Wikileaks-inspired DDoS attacks being exposed as pretext to ban open-source software, including Linux

For several years on this blog and my previous blog, I have warned that the government will stage a cyberattack and claim that the hackers used open-source software. I warned that the government would use that as a pretext to ban open-source software – including Linux – and declare users/advocates of open-source software and GNU/Linux are cyberterrorists.

Now it has come out that the Wikileaks-inspired DDoS attacks were carried out using open-source software.

The government now has a pretext to ban open-source software, including GNU/Linux. The government now has a pretext to investigate users of open-source software and GNU/Linux as potential cyberterrorists. The Department of Homeland Security now has a pretext to seize domain names of websites which promote or advocate open-source software and GNU/Linux. So do not be surprised if in the near future you visit Ubuntu’s website and come across something similar to this:

 

Microsoft’s proposal to license internet users is a ploy to ban Linux users from the internet

Comment: If the government-approved mandatory antivirus software is not made available for Linux or if currently-available Linux antivirus tools such as ClamAV are not approved by the government, Linux users will be essentially kicked off the internet. This is not about fighting government-created malware. This is about a corporate monopoly using the government to eliminate its competition and stifiling the dwindling of its market share.

Big Brother Microsoft Proposes Government Licensing of Internet Access

• October 8th, 2010 2:01 pm ET

The latest megalomaniacal proposal by a top Microsoft executive would open the door for government licensing to access the Internet. This would grant governmental and corporate authorities power to block individual computers from connecting to the world wide web under the pretext of preventing malware attacks.

Scott Charney, Microsoft vice president of Trustworthy Computing, stated while speaking at the 2010 SSE computer security conference that cybersecurity should mirror public health safety laws, with infected PC’s being “quarantined” by government decree and prevented from accessing the Internet.

“If a device is known to be a danger to the internet, the user should be notified and the device should be cleaned before it is allowed unfettered access to the internet, minimizing the risk of the infected device contaminating other devices, Charney said.

Charney said the system would be a “global collective defense” run by corporations and government and would “track and control” people’s computers similar to how government health bodies track diseases.

FULL ARTICLE

Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition 9-18-2010 build: GNOME works, Unity doesn’t

I have to say I’m quite disappointed so far with the latest build on Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. I have tested the latest build on my netbook (HP Mini 110-1116NR) as well as Sun VirtualBox 3.1.8. When I go to run the OS “live”, it brings up nothing except for the default wallpaper. When I choose “Install Ubuntu” from the boot screen, it installs without a hitch. After it installs, I rebooted into the new system. When I log in and choose “Ubuntu Netbook” as my session, it brings up the default wallpaper…and nothing else. When I choose “Ubuntu Desktop Edition” as my session, it brings up Ubuntu’s GNOME desktop without a hitch.

Canonical has less than 3 weeks in order to iron out the bugs with the Unity interface. If they are unable to do so, then they should port the classic netbook interface – the default netbook interface used from Hardy Heron to Lucid Lynx – to Maverick Meerkat and take Unity back to the drawing board. So until things change, I cannot recommend Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. If things do not improve by then, then I will recommend that people stay with Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition. Alternatively, you can wait for the next versions of Peppermint One and Peppermint Ice which will use the 2.6.35 Linux kernel just like Ubuntu Maverick.

Stick a fork in Xandros, it’s done.

Facts.

Xandros hasn’t released a new version of Xandros Desktop since November 2006 when they released Xandros 4.1. That’s almost four years without a new OS.

Xandros hasn’t released a new version of Xandros Server since May 2007. That’s over three years.

Xandros’ Presto OS pretty much came into the market with a whimper and went out with a sigh – most likely in the span of one month.

DistroWatch has declared Xandros Desktop to be a discontinued distribution.

Many former Xandrosians – myself included – have moved on to other OSes such as Ubuntu, Mint, and PCLinuxOS. Most abandoned Xandros when they sold out to Microsoft’s racketeering scam (the “patent agreement”). (I should note that I abandoned Xandros upon release of Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake LTS.)

And now it seems that CNR.com – the only reason Xandros bought Linspire – has been down for at least two weeks.

Over the last two years, it seems that Xandros has make empty promise after empty promise. They promised to keep Freespire, return Freespire to its Debian roots, and base the next version of Xandros on Freespire.

