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FOSS News No. 16 - a review of free and open source software for May 11-17, 2020



Hello everyone!

We continue to review the news of free and open source software and hardware (and a bit of coronavirus). All the most important thing about penguins and not only in Russia and the world. Munich returns to Open Source, another interview about OSM, which the Open Source community can teach in organizing remote work, about the problems of choosing software with (about) FOSS licenses, Red Hat's view on the future of commercializing Open Source projects, the continuation of (not) holivar about whether GNU / Linux is for "ordinary users" and much more.

Table of contents



    1. Microsoft Open Source.
    2. : « , — OSM»
    3. : Open Source ?
    4. Open Source ?
    5. Open Source Red Hat
    6. « ! ». ?

    2. FOSS



Microsoft Open Source.




The newly elected Munich authorities are preparing a plan to switch to the use on computers of officials of operating systems and software products with open source code, 3Dnews reports. This initiative is not being implemented for the first time, several years ago the Munich authorities switched to using Linux, but later returned Windows officials to the PC. First of all, officials from Munich intend to abandon the use of the Windows software platform and the Microsoft Office office suite. “ Where it is technically and financially feasible, the city will focus on standards and free open source software. We will adhere to the principle of "open money, open source". Accordingly, as long as the matter does not affect confidential or personal data, the source code of the software will be open, ”the agreement, which was recently approved by the Munich authorities, said in the supplement to 3Dnews. The agreement was prepared by a coalition of the Green and Social Democratic parties, writes ZDNet.

→ Details ( [1] , [2 (en)] )

Dorofei Proleskovsky: “The only mapping project in which it makes sense to invest your time and energy is OSM”




Dorofei Proleskovsky is a Belarusian "Osmer" and a programmer who managed to work in many geostartaps related to OSM. He is currently developing analytical tools for crisis mapping at Kontur.io. Why OSM is in a technological stupor, how things are with it in Belarus and what the OSM Foundation is doing - he told about all this in an interview published on Habré.

→ Interview

Suddenly at a distance: what can the Open Source community teach?




Many people prefer to communicate in person. But in the current situation, remote work skills are becoming increasingly important, and the Open Source community, working remotely almost entirely from the very beginning, can teach many other colleagues, writes InformationWeek. The article raises the issues of organizing interaction, the necessary flexibility, taking into account cultural and other differences and the complexity of building a normal work process.

→ Details (en)

How to avoid license selection errors when working with Open Source and similar software?




It is unlikely that it is now possible to build an IT business without using FOSS tools. However, along with the benefits that they provide, users also face problems, especially if you do not really understand the terminology. Computer Business Review discusses some of them and tries to answer questions:

  1. Is a product license suitable for your use?
  2. What could be the difficulties in integration?
  3. What is “Open Core”, “Source Available”, “Open Source, Eventually” and how do they differ from a full-fledged “Open Source”?

→ Details (en)

Subscription-based Open Source Business Models Become More Popular with Red Hat




Red Hat is a global leader in delivering enterprise Open Source solutions using a community-focused approach to delivering high-performance Linux systems, and cloud and container technologies. DataQuest published an interview with Marshall Correy, vice president of Red Hat, and discussed the current state of affairs at the company, the impact of the pandemic on its plans and the introduction of new technologies.

→ Details (en)

“The user does not need all this! Stop propagandizing Linux. ” Or not?




“ Ordinary users perform their tasks, and sometimes during this they find new opportunities ”, “ advanced users expand their capabilities in advance so that all future tasks fit into them ” - the author gives two such definitions in Habré, continuing over 5 articles (not ) holivar on the appropriateness of GNU / Linux on the desktop, and is trying to figure out why GNU / Linux is not suitable for the first category.

→ Details

Previous articles on the topic:

  1. Seven Reasons Why Linux
  2. The main reason why not Linux
  3. The main reason why Linux
  4. Mein linux

Short line


Opening code and data


  1. Uber Opens Automated Framework Code for Modeling for Various Purposes [→ (en)]
  2. Microsoft , , [→ (en)]

FOSS


  1. Eclipse Foundation [→ (en)]
  2. Red Hat Bugzilla [→]


  1. Windows , Linux – Microsoft Azure [→ (en)]
  2. « 8» : [→]
  3. Pineloader – Linux [→ (en)]
  4. Open Source [→ (en)]


  1. 10 Open Source Robotic Process Automation 2020 [→ (en)]
  2. Mozilla Hubs Cloud, [→ (en)]
  3. Open Source Aarogya Setu App [→ (en)]
  4. Open Source [→ (en)]
  5. – Open Source ( ) [→ (en)]
  6. SPDX 2.2 [→]


  1. , Huawei Linux [=> 1, 2 (en)]
  2. Open Source [→ 1, 2 (en)]


  1. Swift GNU/Linux , Ubuntu 20.04 [→ (en)]
  2. Raspberry Pi [→ (en)]
  3. Pango [→]


  1. Ubuntu Touch OTA-12 « » [→1, 2 (en)]
  2. Firefox [→]
  3. Mozilla - [→]
  4. Chrome [→]
  5. CopyQ Clipboard Manager [→ (en)]
  6. ActivityWatch [→ (en)]


  1. « » 18-22 [→]
  2. MNT Reform [→ 1, 2]



  1. Debian 10.4 [→]
  2. Chrome OS 81 [→]
  3. Kali Linux 2020.2 [→]
  4. Astra Linux Common Edition 2.12.29 [→ 1, 2]
  5. Finnix 120, Live- [→]
  6. WireGuard OpenBSD [→]
  7. Zentyal 6.2 [→]
  8. Q4OS 3.11 [→]


  1. - Cinnamon 4.6 [→]
  2. KDE Plasma 5.19 Beta [→ (en)]
  3. Coreboot 4.12 [→]
  4. Proxmox VE 6.2, [→]
  5. sudo 1.9.0 [→]


  1. FreeBSD [→]
  2. ClamAV 0.102.3 [→]


  1. Dart 2.8 [→]
  2. Node.js JavaScript- Deno 1.0 [→ 1, 2]
  3. Erlang/OTP 23 [→]
  4. PascalABC.NET 3.6.3 [→]


  1. Zabbix 5.0 LTS [→]
  2. Horizon EDA 1.1 [→]
  3. AOL Moloch 2.3 [→]
  4. FreeRDP 2.1 8 [→]
  5. FreeType 2.10.2 [→]
  6. Tor 0.4.3 [→]
  7. DNS Pi-hole v5.0 [→ (en)]


  1. SuperTux 0.6.2 [→]
  2. Firefox 78 [→]
  3. XMPP- Kaidan 0.5.0 [→]


That's it, until next Sunday!

Thanks to Linux.com for their work, a selection of English sources for my review is taken from there. I also express many thanks to OpenNET , a lot of news materials and messages about new releases are taken from their site.

If anyone is interested in compiling reviews and has the time and opportunity to help, I will be glad to write to the contacts listed in my profile or to private messages.

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