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