2019-05-01_Linux_Format

Mozilla launches

Firefox Send

Newfeatureoffersencryptedfile

transfersbetweenusers.

encryption

software routers

icrosofthasbeenmakingsome

welcomeandwell-receivedoverturesto

theopensourcecommunitylately,but

whenannouncingthelatestversionofSkypefor

Web,amonganumberofnewfeaturesMicrosoft

letslipthatitsbrowser-basedversionofSkype

willnolongerofficiallysupportChromeOSor

Linux.Usersofthoseoperatingsystemswhotry

tousethenewSkypeforWebwillnowbefaced

withanerrormessagesayingthattheirdeviceis

notsupported–thoughsomeusersarereporting

successwithChromebrowserorchangingthe

useragenttoWindowsonChromeOS.Thusif

you’reaSkypeuseronLinuxorChromeOS,

you’llneedtousethenativeappinstead.

heEURadioEquipmentDirective

(whichcanbereadathttp://bit.ly/

LXFEURadio)hasaninclusionthat

hasworriedmanypeople,atthisearlystage.

Itrequiresmanufacturersofrouters,andother

devicessendingandreceivingradiosignals,to

placeablockonallowingcustomerstoinstall

softwarethathasnotbecertifiedbythe

originalmanufacturer.

Thiseffectivelymeansanythird-party

developedrouterfirmwaresuchastheLinux-

basedOpenWrt(https://openwrt.org),which

offersadditionalfeaturesandgreatercontrol,

couldnolongerbeinstalled.Worryingly,this

won’tjustbelimitedtopreventingcustomOS

installationsonrouters,butpotentiallyanyother

devicessuchasGPS,smartphonesandmore.

TheFSFEpublishedaJointStatementagainst

RadioLockdownwhichhasbeensignedby

manyorganisationsandbusinessesconcerned

aboutthis.Youcanreadthefullstatementhere:

https://fsfe.org/activities/radiodirective/

statement.en.html

Skype for Web

loses its shine

EU proposal

could kill off

custom firmware

Latestversionofthe

VoIPsoftwareloses

LinuxandChromeOS. EUDirectivewouldoutlaw

installationofuserfirmware.

irefoxhasannouncedthatoneofits

mostpopularTestPilotexperiments,

FirefoxSend,isgettinganofficial

launch.FirefoxSend(https://send.firefox.

com)enablespeopletoquicklyandeasilysend

fileswithend-to-endencryption.Youcandrag

anddropfilesontothewebpageandalinkis

createdthatautomaticallyexpires,sonothing

iskeptonlinepermanently.

Theserviceisfreetouse,andifyousignin

youcansendfilesupto2.5GBinsize.Ithasan

impressivelistoffeatures,enablingyouto

specifywhenthelinktothefileexpires,how

manydownloadsofthefilesareallowed,and

whetherornottoaddanadditionalpassword

forextrasecurity.

Thepeopletowhomyousendthelink

simplyneedtoclickittodownloadthefile–

there’snoneedforthemtohaveaFirefox

accountsetup.AbetaAndroidappisalso

launchingimminently.Youcanfindoutmore

at:http://bit.ly/LXFFirefoxSend.

skypeforweb

isnolonger

available

oncertain

platforms...

opinion

ThestandardIT

supportmodelofyesteryear

was‘waituntilitbreaks’.

Supportdepartmentswere

event-driven,wherean

eventwasausercalling

themtoreportaproblem.

Today,weshould

distinguishbetweenuser

support–helpingsomeone

touseITeffectively–and

systemsupport,wherewe

keepthingsrunning.The

eventsthatdrivesystem

supportshouldcomefrom

amonitoringsystem,not

theusers.Why?Thereare

threereasons.

Firstly,waitingfor

systemstobreakimplies

animpacttothebusiness

beforeyoufixanything.

That’snotacceptable.

Secondly,youruserswon’t

tellyouthattheMySQL

replicationisfivehours

behindthemaster,orthat

theseconddiskinaRAID

sethasfailed.You’llonly

findoutwhenmorethings

break,andyou’llalmost

certainlyhavelostdata.

That’snotacceptable.

Thirdly,it’syourjobtobe

awareofwhat’shapping,to

workproactivelytokeep

thingsworking.

Proactivesupport

improvessystemavailability

anddataintegrity.It’show

wedothingsthesedays.If

yourusershavetoreport

serverproblemstoyou,you

havealreadyfailed.

KeithEdmunds
isTigerComputingLtd’sMD,
whichprovidessupportfor
businessesusingLinux.

event

hOrizOn

f

M

t

firefoxsendisa newsecurewaytotransfer

filesupto2.5Gbinsize.

Image

credit:

Mozilla

Imagecredit:Microsoft

8 LXF249May 2019 http://www.linuxformat.com

Newsdesk