Last year, I speculated that reliance on netbook OSes would be Xandros’ undoing. Looks like I was correct. Shortly after Xandros and Asus teamed up to make Linux-powered netbooks (the eeePC), Asus and Microsoft signed a deal where Windows netbooks would be given priority over Linux netbooks. In fact, Asus no longer offers netbooks with Linux pre-installed.

Face it. Xandros is a dead company. It had a bright, rosy future in 2004 and 2005. It was a serious alternative to Windows XP. It was the reason I got into desktop Linux. (The first Linux that I used constantly was Xandros Desktop 3.0 Deluxe.) Unfortunately, all the reasons to use Xandros are no longer there. It’s no longer updated. It’s ancient technology. And its userbase is abandoning it in droves. Xandros no longer has anything to offer other than its brand name and assets which I forsee being bought by a rival company – Canonical, Redhat, Oracle, or perhaps Microsoft (or if you believe the rumors, former Linspire owner Michael Robertson) in the near future. Xandros CEO Andy Typaldos needs to either get his company’s priorities straightened out or just get out of the market.

Quick review of Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04 Alpha 3

Okay, I installed Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04 Alpha 3 to my HP Mini 110-1116NR netbook yesterday from a USB flash drive. I “burned” the disc image to the flash drive using Unetbootin on UNR 9.10 and used F9 after the netbook rebooted to elect to boot from my flash drive.

Installation was a snap. Just click on the Install icon, choose your settings, choose your partitions, set up a user name and password, and then install. Installation went by without a hitch.

I was pleasantly surprise to find out that UNR 10.04 Alpha 3 comes with the latest version of Firefox 3.6. I should also point out that Yahoo! Search is indeed the default search engine in UNR 10.04; it is also the default search engine in Ubuntu and Xubuntu.

Ubuntu has been aiming for a fast bootup time of 10 seconds, and it seems that they are getting there. On here, bootup time is almost at 10 seconds. Not quite “instant-on”, but it’s pretty darn fast.

Everything pretty much worked out of the box execpt for the wifi. To remedy that, I used the files included in the Karmic wifi/bluetooth fix which I posted previously in this blog. After installing the Debian packages (I just ram sudo dpkg -i *.deb), I rebooted, and my wifi was working.

Because I love to watch YouTube videos in UNR, I installed the ubuntu-restricted-extras package which downloaded and installed all dependencies without a hitch. MP3s and Flash video now play flawlessly.

There is one flaw I ran into. The included Gwibber tool – Gwibber is a tool which you can use to access Twitter and Facebook – crashed, and according to the bug reports on Launchpad, I was not the only one to have trouble with Gwibber.

As it stands right now, Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.04 Alpha 3 is shaping up to become a solid OS. Once the Gwibber bugs are ironed out, it should be even greater. During installation, you are warned that this is an alpha release, but other than the Gwibber problem, everything else is working perfectly.

Quick fix for Broadcom STA wifi & bluetooth in Ubuntu 9.10

I have an HP Mini 110 1116NR netbook. When I first install Ubuntu Netbook Remix on there, bluetooth works out of the box, but wifi doesn’t. If I enable and activate the Broadcom STA wifi drivers from the Karmic repository, wifi works upon reboot, but bluetooth no longer works. However, I have found a way to get the wifi working and keep the bluetooth working as well! All you have to do is download the Lucid Lynx version of the bcmwl-kernel-source package which is available here. Once you get connected to the internet (try to connect via ethernet), double-click on the package you downloaded and allow it to download and install all dependencies and then allow it to install. Reboot, and your wifi will now work, and your bluetooth should still work!

“Linux is illegal hacker tools to crack passwords and break into servers!”

Found this gem on ubuntuforums.org. Note to self: Add Staples to your “do not shop” list for implying that Linux is illegal and that Linux users are cyberterrorists.

Related story: Looking to apply online with Staples? Mac, Linux users need not apply.

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http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1351146

My god, how I hate uninformed people. But what’s worse is uninformed people that will not accept anything other than what they know. This is what happened to me last week:

I was dog-sitting for one of my mother-in-laws friends. She was going to be gone for three days, so I was sleeping in her guest room. I brought my laptop with me (I run Ubuntu 9.10). She had given me permission to use her wireless connection while I was there.

