Linux, Open Source, & anti Microsoft news

It was just five years ago that there was an ample dose of skepticism from investors about the viability of open source as a business model. The common thesis was that Red Hat was a snowflake and that no other open-source company would be significant in the software universe.

Microsoft has released a second raft of fixes for Windows 10 following the monthly Patch Tuesday excitement last week. It has also issued some fixes for its latest Windows Insider build.

Windows 7’s five years of extended support will expire on January 14, 2020—exactly one year from today. After this date, security fixes will no longer be freely available for the operating system that’s still widely used.

Microsoft has said that activation errors seen by Windows 7 users should not be chalked up to Tuesday’s patch, but rather were an entirely different cockup. A tweak to the Activation Servers saw happily licensed Windows 7 users suddenly presented with “Windows is not genuine”-type notifications from 10:00 UTC on January 8, surprising BOFHs already dealing with loss of folder sharing for some users thanks to the January update.

This week the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) proposed new rules that would make it easier to patent software. If those rules take effect, it could take us back to the bad old days when it was easy to get broad software patents—and to sue companies that accidentally infringe them.

Microsoft has doubled down on efforts to persuade users to migrate to Windows 10 by breaking Windows 7 networking for some. Windows Server 2008 R2 is also affected.

In the next major release of Windows 10, Microsoft will reserve 7GB of your device’s storage to resolve a Windows 10 bug thrown up by Windows Update not checking whether a PC has enough storage space before launching after big updates.

Microsoft has taken down its latest update for Office 2010 following reports the tweak was causing some versions of Excel to crash.

Linux is everywhere including your car. While some companies, like Tesla, run their own homebrew Linux distros, most rely on Automotive Grade Linux (AGL). AGL is a collaborative cross-industry effort developing an open platform for connected cars with over 140 members.

No, Windows Insiders, that isn’t your New Year’s hangover kicking in. After unveiling Windows Sandbox to much fanfare, Microsoft promptly broke it with a cheeky cumulative update.