“If you’re not being actively inclusive then you’re being exclusive,” said Swarna Podila at the Diversity Empowerment Summit, a day of talks on increasing diversity, inclusion, and empowerment in the open source community. The event took place at Open Source Summit in Los Angeles and was produced by Angela Brown, VP of Events at The Linux Foundation, who helped me summarize the day’s highlights in this 5-minute video.
As a serial entrepreneur, I already care a great deal about building diverse and inclusive environments. However, the Diversity Empowerment Summit made me realize I honestly didn’t know the half of it. Here are the resources mentioned in the video:
Amy Chen created Ladies Storm Hackathons, a Facebook group dedicated to closing the gender gap in hackathons.
Tameika Reed created Women in Linux, a community supporting women in Linux-centric tech careers.
Emma Irwin and Larissa Shapiro spoke about the research they did at Mozilla and what they found to promote diversity and inclusion in Open Source.
Rupa Dachere created Codechix, dedicated to the education, advocacy, and mentoring of women engineers in industry and academia.
Nicole Huesman & Daniel Izquierdo led us through OpenStack’s Gender Diversity Report, which examines gender diversity and retention within the OpenStack community.
Marina Zhurakhinskaya from Red Hat taught us about Outreachy, which provides 3-month internships for people from groups traditionally underrepresented in tech.
It was an empowering day which left me with a bunch of new tools to help me play a part in creating a more diverse and inclusive tech community.
Concepts such as decentralizing strategy, delegating direction, and fierce transparency in communication are part of the backbone of successful open source projects. In my presentation at Open Source Summit EU in Prague, I will explore how these concepts are not only applicable to volunteer-run organizations but can also help growing corporations avoid some of the coordination overhead that often comes with growing teams and organizations.
We’ll look at some of the key aspects of how project members collaborate at The Apache Software Foundation (ASF). After that, we’ll take a closer look at German FinTech company Europace AG, which decided to move toward self-organization two years ago. We’ll highlight parallels between Europace AG’s organizing approaches and those of open source projects.
Let’s start with some of the core values of ASF projects.
Community over Code
One main principle is the concept of “community over code” — which means that without a diverse and healthy team of contributors to a project, there is no project. It puts the team front and center, as highlighted in the Apache project maturity model.
In January of 2015, the Open vSwitch (OVS) team announced they planned to start a new project within OVS called OVN (Open Virtual Network). The timing could not have been better for me as I was looking around for a new project. I dove in with a goal of figuring out whether OVN could be a promising next generation of Open vSwitch integration for OpenStack and have been contributing to it ever since.
OVN has now had multiple releases. As a community we have also built integration with OpenStack, Docker, and Kubernetes.
OVN is a system to support virtual network abstraction. OVN complements the existing capabilities of OVS to add native support for virtual network abstractions, such as virtual L2 and L3 overlays and security groups. A recent videoexplains more about the inner workings of OVN.
The Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger project, which is focused on open source blockchain technology, divides its work into five sub projects. Hyperledger Executive Director Brian Behlendorf said Hyperledger’s technical steering committee must approve each new sub project, and it’s looking for projects that “represent different thinking.”
The first five projects are: Fabric, Sawtooth, Indy, Burrow, and Iroha.
“Every one of these projects started life outside of Hyperledger, first, by a team that had certain use cases in mind,” said Behlendorf. Each project must bring something unique to the open source group, and its technology must be applicable to other companies.
Fabric
Fabric is Hyperledger’s most active project to date. The Fabric 1.0 release was issued in July. IBM initiated the Fabric project. It’s intended as a foundation for developing blockchain distributed ledger applications with a modular architecture. It allows components, such as consensus and membership services, to be plug-and-play.
Linux server administrators will want to patch their systems as soon as possible.
Sometimes old fixed bugs come back to bite us. That’s the case with CVE-2017-1000253, a Local Privilege Escalation Linux kernel bug. … The problem is that the bug lived on in long-term support (LTS) versions of Linux, which are often used in server Linux distributions.
If you’re running an up-to-date Linux desktop, you have nothing to worry about. These use modern kernels rather than LTS kernels.
Your work as an open leader will be more transparent when you apply this decision-making technique..
One of the most powerful ways to make your work as a leader more transparent is to take an existing process, open it up for feedback from your team, and then change the process to account for this feedback. The following exercise makes transparency more tangible, and it helps develop the “muscle memory” needed for continually evaluating and adjusting your work with transparency in mind.
I would argue that you can undertake this activity this with any process—even processes that might seem “off limits,” like the promotion or salary adjustment processes.
Opening up processes and making them more transparent builds your credibility and enhances trust with team members.