I was installing ffmpeg from the Terminal when she came home, and she invited me to stay for dinner. I gratefully accepted. A few minutes later (the Terminal was still going through its gobbledygook) she looked over my shoulder for a minute and said started this conversation (as much of it as I can remember):

Her: What system are you running?
Me: Ubuntu.
Her: Huh? No, I don’t mean the program, I mean your operating system.
Me: Ubuntu is the operating system.
Her: I think you’re mistaken… I don’t know of a system called “Ubuntu”
Me: It’s a derivative of Linux.
Her: You’re joking, right?
Me: Umm… no.
Her: But… Linux is illegal!
Me: Huh? Who told you that?
Her: My son. He works for tech support at Staples.
Me: There’s nothing illegal about it, a lot of people use it.
Her: No, it’s illegal! It’s all hacker tools to crack passwords and break into servers! You didn’t use my internet with that, did you?
Me: Yeah, but I’m telling you, it’s not illegal.
Her: Oh no, what if the police find out? I’ll be in so much trouble! They’ll think I’m a hacker! I need to call my son!

At this point, she dials her son from her cellphone. But, he doesn’t answer. She is becoming increasingly distraught, and I’m worried she’s going to panic.

Me: If you’ll calm down, I can prove to you that there’s nothing illegal on my computer.
Her: Listen to me. How much did you pay for your Linux system?
Me: Nothing. It’s free and open source.
Her: Exactly! Do you honestly believe that any legitimate system would be available for free?
Me: Have you ever heard of the open source community, or open source software?
Her: Yeah, my son mentioned it… He said it’s like a cyber-community of hackers all over the world. They share virus programs and illegal software.
Me: Your son is seriously misinformed. They write, fix, and improve on software and redistribute it to make it better and help others.
Her: That’s ridiculous! How would they make money?
Me: Same as you and I–Go to work.
Her: Not to mention, giving away software is illegal!
Me: No, giving away proprietary software is illegal. Free and open source software is software that people have written and decided to give away, and allow people to change and improve on.
Her: Don’t lie to me. Do you really believe that?
Me: Well, it’s true.
Her: Are you dumb? You think people just have the time to write programs without any monetary gain?
Me: Well, yeah.
Her: I want you to leave. I need to figure out what to do about this. I don’t want to report you to the authorities, but I will not take the fall for this. If I’m going to be arrested, I’m telling them the truth.

We exchanged a few more words, but I was getting so pissed at that point that I don’t really remember what was said. It was not friendly. But I left, and I haven’t heard anything since.

I understand not knowing about Linux and maybe thinking that it’s illegal. But refusing to accept any other possibility… Calling be a liar… Calling me dumb… It really grinds my gears!

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The lady probably believes everything the establishment dishes out.

Ubuntu teams with IBM, maker of Nazi death computers

Recall how IBM and Canonical launched the Ubuntu IBM Client for Smart Work Linux desktop in Africa? Wish you could get one in the States? Wish no longer, as the two companies are introducing an Ubuntu-based Linux-based desktop package for arrival in 2010.

The IBM Client for Smart Work with Ubuntu is being built on top of Ubuntu 9.10. For applications, it uses IBM’s OCCS (Open Collaboration Client Solution software), which includes both Lotus Symphony (IBM’s take on OpenOffice) and Lotus Notes for e-mail and groupware.

You’ll be able to run the Ubuntu-powered IBM Client both as a traditional desktop operating system and as a virtualized desktop. If you elect to go the virtual route, the IBM Client can run off either a cloud or servers using Virtual Bridges’ VERDE (Virtual Enterprise Remote Desktop Environment) software.

VERDE is a Linux-based VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) server service. The company claims that VERDE can support up to a million user sessions per cluster on up to 10,000 servers. With it, Virtual Bridges says that it can support the Ubuntu desktop on any PC. Besides the usual virtual desktop services, it includes multimedia and sound support and local printing.

It’s this virtual desktop that IBM is pushing. In an IBM statement, Bob Sutor, IBM’s VP of Linux and open source, said that “Instead of positioning the IBM Client as a ‘drop-in’ replacement for the status-quo desktop, IBM is looking to create something better-focused on usability, openness, and security with a path to cloud computing-in market segments that make sense. Linux as the basis of the desktop is a pragmatic choice and gives a nod to the likely future of the desktop as being open and often virtualized.”

Several companies, such as Midas Networks, will be offering the IBM Client as a virtualized desktop based on VERDE. You don’t have to go to a SaaS (software as a service) vendor for the virtualized desktop. Other IBM partners will offer an appliance using Lotus Foundations, Lotus Domino VERDE so a business can run its own virtual desktops in-house.

