The Insidious Nature of Chromebooks

by Dietrich Schmitz

While writers like +Ed Bott  at ZDNet would have you believe that Google's Chromebook is struggling, contradictory evidence of its pure ubiquitous nature continues to appear.

Just the other day, Google made yet another announcement in having struck a deal to sell Chromebooks in two more national chain stores.

It was heralded as a major triumph for the Chromebook to get shelf space in Best Buy roughly a year ago.  Historically, it represented the first Linux-based SKU ever to reach the 'brick and mortar' retail center's sales floor where Microsoft Windows and Apple have been historically dominant and the only two shows in town.

Gradually, and insidiously, Chromebook is finding its way into the mainstream distribution retail centers.  This is a big move, given Walmart's size (largest employer in the U.S.) and brokering power.

In addition to announcing that Chromebooks will be sold in Walmart centers nationwide, Google will also channel their product to retail space in Staples.

At the rate things are going, year 2013 will be a record for sales of Chromebooks, given that in the most recent past six new markets were established world wide.

Let's hope the momentum continues and Chromebooks will continue to spread like a contagion, but in a good way, of course.

-- Dietrich

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Linux Foundation's Linux Training Scholarship Program Opens for Applications

Linux Foundation’s Linux Training Scholarship Program Opens for Applications

Scholarships to be awarded in five new categories and to include one-on-one mentoring sessions with Linux Foundation instructors

SAN FRANCISCO, – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced its 2013 Linux Training Scholarship Program is open for applications.

Since its debut in 2011, the program has provided funds to developers and IT professionals who show incredible promise for building Linux careers and shaping the future of the operating system but who otherwise do not have the ability to attend Linux Foundation training courses.

The Linux Foundation’s Linux Training Scholarship Program in 2013 will award five scholarships to individuals who demonstrate the greatest need and who have already demonstrated some knowledge of Linux and open source software. In addition, winners this year will receive a 30-minute, one-on-one mentoring session with one of The Linux Foundation’s Linux training instructors.

The Linux Foundation is offering one scholarship in each of the following five categories. Each application will be reviewed by a panel of Linux Foundation staffers. Recipients will be notified early- to mid-August and will be publicly announced shortly thereafter.  For more details on the criteria for each category, please visit the Linux Training Scholarship website: mission link

§  Whiz Kids

§  Women in Linux

§  SysAdmin Super Stars

§  Developer Do-Gooders

§  Linux Kernel Gurus

Each Linux Training Scholarship will cover the registration fees for one course. Travel, Internet connection fees and other expenses are not included. The classes eligible for Linux Training Scholarships this year include:

§  Embedded Linux Development

§  Embedded Linux Development: A Crash Course

§  Embedded Linux Development with Yocto Project/OpenEmbedded

§  Developing Device Drivers

§  Linux Kernel Internals and Debugging

§  Developing Applications for Linux

§  Linux System Administration

§  Linux Network Management

§  Linux Performance Tuning

Applications are due by midnight PT on July 23, 2013 and can be submitted here: http://training.linuxfoundation.org/free-linux-training/linux-training-scholarship-program

The 2013 Linux Jobs Report shows demand for Linux pros exceeding other areas of technology for the second year in a row. Ninety-three percent of employers said they will hire Linux pros in the next six months, while 90 percent said finding Linux talent is difficult. When they do find it, they pay higher salaries and offer better perks to the Linux pros.

“We aim to help meet today’s unprecedented demand for Linux professionals by providing Linux training opportunities direct from the source,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer services. “With more than 500 Linux training scholarship applications received last year and the Linux Jobs Report showing demand for Linux talent at an all-time high, we hope our Linux Training Scholarship Program can surface some of the talent that is showing incredible promise for influencing the future of Linux but until now were diamonds in the rough.”

