Episode 245: Microsoft of Things

Azure Sphere is Microsoft making silicon as a service with Linux at its core. We’ve chatted with the folks behind Azure Sphere and breakdown this huge announcement.

Plus a bunch of community news, a string of app picks, and maybe even a concerned rant.

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• Ting: Visit linux.ting.com and get a $25 discount off a device, or $25 in service credit if you bring one!

Support LINUX Unplugged

Links:

• Utopian - Rewarding Open Source Contributors
• Linus Buzzkills 5.0 — But v5.0 will happen some day. And it should be meaningless. You have been warned.
• gotop — A terminal based graphical activity monitor inspired by gtop and vtop
• Clonezilla Live Disk Cloning OS Gets New Massive Deployment BitTorrent Mechanism — However, one of the most interesting feature of the Clonezilla Live 2.5.5-38 release is a new massive deployment mechanism based on the BitTorrent technology.
• fontfinder — A Google font browser for your GTK desktop, written in Rust
• Kdenlive in Paris — Our team will dedicate this time to discuss near and long term goals, review the application workflow with professional editors, work on the major 18.08 release and much more.
• Microsoft's Next OS is Based on Linux, Not Windows — Microsoft is creating here is Azure Sphere OS, a new operating system aimed at tiny MCU-based IoT devices that is based on Linux.
• Microsoft’s bid to secure the Internet of Things: Custom Linux, custom chips, Azure — Azure Sphere has three components. First is a new class of microcontrollers (MCUs) that supports seven critical hardware features that Microsoft says are a necessary foundation to build secure systems. These include support for unforgeable encryption keys protected by hardware, the ability to update system software, and hardware-enforced compartmentalization between software components.
• Galen Hunt at Microsoft Research — I am part of the launch team for Microsoft Research New Experiences and Technologies organization (MSR NExT). I am manager of the Operating Systems Technologies Group.
• The Seven Properties of Highly Secure Devices — Our group has begun a research agenda to bring high-value security to low-cost devices.