Mozilla is reducing its workforce by 5%, affecting projects such as Mozilla Monitor Plus, Mozilla VPN, Firefox Relay, and other privacy-focused services. This is to concentrate on Firefox and its mobile app.
The Cosmic Desktop, developed by System76, is nearing its first alpha release. It has completed the screenshot tool, window stacks, on-screen display elements, and other features. It will be shipped in Pop!_OS 22.04, based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
India is planning to ban ProtonMail due to fake bomb threats being sent from the service. ProtonMail has criticized the decision as misguided and inappropriate.
The Servo project, an experimental browser engine developed by Mozilla, is being restarted by the team at Ealia. It will use Rust and aims to bring more diversity to the browser engine space.
The Web Monetization API will be integrated into Chromium, allowing websites to declare that they accept micro-payments from their audience. This could make ad-based internet less relevant.
Ubuntu will gain a new desktop security center, exposing security-related settings in a single app.
Ubuntu 22.04 will have an updated installer, with improved designs and accessibility options.
Gaming news includes:
The Asahi Linux developers have passed another milestone, with support for OpenGL and OpenGL ES which is newer than what Apple offers.
The Manjaro Orange Pi gaming handheld, running Manjaro, will be released in Q2 2024 with a price point of around $400-$500.
Fedora Project has announced a new branch of their distro, Fedora Atomic Desktops, aimed at simplifying discussion around immutable operating systems.
The Linux kernel project is becoming its own CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) to track security issues found in software.
LibreOffice has released a new version, 24.2, with a calendar-based numbering system and over 5000 commits.
Ubuntu Touch is changing its release model and versioning scheme to reduce friction in the development process.
LineageOS 21 has been released, bringing security patches, a new gallery app called Glimpse, and numerous improvements to various applications.
A new proposal has been sent to the Linux kernel project for a sandbox mode for the kernel, aimed at increasing the memory safety of C code within the kernel.
The US Patent Office has stated that AI models cannot hold patents and that a natural person must make significant contributions to an invention to be named as an inventor.