Additional Resources

·      2012 Linux Training Scholarship Winners: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2012/09/linux-foundation-announces-2012-linux-training-scholarship

·      2011 Linux Training Scholarship Winners: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2011/08/linux-foundation-announces-linux-training-scholarship-recipients

·      Training with The Linux Foundation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfnKpBw_gcA

About Linux Training at The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation Training Program includes a comprehensive set of Linux courses that are distribution-flexible, direct from the source, technically advanced and customizable. Built in concert with its Technical Advisory Board of Linux experts and the leading maintainers from the Linux community, The Linux Foundation's training curriculum is constantly updated and synced with advances in Linux and includes new features as they are released. The Program combines broad, foundational knowledge with the networking opportunities that attendees need to thrive in their careers today. The organization has helped hundreds of companies move to Linux or gain advanced knowledge of the technology to give their development or operations teams a competitive advantage. For more information, please visit http://training.linuxfoundation.org

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux and collaborative software development. Founded in 2000, the organization sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and promotes, protects and advances the Linux operating system and collaborative software development by marshaling the resources of its members and the open source community. The Linux Foundation provides a neutral forum for collaboration and education by hosting Collaborative Projects, Linux conferences, including LinuxCon, and generating original research and content that advances the understanding of Linux and collaborative software development. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

###

Trademarks: The Linux Foundation, Linux Standard Base, MeeGo, OpenDaylight, Tizen and Yocto Project are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.

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Linux Extremism: Puts a Hurt on Linux and Nothing Else

by Dietrich Schmitz

I have read the esteemed +Martin Gräßlin's post entitled Fanboys in Free Software and completely agree with his point of view.  It is quite sad that the true innovators are hated with such vilification.

To the point, I share with you today my own experience with Haters.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece entitled The Ubuntu FOSS Community: Merely Chumps on the Outside Looking In.  Now, mind you, most of my regular readership do take what I write in stride and the comments reflect that. (Image credit: nocookie.net)

To have used the word 'chump' is quite appropriate; here's a definition:

chump  

/CHəmp/

Noun A foolish person. An easily deceived person; a sucker.

Synonyms block - log

Now, I really could have done much worse.  But the bluntness of the word is 'effective' in conveying the notion that, however sincere the Ubuntu community members may be, they are really being deceived into thinking that Ubuntu is a 'genuine' community-based Distro.

The point of the article wasn't that they are 'chumps'.  The point was that Ubuntu is being treated by Canonical as though it is community-based, when in fact it isn't.  There's plenty of room for discussion and feel free to go back to the story and respond if you missed reading it.

Anyhow, I wrote several stories about Ubuntu/Canonical, with a follow-on story A Kumbayah Moment: New Ubuntu Community Website.

Okay, I admit, I am kicking dust on somebody's shoes by writing it, but it really smacks of complete insincerety.  A community website for Ubuntu?  C'mon.  I just checked my Drivers License and can confirm, I wasn't born yesterday.

So, needless to say, that story didn't sit well with one commentor by the name of +Michael Hall a volunteer Ubuntu community member.  No one questions, including myself, his loyalty and sincerety, but I chose to call him a 'chump'.  It wasn't meant so much as a mean-spirited personalization, but a reference to the preceding story "The Ubuntu FOSS Community": Merely Chumps on the Outside Looking In".

And in follow-up I wrote yet another story Fedora Community Members are Chumps and so am I that, in my own discovery process, stated I was a chump as well for using Fedora--given that Fedora's charter board includes a Red Hat-appointed Chair which has 'veto' power on any decision made by other members of the Board.  So, that makes me a chump.  And I feel for the most part that most of the Linux community Distros don't operate in a community consensus gathering fashion.  That is the reality that everyone needs to come to terms with.

Okay fine.  With me so far?  And previous to that story, I wrote another story with the suggestion that the Ubuntu community take the Ubuntu code base and fork it.  Why?  Because it would help the community to seize control of decision making which is made by Canonical.  I submitted the idea sincerely and hope it will be done soon, for the sake of Ubuntu, because it's getting derailed by elitist decision making, favoritism, all born of being under one roof under the control of Mark Shuttleworth.

So, you'd think maybe some of the readers would have read in progression to see and connect the dots?  Yes?  Well, the next thing I know someone has decided to erect a website using my name and likeness (photo from this website) and pretending to be me.  

