Linux Road

Founder of GNU project Richard Stallman has said that Google's new cloud ChromeOS will push people to get involved in careless computing. Richard Stallman thinks that putting personal data on a cloud rather than a single machine decreases the control over it.

Richard Stallman, who is the advocate of free software (also creator of the free software foundation), said making extensive use of cloud computing was "worse than stupidity" two years back. Richard believes that by putting data over cloud you would lose control over it.

Richard Stallman says that putting data over Google's server rather than your personal machines might make people lose legal rights over their data. Stallman points out: "In the US, you even lose legal rights if you store your data in a company's machines instead of your own. The police need to present you with a search warrant to get your data from you; but if they are stored in a company's server, the police can get it without showing you anything. They may not even have to give the company a search warrant."

Stallman who is unimpressed of Google's ChromeOS says,"I think that marketers like "cloud computing" because it is devoid of substantive meaning. The term's meaning is not substance, it's an attitude: 'Let any Tom, Dick and Harry hold your data, let any Tom, Dick and Harry do your computing for you (and control it).' Perhaps the term 'careless computing' would suit it better."

He sees a creeping problem: "I suppose many people will continue moving towards careless computing, because there's a sucker born every minute. The US government may try to encourage people to place their data where the US government can seize it without showing them a search warrant, rather than in their own property. However, as long as enough of us continue keeping our data under our own control, we can still do so. And we had better do so, or the option may disappear."

Stallman says he only sees one positive aspect of ChromeOS: its GNU/Linux heritage. "In essence, Chrome OS is the GNU/Linux operating system. However, it is delivered without the usual applications, and rigged up to impede and discourage installing applications," he told the Guardian. "I'd say the problem is in the nature of the job ChromeOS is designed to do. Namely, encourage you to keep your data elsewhere, and do your computing elsewhere, instead of doing it in your own computer."

I somehow agree with Stallman. What do you think about concerns over cloud computing and ChromeOS?

Oracle executives have talked over the plans for Solaris 11 that is set to be released in 2011. Advancements are to be made in availability, security, and virtualization.

Solaris 11 will feature next-generation networking capabilities for scalability and performance, said John Fowler, Oracle executive vice president of systems, at a company event in Santa Clara, Calif. "It's a complete reworking of [the] enterprise OS," he said. Oracle took over Solaris early this year, when they acquired Sun Sun Microsystems.

Also at Thursday's event, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison expressed Oracle's intention to dominate the Linux space. "Solaris is clearly the number one Unix, and we're working very hard at making Oracle Enterprise Linux the number one Linux," he said.

Oracle has already released Solaris 11 Express, a version of the OS geared for developers and a preview for the upcomming Solaris 11. This Express release of Solaris cannot be used in production or commercial environments.

Oracle announced the version 5.5 of MySQL on Wednesday. Which is the first major update since the database giants took over. Now that Oracle has two general-use databases it has to decide the placement of the product in the market. And so, Oracle has decided to market the open-source database for Web application market with MySQL

"We see them as being very distinct for different use cases," said Monica Kumar, Oracle senior director of product marketing.

"MySQL is a great database for Web-based applications, for custom departmental applications and for embedded uses. And the Oracle database is the leading enterprise database for high-end packaged applications: enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, online transaction processing, large data warehouses and business intelligence applications," Kumar said.

"The two products complement each other and fill in a variety of use cases," Kumar said.

MySQL has been the core product when you want a database for web applications when Oracle database simply cannot be used. She mentioned how MySQL is part of the LAMP (Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP/Python/Perl) stack, which is widely used for deploying websites and Web applications. "It's been very successful in the Web-based application space," she said.

Another consideration for choosing mySQL over Oracle in the Web space is personnel. In many cases, a LAMP administrator would be more familiar with MySQL than with the Oracle namesake database, said Tomas Ulin, vice president of MySQL engineering. "It makes it easier to run with MySQL if for no other reason than the actual developer is used to MySQL."

Canonical has decided to change the interface of the next release of Ubuntu (Natty Narwhal 11.04) from GNOME to Unity. Unity is an open source project that focuses on simplified interface and three dimensional displays.

