Downloading Wikipedia is easier than you might think, what's in store for Linux in 2014, and more

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Opensource.com

Open source news for your reading pleasure.

November 17 - 22, 2013

We scoured the web for some of this week's most interesting open source-related news stories so you don't have to. Here's what we found:

Downloading Wikipedia is easier than you might think

Did you know you can install all of Wikipedia on your desktop in merely 30 hours? It's possible thanks to Xowa, an open source application that lets you download Wikipedia and read it without an Internet connection. So how much disk space does an entire encyclopedia take up? Ultimately 25GB, reports Ars Technica, (after you delete a 45GB temporary file and tackle some other cleanup).

Effort to keep Winamp alive

AOL recently announced plans to permanently shut down Winamp on December 20, but some Winamp fans are hoping an online petition will get AOL to open source its code, reports Ars Technica. If you want a flashback/history lesson on Winamp, check out this other Ars Technica post.

Are open source developers too demanding?

That's the question Matt Asay, the VP of business development and corporate strategy at MongoDB, attempts to answer in this ReadWrite essay.

Welcome the new Creative Commons license to the world

This week Creative Commons unveiled its new 4.0 licenses for the world to use. The improved licenses have been in the works for two years and, according to Creative Commons, they are "extremely well-suited for use by governments and publishers of public sector information and other data, especially for those in the European Union. This is due to the expansion in license scope, which now covers sui generis database rights that exist there and in a handful of other countries." The Atlantic also has an informative article on what the changes mean for users.

Hat tip to our community moderators Robin Muilwijk and Aseem Sharma for putting this news on my radar.

Who pays Mozilla's bills?

Mainly Google. That's what infoworld.com is reporting in this article that takes a look at Mozilla's 2012 financial statement. The article questions whether this is a troubling relationship, saying Mozilla's stance on the open Web is at odds with the way Google has approached the subject. What do you think about the relationship?

What does 2014 have in store for Linux?

VentureBeat has an interview with Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin on the future of Linux for 2014. Here's the full Q&A.

 

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Ginny Hamilton was a community manager for EnterprisersProject.com, an online publication and community focused on how CIOs and IT leaders create business value through information technology. A former journalist, Ginny is passionate about local politics, journalism, technology, and social media.

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