If there is one flavor of Linux that is best suited to help users transition from their current platform to Linux, I would have to go with ZorinOS. This conclusion might surprise a good number of Linux faithful. Why? Unlike most of the distributions claiming to hold sway of the “universal use,” ZorinOS doesn’t opt for the standard fare. Instead, ZorinOS offers its own desktop (aptly called Zorin Desktop). And, this pretty remarkable interface makes ZorinOS a great choice for new users, old users, and everything in-between.
Why? Because the Zorin Desktop can be easily reconfigured to look and feel like the desktop you are leaving behind. Is your platform of choice Windows 7 or XP? Zorin OS has you covered. If your prefered desktop is macOS, Unity, or GNOME 2, Zorin Ultimate can take care of you. If your interface of choice has been GNOME 3, Zorin Desktop can do that as well. Zorin Desktop is a veritable chameleon when it comes to change. With the Zorin Desktop, you can easily switch from a Windows 7/XP, macOS, Unity, or GNOME 2/3 interface — without having to install a single third-party piece of software.
It’s that Windows 7-like appearance that should attract new users. ZorinOS does one of the best jobs of mimicking Windows 7, than any other Linux desktop. So if you miss Windows 7, ZorinOS might be your next platform.
Let’s look at what Zorin OS offers that might make you want to flip the switch and finally either migrate to Linux or switch distributions.
The versions
It’s important to note that Zorin OS 12 is a complete rebuild from previous versions. Because of this, there may be bugs. Upon installation of Zorin OS Core, I’ve yet to experience a bug, but as with any major release, they will occur.
Zorin OS comes in three different flavors: Ultimate, Core, and Lite. Which version you select will depend on your hardware, how much software you want preinstalled, which desktop you want, and whether or not you require support.
The Lite Version
The Lite version is free and is streamlined to work on older, less-powered hardware. Zorin claims their Lite version will run hardware up to 14 years old. This version includes a lite version of the Zorin Desktop, LibreOffice, PlayOnLinux (via Wine), and the standard collection of Linux tools (e.g., terminal window, settings, multimedia viewer, etc.). With the Lite version, the developers moved away from the previous base LXDE environment and opted for a base of Xfce. This change allows the Zorin Lite desktop to better resemble the more powerful/flexible desktops of Core and Ultimate. That means that one thing missing from the Lite version is the ability easily switch between desktop layouts. So, if you’re looking for the ability to switch desktops, Lite might not be what you want.
Step up to the Core version, and you get the real ZorinOS experience. Out of the box, Zorin Desktop (based on GNOME) is set up to resemble Windows 7 (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The default ZorinOS desktop.
Want to switch to a different type of Windows look (one that more closely resembles Windows XP) or even a standard GNOME desktop? Click on the Z menu (in the left corner of the desktop) and then click Settings. From within the Settings window, click Zorin Appearance. In the resulting window (Figure 2), you can configure your desktop to perfectly suit your needs.
Figure 2: The Zorin Desktop Appearance tool in action.
Along with the ability to theme the desktop, the Core version offers a more suitable platform for getting your work done. You will still find LibreOffice (as in the Lite version), as well as the standard tools that come along with the GNOME desktop, the GIMP image editor, Pitivi video editor, Samba (with included file manager integration), Geary email client, Empathy messaging app, Chromium web browser, and more.
Speaking of web browser, Zorin includes a tool that every Linux distribution should have: the Zorin Web Browser Manager. With this app, users can easily install Firefox, Midori, or Epiphany. At one point, this tool also included Chrome, but it seems that is no more. You can click on the Z menu, go to Internet, and then click Zorin Web Browser Manager to easily install your browser of choice (Figure 3).
Figure 3: If you don’t like the default web browser, you can quickly install something different.
As I mentioned earlier, ZorinOS 12 (the latest release being 12.2) is a complete rewrite from previous versions. ZorinOS 11 also offered users the ability to switch to other styles of desktops, but it depended upon Avant Window Navigator (AWN) to do so. AWN is a dock-like bar that can be configured, in both form and function, to behave exactly as you like it. With ZorinOS 12, AWN is no more. From what I’ve seen so far, that choice has paid off in spades.
Although the ZorinOS 12.2 dock isn’t nearly as configurable as it was in the 11th iteration, it’s much more stable. I remember, in previous iterations of the Zorin Desktop, when you switched from one style to another, the desktop could come to a crashing halt in doing so. Now, the switch is smooth as butter, and it’s dependable. This is all thanks to the GNOME base (which is one the single most stable desktops on the market). Speaking of GNOME… regardless of which style of desktop you choose, you have access to the GNOME Activities Overview. This is a great addition for those that multitask and use virtual desktops. How you get to the Activities overview will depend upon which style of desktop you are using. If you’re working on either the Windows 7 or XP styles, click on the Z button and then click Activities Overview to open the tool (Figure 4). If you’re using the straight-up GNOME interface, just click the Activities button at the top left corner of the desktop.