A series of emails were originated by me to the hosting ISP and to the domain issuer to request takedown of the website.  The website fraudulently registered their domain and were forced to re-register but have spent additional dollars to hide their identity.  The website moved from its original hosting website last evening onto the domain issuer's hosting service where they currently have the site erected.

I have sent another email requesting take-down of the site by virtue of their Terms of Service violation.

We'll see where this goes.  But, it is quite emblematic of just how far haters will go to cause harm to others on the Internet for expressing an opinion or having a different idea or approach to doing things.

It's also representative of an ongoing problem with Linux that creates a true image problem.  Fiefdoms, ideological differences impede true innovation.  Extremism is the by-product of hatred.

Robert F. Kennedy wrote this about extremism:

"What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

That extremism, or, The Linux Inside Stigma has caused Google to completely avoid using any reference to Linux in their marketing of the Chromebook.

So, let this serve to show just how far haters will go--Linux Extremism puts a hurt on Linux and nothing else.

-- Dietrich

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Zero Knowledge for Cloud Storage: A Proposed Internet Privacy Mandate

by Dietrich Schmitz

What do you know about the 'Zero Knowledge Privacy Standard'?

What?  Oh.  That's right.  Heh.  It doesn't exist.  Sorry.

So, then you probably have zero-knowledge about the Zero Knowledge Privacy Standard.  Sorry, I am getting clever.  But I hope to raise your awareness in this story about something which you will find very important. (Image credit: spideroak.com)

What is Zero Knowledge?

For starters, it isn't a standard.  Let's get that out of the way.  It's an emerging practice used by SaaS Cloud storage providers.  Essentially, getting storage for your files in the cloud has become common-place.  The problem is that those files are directly readable by any third-party governmental agency (cough Patriot Act, National Letters, NSA PRISM) requesting access.  That makes getting to your personal and private data like 'shooting fish in a barrel'.

Zero Knowledge works by having all of your files encrypted on your local device 'first', giving you and only you ownership of the private encryption key and puts the data in the cloud SaaS provider's storage without the accompanying private key.

Effectively, that gives the ISP Zero Knowledge of what you are storing.  They don't have the private key--you do.  And, that also gives them 'plausible deniability' in not being complicit for any form of illegal activity as they can reliably assert no knowledge of what is in your files.

Also, this takes the pressure off of the ISP in acting as 'police' for governmental and powerful commericial concerns (RIAA and MPAA) who want to enforce for what types of activities people can or cannot engage in when using cloud storage.

What is happening today is a total breach of your right to privacy.

The solution, Zero Knowledge, is technically feasible and I might add being offered by several ISPs, such as SpiderOak and Wuala.

We, the U.S. citizenry, continue to watch as our constitutional rights erode.  The only tool we have to fight back against the growing incursion into all corners of our personal life is encryption.

I submit that Zero Knowledge for Cloud Storage be strongly lobbied as a Federal mandated piece of legislation.  Contact your Senator, Congressman and let them know you want Zero Knowledge for Cloud Storage enacted.

-- Dietrich

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Reach Linux Advocates by Chat

by Dietrich Schmitz

So, I've installed an Olark.com chat which now appears on the lower bottom-left of the screen.  If you see me on-line feel free to say hello, or, anything you might put into a comment is fine.

This experiment will continue for the time being and I hope there is something to be gained from using it.

I spend a great deal of time on the Internet given I maintain this site and also write for ECT News Network and PC World.

So, don't be shy.  Chat if you see me on-line.

-- Dietrich

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OpenBox: When You Want Minimalism, Speed.

by Dietrich Schmitz

I've settled for largely avoiding Unity and Gnome3.x entirely.  Most of you know that.  No need to go over why.

But lately, I've been wondering why Fedora doesn't offer a Spin of OpenBox.  So, my curiosity got the best of me and I installed it into Fedora 19 Xfce Spin.

The following files were installed:

openbox, obmenu, obconf, tint2, xfce4-mixer, xfce4-power-manager, clipit, and gmrun.

