open source

Fedora KDE Plasma’s combination of a less intrusive update model, true desktop-level customization, and the ability to remove unwanted preinstalled apps is convincing enough that some users say they don’t want to go back to Windows. Background Fedora is a mainstream Linux distribution known for...

Zorin OS 18 Beta arrives at a pivotal moment: with Windows 10’s extended lifespan ending on October 14, 2025, millions of users face either an enforced upgrade to Windows 11, costly hardware refreshes, or the security risks of running an unsupported OS — and Zorin OS 18 Beta positions itself as...

Zorin OS has quietly set the stage for a major push into the Windows-replacement market, teasing a “faster, more powerful” update that builds on the momentum of the recently released Zorin OS 17.3 and explicitly positions the distro as a practical alternative for machines that can’t, or won’t...

Windhawk arrives as a surprisingly polished bridge between what Microsoft ships in Windows 11 and what many users actually want: a lightweight, open‑source mod platform that makes the Start menu, taskbar, File Explorer and other core UI elements genuinely customizable — and, in many cases...

If you’re staring at a Windows 10 machine that’s nearing the end of support — or you simply tried Windows 11 and didn’t like it — switching to a free, user-friendly Linux distribution like Linux Mint is a practical alternative that can revive older hardware, protect your privacy, and get you...

Windows 11’s built‑in Search is useful — until it isn’t: slow responses for non‑indexed folders, a cluttered home panel, and inconsistent results have driven many users to lightweight launchers and desktop search tools that return answers in milliseconds. This piece examines six of the fastest...

Open‑source software today offers Windows users a practical way to reclaim control, improve privacy, and boost productivity — and ZDNET’s compact roundup of “10 open‑source apps I recommend every Windows user try — for free” is a useful starting kit that does exactly that. Background ZDNET’s...

Microsoft’s looming Windows 10 end‑of‑support deadline has catalyzed a surge of tools aimed at keeping older PCs useful, and one of the most capable free utilities to emerge is Flyoobe — an evolution of the Flyby11 project that lets enthusiasts install Windows 11 on machines Microsoft marks as...

Windows 11’s design choices have divided users since launch, and a growing cadre of third‑party developers has been quietly restoring the controls Microsoft removed. One of the most complete and community‑driven solutions is Windhawk, an open‑source mod manager that bundles dozens of focused...

The moment you switch a daily driver from Windows to Ubuntu, certain expectations—system-level conveniences you didn’t notice until they vanished—quickly become obvious. A recent first‑person piece catalogued four Windows conveniences the author missed after moving to Ubuntu: a one‑click system...

India’s digital backbone is far more entangled with US‑headquartered software, cloud and platform providers than most policymakers acknowledge — and that entanglement now reads as a strategic vulnerability that must be addressed if New Delhi wants meaningful digital sovereignty by 2030...

India’s digital backbone is more dependent on US-controlled software, platforms and cloud services than most citizens realize — and that dependence now reads as a strategic vulnerability in the eyes of national security analysts and independent researchers. Background India’s public discourse...

Microsoft’s release of a Windows SDK for Facebook — a native, open-source library that brings full Facebook login, Graph API access, feeds, photo uploads and Like functionality into Universal Windows apps — marks a deliberate push to make Windows a more attractive, social-first platform for...

WinBoat arrives as one of the clearest attempts yet to bridge the Windows-on-Linux gap by running a full Windows environment inside a lightweight Docker container and exposing apps to the Linux desktop as (nearly) native windows. (github.com) Background WinBoat is an open‑source project from...

Every fresh Windows 11 install brings the same question: what do you add first to make the machine truly useful? The Pocket‑lint roundup of “five essential apps I can’t live without on Windows” argues for a small, practical toolkit — PDFgear, HWMonitor, VLC Media Player, Steam, and Microsoft...

NTDEV’s new Nano11 Builder takes the Windows‑11 debloat movement from pragmatic trimming to experimental minimalism, producing bootable ISOs and installed images measured in single‑digit gigabytes by surgically removing inbox apps, servicing infrastructure, and even parts of the Windows...

Flyoobe lets you install Windows 11 on machines Microsoft considers incompatible — and it does so while stripping the setup of Microsoft’s default bloatware and Copilot AI prompts, giving power users a cleaner install and an expanded path to keep older hardware useful beyond official...

The day-to-day grind of maintaining a sprawling Obsidian vault finally pushed one user to try a different path: they migrated thousands of notes into Joplin, and within weeks declared they weren’t going back — praising Joplin’s genuinely open-source model, straightforward sync options, and...

Nearly half a century after those first keystrokes on primitive terminals, Microsoft has made public the assembly-language source for its 6502-targeted BASIC interpreter — a compact, remarkable artifact of early microcomputer engineering that is now available on GitHub under a permissive MIT...

Flyoobe is the newest, most complete tool in the growing toolkit that lets you install Windows 11 on machines Microsoft deems “incompatible” — and it does more than just bypass TPM and Secure Boot checks: it also lets you strip out built‑in apps, customize the Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE), and...