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Human evolution presents a puzzle. Nothing seems to explain the sudden takeoff of the last 45,000 years-the conversion of just another rare predatory ape into a planet dominator with rapidly progressing technologies. Once "progress" started to produce new tools, different ways of life and burgeoning populations, it accelerated all over the world, culminating in agriculture, cities, literacy and all the rest. Yet all the ingredients of human success-tool making, big brains, culture, fire, even language-seem to have been in place half a million years before and nothing happened. Tools were made to the same monotonous design for hundreds of thousands of years and the ecological impact of people was minimal. Then suddenly-bang!-culture exploded, starting in Africa. Why then, why there?

"I've been a desktop Linux user for seventeen years. For eight of those years, I haven't had a copy of Windows installed on any machine in the house."

"I've been a desktop Linux user for seventeen years. For eight of those years, I haven't had a copy of Windows installed on any machine in the house."

"Indictment comes five years after mysterious breach of the Linux repository. Dan Goodin (US) - Sep 3, 2016 10:43 am UTC"

"Indictment comes five years after mysterious breach of the Linux repository. Dan Goodin (US) - Sep 3, 2016 10:43 am UTC"

"I came back from OSCON this year with a new fire to contribute to an open source project. I've been involved in open source for years, but lately I've been more of an enthusiast-evangelist than a hands-on-contributor to an open source community. "

"I came back from OSCON this year with a new fire to contribute to an open source project. I've been involved in open source for years, but lately I've been more of an enthusiast-evangelist than a hands-on-contributor to an open source community. "

"Each year, my favorite open source software survey asks "Where is the future of open source taking us?" I like to try to think far into the future. Not next year or the next five, but where can the horizon of open source and its unique mix of collaborative ideals and communal practices take us?"

"Each year, my favorite open source software survey asks "Where is the future of open source taking us?" I like to try to think far into the future. Not next year or the next five, but where can the horizon of open source and its unique mix of collaborative ideals and communal practices take us?"

"by Georgia Young - Published on Aug 11, 2016 03:58 PM The Free Software Foundation has been fighting for user freedom for more than thirty years with your support. FY2015 Annual Report cover - Software should be free as in freedom Now we are publishing our first Annual Report, which covers the 2015 fiscal year of October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015. The report offers a look at the Foundation's activities, accomplishments, and financial picture. You will also read about the impact of our programs and FY2015's major events, including LibrePlanet and our thirtieth anniversary. A high resolution version is also available."

"For years, I've wanted to learn Vim, now my preferred Linux text editor and a favorite open source tool among developers and system administrators. And when I say learn, I mean really learn. Master is probably too strong a word, but I'd settle for advanced proficiency. For most of my years using Linux, my skillset included the ability to open a file, use the arrow keys to navigate up and down, switch into insert mode, change some text, save, and exit."

" By Ernesto on July 6, 2016 C: 82 News The UK Government's Digital Economy Bill, which is set to revamp current copyright legislation, has been introduced in Parliament. One of the most controversial changes is the increased maximum sentences for online copyright infringement. Despite public protest, the bill increased the maximum prison term five-fold, from two to ten years."

" Public support for the huge Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks, which have been running for nearly three years now, has plummeted. A new study from the Bertelsmann Foundation, the largest private non-profit foundation in Germany, suggests that both the German and US publics are much more sceptical about its promised benefits than they were two years ago. ..."

"by Monica Thunder on March 26, 2015 Combine the number of overdose deaths caused by heroin and cocaine, and you still haven't matched the number of deaths caused by pharmaceutical prescription medications each year in the United States. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, pharmaceutical abuse was responsible for about 23,000 deaths in 2013 - that's more than half of the overdose deaths in the U.S. that year."

"Michel Bauwens 25th January 2015 Our book of the year is Humanizing the Economy by John Restakis. See why below.. I can truthfully say it's one of the most important books I have read in the last ten years."

