In today's open source roundup: Find the Linux desktop that works best for you. Plus: Is VirtualBox doomed? And why you should get your loved ones off of Facebook The best Linux desktop for you? There are tons of different options when it comes to desktop environments for Linux. But which one is right for you? That’s a tough call and can only be made by each individual, but Datamation has some ideas to get you started finding your preferred desktop environment. Matt Hartley at Datamation reports: Over the years, the debate over the best Linux desktop environment has raged on. KDE, Gnome, one of the lighter weight Linux desktops – there are so many options to choose from. In this article, I’ll examine the variety of desktops available and compare them accordingly. MATE Xfce Pantheon LXDE LXQt GNOME KDE Cinammon Unity More at Datamation Alan Henry at Lifehacker also had an article from back in October of 2014 that considered the same question: Whether you’re customizing your Linux install or choosing a distro to go with, one of your many options is the desktop environment you use. There are tons to choose from, all with different benefits and features. There may be no one single best, but this week we’re looking at five of them, based on your nominations. Earlier in the week we asked you to tell us which Linux desktop environment was your favorite—mind you, we’re talking about DEs, not distributions—and you replied with tons of great options, from the useful to the hilarious. Let’s take a look at the five nominees that rose to the top, thanks to your votes, in no particular order: GNOME Shell Cinnamon Xfce KDE Unity More at Lifehacker SJVN at ZDNet also took a stab at highlighting some of the best Linux desktops: Unlike Windows or Mac OS X, Linux offers a wide variety of desktop environments. Here are my picks of the most important of these PC interfaces. KDE Plasma 5 GNOME 3.12 Ubuntu Unity 7 Cinnamon 2.0 LXDE 0.6.2 More at ZDNet Is VirtualBox doomed? VirtualBox is an extremely useful application, particularly for distrohoppers in Linux. But Oracle hasn’t done a whole lot with it recently. A writer at Phoronix wonders if VirtualBox has a future. Michael Larabel at Phoronix reports: It’s been a long time since last hearing of any major innovations or improvements to VirtualBox, the VM software managed by Oracle since their acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Is there any hope left for a revitalized VirtualBox? While KVM, Xen, Virt-Manager, and related Linux virtualization technologies continue to advance as open-source software, there isn’t much to report on with regard to VirtualBox. This also comes while VMware and other virtualization alternatives are still advancing on Linux and other operating systems. VirtualBox has been on their v4.3 series for almost two years and there’s been no signs of any new major series coming, especially compared to VirtualBox during the Sun days when releases were shipped often. More at Phoronix Why you should get your loved ones off of Facebook Facebook has come under fire often for its privacy policies over the years. But has the company actually made any progress in improving privacy protections for its users? One blogger thinks that it’s time to get your loved ones off of Facebook. Salim Virani has a long and detailed report on the SaintSal blog: This is simply a consequence of their business model. Facebook sells you out, because that’s exactly how they make money. And they’re under heavy pressure from their investors to make more. What can you do about this? Facebook gives you two options: accept all of this, or get off the Facebook bus. To be honest, this bus is getting loud, annoying and bit smelly, isn’t it? And the ticket is way too expensive in the first place. You know, I’m not even sure it’s heading in the right direction… More at SaintSal Did you miss a roundup? Check the Eye On Open home page to get caught up with the latest news about open source and Linux. Open SourceSoftware DevelopmentTechnology Industry