Old Friends and Future Programmers
maddog's Doghouse
To build the future of FOSS, we need to focus on communicating its value – especially to young people.
Recently three things happened: the celebration of my 70th birthday, a Facebook discussion about songs of the mid-1960s, and the response to a birthday wish.
Being 70 years old has various consequences. I do not run up the stairs as quickly as I did when I was 18. I typically go to sleep earlier and get up later. I take a lot of pills to keep alive – not the fun stuff we may have done when we were younger. I start to look around my home and realize that I have to get rid of some of the things that remind me of my younger days, which brings me to the second topic.
Many of the songs of the mid-to-late 1960s were songs of protest, but also songs of hope and love. We protested what we considered needless wars and sang about making the world better – songs by Dylan; Guthrie; Paul Simon; Peter, Paul and Mary (amazing that after all this time searching for "PP&M" comes up with their names); and other artists. Their songs are still there, and more have followed, but I do not hear people singing them as much.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Akamai Will Host kernel.org
The organization dedicated to cloud-based solutions has agreed to host kernel.org to deliver long-term stability for the development team.
-
Linux Kernel 6.14 Released
The latest Linux kernel has arrived with extra Rust support and more.
-
EndeavorOS Mercury Neo Available
A new release from the EndeavorOS team ships with Plasma 6.3 and other goodies.
-
Fedora 42 Beta Has Arrived
The Fedora Project has announced the availability of the first beta release for version 42 of the open-source distribution.
-
Dash to Panel Maintainer Quits
Charles Gagnon has stepped away as maintainer of the popular Dash to Panel Gnome extension.
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.