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We are happy to announce that Linux Mint entered in a joined partnership with Mattel and Microsoft. This partnership will result in Linux Mint being pre-installed  on a new range of computers sold throughout the World and in a number of toys and games distributors.

The partnership will introduce the following changes for our distribution:

  • All included components will be based on Mono. Technologies not using Mono will be rewritten or replaced by Mono alternatives.
  • All present editions will be discontinued. New editions will replace them, namely a “Masters of the Universe Edition” for boys, a “Barbie Edition” for girls, and a generic “Microsoft Professional Edition” for small to medium companies.
  • The default browser will be replaced by an emulation of Internet Explorer.
  • All editions will come without an office suite but with full compatibility with Microsoft Office.
  • Linux Mint won’t be available for download anymore, only through the purchase of one of these computers.
  • The system will protect users against central software sources, such as the getdeb website, APT repositories and the download of .deb formatted files.
  • APT and the .deb compatibility will be replaced with a new software manager including the latest offers from Microsoft. Users will be able to pay online for DLC without having to go to the shop to buy their favorite software.

On behalf of the team, I would like to say that I’m very excited about this. I have no doubt the community will be overjoyed by the news and I can’t wait for you all to finally see Linux Mint near you, in a retail store.

Oh… wait, it’s not going to be called Linux Mint anymore. It’s going to be called…. “April Foo OS” 😉

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* News about Mint

Linux Mint 7 “Gloria” XFCE RC1 released!

Firefox 3.5 available in Gloria and Firefox 3.0.12 also available through mintUpdate (security fixes)

Command line – improvements

We are changing our workflow and will use Launchpad and git –

As Mint grows we need tools to handle the growth (announcement in the blog)

Bugs on Launchpad

Blueprints on Launchpad – Blueprints for Helena

Translations in Launchpad (for Helena)

Code on github – mintUpload (and later perhaps more) is maintained by “emorrp1” – his github

I forgot to mention that we had large scale vandalism in the wiki – we have to lock it down until we can figure out a way to monitor edits

We also had two massive spam attacks in the forum – registered spam bots laying dormant since early May, late April. Can’t do much about it sadly

mintCast episode 19

* News about Linux

Microsoft contributes to the Linux kernel – possibly because of a violation of the GPL licence

Zero day attack code for the Linux kernel (No version used by Mint though – Mint is safe from this)

Gran Canaria Desktop Summit

Shuttleworth about GNOME 3.0 (and Ubuntu will stay brown)

The latest news about the kernel is always found here

* News about Open Source

Launchpad is now open source

* News about IT

Cloning passport card RFIDs in bulk for under $250 (link to Youtube) If you search for Chris Paget and Rfid you’ll fine a bunch of scary examples. And it’s not only passports – you can get a cloning device for less that will clone the rfid used for bus fares

PCs Used in Korean DDoS Attacks May Self Destruct

Microsoft admits new ActiveX zero-day bug

Imageshack Hacked

* Hardware news

* Other news

* Comic of the week

Credit goes to xkcd

* More about Linux Mint

How to donate

Home page

Blog The planet Wiki Forum Twitter Mintcast

* Editors comment

As always – if you find something I’ve missed in the newsletter please tell me – you can post a comment.

Enjoy life

Husse

by ·14 Comments

* News about Mint

The stable release of Mint 7 Gloria has entered the testing phase – if all goes well we are only a few days from release

Language support in Gloria

The RC1 has been reviewed several times alreday – here are some more reviews – this and this and this one in German

mintCast Episode 13 and 14 There is something strange with the links – both say episode 13

Monthly stats – April 2009 This April was the best month ever for Mint

* News about Linux

AMD Releases R600/700 Programming Guide – will it lead to better open source 3D drivers?

Zenwalk Live 6.0 release

Another critical patch from Adobe – also for *nix

The latest news about the kernel is always found here

* News about Open Source

* News about IT

Greece halts Google Street View

Mozilla Prism introduced An application that lets users run web applications directly on their desktop

French Assembly passes ‘three strikes’ HADOPI law (it has now been passed by the senate as well)

File-Sharing in Sweden Decreasing drastically after the Pirate Bay verdict and start of the IPRED directive

US missile defence details bought on eBay

FAA’s Air-Traffic Networks Breached by Hackers

UC Berkeley computers hacked, 160,000 at risk

Heartland breach costs at $12.6M – and counting

‘Hacker’ threatens to expose health data, demands $10M

ZeusTracker and the Nuclear Option – the demise of a botnet

New Wave of “Gumblar” Hacked Sites Installs Google-targeting Malware – Windows only

The European Commission wants software makers held liable for code

* Hardware news

Intel loses chip share to AMD

Intel Fined By European Commission

Netbook runs on AA batteries

‘Echologic’ Linux netbook for Eur 130 in Spain  (link in Spanish)

* Other news

Brain scanning may be used in security checks

* Comic of the week

Credit goes to xkcd

* More about Linux Mint

How to donate

Home page

Blog The planet Wiki Forum Twitter

* Editors comment

As always – if you find something I’ve missed in the newsletter please tell me – you can post a comment.

Enjoy life

Husse