Dremio CEO: Open Cloud Data Lake Levels on the Rise

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January 30, 2020

Cloud data warehouses are an improvement from the legacy on-premises versions, but they’re still just data warehouses, according to Tomer Shiran, co-founder and CEO of data lake engine company Dremio. Shiran says the cloud crusades will escalate this year, particularly in the realm of modern open cloud data lakes, as big data adoption continues to explode.

The maturation of the technology stack, in addition to more machine learning frameworks entering the mainstream, has both accelerated cloud data lake adoption and sparked an evolution on two fronts: open cloud data lake storage and proprietary cloud data warehouses. “We believe the former will eclipse the latter,” Shiran said.

[Source: SDxCentral]

Open source email client Thunderbird finds a new home

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 30, 2020

If you prefer to access your email through a desktop client, then Thunderbird is one of the better choices. However, the future of the open source tool has been a little rocky in recent years after the Mozilla Corporation decided to stop supporting it.

However, there’s a lot of love for Thunderbird out there, and it’s managed to survive, and even grow thanks to user donations. And now the email client has found a new home. Thunderbird’s Philipp Kewisch says: “As of today, the Thunderbird project will be operating from a new wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, MZLA Technologies Corporation.”

[Source: BetaNews]

Google Makes It Easier To Flash Android Open-Source Project On Phones

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 30, 2020

Flashing the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP) onto devices is now a lot easier thanks to the Android Flash Tool. Deploying the open-source build of Android onto smartphones/tablets has been a chore with various manual steps involved from the command line, but now the Android Flash Tool makes it easy to flash builds produced via the Android Continuous Integration Dashboard onto supported devices. Android Flash Tool makes it much easier for those wanting to run AOSP builds on hardware.

Interestingly, Android Flash Tool is browser-based. This flashing tool makes use of WebUSB in Google Chrome for being able to flash devices solely via the web browser. Currently supported are recent Google Pixel devices and HiKey reference boards.

[Source: Phoronix]

Kali Linux 2020.1 Now Available for Download

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 29, 2020

Kali Linux 2020.1 is now live with a long list of improvements, including the highly-anticipated non-root by default that’s supposed to add an extra layer of security by using a standard unprivileged user. Beginning with this release, if you run the live version of Kali, both the default user and password are “kali.” On the other hand, if you install the distro, you are prompted to create a non-root user with administrative privileges.

[Source: Softpedia]

CBS All Access serves ads, but not content, to Linux users

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 29, 2020

As of this month, the CBS All Access streaming-video platform—home of popular shows including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and now Star Trek: Picard—stopped working on Linux PCs, regardless of the choice of browser. Ten years ago, this would have been just another day in the life of a Linux user, but it’s a little surprising in 2020. We were originally tipped off to the issue by a few irate readers but quickly found it echoed in multiple threads on Reddit, Stack Exchange, and anywhere else you’d expect to find Linux users congregating.

[Source: Ars Technica]

RCE in OpenSMTPD library impacts BSD and Linux distros

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 29, 2020

Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability inside a core email-related library used by many BSD and Linux distributions. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2020-7247, impacts OpenSMTPD, an open-source implementation of the server-side SMTP protocol.

The library is normally included with distros that are designed to operate on servers, allowing the server to handle SMTP-related email messages and traffic. The OpenSMTPD library was initially developed for the OpenBSD operating system, but the library was open-sourced, and its “portable version” has also been incorporated into other OSes, such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, and some Linux distros, such as Debian, Fedora, Alpine Linux, and more.

[Source: ZDNet]

Uncovering Vulnerabilities in Open Source Libraries

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 29, 2020

In recent articles, ForAllSecure has discussed how we were able to use our next-generation fuzzing solution, Mayhem, to discover previously unknown vulnerabilities in several open source projects, including Netflix DIAL reference, Das U-Boot, and more. In this post, we will follow up on a prior article on using Mayhem to analyze stb and MATIO by reviewing three additional vulnerabilities found in another open source library. Prior to detailing these new vulnerabilities, we will examine some of the factors which can help to identify code which is a good candidate for fuzzing.

[Source: Security Boulevard]

Petition asking Microsoft to open-source Windows 7 sails past goal

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 29, 2020

The Free Software Foundation has blown through its self-imposed target of 7,777 signatories in its efforts to persuade Microsoft to make Windows 7 open source.

We noted last week the GNU-gang’s attempt to coax the born-again open-sourcerer formerly known as “The Beast Of Redmond” into making a surprise deposit into GitHub.

The thinking was that since Windows 7 has now come to the end of the road, as far as free security updates are concerned, then perhaps Microsoft might release it as open software?

[Source: The Register]

A Brief History of Open Source Software, Part 2: OSS Licenses and Legalities

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 28, 2020

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the magic of open source software (OSS) is based as much on legal innovation as it is on collaboration. Indeed, the essential innovation that launched free and open source software was not Richard Stallmans GNU Project, but his announcement of a revolutionary new licensing philosophy, and the actual license agreements needed to put that philosophy into effect. Only later did global collaboration among developers explode, riding the wave of Stallman’s licenses, Linus Torvald’s pioneering work in creating the distributed development process, and rapidly increasing telecommunications bandwidth.
[Source: Andy Updegrove]

Like its Windows-noob-stabilisers OS, Zorin’s cloudy Grid tool is Linux desktop management for idiots

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Swapnil Bhartiya

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January 28, 2020

Zorin, which provides a Linux distro designed to look familiar for migrating Windows and Mac users, has announced a subscription-based management tool for Linux desktops.

Six desktop layouts in Zorin include Windows, macOS, Touch, Ubuntu, and Gnome 3, though the full range is only available in the paid-for Ultimate edition (€39 + VAT). But the free Core edition is fully usable, includes the Windows-like desktop, and most of the software in Ultimate can be added manually. The main reason to purchase Ultimate is for installation support and to help finance the Ireland-based project.

[Source: The Register]