Linux has seen more than its fair share of controversy through the years. And, that's not so surprising. For one thing, the operating system flies in the teeth of deeply entrenched multinational companies. The fact that it stands for users instead of vested interests has drawn more than a little ire as well.

A few days ago, security firm Perception Point released the details of a zero-day exploit in the Linux kernel, which has sparked a wave of panic as the report indicated that millions of Android devices are vulnerable.

In December 2015, Mozilla announced that its ambitious new operating system would not be appearing on any new phones, but the project may still live on as a platform for smart TVs and IoT devices.

The Wine team members released version 1.8 of their project this week. The project has been in constant development since 1993 and reached version 1 only in 2008, so new releases are major events.

In June this year, Apple raised more than a few eyebrows at its WWDC conference with an announcement about Swift. Just a year before, Apple had released Swift, a new programming language. It was a big deal--a much simpler language for faster development.

Last week has seen an explosion of e-commerce sites infected with the Linux.Encoder.1 ransomware. For those not familiar with the term, ransomware is a particularly vicious type of malware that aims to extort money from the owners of compromised systems.

Freedom and privacy go hand in hand. In an ideal world, we wouldn't have to worry about who was looking over our shoulders. None of us would have anything to hide, and we would have ulterior motives. As citizens of the real world though, we have to take measures to protect ourselves.

As Cinnamon 2.8 approaches official release later this month, the developers have made the pre-release version available to early adopters. If you are eager to try it, there are two different options. Mint users can install it through the package manager. Otherwise, you can build it from source.

Today, IBM announces the latest of its Power Systems line of high-end servers. These are the Power Systems S812LC, the Power Systems S822LC (for commercial computing) and the high-performance Power Systems S822LC. All of them are custom-built for Linux.

A recent rumor has sparked waves of fear and outrage throughout the Linux community. The word is that Microsoft is in secret negotiations to purchase Canonical, the Ubuntu company.

Vigilante. The word itself conjures up images of a man in a mask, leaping across rooftops as he chases wrongdoers, dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight. In films and on TV, the vigilante is usually the character we support. But would you welcome a vigilante into your home in real life?

Last week, Disney announced its latest project: Linux Light Bulbs. Although it sounds like an adorable animated feature starring our favorite OS, it's actually an exciting new networking technology. Of course, Linux plays a central role.

No one had a busier LinuxCon show than the folks at SUSE. Yet still they were gracious enough, and care enough about the community, to sit down for a talk with Linux Journal.

Through the years, Firefox has enjoyed a reputation as one of the most secure Web browsers on any platform, and it's the default browser for many Linux distros. However, a security exploit appeared this week that has shown users they can't afford to be complacent about security.

Ubuntu has received a lot of flack from the community for some of its commercial projects. Placing Amazon ads in Unity's Dash is a classic example of a poorly planned move that flies in the teeth of the community's ethos. A community built on the concepts of freedom and software that empowers the user (instead of some commercial concern) would never take that well.

Debian and Ubuntu are moving to update all C++ packages with GCC5, which was released in April. GCC stands for Gnu Compiler Collection, and it is used to convert source code to executable code and libraries. These compilers are used to build everything from the Linux kernel to user applications, so it's a far-reaching change.

Although the Linux kernel forms the beating heart of the Android operating system, it's still a very different platform from most distros. In fact, beyond the kernel, most of the libraries, services and applications are completely different. While there are hundreds of different Linux distros out there, they all share components from the GNU project.

In the world of FOSS, a small change to a license can be a big deal. For users of proprietary software, changes in the EULA are hardly even registered. Those users click "Ok" and forget about it in the blink of an eye. They have accepted that they are severely limited as far as their rights to alter or redistribute the software is concerned.

Version 4.1 of the Linux kernel was released this week, and it includes a number of new features in the following areas.

Cinnamon, one the default desktops of Linux Mint (alongside Mate) has recently been updated. Version 2.6 has a boatload of fixes, tweaks and improvements. Here are some of them: