Trinity Updated, Welcoming Microsoft, Munich Backslide
KDE 3 clone Trinity recently updated their desktop software with GCC 6 compatibility. Elsewhere, Munich is thinking of switching their systems back to Windows and Office after switching to Linux and LibreOffice nearly 10 years ago. Some agencies are reporting decreased productivity since the switch. Matt Hartley discussed the advantages for Linux in a partnership with Microsoft and Sam Varghese has been covering SUSE at SUSECon 2016 this week. And AlienBob is back from hiatus with a new Plasma 5 release and plans for a new ISO.
Why oh why is the Linux world so quick to welcome our once mortal enemy into the fold? Matt Hartley today said it basically boils down to "the lines between proprietary and free software are blurring" - at least for those wanting them to blur. I imagine they're still pretty bold to Richard Stallman types. Nevertheless, Hartley said for corporate Linux that line is fairly blurry and, for said corporations, Microsoft's new leaf seems sincere. He also said that Microsoft's desire to use Linux proves we've won world domination as we always said we wanted. In addition, Microsoft lends credibility to companies such as Red Hat, SUSE, or Canonical and cooperation might be the best hedge against future patent litigation.
Michael Larabel today reported on an update from the Trinity Desktop folks. Trinity R14.0.4 is now available for those nostalgic for KDE 3. They've been hammering away over at the Trinity project and I'm ashamed I almost forgot about them. Fortunately, Larabel was watching and reported today that R14.0.4 brings "some notable changes." These include CUPS 2.2, "FFmpeg 3.x support, GCC 6.x compiler support, GStreamer 1.x support, and Rar 5.x support."
Speaking of KDE, Eric "AlienBob" Hameleers is back to creating packages for Slackware with the announcement of KDE 5_16.11. This consists of KDE Frameworks 5.27.0, Plasma 5.8.3 and Applications 16.08.2 with QT 5.7.0 for Slackware 14.2 and -current. Packages are available, but he said he's going to be putting out a new ISO soon and we should keep an eye open for that.
In other news:
* SUSE's enterprise Linux gets a big upgrade
& SUSE still has spirit of a start-up: kernel guru
* Open-source pioneer Munich debates report that suggests abandoning Linux for Windows 10