Today in Open Source: The NSA wanted a backdoor into Linux. Plus: openSUSE 13.1 review, and Mir won't be in Ubuntu 14.04 Linus’ Father and the NSA The father of Linus Torvalds has confirmed that the NSA wanted a backdoor in Linux, according to Muktware. When my oldest son [Linus Torvalds] was asked the same question: “Has he been approached by the NSA about backdoors?” he said “No”, but at the same time he nodded. Then he was sort of in the legal free. He had given the right answer …everybody understood that the NSA had approached him. More at Muktware This comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the NSA’s privacy violating behavior. But hopefully it will serve as a warning that even open source isn’t exempt from pressure tactics by the NSA. openSUSE 13.1 Review Muktware also has a review of openSUSE 13.1. So the conclusion I draw is that openSUSE is a great operating system for those users who want the work to be done. It’s a perfect OS for those who want their privacy to be respected. It’s a very user-friendly operating system for those who wants to migrate from Windows. In a nutshell, it’s a modern GnuLinux OS which will take care of your computing needs. The icing on the cake is that openSUSE 13.1 will be supported for three years under Evergreen initiative so if you want stability with an enterprise grade OS, you know which one it is. More at Muktware I’ve downloaded openSUSE 13.1 but haven’t had much time to spend with it yet. But Muktware’s take on it seems quite positive. It looks like openSUSE 13.1 will be a big hit with Linux users. Ubuntu 14.04 and Mir Phoronix is reporting that Ubuntu 14.04 will not use Mir. First and foremost, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on the desktop won’t be Mir-based, or rather XMir. We’ve been wondering whether Mir will be used in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS after the XMir support was delayed from Ubuntu 13.10. It was affirmed today that Ubuntu 14.04 LTS will still be shipping with the stable and proven Unity 7 experience, which is designed around using an X.Org Server with Compiz. More at Phoronix No doubt the folks in the Ubuntu community that dislike Mir will be relieved to hear this. I wonder when Mir will finally make its appearance in Ubuntu? It seems to be taking longer than most people expected. What’s your take on all this? Tell me in the comments below. Software DevelopmentOpen Source