Then, create the following directory:

$mkdir ~/.config/openbox

and

$gedit ~/.config/openbox/autostart

and paste the following into it, save and close the file:

## Openbox autostart

## ====================

## Note*: some programs, such as 'nm-applet' are run via XDG auto-start.

## Run '/usr/lib/openbox/openbox-xdg-autostart --list' to list any

## XDG autostarted programs.



## GNOME PolicyKit and Keyring

#/usr/lib/polkit-1-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1 &

#eval $(gnome-keyring-daemon -s --components=pkcs11,secrets,ssh,gpg) &





#Starts Nitogen and restore wallpaper from previous session

#nitrogen --restore &



# start up the tint2 task bar

tint2 &



# Start up power management

xfce4-power-manager &



# Start the Clipboard manager after 3 seconds wait

(sleep 3s && clipit) &



# start volume manager after 3 seconds

#(sleep 3s && volti) &

The parts in autostart for policykit, nitrogen, and volti have been commented out as they don't currently work, or weren't found in the Fedora repo.

Logging out of Xfce, I selected the openbox window manager and logged back into Fedora 19.

Immediately, I was presented with a familiar (from my CrunchBang experiences) spartan grey screen and a panel on the bottom (tint2).

Utterly minimal, but exceedingly fast, OpenBox on Fedora 19

Autostart was able to load the power-manager, chrome and the clipboard.  nm-applet loaded and connected to wireless automatically also without need for configuration.

Currently, there is no volume icon in the tray (not a crisis as I can launch pavucontrol or xfce4-mixer to adjust settings if need be).

Probably, I'll figure out what to do about volti and nitrogen tomorrow and add maybe a few other tweeks like conky, but this is quite doable for now.

OpenBox is a stacking window manager.  On a Netbook, you need to ring out all of the resources and mine has 2GB ram.  Reaching the Desktop, opening a terminal and checking free returns about 140MB ram used.  That really can't be beat, unless maybe you install Bodhi Linux or Puppy Linux or DSL.  The speed improvement is quite marked.

I am sure there will be comments from those getting less ram usage.  Still you get the point.

I'll use this for a while and see how it goes.

So Folks, when you want minimalism and speed, check out OpenBox.  It never disappoints.

-- Dietrich

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COLA: No Not a Drink. A Veritable Cage Fight.

by Dietrich Schmitz

On rare occasion, I find going to one of the Google Groups comp.os.linux.advocacy actually informative.  This is about one of those times. (Image credit: mmaweekly.com)

That doesn't happen often.  Most of the time, I simply stay away, but my colleague +Chris Ahlstrom and Linux Advocate mentioned that one of my stories is being talked up there and so I thought I might pay the Google Groups site a visit to see what he meant.

I always prepare myself for the worst when I go there.  You really have to expect that.  Most of the time, the thread begins with an opening exchange, followed by Jack Nicholson-style "you can't handle the truth", then followed directly by Freddie Krueger-style dark hate-filled comments which go around and around and around with no satisfactory conclusion.  Just hate heaped up on hate.

So I thought I would share some of the feedback which has come out on my story Linux Desktop: Little Innovation, Lots of Mediocrity.

An opening thread by Snit, a much-reviled regular COLA visitor, provides his own endorsement for some of the content in my story.  Snit proceeds to make reference to a linked-to Apple video and draws parallels:

"I think this is much of what Apple is getting to with their new commercial here: <http://youtu.be/JsBrI_ftKXw>.     -----     If everyone is busy making everything...how can anyone perfect     anything? We start to confuse convenience with joy, abundance with     choice. Design requires something: focus. The first thing we ask is     what do we want people to feel.     Delight...surprise...love...connection. Then we begin to craft     around that intention. It takes time. There are a thousand no's for     every yes. We perfect. We start over, until everything we touch     enhances every life it touches. Only then do we sign our work:     Designed by Apple in California.     ----- 
I think Apple got the wording a bit wrong to focus so much on just the *feeling*, but that is what many in the tech world miss. You *can* get work done on other systems, of course, but Apple gets that when you focus on productivity, efficiency, and error reduction things feel right. 

