Desktop Obsessions, Steam Sacrifices, and LibreOffice Review
We've been reading a lot about the desktop lately and we're not stopping tonight. We have three stories tonight on the desktop. In other news, the kernel repositories beef-up security and Alienware says Steam Machine users will "sacrifice content for the sake of Linux." The new Linux version of Opera is making progress and CNet has a review of LibreOffice 4.3. This and more in tonight's Linux news.
Everybody is obsessed with the desktop lately, including myself. Hank Feinberg ponders the graphical interface at FossForce.com today. He said the idea of "ease of use, speed, capacity, functions, longer battery life, smaller size and portability" goes back to Vern's writings. He makes other interesting points and concludes, 'We are now in a new era where as long as "stuff happens" users don’t care if it is Windows, Apple or Linux.'
Bruce Byfield today rounded-up the most popular Linux desktops and summarized each one's basics, saying, "Desktop environments for Linux are not released ready-made. Behind each is a set of assumptions about what a desktop should be, and how users should interact with them. Increasingly, too, each environment has a history -- some of which are many years old." He looks at Cinnamon, GNOME, KDE, and others. In related news, Aaron Seigo today focused on laptops in his KDE Plasma desktop discussions.
In software news, Matt Hartley yesterday looked at the top Linux productivity applications. He touches on names like Project Hamster, Nitro Tasks, Viber and others that help him be "a more productive person." Konstantin Ryabitsev is reporting (and explaining) at Linux.com that Linux Kernel Git Repositories Add 2-Factor Authentication. Opera 25 for Linux is making progress reports Softpedia.com and CNET.com's Nate Ralph puts LibreOffice 4.3 to the test.
In gaming news today:
* Alienware: Steam Machine owners will "sacrifice content" for the sake of Linux
* Gunpoint Stealth Puzzle Game Has Entered Linux Beta
* Dead Island For Linux Appears Imminent
* Wasteland 2 Gets An Official Release Date
* The Witcher 3 For Linux Remains Officially Unconfirmed
In other news:
* Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 379
* The Linux Setup - Alex J. Reissig, Writer
* Does government finally grok open source?