Canonical has to make this decision because the views of developers at Canonical were starting to diverge from the views of the GNOME team. Canonical had different ideas about how a desktop interface should look and operate, according to Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth.

"We were part of the GNOME shell design discussion, we put forward our views and they were not embraced by designers," Shuttleworth said during a press briefing. "We took a divergent view from the GNOME shell folks on key design issues, for example how application menus should appear on the system, how one should search to find applications, [and] how one's favorite applications should be presented."

Ubuntu's next release Natty Narwhal (11.04) is set to be launched in April 2011. Natty Narwhal (11.04) will have Unity shell that will support three dimensional interface. Shuttleworth announced on Monday, at the company's Ubuntu Developer Summit, being held this week in Orlando, Florida. For previous desktop versions of the software, Gnome was the default shell.

Canonical and the developers of GNOME, an open source project led by the GNOME Foundation, have had an increasingly disharmonious relationship over the past year due, in part, to these design issues.

Because Canonical was already developing Unity for netbooks for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers, "We went ahead and did the engineering" for a general desktop interface for the next release, Shuttleworth said. "Essentially, it is a very different product from the GNOME shell, and has a very different way of organizing things," he said.

Even though Canonical will switch from GNOME in the next release of Ubuntu, but according to Mr. Shuttleworth users will have little problem. Shuttleworth has also promised that all GNOME application will run without any modifications.

"We have no plans for proprietary extensions to Unity whatsoever," Shuttleworth said.

Mozilla is taking an initiative to promote browser-based games as it announced its latest project, Mozilla Labs: Gaming. Mozilla Labs: Gaming, will focus on creating browser-based games built on open web standards.

To get things started Mozilla Labs will keep continue their tradition of hosting a competition (which they normally do for their projects, every two months), which will invite the developers to develop browser-based games using the open-web standards. The competition will begin later this month (logistics are not announced yet).

Mozilla Labs gaming page states,

"We are excited to present to you the latest initiative from Mozilla Labs: Gaming. Mozilla Labs Gaming is all about games built, delivered and played on the Open Web and the browser. We want to explore the wider set of technologies which make immersive gaming on the Open Web possible. We invite the wider community to play with cool, new tech and aim to help establish the Open Web as the platform for gaming across all your Internet connected devices.

Modern Open Web technologies introduced a complete stack of technologies such as Open Video, audio, WebGL, touch events, device orientation, geo location, and fast JavaScript engines which make it possible to build complex (and not so complex) games on the Web. With these technologies being delivered through modern browsers today, the time is ripe for pushing the platform. And what better way than through games? Traditionally games and game developers have been at the forefront of technology, often pushing the boundaries of what was thought possible."

So, what impact will Mozilla labs: gaming will have? Considering Google’s Chrome Web Store which will be launched this fall. Mozilla is also planning to create an Open Web App Store, and gaming can play a big part in promoting it.

At the time of the announcement of Canonical's Ubuntu 11.04 AKA Natty Narwhal, Ubuntu Community Manager and Linux New Media contributor Jono Bacon announced the 11.04 Ubuntu Developer Summit. The summit, takes place in Orlando Florida, October 25-29 at the Caribe Royal.

The entire Canonical development team will be there for the event. The discussion and debates will be about the design of the design of the next Ubuntu.

"UDS is an incredible experience, filled with smart and enthusiastic people, fast paced and exhausting, but incredibly gratifying to be part of the process that builds the next Ubuntu.UDS is an incredible experience, filled with smart and enthusiastic people, fast paced and exhausting, but incredibly gratifying to be part of the process that builds the next Ubuntu," said Bacon in his announcement.

Bacon's announcement went on to community sponsorships for members of the community who want to attend and could contribute "real insight and expertise," but are unable to fit the travel bills themselves. The application for sponsorship can be found at http://uds.ubuntu.com/participate/sponsorship/. The deadline is September 8.

or more information on the summit including schedule, visit http://uds.ubuntu.com/.