Too many in the open source community do confuse abundance with choice... and there is a difference. All too often the Linux distros fail to understand that what you exclude is just as important as what you include. Maybe more. Google gets this with their home page and ChromeOS. Canonical might get this, too... but they are so tied to the open source ecosystem it is hard for them to do this well." 

Not surprisingly, Snit favors Apple, and quite often segues to dropping 'b-o-m-b-s' filled with Apple propaganda as if throwing a grenade into the room and quickly runs off, terrorist-style.

But he appears to be quite the glutton for punishment and often succeeds in having the last word even if his message is completely lost on the other COLA participants.

Another regular with anti-Linux leanings flatfish doesn't hesitate to let his ideas be known and is among the regulars who wind up in a cage fight-style exchange, replies: 

"Until the Linux community rallies behind a single desktop distribution and pools it's resources, it will be forever doomed to niche status. 

Choosing between 500+ versions where 490 of them are crap isn't really choice at all.  

And finally, until the Linux/FOSS community realizes that it's all about applications and not geek speak, tinkering with operating systems and the underlying bits and bytes, the average public is not going to be interested in Linux."

I am kind of beginning to see that there are some kernels of truth found on COLA when you sort through the chaf betwixt and between which are somewhat consistent with what I have put in my story.  Flatfish has zeroed in with one sentence (above in bold) which sums up my sentiment regarding making Linux become ultimately wildly successful--I mean ramping up to mass market scale on both commercial and consumer levels.

Finally, we have Mark Bilk who takes a dim view on my story--that means he is pro-Linux, which is good.  He's another regular in the cage and often comes out with cuts, bruises, contusions, and sometimes rendered unconscious on a stretcher.  Not one for taking any of this lightly, Mark steps into the cage swinging and kicking straight off:

"Schmitz uses "commercial success" as his criterion of success, even though he admits that Linux is given away free, and so is often not counted commercially.  Not to mention the fact that it's only used by people who are aware enough to install a whole new OS on the computer they bought with Windows pre-installed.  So his criterion of relative "success" compared to other OSen is absolute nonsense."

To further demonstrate his kick-boxing prowess, Mark furthers and goes in for the knock-out combination with:

"Linux includes many, many alternative distros and apps, some of which are "ugly and unseemly".  This is one of the most common attacks made upon Linux.  It's like writing an article saying that the world of shoes has some "quite ugly and unseemly" ones, so therefore shoes are no good. 

The obvious answer is: THEN CHOOSE THE GOOD ONES, FOOL!  

If you choose a good Linux distro -- well designed and maintained, with good online assistance, and a good desktop environment, and you choose good apps, of which there are plenty for every type of commonly used function, and lots of uncommon ones, too, then you will have an excellent experience using it!  I recommend OpenSuse Linux with KDE3, but there are plenty of others.  Every Linux app will run on every common Linux distro, occasionally requiring compilation from source, which is extremely easy to do -- you get complete instructions, and if you don't understand them, you can ask in the distro or app IRC channel. 

Anti-Linux propagandists say, "What about the person who never heard of IRC, or doesn't know how to use it?"  And that has a very simple answer, too: THEN ASK SOMEBODY!"

Alright, as you can see, I do bring out the best in everybody and it should be abundantly clear that on COLA, respondents are on it faster than flies on cowchips.  I've carefully selected some of the more sedate comments so as to keep this story PG.

So, what are your thoughts?  Let me know.

-- Dietrich

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Google Drive Gets Failing Grade on Privacy Protection

by Dietrich Schmitz

Never mind that Google reneged on their promise to bring a native Google Drive Client to Linux.  It really doesn't matter to me at this point.  We have much bigger fish to fry.

You see, Google is as much complicit as any other ISP in cooperating with our beloved U.S. government in handing over your private data without a warrant.  The government waltzes in simply cherry picks whatever they are looking for unimpeded.

