Practical Technology

for practical people.

June 4, 2020
by sjvn01
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NextCloud gets bigger and better with Nextcloud Hub 19

I’ve used Nextcloud, a great open-source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud, for years on both my own on-premise and shared servers. It works well, it’s simple to set up, and it does the main job of replacing public cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and DropBox flawlessly. With this latest edition, Nextcloud Hub 19 is also adding improvements to its built-in, office Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) programs.

NextCloud gets bigger and better with Nextcloud Hub 19 More>

June 3, 2020
by sjvn01
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Lenovo believes in the Linux desktop

In the 2000s, if you wanted Linux on a laptop, your best choice without a doubt was an IBM. Later, Lenovo ThinkPad. Then, in 2008, Lenovo decided to no longer officially support Linux on the desktop. There’s been a lot of technological changes since, including that Lenovo went back to fully supporting the Linux desktop. There were some hitches, too. Lenovo blew it with Linux on its 2016 Signature Edition PCs. But now Lenovo wants to be desktop Linux’s best friend again.

Lenovo believes in the Linux desktop More>

June 3, 2020
by sjvn01
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The Linux Foundation introduces Cloud Engineer Bootcamp for cloud job seekers

Back when I was going to tech shows every few weeks, no matter what the show was about — Linux, networking, open-source software development — I could always count on one thing: Every, and I mean every, company was looking for cloud-savvy people to hire. Indeed.com found that between October 2015 and October 2019, cloud computing jobs increased by 55%. By 2022, Gartner predicts the public cloud services market alone will be three times bigger than overall IT services. But there isn’t anything like enough cloud experts to meet the demand. That’s where the Linux Foundation‘s new Cloud Engineer Bootcamp comes in.

The Linux Foundation introduces Cloud Engineer Bootcamp for cloud job seekers More>

June 3, 2020
by sjvn01
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From Earth to orbit with Linux and SpaceX

In a terrible year, it was a great moment. On May 30, SpaceX‘s Crew Dragon, the first private-manned spacecraft ever and the first US-manned spaceflight in nine years, successfully delivered NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley into orbit. Taking them was SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9, powered by rocket fuel and Linux.

Like supercomputers, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and many mission-critical devices, the Falcon 9 flies with Linux. SpaceX’s software engineers explained several years ago how the Falcon 9 programming works.

From Earth to orbit with Linux and SpaceX More> 

June 1, 2020
by sjvn01
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Ready or not, we’re on our way to the Windows Virtual Desktop

Talk about timing. With the coronavirus forcing a telecommuting sea change — we went from corporate workers begging, usually unsuccessfully, to be allowed to work from home to businesses insisting that they do so — Microsoft released its latest and best desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) program, Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD).

I’ve foreseen the move from old-style fat-client desktops to DaaS for some time now. What I hadn’t seen was a pandemic that would have just about everyone who can work from home doing that in no time flat. It’s a change that puts DaaS in a whole new light.

And a lot of businesses are latching on to WVD as a way to solve their sudden telecommuting difficulties. Simon Binder, endpoint manager at Microsoft, recently tweeted that there are “6 times more [WVD] users active today than expected during 2020.”

Ready or not, we’re on our way to the Windows Virtual Desktop More>

May 28, 2020
by sjvn01
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Strapi introduces new open-source headless content management system

Strapi, the company behind the most popular open-source headless content management system (CMS), has announced the general availability of its Community Edition after two years of development. The business also announced paid support plans and disclosed plans for an Enterprise Edition, which is already in private beta testing.

What’s a headless CMS you ask? Unlike such popular CMSs as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, a headless CMS doesn’t bother with the website’s front-end. Instead, all its focus is on the back-end content repository, which is used for storing and delivering structured content. This content is then made available for display via a RESTful API, typically using JSON or XML.

Strapi introduces new open-source headless content management system More>