Practical Technology

for practical people.

May 22, 2020
by sjvn01
0 comments

GNOME gets big open-source patent win

In 2019, the GNOME Foundation was sued by Rothschild Patent Imaging (RPI) for violating its “wireless image distribution system and method patent” (US Patent No. 9,936,086).” Rothschild, a Non-Practicing Entity (aka a patent troll), had filed 714 lawsuits over the past six years.

Now, in a surprise move, GNOME, makers of the popular Linux desktop of the same name, won not only a release and covenant not to be sued for any Rothschild patent but a release and covenant to any software that is released under an existing Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved license.

GNOME gets big open-source patent win More>

May 22, 2020
by sjvn01
0 comments

Keeping open-source groups alive: FOSS Responders

Thanks to the coronavirus, technology events have been canceled left and right. This, in turn, is damaging the finances of companies and groups that depend on these events. Some open-source groups, such as The Linux Foundation, can deal with it. Others aren’t so fortunate. Some, such as Drupal Foundation, the Open Source Initiative (OSI), Open Source Matters (Joomla), and Ajv JSON Schema validator, are in real trouble. FOSS Responders is trying to help these and other groups and individuals.

Keeping open-source groups alive: FOSS Responders More>

May 21, 2020
by sjvn01
0 comments

Check Point released an open-source fix for common Linux memory corruption security hole

For years, there’s been a known security vulnerability hiding in the GNU C Library (glibc). This library, which is critical for Linux and many other operating systems and programs, had a dynamic memory management security hole that could be used for denial of service (DoS) attacks. Now, the security company, Check Point, has issued an open-source patch, which will make it much more difficult to exploit this memory allocation (malloc) problem.

Check Point released an open-source fix for common Linux memory corruption security hole More>

May 20, 2020
by sjvn01
0 comments

2020 will be the year of Linux on the Windows desktop

Linux on the desktop has had more than its fair share of troubles. Sure, the Linux desktop has long been a favorite of top-flight developers, system administrators, and loyal fans. But, when it comes to the mass audience, Linux has only about 1% of users.  One major company, however, still believes in the Linux desktop: Microsoft.

2020 will be the year of Linux on the Windows desktop More>

May 19, 2020
by sjvn01
0 comments

GitLab’s take on the current state of DevOps

GitLab, a prominent Git-based DevOps company, has released the results of its fourth annual DevSecOps survey This global survey of over 3,650 respondents found that DevOps rise has led to “sweeping changes in job functions, tool choices, and organization charts within developer, security and operations teams.”

GitLab’s take on the current state of DevOps More>

May 18, 2020
by sjvn01
0 comments

How Cloud Buildpacks can help you deploy complex applications to your cloud

We all know what containers are, right? Of course, right. They’ve been around for decades, but Docker made containers so easy to use they’ve reshaped how we run and deploy complex applications. But, as useful as they are, you can’t use them by hand to easily install complex programs. For that, we need a different take on automating program deployment: Cloud Native Buildpacks.

How Cloud Buildpacks can help you deploy complex applications to your cloud More>