This is flouting our privacy rights and, with each successive day, more and more of our constitutional rights are being dismantled in the name of fighting terrorism.

"At what point do we stop taking away our rights?", is an open question everyone should be thinking about.  Because, the latest news regarding disclosure of the NSA's Prism project confirms just how far 'out of hand' things have progressed with the overreach by our government into our private affairs.  Seeing such news, one wonders where we will be in five years.  I fear the erosion of our rights will continue unless these projects are abandoned.

Your only recourse in fighting back to hold off these intrusions?:

ENCRYPTION

Folks, I cannot stress this enough.  There is no other option if you plan on storing any personal data on the Internet other than encryption to keep prying eyes from reading it.

And, I feel obligated to tell you that NONE of your data stored in Gmail or Google Drive is encrypted.

In fact, Google will not offer an encryption service in the interest of protecting your privacy.  Why?  Because, it will render their 'parsers' useless in parsing through your data for advertising purposes, their main 'cash cow'.

This stands as being a gross conflict of interests and Google has overtly chosen to make profit a higher priority than protecting your privacy.

I give Google a FAIL on their moral ethics and stance on privacy.  

The bottom line?: Don't use Google Drive or Gmail if you don't want your data seen by third parties.  

-- Dietrich

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The Myth of FOSS Community

by Dietrich Schmitz

Let's get real Folks.  No matter how much you twist it and turn things around and no matter how much hand-holding, singing the Coke song or Kumbayah isn't going to change it:

There is no community.

Ta dah.

Stare at that for a few moments, if it helps.  And, just like in the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home", you can never go home either.

When you roam around the Interwebs, and see references to how wonderful Linux is because of the FOSS and community behind it, it's all rubbish.  Don't believe it.  Why?

Because, for the most part, and in application, it doesn't exist.  Decision making is never done collectively.  Even our fearless leader Linus Torvalds calls the shots when it comes time to pull the trigger on the next kernel version.

No, we have on our hands a class of fiefdoms, tribal in nature, operating on the false premise of community participation and the notion that everyone has input into how a project should be developed.

The reality is quite different.  Only a handful of individuals along project lines makes any kind of important decisions.   The interests of one group over others sometimes run parallel, are often intersecting and even totally divergent tugging groups in different directions all at the same time.  A lot can get done, or, in some cases much time is spent doing little as conflicts arise.

In the case of Fedora, even Red Hat has appointed the Chair to the Fedora board with right to invoke a veto on anything that comes along.  Which is to say,  We don't care what the community would like, it's our way or the highway.  That's business, not community at play.

Debian has its own shell game going for itself.  Only they insist that it is democratic.  But it isn't. Someone is calling the shots and we are chumps if we believe otherwise.

For the most part, that is how the business world operates.  And, when you see commercial enterprise in action, they obtain results or management objectives and reach milestones, because if they didn't, they would fail.

When you see the word community and FOSS, don't get too misty eyed.  The community and the Free only go so far.  Nothing is really free.  There is a cost exacted even in FOSS development in bringing a group of people together into a loosely grouped rag tag organization.  But in that organization, you can still sing Kumbayah, hold hands, if you will, and believe in sharing, because sharing is still going on to an extent.

You may not like this.  But, one of the big problems as I see it for Linux and particularly on the Desktop is coming to terms with this myth of community.  When there aren't disputes, there is cooperation.  When there are disputes, you have factions, intransigence and in some cases it becomes intractable to the point that one project dismantles entirely and often a fork occurs, because the software terms of a license allow that to happen, or an organization chooses to write their own project from scratch to gain full control.

We have labeled ourselves a loosely cobbled together organization of community with implied cooperative work, but human behavior contradicts the notion and the need for authority will prevail and be given to only a handful, appointed or voted onto a board who determine our future.

So, don't despair.  It's better that you know that like there really isn't a tooth fairy and Santa Claus.  That's part of growing up.  And unless we grow up collectively and see things for what they are, Linux on the Desktop will be forever mired in turmoil spinning its wheels.

Wake up and smell the moca java.  FOSS Community is a myth.

-- Dietrich

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