This is not a consumer Linux desktop, though; it’s meant for business. Specifically, IBM is targeting companies that need an inexpensive alternative to Windows for “collaboration, email, browser-based applications, and straightforward office productivity tasks.”

Some vertical businesses have already embraced this plan. RealtyBargains.com will provide access to real estate property assessment information to its agents with the IBM Client for Smart Work starting in January 2010. “Our partnership with IBM and Canonical will allow us to offer the real estate industry’s best agent workspace,” said Padma Kumar Nair, RealtyBargains.com’s president and CEO, in a statement.

While this far from an attempt to offer a universal Linux desktop replacement for Windows, it is a concerted effort to offer business users an affordable Windows replacement. With Windows 7 Professional Upgrade listing for $199 for Vista users, and XP users facing a situation where buying a new PC is probably their best ‘upgrade’ choice, the Ubuntu-powered IBM Client for Smart Work may well find some customers.

IBM Pricing:

Option A: A Starting Point

$3 LotusLive iNotes per user/month.

E-Mail, calendaring

TOTAL:$ 36 per user per year.

Option B: Add Social software capabilities to Option A

$9.75 LotusLive Connections per user/month

Dashboard, file sharing, personal profile networking, contact management, groups, project management, instant messaging.

TOTAL: $ 153 per user/year.

Option C: A Typical Solution

$74.50 Lotus Notes/iNotes

E-Mail, calendar, todo, contacts), Lotus Sametime entry (Instant messaging, chat, presence awareness), Lotus Quickr entry (file sharing)

TOTAL:$74.50 per user first year; $25.75 per user each additional year for the IBM Lotus software

Option D: Add virtual desktop capabilities

$49 per user first year. $10/user/year for subsequent years.

Supports Windows and Linux guests.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/14953/ibm_canonical_to_launch_ubuntu_desktop_for_business

Corporate shill Obama calls for bailout of corporate media to stifle rise of alternative media

Comment: Once again, Bushbama exposes himself as a corporate shill just like his predecessor George W. Bush. Let’s face it. The corporate media SUCKS. The problem is not the alternative media. The problem is that the corporate media product is SHIT. It’s just like how Microsoft puts out a shoddy operating system and drives people towards rival operating systems such as Mac OS X and Ubuntu. If the bailout of corporate media comes to pass, then mark my words: the next corporate bailout will be a bailout of Microsoft in order to stifle the rise of the free software movement.

Obama: We Need To Bailout Newspapers To Stop New Media Taking Over
President says preserving “mutual understanding” is critical to democracy

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Monday, Sept 21, 2009

President Obama has stated that he is happy to consider bailing out the corporate media, expressing concerns that alternative internet based news outlets will grow in popularity as a result of the downfall of newspapers.

Obama told editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade that preserving the print media is “critical to the health of our democracy”.

“I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding,” Obama said.

He also indicated that readers should be made to pay for online news content in the near future:

“What I hope is that people start understanding if you’re getting your newspaper over the Internet, that’s not free and there’s got to be a way to find a business model that supports that.” he said.

Over the past year, scores of newspapers have gone out of business or shifted to online only output, due to the rise of the alternative media and the resulting loss of ad revenue. Several large newspaper corporations have filed for bankruptcy, including the Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.

Obama said he “would be happy to look at” legislation aimed at providing newspapers tax-breaks if they were to restructure as 50 (c) (3) educational corporations. Democratic Senator Ben Cardin has introduced a bill in this vain titled “The Newspaper Revitalization Act.”

Critics may point out that, far from being “critical” to democracy, a bailed out government subsidized media is the very antithesis of a “free press”.

Government Banking and Government Motors would effectively be joined by the Government Press if bailouts were to be granted.

Bailing out the corporate media would once again constitute rewarding outdated and failing monopolies with more taxpayer dollars, thus punishing innovative forward thinking competition.

Furthermore, there is absolutely no basis for bailing out the newspapers, given that they employ less than one percent of the labor force in the United States.

The dinosaur corporate media is dying because it has proven itself to be almost wholly untrustworthy, acting as an unquestioning mouthpiece for the establishment.

Denouncing all blog based media as unreliable or without context is laughable in the face of the mainstream media’s recent track record.

Obama: We Need To Bailout Newspapers To Stop New Media Taking Over President says preserving “mutual understanding” is critical to democracy

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Steve Watson Infowars.net Monday, Sept 21, 2009