Figure 4: The GNOME Activities overview as seen from the Windows 7 style Zorin Desktop.
The PlayOnLinux inclusion should not be overlooked. Considering that ZorinOS is aimed primarily at users hoping to migrate from Windows, having the ability to easily install Windows applications is a serious bonus. Open up the tool, click Install a Program, select a category, find the software you want to install (Figure 5), and click Install. It’s that easy. Do note that many of the software titles, found in PlayOnLinux, require installation media (be it from a physical media or a download file).
Figure 5: PlayOnLinux offers the ability to install plenty of games and other types of Windows-specific software.
The inclusion of PlayOnLinux also makes Zorin OS a much more flexible platform. Developers, designers, artists — users of nearly every ilk — will have more tools at their disposal.
The Core version can be downloaded for a donation of 5, 10, or 25 Euros, or a custom donation, from the ZorinOS Download page.
The Ultimate Version
If you’re looking for a version of Zorin OS that packs everything (even the kitchen sink), Zorin OS Ultimate is what you want. This version includes everything from Zorin OS Core and adds the following:
MIXXX DJ Software
Blender 3D Suite
LMMS Music producer
KDEnlive Video Editor
MyPaint
Ardour Audio Workstation
Audacity Sound Editor
Inkscape Vector Editor
Builder IDE
Over 20 games
Added MacOS, GNOME 3, and Unity desktop layouts
Video wallpapers
Zorin Support (directly from the team of Zorin developers)
Understand that many of the above included software titles can be installed on the Core version (for free). The only thing you won’t find are the optional desktops, the video wallpaper, and the support — for those you must pay up for the Ultimate edition. All of the above can be had for a mere 19 Euros. For business users, that added support option will be key. From a user perspective, having the MacOS, Unity, and GNOME 2.x interfaces could be a real deal maker.
Windows, macOS, and GNOME users unite
No matter your desktop of choice, chances are you will feel right at home on the Zorin Desktop. With the latest release, ZorinOS has done a remarkable job of taking something that was already impressive and made it more stable, more usable, and more accessible than ever. If you’re a Windows 7 user, dreading having to migrate to Windows 10, you no longer have to sweat that change. Adopt ZorinOS 12 and keep working as you’ve done for years.
Learn more about Linux through the free “Introduction to Linux” course from The Linux Foundation and edX.
Yesterday at Linaro Connect, Project Treble’s lead engineer Iliyan Malchev announced that Greg Kroah-Hartman, the current maintainer of the LTS kernels for the Linux Foundation, has agreed to extend the support period for LTS kernels from 2 years to 6 years. And this isn’t some far of in the future idea, the new Extended LTS (ELTS or XLTS) will start with Linux kernel 4.4.
This is a great change for everybody in the Linux community as it will not only apply to Android but to Linux on the desktop and more importantly to Linux servers. It will be interesting to see what companies like Ubuntu and Red Hat now do with the LTS versions of their distributions.
This week in Linux and open source news, the Open Community Conference at Open Source Summit NA earlier this month provided useful ways to build open communities within an existing company, and more! read on to stay in the open source know.
1) Jono Bacon chaired the Open Community Conference at Open Source Summit North America. This list shares community management takeaways from one of his talks.
2) Change Healthcare CEO Neil de Crescenzo stated that the company is working together with both customers and organizations, such as the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Project, to [increase] access to blockchain technology.
3) Dan Cauchy of AGL shares how The Linux Foundation community is building an open source platform so that can serve as the de facto industry standard.
In a talk in the refereed track of the 2017 Linux Plumbers Conference, Alexandre Courouble presented the email2git tool that links kernel commits to their review discussion on the mailing lists. Email2git is a plugin for cregit, which implements token-level history for a Git repository; we covered a talk on cregit just over one year ago. Email2git combines cregit with Patchwork to link the commit to a patch and its discussion threads from any of the mailing lists that are scanned by patchwork.kernel.org. The result is a way to easily find the discussion that led to a piece of code—or even just a token—changing in the kernel source tree.
Courouble began with a short demo of the tool. It can be accessed by typing (or pasting) in a commit ID on this web page, which brings up a list of postings of the patch to various mailing lists; following those links shows the thread where it was posted (and, often, discussed). Another way to get there is to use cregit; navigating to a particular file then clicking on a token will bring up a similar list that relates to the patch where the symbol was changed. Note that the Patchwork data only goes back to 2009, so commits before that time will not produce any results.
