Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Lyon Ditches Microsoft, Embraces Open Source: A Step Towards Digital Sovereignty?

2025-07-05

Driven by concerns over data privacy and digital sovereignty, the French city of Lyon is leading the charge, officially initiating a transition away from Microsoft software. They'll gradually replace Microsoft Office with ONLYOFFICE, Windows with Linux-based operating systems, and launch the Territoire Numérique Ouvert (TNO) open-source collaborative platform. TNO integrates tools like Jitsi, Nextcloud, Zimbra, Chamilo, and Matrix. This initiative, backed by €2 million in funding, is already being used by thousands of employees across several French local governments. Will Lyon's move inspire other European nations to follow suit?

(news.itsfoss.com)

Tech

Linux Kernel Drama: Bcachefs Gets the Axe

2025-06-29

The upcoming Linux kernel 6.17 will drop support for Bcachefs, a COW filesystem, due to escalating tensions between its maintainer, Kent Overstreet, and Linus Torvalds. The conflict stems from disagreements over code submission practices and timing, violating established community rules. A central point of contention was a new 'journal-rewind' feature submitted during the release candidate phase, raising concerns from other developers. Despite Overstreet's arguments about user data integrity, Torvalds ultimately decided to remove Bcachefs entirely, marking a notable event in Linux kernel development history.

(news.itsfoss.com)

Development Developer Conflict

FFmpeg Takes a Dig at Rust's rav1d Decoder: A $20k Performance Bounty Sparks Debate

2025-05-18

FFmpeg, a widely used open-source multimedia framework, recently challenged the performance of rav1d, a Rust-based AV1 decoder, comparing it unfavorably to the C-based dav1d. FFmpeg's comment, "Rust is so good you can get paid $20k to make it as fast as C," sparked a debate about the trade-offs between performance, cost, and memory safety. While Rust gains traction for its memory safety and performance, even endorsed by the White House, its integration into the Linux kernel faces resistance. This controversy highlights the ongoing tension between performance and safety considerations in programming language choices.

(news.itsfoss.com)

Development AV1 decoder

Microsoft Finally Fixes Security Update That Broke Dual-Booting

2025-05-18

Last August, a security update intended to address a GRUB bootloader vulnerability inadvertently broke dual-booting Windows and Linux on Secure Boot-enabled systems. This vulnerability allowed malicious actors to bypass Secure Boot's safety mechanisms. Nine months later, on May 13, 2025, Microsoft quietly released a patch (KB5058385) to fix the issue. The patch mitigates problems by refining how Secure Boot Advanced Targeting (SBAT) interacts with dual-boot systems, preventing legitimate Linux bootloaders from being blocked and avoiding "Security Policy Violation" errors. The fix applies to Windows 11 23H2, 22H2, 21H2; Windows 10 21H2; and Windows Enterprise 2015 LTSB, Windows Server 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012, 2012 R2. The patch is automatically applied via Windows Update.

(news.itsfoss.com)

Development dual-booting

KDE Plasma Drops LTS Releases, Focuses on Extended Bugfix Support

2025-05-04

KDE has announced it's ending long-term support (LTS) releases for Plasma, shifting to extended support for bugfix and feature releases. This decision addresses inconsistencies in community expectations, developer reluctance to maintain older versions, and inconsistent LTS support for Frameworks and Gear apps. Going forward, Plasma will have two feature releases per year, plus an additional bugfix release, aiming for improved stability and a better user experience.

(news.itsfoss.com)

Development Linux Desktop

Lenovo Undercuts Windows Pricing with Linux Laptops

2025-04-27

A Reddit post highlighted that Lenovo is offering laptops pre-installed with Fedora and Ubuntu in the US and Canada for $140 (or CAD $211) less than their Windows counterparts. This sparked discussion about Windows' pricing. While not all Lenovo models offer Linux pre-installation, users can easily filter for them on Lenovo's website. Although Lenovo and Dell offer Linux-based laptops, the selection is limited, and marketing efforts are insufficient, hindering Linux adoption among mainstream consumers.

(news.itsfoss.com)

Tech Laptops

Git @ 20: Linus Torvalds Reflects on its Journey

2025-04-13

To celebrate Git's 20th anniversary, GitHub hosted a Q&A with Linus Torvalds. He recounted Git's origins, born out of necessity to solve the Linux kernel's version control chaos. Developed in just 10 days, the early version quickly evolved into an indispensable tool for software development worldwide. Despite initial difficulties, Git's adoption exploded. Linus admits his personal interest waned after his needs were met, quickly handing maintenance over to Junio Hamano. Today, Git's ubiquity presents new challenges, such as a surge in abandoned projects. Linus' focus remains on the ongoing development of the Linux kernel, with no immediate plans for new projects.

(news.itsfoss.com)

Development