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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Re 'The Future of Linux' (David)
2. Re: Re 'The Future of Linux' (Marghanita da Cruz)
3. Re: Linux will be unstoppable in 2026 (David)
4. Re: Linux will be unstoppable in 2026 (Kim Holburn)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:44:19 +1100
From: David <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LINK] Re 'The Future of Linux'
Message-ID: <16372228.Emhk5qWAgF@ulysses>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
On Thursday, 8 January 2026 09:16:24 AEDT Tom Worthington wrote:
>> 4. Desktop Linux: Steady Growth, Not Dominance
>
> Works for me. I even did a university degree online, which required Windows
> or Mac, using Linux. It got a little tricky when the statistics course had
> key-by-key instructions for using Microsoft Excel. But I managed to get
> LibreOffice Calc to do the job.
Me too...
But have you noticed a tendency among Help Desk staff and website designers to
assume everyone conducts their life via (1) an app on their Android mobile or
(2) a MS Windows laptop?
For example, A Certain Party was recently advised she had to use Chrome to
change her NSW Opal Card password rather than Firefox, which of course is
nonsense. And I see the new Federal BoM website (cost ~$96M) uses Google
Analytics; users are advised they can download a GA browser extension if they
object, but trusting Google like that seems pretty naieve as I think another
Linker pointed out recently.
Enabling Firefox' Strict Security may have caused the first issue and may stop
data aggregators like Google Analytics, however some websites then break. And
that's exactly why we need Governments at all levels to set some design rules
around website simplicity, security, privacy, and use of ISO standards which
all Agencies are required to follow.
_DavidL_
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2026 14:07:30 +1100
From: Marghanita da Cruz <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LINK] Re 'The Future of Linux'
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
On 1/8/26 13:44, David wrote:
> On Thursday, 8 January 2026 09:16:24 AEDT Tom Worthington wrote:
>>> 4. Desktop Linux: Steady Growth, Not Dominance
>> Works for me. I even did a university degree online, which required Windows
>> or Mac, using Linux. It got a little tricky when the statistics course had
>> key-by-key instructions for using Microsoft Excel. But I managed to get
>> LibreOffice Calc to do the job.
> Me too...
>
> But have you noticed a tendency among Help Desk staff and website designers
> to assume everyone conducts their life via (1) an app on their Android mobile
> or (2) a MS Windows laptop?
>
> For example, A Certain Party was recently advised she had to use Chrome to
> change her NSW Opal Card password rather than Firefox, which of course is
> nonsense. And I see the new Federal BoM website (cost ~$96M) uses Google
> Analytics; users are advised they can download a GA browser extension if they
> object, but trusting Google like that seems pretty naieve as I think another
> Linker pointed out recently.
>
> Enabling Firefox' Strict Security may have caused the first issue and may
> stop data aggregators like Google Analytics, however some websites then
> break. And that's exactly why we need Governments at all levels to set some
> design rules around website simplicity, security, privacy, and use of ISO
> standards which all Agencies are required to follow.
>
> _DavidL_
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
I did ACS Cert pre-Internet and still have unused vhs casette somwhere
and used post before it was called snail mail.
Ofourse JOTA in 1970s, was by short wave radio. Not a football player
but
https://www.girlguides.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Girl-Guides-Join-JOTI.pdf
Marghanita
--
Marghanita da Cruz
Telephone: 0414-869202
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://ramin.com.au
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2026 16:52:25 +1100
From: David <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [LINK] Linux will be unstoppable in 2026
Message-ID: <3232522.KVeVyVuyWN@ulysses>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
On Tuesday, 6 January 2026 09:34:43 AEDT Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
> It would be useful to hear of predictions for 2026. Perhaps allow voting on a
> prediction.
For what it's worth, I think the Western world is past the need for more
processing power in the domestic / office / mobile PC space. One straw in the
cultural wind is surprisingly positive global interest in our Federal
Government's attempt to give parents control over their children's internet use.
Another is increasingly widespread media concern regarding preservation of
personal data, including such basic matters as password integrity and the more
nebulous areas of scam protection, hacking, and legal responsibility for loss.
I wonder whether AI capability in breaking passwords will soon overtake
personal authentication practice?
See for example the ABC Podcast "The guide to taking back control of your
online life" at https://www.abc.net.au/listen/search?query=opt%20out
> PS Circa 1984, I made a boo boo and technically recommended a Northstar PC,
> running CPM, for Corporate use over MSDOS PC.
I remember those days (:-)... That was a good technical call IMO, but sadly,
marketing, ignorance, and the herd instinct usually wins. Hands up all those
who remember that "nobody was ever sacked for buying IBM"?
> PPS Good luck telling kids there was life before the Internet & Google &
> Facebook & maybe even TIK TOK.
Too true, but to be fair, most of us probably have difficulty imagining life
when our own parents were born. It's one thing to understand the historical
account, but I think quite another to _feel_ what it was like then. I suppose
that's one reason we have novelists.
> So, I would like to refine the prediction that PCs are purchased in 2026 with
> optional operating system licenses.
Framework Computers have done that for a while - see
https://frame.work/au/en/about/ I believe they still offer a bare Intel
laptop, one with MS Windows pre-installed, and another with Fedora (I think)
pre-installed; I bought the bare DIY version and installed OpenSuSE myself.
The peripheral interfaces come in plug-in interchangeable modules to the
internal USB-C bus - I have four I use normally and some extras (Ethernet &
HDMI, for example) which can be used if & when required. Handy, too, if the
interface pins are damaged... one doesn't have to throw out the whole device.
_DavidL_
------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2026 17:25:05 +1100
From: Kim Holburn <[email protected]>
To: Link mailing list <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [LINK] Linux will be unstoppable in 2026
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Linux and open source are gearing up for a big year, with desktop growth, Rust,
and security leading the way.
Written by Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Senior Contributing Editor Dec. 29, 2025
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-and-open-source-2026-predictions/
I reckon he misses the elephant in the room.
The way the US government is making US companies do what it wants.? Examples:
the ICC, Venezuela, who knows what else.? Europe and
many governments looking to remove Microsoft operating systems, Office
software, US controlled cloud systems, US controlled
networking systems, US email systems and US payment systems from their offices
and other places in their countries. ?Linux is
currently the only alternative.
Kim
--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
+61 404072753
mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request
------------------------------
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End of Link Digest, Vol 398, Issue 5
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