• In Operating Systems Market, Microsoft is Going Nowhere Fast

• Fee Shifting (or Patent Trolls Busting) Not the Solution to Patent Problem, Scope of Patenting the Real Issue

• NSA Confirms Remote Computer Bricking by BIOS (or UEFI) as a Real Strategy

• Beyond Trademarks, Intellectual Monopolies at Canonical Raise Questions

• Avoid Activision, Support Valve

• GNU/Linux-Powered and Freedom-Respecting Phones (OpenMoko is Sort of Back)

• The Time for Freedom-Respecting Routers Has Come

• Forget Camera Gimmicks; Google Should Add Legitimate Encryption and Improve Privacy in Android

• Docker: Yet Another Software Deployment Endeavor

• Microsoft’s Anti-Linux/Android Patent (FAT) Collapses in Europe

• IBM and Microsoft Crushed Patent Reform in the United States, Last Resort is SCOTUS Again

• FreeBSD Lost Trust in Hardware Makers, Alleging NSA Tampering

• Xbox Live Shows Even Higher Degree of Microsoft/NSA Collusion

• Microsoft Shows That Corruption Pays Off

• Fedora 20 About a Week Away

• Ubuntu is Not Truly Focused on Desktops Anymore

• EU Commissioner VP Joaquin Almunia Aware of Microsoft’s Anti-Linux By-Proxy Patent Strategy (Nokia), Threatens Antitrust Action

• ‘Secure’ Boot is Not Secure, Time to Abandon It

• Mother Jones Shows That Gates Foundation is a Hypocritical Ploy

• Acacia, Which Has Former Microsoft Managers and Agenda, Apparently No Longer Good for Microsoft
• Richard Stallman Explains ‘Hacking’ to Judge
• IBM and Microsoft: The AstroTurfing for Software Patents Continues
• Learning Who Steve Jobs Really Was

After many years of using traditional desktop environments like Gnome 2 and KDE and XFCE, I recently spent a few months with Ubuntu 13.04. Overall, my experience with the Unity desktop was fairly positive after I tweaked and configured it to my liking. Since then, I’m using a different non-Ubuntu based distribution, so I’m currently using Mate 1.6. Probably the feature that I most miss from Unity is the launcher. Frankly, I’m surprised that the Unity launcher was so useful and intuitive for me, since I have never been particularly fond of keyboard navigation. Although I still don’t use the keyboard much for window management or within the applications, now that I’m back on Mate I find myself really missing the convenience of searching and launching both apps and files from one unified interface with just a few keywords. With the online results all disabled, Unity’s launcher learns from the user’s habits and quickly becomes uncannily accurate at suggesting relevant local files and applications based on a few letters of input. It really did significantly add to my productivity. The only problem is that the Unity desktop environment, apart from its launcher, is not what everyone wants in a desktop. Additionally, despite a few efforts to port it to other distributions with varying degrees of success, Unity continues to be an option almost exclusively for Ubuntu based systems. So, what other options are available for users who want a launcher like Unity’s, but in a different desktop environment and/or distribution? That’s what I set to find out.

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Foundation president Richard Stallman tried to get Stratfor hacker Jeremy Hammond’s judge to only hand down a community service sentence. Hammond, instead, received 10 years in jail today.

Stallman provided VentureBeat with his letter in full, which you can find below.

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Also new: Richard Stallman Speaks About Drone Strikes and More

Dice this week released new data showing that more than half of new tech jobs created in 2013 year-to-date have been filled by women.

We're encouraged to see this trend and believe it will continue. The Linux Foundation is doing what it can to encourage women to contribute to and advance Linux. Our participation in this year's Outreach Program for Women resulted in a variety of important contributions to the Linux kernel by the interns. These interns were also invited to speak at LinuxCon North America and LinuxCon Europe about their experiences. I talked to a variety of attendees who enjoyed the interns' session and learned a lot about getting started in Linux.

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Summary: Recent changes and plans for the future

To longtime readers of Tux Machines there will be no substantial change.

• KDE 4.11.3 Officially Released with Over 120 Bug Fixes
• Open source engine Docker teams up with the Fedora Project
• Floral innuendo: ‘Luxuria Superbia’ turns plants and sex into a game
• Compact box-PCs take Linux to extremes
• Official: Red Hat's healthcare.gov fix is working (Red Hat picked to fix HealthCare.gov)

• KDE and Canonical Conflict over Mir Finally Bursts into the Open
• Major KDE Developer Says Goodbye to Ubuntu
• KDE Developers Continue To Be Frustrated With Canonical
• Linux OS on the rise: Steam Hardware Survey
• Outreach Program for Women Seeks New Linux Kernel Interns
• Upgrading on a budget: Running Linux on a refurbished laptop and docking station
• Ode to Project Ara
• Red Hat Fedora 20 Linux: New Networking, ARM Features
• Make sense of a lot of messy text with TreeLine

• Hinkle: Linux Can Change the World Beyond Technology
• Chromebooks and Chromium OS Experience
• GNOME Settings Daemon 3.10.1 Fixes Memory Leaks
• PCLinuxOS KDE MiniMe and LXDE 2013.10 Review
• US Navy’s most advanced warship is powered by Linux
• Happy Birthday, Ubuntu 4.10
• Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Opens For Development
• Debian 6.0.8 Officially Released
• In Depth Look at Linux’s Archiving and Compression Commands
• Writing a GNOME thumbnailer
• Believe in openSUSE
• Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is coming to Linux with new content
• openSUSE Summit Schedule Ready
• Red Hat is Now Oversold

• Installing and Configuring CentOS
• Dark Matter brings survival horror to PC, Mac and Linux
• Windows 8.1, Linux, Android, and "The Next Big Thing"
• Why system76 always ships the newest ubuntu
• Rogue Legacy out now on Mac, Linux
• S06E34 – Gone With The Ubuntu
• Create custom Linux-based systems regardless of the hardware
• Fully Bugged Little Cells Unveiled
• Fedora Outreach Program for Women Internships
• Bacon: Reflections On Ubuntu 13.10
• SCALE is a first-person puzzler that has you re-sizing the world
• Open hardware and why it is revolutionary
• Microsoft Office fends off open source OpenOffice and LibreOffice
• October 18, 2013 Indie Game Bundle Update