Let me start the same way I started the last article, by stating I support many of Google’s efforts, it has pushed open source into the consumer space in many ways. Maybe you don’t think competition to Android from close source alternatives such as Windows Phone or iOS is healthy. But be careful: anti-competitive behaviour also keeps other open source projects out. Also make no mistake about Android: The base system is open source, the ecosystem is completely closed. If the choice is between an Android monopoly, an Apple monopoly or a Microsoft monopoly, probably all of us reading this would… Continue Reading

Let me start by saying I support many of Google’s efforts, it has pushed open source into the consumer space in many ways. But that shouldn’t fool you, we need market competition even in markets now dominated by open source software. Maybe you don’t think competition from Microsoft or Apple or Amazon is healthy if it reduces the share of open source products in a given market, but what about the inability of other open source projects to enter the picture? Anti-competitive behaviour not only keeps closed sourced alternatives out, it keeps open source alternatives out of the equation just… Continue Reading

A few weeks back, we talked about a bunch of things that Linux could do better. A total of eight sore points. Does not sound like a lot, really, and surely, it does not cover everything that might need fixing in Linux. Some of you also remarked that most of the items also apply to other operating systems. Sure thing, but it’s our favorite bunny we’re discussing here. Anyhow, since there’s still more wrong to be fixed and good to be bettered, let’s follow up with a sequel. To wit, this article, and we’ll have a go at a few… Continue Reading

A bit of bakground Let’s turn back the clock to simpler times, when there were laptops and BlackBerries, most PC OEMs were making a ton of money from their Netbook division and many rumours of an impeding Netbook from Apple were at the order of the day. Apple shut down every rumor at the time, as Steve Jobs once said that he didn’t know how to build a computer for less than $1,000 that didn’t suck. The first Macbook Air was released on January 2008: Instead of introducing its own Netbook Apple look the other way and made an incredibly expensive… Continue Reading

At the end of our last tutorial I recommended readers to use rEFIt and avoid more complex solutions, but I offered to write another how to if any reader was interested on using Kubuntu without rEFIt. Reader “Kashi” asked for a way to do so, the drawback of having to press Alt every time he wants to boot into Linux was not a problem: He’s installing Linux to an external hard drive (It’s worth noting that this guide should work equally well if you want to install Kubuntu into an internal partition.). So let’s get to it. Setting up the partitions Last… Continue Reading

In order, for you, to become a master of Linux, there are two things that need to happen. One, you need to invest time studying Linux. Two, you need to do it the right way. Now, a six hundred and eight dollar question. What is the right way? So let’s say you meet all the preconditions of being someone interesting in expanding their knowledge of Linux. There are many paths, as many as there are distributions, spins, forks, and graphical environments, all combined, to you reaching that level where your skills are admirable. Moreover, you may decide to pursue a… Continue Reading

The title of this article may be slightly misleading. What I want to talk to you today is the looming battle between Mir and Wayland, and there’s no better time to do that than right now, a few days after the latest edition of the Ubuntu family has been released upon the world. Now, we did talk about Wayland before, but it was more of a technical discussion, closely following another one on Qt, and how it might make Linux big one day. And then, just a few days back, we discussed what is wrong with Linux, and there’s gonna… Continue Reading

Apple’s ubiquitous Macbook Air line has become synonymous with lightweight, portable and yet relatively powerful computer, the latest version is Apple’s attempt at making it a synonym of all day battery life. Thanks to Intel’s amazing new Haswell architecture achieving over 9 hours of battery life is feasible on laptops. The 11.6″ Macbook Air is in my opinion a very interesting proposition: Is not a lot bigger than an iPad, but is way more functional, has a proper keyboard, and the battery life is actually better than it is on the tablets if you limit yourself to iPad-like tasks. The… Continue Reading