gNewSense Reviewed, Thanking Packagers, and Linux Jobs

Today's news search found Bryan Lunduke's review of gNewSense 3.1, the latest from one of the few distributions approved by the Free Software Foundation. Luis Ibanez says we should thank our packagers for keeping our distributions running so smoothly. And Amanda McPherson looked at the job situation for Linux developers and administrators.

gNewSense is a Debian-based distribution striving to produce a 100% free software operating system. Lunduke said it "focuses on including zero non-free software packages. You won't find any binary blobs here." He then said, "Reviewing gNewSense is a rather odd thing. It's sort of like reviewing Ubuntu or Debian from 2010 – just about every package in the gNewSense repositories dates back to that time. That's right. Out of the box you get cutting-edge (*cough* in 2010) software like GNOME 2.30 and OpenOffice 3.2." He concludes that gNewSense developers have at least achieved their stated goal, even if the distro feels especially dated. See his full review at NetworkWorld.com.

opensource.com is running a piece by Luis Ibanez who wants to remind users to thank their local packagers for job well done. He calls them "'magic elves' behind the scenes who work tirelessly to make" installing applications practically foolproof. "As Linux users, it is often easy to forget how much work goes into the creation and maintenance of a Linux distribution," he adds. "The vast majority of Linux packagers are volunteers who dedicate their evenings and weekends to create and maintain the gears of the Linux distributions they love."

Amanda McPherson said that for the first time ever software developer topped the world's best 100 jobs list. She then concludes that "if software developers and SysAdmins are the foundations for the new job economy, then Linux and open source are the brick and mortar." Quoting a Dice.com report, McPherson wrote IT pro's surveyed said they use Linux because "of its pervasiveness in modern day technology infrastructure. Linux developers and SysAdmins are behind" a long list of devices and companies like "Amazon, Facebook, Google, Netflix, IBM, Intel, Samsung and Texas Instruments" need Linux developers and admins.

Bonus: Leaked: Linux’s Look Back Facebook Video.