Tag Archives: open source
Chrome helps Linux pt. 2: Cloud Graphics
Posted on 25. Aug, 2011 by Julian West. 
0 Comments
With Chrome, Google has been at the forefront of enhancing the capabilities of the browser and enhancing the powers of the browser. One of these areas is GPU Accelerated Drawing. Traditionally, the CPU was the only computer hardware which was utilized to render graphics in a browser, which resulted in limitations with regard to the browser’s graphics rendering. With GPU Accelerated Drawing, however, the browser is utilizing the thin client’s GPU in rendering browser graphics, greatly boasting the browser’s rendering power.
Such advances in browser technology also has benefits for Linux.
Linux doesn’t have the best reputation with regards to graphics, mainly due to the fact that that not all hardware manufacturers make Linux compatible drivers for their graphics cards and it can take considerable time before open-source drivers for those graphics cards are available. Due to its cross platform nature, OpenGL ES is a clear path for Linux to obtain video support from major chip makers and sidestep these driver issues since OpenGL standardizes the rendering API for the browser regardless of the platform. GPU Accelerated Drawing will eventually enable the browser’s graphics performance to be at a level expected from today’s demanding users.
WebGL has a ways to go before it can compete with the video performance your traditional legacy system offers; the technology still is in its beginning stages. I tried GPU Acceleration in “about:flags” on my Cr-48, and it actually slowed down the graphics performance. I tested on the Asteroids HTML5 Canvas 2D Rendering and JavaScript Benchmark experiment, and it went from a benchmark score of initially 417, when the GPU Acceleration flag was disabled to 183 when GPU Acceleration was enabled. I’m not the only one who experienced the slow down.
I remain optimistic however. WebGL technology and the like are sure to advance due to the superior development process of Open Source. It’s just a matter of time. Consider the below statement from Linus Torvalds:
“[Open Source] is superior because it’s a lot more fun and because it makes cooperation much easier (no silly NDA’s or artificial barriers to innovation like in a proprietary setting), and I think Open Source is the right thing to do the same way I believe science is better than alchemy. Like science, Open Source allows people to build on a solid base of previous knowledge, without some silly hiding. [Y]ou can obviously never do as well in a closed environment as you can with open scientific methods.”
In a ZDnet article dated June 26, 2008, an exec from the Linux Foundation is quoted as saying “The future of cloud computing and Web 2.0 application development will be built on Linux and open source.” Consider how far cloud computing has come since then. Today, we can even play Angry Birds in the browser!
What are your views on Linux, Chrome, and the advances of cloud computing? Are you optimistic?
Has Google Overtaken Oracle As The Open Source King?
Posted on 26. Jul, 2011 by Nicholas Greene. 1 Comments
Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystem gave it a reputation as the world’s largest Open Source company. Yeah, that didn’t last- Oracle quickly demonstrated that it had absolutely no love for anything open source, killing or distancing itself from a wide range of its old (or acquired) projects. And let’s not even touch what they’ve done with Java- their lawsuit against Google honestly seems like a blatant cash grab from my end, and given that Java’s supposedly open source code…yeah. I’m not exactly certain what it is they’re hoping to accomplish with that.
Oracle’s blunders aren’t the topic of this article. Not exactly.
Recently, Swapnil Bhartiya of Muktware posted a very interesting article detailing how Google has very likely replaced Oracle as the master of open source on the internet. Bhartiya cited several reasons why they believed this to be the case:
* Google owns Android, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system.
* Google develops Google Chrome, the world’s fastest and most popular (after Firefox) open source browser.
* Google develops ChromeOS, an open source cloud-based operating system built on top of Gentoo Linux.
* Google has open sourced the components – WebM and WebP – which can become the foundation of image and video on the Internet (yes a lot of work is yet to be done).
* Google just open sourced WebRTC.
* Not to forget, Google also runs the world’s largest hacking/developers event for the promotion of open source — Google Summer of Code.
Despite, its core technologies being proprietary, Google has done more than enough for the Free Software community, it has always paid heed to the call of community and did what was needed — open sourced VP8 when the Free Software Foundation made a call to release the technology as a free software technology.
Now, I’m noticing a few problems with this analysis. While Android does have a very large, thriving open source community, Google has on several occasions demonstrated they don’t necessarily bear that community any love (Netflix, anyone?). Then again, all of the other items on the list certainly do paint Google as something of a champion where open source software is concerned- though I’m noticing that the list seems to be missing one very vital, very important item: Chromium. Nowhere has Google demonstrated its capability at open coding more than with The Chromium Project. See, as you folks know, while Chrome is certainly developed with Linux as a base, it’s not exactly available to the general public. Hence why Google started up Chromium- giving tech geeks everywhere an entire cloud-based operating system to tinker with to their hearts content.
Google, the King of Open Source. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? In any case, they’ve certainly done more for the movement than many others- including software giants Microsoft and Apple, two of their chief competitors in the industry.
Will People Actually Want to Move Away From Windows?
Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Maybe Windows is horrible, or could just be enough for people to get by. ITPro’s Simon Brew has an article talking about alternatives to using the Windows operating system. Of course, there are open source alternatives in Linux and Chrome OS was brought up, but the main question brought to mind is this: are users actually going to want to switch from Windows?
On example of this is the fact that Microsoft is still trying to get users off of Windows XP, which debuted in 2001. If a user does get off of XP, their alternative now is going to be to start using Windows 7 which to some people may not be any different than the classic XP. It starts to make one wonder how much market share Google can really take from Windows, especially since probably the only ones buying a Chrome OS system will be those who are actually seeking out the device.
So, with that logic, maybe those who actively hate Windows will go out and look for a Google alternative when it arrives, but the fact of the matter is that Microsoft holds a dominating ninety percent share of a profitable market, and they are not going to lose out very quickly to upstart operating systems.
An example of Microsoft’s stronghold is that somehow, Internet Explorer, known to be an inferior browser through technical tests, still commands a sixty percent share across its three versions. Anyone can download one of the better alternatives, but either they don’t know they can or can do what they need to with a Microsoft product. And that’s the problem.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/23/10
Posted on 23. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
In response to the Chrome Web App Store, Mozilla has announced on its blog an initiative for an Open Web App Store.
Here is the FTC’s official statement on their decision to let the Google-AdMob deal go ahead.
GNU founder and open source maven Richard Stallman talks to Mashable about how open Google really is these days.
PCWorld looks at how Google’s search engine results have helped hackers get their software on unsuspecting users’ computers.
Amazon has been quietly successful in the cloud computing market, but should they now be concerned about Google?
How to Get Chromium Browser Port on Nokia N900
Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Now, this is what i like to see.
For anyone with some time and perserverance, you can put an open source browser on a mobile phone. Sure, it may not work perfectly, but its a start. That’s why when someone puts Chromium on a Nokia N900 phone – which is running the open source Linux-based Debian operating system, you’ve got to put the instructions up, right?
These points are included in the readme:
- This package doesn’t work with app manager – you have to install them using dpkg in console
- Chromium should work with libxss from extras-devel repo or libxss from here
- Note: If you use extras-devel repo version you will have to use some –force when installing chromium
Installing Through X-terminal in N900:
- Download these files to root directory in Nokia N900 then
- Type root
- type cd /home/user/MyDocs/ dpkg -i name-of-the-lib-file.deb
- dpkg -i name-of-the-chromefile.deb
Source: Maemo Arena
Yandex Creates its Own Chrome Browser
Posted on 05. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
If you have never heard of Yandex outside of Russia, it would not be a surprise. However, it is the most popular search engine in Russia and prior to the global financial meltdown, they had been planning to have a blockbuster IPO in the United States on the Nasdaq exchange. Although the current search statistics for Russia is hard to find, Crunchbase reports that Yandex had a 55% share in 2008. According to Alexa, Yandex is currently ranked as the number 26 site in the world.
Yandex has its own mail service, financial portal and advertising model. So it’s no surprise that they have their own browser. And not just any browser. They have decided that Google’s strategy is such a smart one that they have taken a version of the Chrome browser and made it their own.
The “Chrome for Yandex” browser is based off of the Chromium open source build and has the Yandex search page as the home default, as well as other Yandex service such as mail, maps and shopping set as bookmarks. Not a bad idea for a company that competes with Google on its home turf. Why not take a browser that is open source, add in some customizations and allow users to download it?
We’ve seen a few custom Chromium browser builds such as the security focused Comodo browser, but this is probably the smartest commercial iteration yet available. There will surely be more, and it will be exciting to see what creative developers will be able to do with the Chromium builds that are readily available to be tweaked.
Get your Yandex Chrome browser at http://chrome.yandex.ru/.
