03.Red 04.Hat Introduces New Linux OS for Containers

The world’s largest open source software provider just brought a new operating system on the market. On Thursday, Red Hat, known for its enterprise distributions of the Linux operating system, launched its Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host OS. The new OS is specifically designed to run the latest generation of applications as Linux containers.

Linux containers are virtualization environments that allow organizations to run multiple isolated Linux systems on a single Linux control host. Containers introduce autonomy for applications by packaging apps with the libraries and other binaries on which they depend.

Container-based architectures can provide more development and deployment flexibility, while simplifying maintenance requirements and maintaining the same level of performance, stability andsecurity  as non-virtualized systems.

Enterprise-Grade Linux Containers

The new operating system will provide enterprises with the tools they need to build and run their own Linux containers, according to Red Hat. In addition, the company said its latest OS is built specifically with the needs of enterprise IT departments in mind, with enterprise-grade security, ongoing product upgrades, proactive diagnostics, and access to support.

“Red Hat is committed to offering enterprises a complete and integrated container-based infrastructure solution, combining container-based application packaging with robust, optimized infrastructure that will enable easy movement of Red Hat Enterprise Linux-certified applications across bare metal systems, virtual machines and private and public clouds -- all of this with the product and security lifecycle that enterprise customers require,” Red Hat said.

Source:

http://www.toptechnews.com/article/index.php?story_id=011000CDYZ3E

04.Help: Linux to the rescue of older operating systems

  Let’s take care of a bit of old business first.
  As you know, when someone offers free stuff, we give it a few weeks in order to give each group, organization or individual in need a chance to respond. That’s what we’ll do with Mary Greenfield’s generous offer to donate free fabric, so give it another week and then we’ll forward responses to her.

  One of the most rewarding aspects of writing this column is realizing that it generates discussion, and here’s a response to that question about updates for an older computer running Windows ME:

  Dear Help! I have been around computers since the 1970s. I am a MSDOS programmer.
Microsoft no longer runs updates for ME, 2000 (or other, earlier operating systems); the updates are most likely viruses.
 If you want to run ME or XP or older Microsoft programs then this is the best way to do it: Linux Cinnamon with WINE (free compatibility software, short for “WINE IS Not An Emulator”) will run all of them; (install) Linux first, then WINE.

  The latest version of Linux Mint (a 32- and 64-bit operating system) may be found at www.linuxmint.com. To download WINE, go to www.winehq.org.
People updating the current obsolete programs should remember this: The newer computers will run the older programs, but the older computers may not will work on most newer software.
  Mainly, you will find that videos and movies are slower on older computers due to fact that the film industry now uses faster solid software, not film.
  Robert Rex Edwards
 
  Titusville





Source:
http://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/help/2015/03/06/help-linux-rescue-older-operating-systems/24373345/

02.How to run Linux and Chrome OS on your Chromebook

When all is said and done you'll have the pleasure of running Linux, Ubuntu 14.04.1 with the Xfce desktop in this case, with Chrome OS simultaneously. Credit: ITworld/Steven. J. Vaughan-Nichols
Love your Chromebook, but want to run Linux programs too? Now you can

Chromebooks are pretty darn handy. Even some hardcoreWindows users now acknowledge that a Chromebook might be just what you need for work. But, as great as Chromebooks are, and as much progress as Google has made in getting "Web-only" apps such as Google Docs to work offline, there are still times that you want an application that's only available off-line such as the LibreOffice office suite or theGIMP photo editor. For those times, it's darn handy to be able to run a Linux desktop on a Chromebook.

It's been possible to do that, thanks to the Chromium OS Universal Chroot Environment (Crouton), for some time. But, what you couldn't do was have a Linux desktop, such as Ubuntu or Debian, on the same screen while you were running Chrome OS.
Now you can.
Thanks to Google's Chrome OS team, you can run a Linux desktop within a window on Chrome OS using a Chrome extension called Crouton Integration. This makes using Linux, and its thousands of applications, much easier. It also adds the ability to use Chrome's inherent Web browser instead of the Linux distribution's native browser and to synchronize the Chrome OS and Linux clipboards.
In short, Crouton is better than ever and the combination of Linux and Chrome OS is very powerful. Here's how you go about liberating that power.



