Greetings from Vermont! In this NixMashup we look at a dark theme coming in Eclipse Luna. Also in Eclipse we’re keeping it clean with Working Sets and Workspaces. In Linux we have an excellent guide to help businesses break the chains of Microsoft Office. We’re reminded of the importance of Grub Control, discover a new site called Why Linux Is Better, and try to muster up some enthusiasm for Trusty Tahr’s borderless windows. In application design there’s an interesting piece on the increasing importance of information dashboards.
Lars Vogel gives us a preview of the new Dark Theme shipping with Eclipse Luna M6. Don’t worry, fellow Light Theme fans (what there are of you), it won’t be the default.
Considering Information Dashboards
This gist of this UX Magazine article is that information dashboards and analytics will become increasingly more important in application design. Use examples include mobile offerings, location-based intelligence, real-time data and predictive analytics.
“Breaking Microsoft’s Chains by Moving to LibreOffice” starts by saying how it’s sometimes important to let go of the past. I would suggest that in most cases businesses continue to buy MS Office out of habit and a lack of knowledge of LibreOffice’s features and compatibility. This piece offers real world advice on how to make the transition.
People seem to be pretty fired-up about the Borderless Windows coming in Ubuntu Trusty Tahr. I love the current look of the Ubuntu desktop (after my own set of tweaks, of course), but I’m sure borderless windows will be, um, nice.
A PostgreSQL Expert writes on his experience using and teaching PostgreSQL over the last 13 years and how it went from ugly to rock star. Liked “For a database professional, working with PostgreSQL is a very different experience. But once professionals understand the design, they find it’s very intuitive and they’re hooked.”
Interesting website with illustrated panels on why Linux is a superior OS, along with sections on why you should stick with Windows and how to get started with Linux. Also includes a screenshot tour of Ubuntu.
Good tutorial on using Working Sets in Eclipse, showing you how easy it is to keep a clean Working Bench. On a related topic, Eclipse makes it super easy to create Working Spaces, or workbenches in separate directories.
This Linux Mint Forum post is 2 years old, but I stumbled on it somehow and thought it was interesting. Good reminder that whatever OS controls the Grub controls the PC, as far as booting-up is concerned anyway.
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Today’s Vermont Photo is provided by Peter Dutton, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.