At its Build developer conference today, Microsoft announced that Ubuntu has arrived in the Windows Store. From a report: The company also revealed that it is working with Fedora and Suse to bring their distributions to the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) in Windows 10. At the conference last year, Microsoft announced plans to bring the Bash shell to Windows. The fruits of that labor was WSL, a compatibility layer for running Linux binary executables (in ELF format) natively on Windows, which arrived with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update released in August 2016. Microsoft also partnered with Canonical to allow Ubuntu tools and utilities to run natively on top of the WSL. By bringing Ubuntu to the Windows Store, the company is now making it even easier for developers to install the tools and run Windows and Linux apps side by side. Working with other Linux firms shows that Microsoft’s deal with Canonical was not a one-time affair, but rather part of a long-term investment in the Linux world. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Visit site:
Ubuntu Arrives in the Windows Store, Suse and Fedora Are Coming To the Windows Subsystem For Linux
“The prestigious FOSS project replacing the entire city’s administration IT with FOSS based systems, is about to be cancelled and decommissioned, ” writes long-time Slashdot reader Qbertino. TechRepublic reports: Politicians at open-source champion Munich will next week vote on whether to abandon Linux and return to Windows by 2021. The city authority, which made headlines for ditching Windows, will discuss proposals to replace the Linux-based OS used across the council with a Windows 10-based client. If the city leaders back the proposition it would be a notable U-turn by the council, which spent years migrating about 15, 000 staff from Windows to LiMux, a custom version of the Ubuntu desktop OS, and only completed the move in 2013… The use of the open-source Thunderbird email client and LibreOffice suite across the council would also be phased out, in favor of using “market standard products” that offer the “highest possible compatibility” with external and internal software… The full council will vote on whether to back the plan next Wednesday. If all SPD and CSU councillors back the proposal put forward by their party officials, then this new proposal will pass, because the two parties hold the majority. The leader of the Munich Green Party says the city will lose “many millions of euros” if the change is implemented. The article also reports that Microsoft moved its German headquarters to Munich last year. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Long time reader BrianFagioli writes: if you love Linux Mint and use it regularly, I have very good news — version 18.1 ‘Serena’ is finally here. There are two desktop environments from which to choose — Cinnamon and Mate. Regardless of which version you choose, please know that it is based on Ubuntu 16.04, which offers long-term support (LTS). In other words, Linux Mint 18.1 will be supported until 2021. Linux Mint 18.1 comes with the updated Cinnamon 3.2 which looks to be wonderful. The Mint team touts a new screensaver/ login screen in the desktop environment, and yeah, it looks good. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
For the third month in a row the share of worldwide desktop computer users running Linux has been above two percent — up from one percent — according to data from web analytics company Net Market Share. From a OMGUbuntu report: We reported back in July that Linux marketshare had passed two percent for the first time, and that figure remains the highest they’ve ever reported for Linux, at 2.33 percent. But the share for September 2016 was almost as good at 2.23 percent. It’s the third consecutive month that Linux marketshare has been above 2 percent. Those of us who use Linux as our primary desktop computing platform can take a degree of pride in these figures. They do show a clear trend towards Linux, rather than away from it. But we should also remember that statistics, numbers and reporting methods vary between analytics companies and that all figures, however positive, remain open to interpretation and debate. Read more of this story at Slashdot.