Source:
http://www.itworld.com/article/2891142/how-to-run-linux-and-chrome-os-on-your-chromebook.html

06.Apple, Linux, not Windows, most vulnerable operating systems in 2014

OS X, iOS, and Linux were the top three most vulnerable operating systems in 2014, but Internet Explorer was the most vulnerable app.

A whopping average of 19 security vulnerabilities were reported every day in 2014. The number of vulnerabilities discovered each year in operating systems, applications, and hardware has skyrocketed in a nasty trend, according to analysis by GFI Software.

Operating systems with most security vulnerabilities in 2014

The top spot for vulnerabilities in operating systems no longer goes to Microsoft Windows; in fact, Windows isn't even listed in the top three. Instead, the most vulnerable OS was Apple Mac OS X, followed by Apple iOS and Linux kernel. As you can see in the list below, Mac OS X had 147 vulnerabilities, with 64 being rated as high-severity bugs. There were 127 in iOS, 32 of those rated as high. Linux kernel had a rough year, with 119 security vulnerabilities and 24 being rated as high-severity. The flip-side is that none of the security holes in Windows versions were rated as low severity.









More@
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2887240/microsoft-subnet/apple-linux-not-windows-most-vulnerable-operating-systems-in-2014-ie-wins-worst-app.html

07.Why Open Source Freeriding is a Good Idea

In the wake of a high profile controversy, it's clear: so-called freeriders should be encouraged, not condemned.

Are you cheating if you download open source software without paying for it? Recently, Linux distribution elementaryOS angered users by implying that you are -- an opinion that is hardly new, but no more valid than the last dozen times anyone voiced it.

Freeriding, downloading without donation is usually called.

Project member Cassidy James raised the issue while blogging about why elementaryOS' download interface had changed to include several payment options. In the last year, elementaryOS has been in the top ten page hits on Distrowatch, mainly because of its attention to aesthetic details such as icons and fonts. Perfecting such details is a painstaking task, yet James noticed that less than one-fifth of one percent of downloaders ever paid, and most of those paid ten dollars or less.

However, although free downloads were a tradition in open source software, James went on to say, elementary OS was under no obligation to provide them. Yet unless payments increased, the project might have to resort to "backdoor deals and advertising."

Then, to make the reactions worse, someone involved with elementaryOS apparently made a commented that, "you are a cheater if you download elementaryOS for free." The comment is now deleted, but survives in the discussion of it.

The incident was not the project's finest hour. One commenter described it as "Today's Daily Cringe."

A Financial Don Quixote

To anyone not familiar with free -- open source -- software, arguments against freeriding might sound reasonable. However, within free software, they sound unrealistic.

For one thing, nobody has ever made money from a distribution alone. In fact, the history of Linux is littered with the failures. Linspire, Mandrake, Progeny, Stormix -- all tried to profit from a distribution and failed. Canonical has been trying for a decade, and it couldn't manage the trick, despite regular infusions of cash from its founder. The only way Red Hat succeeded was to focus on selling services.

For another, the idea that project members must be reimbursed is only about five years old. Partly, it arises from the fact that the first generations of free software developers are aging, and naturally wish to support their families while doing what they love.

Many manage to do so by being sponsored by companies that are far-sighted enough to see that paying for a free software developer furthers its goals. However, the well-publicized success of a few crowdfunding campaigns has encouraged other projects in the idea that they can fund themselves instead of simply volunteering, while remaining independent.

It's a heady dream, but not a realistic one. Analyzing the success of free software crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo suggests that, for every success story like Raspberry Pi or LInux Voicemagazine, there are over ten failures. Moreover, hardware projects have a greater chance of success than software ones.

More@

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/why-open-source-freeriding-is-a-good-idea.html

Why Evolve OS could win you over to Linux and me away from Ubuntu

Jack Wallen has found the one take on Linux that could possibly move him away from his distribution of choice since 2006. 
There are so many Linux distributions, each one claiming that they are the one flavor best designed for the new user in mind. Ubuntu, Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS -- all outstanding distributions and very much ready for users who want a platform built on the premise that Linux isn't nearly as challenging as many people assume.

In 2014, a new distribution appeared out of nowhere, one that cut straight to the heart of the matter and promised to deliver a Linux distribution like no other. That distribution is Evolve OS. For the longest time, the distribution was in a state of limbo, and the best you could do was download an alpha and hoped it would run. I tried a number of times and finally opted to just install the Budgie desktop on a Ubuntu distribution. That attempt gave me an idea of how Evolve OS would look, but not much more.