out new driver releases for nineteen of the X.Org video drivers."


• 8 Great Uses for Old Wireless Routers (Jul 31, 2009, 01:32)
  Wi-Fi Planet: "Don't throw away your old 802.11g routers just yet. The new slick-looking 802.11n routers may provide higher speeds and performance, but there are still many ways your old gear can help out..."


• Linux Doomed to Virus Plague. (Again.) (Jul 31, 2009, 00:02)
  Linux Today Blog: "...what will happen as Linux continues to grow, and especially as it reaches increasing numbers of unsophisticated users? Doesn't common sense dictate that it will suffer increasing levels of attack and compromise?"