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For users reared on GUI-oriented commercial operating systems, switching to open source POSIX-type OSes can be an onerous task. Whereas Linux, and FOSS in general, are built around the ideas of inclusion and sharing, the communities built up around the open source operating systems often face accusations of exclusive techno-elitism. Although there are assuredly a few [...]

25 years after Stallman first set the GNU project in motion, what have these ideals achieved, and what can we do to ensure the future of free software? Linux Format spoke to him to find out.
While Linus Torvalds gets most of the plaudits nowadays for the Linux kernel, it was Stallman who originally posted plans [...]

The past year brought some exciting advancements for the Linux operating system and open source software. Open technology continues to become more pervasive and the Linux kernel is now widely used in a multitude of mainstream products ranging from set-top boxes to mobile phones. With 2008 coming to a close, we wanted to take a [...]

I just ordered my first computer yesterday: 4GB RAM, a 250 GB SATA 3gb/s hard drive, a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor, a Nvidia 9800 graphics card, and a comfortable 20″ monitor. But while these were all expensive (especially the video card), none of them compared to one item on the list: Windows. That’s the [...]

Linux has proven that the open source model works — it addresses two of the biggest challenges for IT professionals: the high cost of infrastructure software and the limitations a closed stack imposes on the enterprise. Open source is particularly appealing for the following reasons:

Cost savings — Users do not pay a license fee to [...]

Linux Professional Association on Kenya, a group of local software developers, has embarked on a sensitisation programme among government bodies with the aim of wooing them to use Free Open Source Software (FOSS).
Among government bodies targeted are the Public Procurement Oversight Authority (PPOA) and the Kenya ICT board. PPOA is mandated to enforce and [...]

Recently, the The Free Software Foundation (FSF), founded by MIT alum Richard Stallman, has filed a lawsuit against Cisco Systems for copyright infringement. The suit contends that Cisco distributed software originally written and distributed under the FSF’s General Public License (GLP), and has thus failed to fulfill the requirements of the GPL under which the [...]

The advent of Linux-powered netbooks, the launch of Google’s Android and Chrome, and Nokia’s move to snap up Symbian pushed open source further into the mainstream, despite ongoing legal wrangling.
The year 2008 showed open source — both in the form of Linux specifically and as a software development model generally — coming into the mainstream [...]

There’s a long standing argument over the differences between “open-source” software and “free” software. But, a more common error outside of software ideology circles is that you can use open-source software anyway you please. Nope. Wrong. It’s never been that way.
Cisco, the networking giant, should know better than this, but they’ve worn out the FSF’s [...]

In the last major economic downturn, Linux established itself as a widely-accepted enterprise operating system, benefiting a lively ecosystem of vendors such as Red Hat and Novell. The return of tough economic times puts the open source alternative again front and center, this time with focus on databases and higher-level software applications.
I believe we’ve entered [...]