"Posted by Gary Newell | at 20:51 3 comments Introduction For the past couple of years I have been producing analysis guides for the top 10 Linux distributions as listed on Distrowatch. Click here for the guide for 2013 Click here for the guide for 2014 The point of this article is to look at the top 10 Linux distributions as listed on Distrowatch for the year 2015 and analyse their suitability for the average Joe. The criteria for an Everyday Linux distribution is as follows: Must be relatively easy to install Must have an intuitive desktop environment Must be easy to use Must have a standard set of applications pre-installed (i.e. web browser, audio player, media player) Must have a decent package manager in order to install further software Must be ready to use from the get go"

"Each year, I reflect on Opensource.com's top government stories of the year. I look for trends among our most popular stories. Stories about new tools and applications generally top the list, as well as, case studies detailing how governments are implementing those tools."

[ by Zak Rogoff - Published on Jan 08, 2016 08:01 PM 2015 was the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) thirtieth year defending and advancing computer users' rights. The free software community has sustained the Foundation throughout these decades and been deeply involved in our work. We continue to rely on the expertise of the free software movement to inform our initiatives and strategies. Taking the first step into our next thirty years, we want to hear your feedback, your suggestions, and your vision for the future of the FSF. Fill out the survey now!]

"For many years, open source software seemingly lay at the fringe of the tech industry. A subculture that many didn't understand and that seemingly threatened the broader industry. It is amazing how much has changed. Today, open source software, especially Linux, is so pervasive that you probably interact with it every day. From supercomputers to GoPros and nearly every data center in the world, open source software is the default platform."

"For many years, open source software seemingly lay at the fringe of the tech industry. A subculture that many didn't understand and that seemingly threatened the broader industry. It is amazing how much has changed. Today, open source software, especially Linux, is so pervasive that you probably interact with it every day. From supercomputers to GoPros and nearly every data center in the world, open source software is the default platform."

| Eric McNulty at Cultivate OSCON | One of the most powerful tools you have as a leader is to be present." Eric McNulty opened up the first day of Cultivate this year, the annual pre-conference event before OSCON, with this quote. First, he asked the audience to think about the whys."

| Eric McNulty at Cultivate OSCON | One of the most powerful tools you have as a leader is to be present." Eric McNulty opened up the first day of Cultivate this year, the annual pre-conference event before OSCON, with this quote. First, he asked the audience to think about the whys."

"As 2015 draws to a close, it is time to share a list of the best 20 Free and Open Source Software I found during this year. Some of these programs may not be new in that they weren't released for the first time in 2015, but they are new and have been helpful to me. It is in the spirit of sharing that I'm writing this article hoping you find some of these programs useful as well."

A recap of the June 2 #OpenOrgChat What's the most difficult lesson to learn about open culture? Posted 06 Jun 2016 by The Open Organization June 2 marked the one-year anniversary of Jim Whitehurst's book, The Open Organization, which explores the ways open source principles are changing the future of management. The open organization community at Opensource.com celebrated in style with a live (and lively!) chat on Twitter. Check out the highlights below-and get set for the next chat. ...

Dániel Szőke July 6, 2016 Lifestyle | Values, Topics Consider this: in just a few short years, the open-source encyclopedia Wikipedia has made closed-source encyclopedias obsolete - both the hard-bound kind and the CD-ROM or commercial online kind. Goodbye World Book and Brittanica.

Dániel Szőke July 6, 2016 Lifestyle | Values, Topics Consider this: in just a few short years, the open-source encyclopedia Wikipedia has made closed-source encyclopedias obsolete - both the hard-bound kind and the CD-ROM or commercial online kind. Goodbye World Book and Brittanica.

"After the Paris attacks late last year, we noted that it was clear that they were evidence of an intelligence community failure, rather than an "encryption" problem -- which kind of explained why the intelligence community quickly tried to blame encryption. But, as we noted, most of the attackers were already known to the intelligence community and law enforcement -- and there's still little evidence that they used any encryption. "

"After the Paris attacks late last year, we noted that it was clear that they were evidence of an intelligence community failure, rather than an "encryption" problem -- which kind of explained why the intelligence community quickly tried to blame encryption. But, as we noted, most of the attackers were already known to the intelligence community and law enforcement -- and there's still little evidence that they used any encryption. "