Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "Doctor Monkey writes 'Initial reviews are up at Ain't It Cool News from a 'work-in-progress' screening of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in Pasadena, CA. Reaction seems mixed-to-positive, mostly due to some uneven performances. But it looks like the film is not a complete bastardization of Adams' work.'"
Woot.
This was a long time coming, and I have high hopes. Now all we need to do is resurrect Blakes 7, Dr. Who, and get the Red Dwarf movie off the ground..
Here's hoping for more great SciFi!
Friday, January 28, 2005
Thursday, January 27, 2005
insanity strikes my head often
So, the (tm jesster) other nite, I was just thinking how superduper (tm) it would be to go to the (tm jesster) store and buy some cookies.
So, I did.
They were yummy.
Yes, they were.
Really yummy.
So, I did.
They were yummy.
Yes, they were.
Really yummy.
End of win2k
- From OS News
Wow. Microsoft must be hard up for cash if they are threatining half of their installed base to upgrade or loose support. They have also said that there will be no more browser upgrades until Longhorn - slated to release in '06 or '07 - well past the target date of '04.
Win2k to XP is not a small upgrade. Especially XP SP2 - that breaks lots of older applications.
Now, more then ever, it is time to look into jumping off the upgrade rollercoaster and switch to a stable OS that has had security in mind for a lot longer then Windows and Microsoft ever had. One where the developers understand that security and useablity can coexist. Check out Macs, Some Linux Distro or BSD.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Windows viruses under Linux
Some folks (who have waaaay to much time on their hands) are testing windows viruses running on Linux under Wine. No, really - check it out!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Sicko Computers...
Ok... let's do the math.
It is commonly held that Microsoft Windows has about 90% of the market share on PC's. If we are to belive the advert, 9 out of 10 computers are infested with spyware.
That's about 90%.
Hmm...
Monday, January 24, 2005
The Buddhist Attitude to God
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Why does he order such misfortune
And not create concord?
If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Why prevail deceit, lies and ignorance
And he such inequity and injustice create?
If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Then an evil master is he, (O Aritta)
Knowing what's right did let wrong prevail!"
From The Buddhist Attitude to God
From The Buddhist Attitude to God
If God exists, and he/she/it is omnibenevolent as the teachings of the christian church have us belive, then what about evil? Suffering? The Devil? The Common Cold? Why would he create all of these things that are meant to harm us, cause us pain, and kill us painfully?
Forget Human evilness - let's talk about cancer and TB and Tsunami's!
Just some things I am currently pondering...
What is really real?
I am currently reading 'The Quantum and the Lotus' – a very good book. It talks about the convergence between modern scientific theory and Buddhist philosophy.
One of the passages talks about how reality is an illusion, and how we collectivity determine what reality is. Now this has interesting ramifications. For example, if you were to live in a culture where everyone believed in pixies, then perhaps they would actually exist, as far as that culture extended.
How can that be?
I will take a example that they used in the book, and expand on it a bit.
Say, that you are a person living on an island in a river. To one side, there is a farmhouse, and to the other side there is a copse of trees. There is a rainbow above, that stretches from the farmhouse to the copse of trees.
From your perspective, being confined to that island – would it not be easy to believe that the rainbow comes from the farmhouse and stretches across the sky, and your entire universe, to the copse of trees? What sort of belief structure would you come up with? Would you venerate the farmhouse and trees? What would you feel about the little figures that you could see living in the farmhouse?
Meditate on what life and your beliefs would be like living on that island.
Now, say, you were plucked off the island, and placed into the farmhouse's front yard. Would the experience live up to the beliefs? Where would the rainbow be – that you had seen coming from the farmhouse? What would that do to your world view and beliefs?
Reality really depends on the observer. A cat, dog, insect and human have radically different views of what reality is. Is any of their views less probable, or less real then ours? How about the world view of a bat, that only sees thought reflected sound?
I propose that what we call reality is in fact a convenient illusion, created in part by our minds to deal with the world around us, and in part created by the collective beliefs of all of us to provide a common frame of reference to enable communication.
Reality is taught to us by our community and our parents.
-Tsyko
One of the passages talks about how reality is an illusion, and how we collectivity determine what reality is. Now this has interesting ramifications. For example, if you were to live in a culture where everyone believed in pixies, then perhaps they would actually exist, as far as that culture extended.
How can that be?
I will take a example that they used in the book, and expand on it a bit.
Say, that you are a person living on an island in a river. To one side, there is a farmhouse, and to the other side there is a copse of trees. There is a rainbow above, that stretches from the farmhouse to the copse of trees.
From your perspective, being confined to that island – would it not be easy to believe that the rainbow comes from the farmhouse and stretches across the sky, and your entire universe, to the copse of trees? What sort of belief structure would you come up with? Would you venerate the farmhouse and trees? What would you feel about the little figures that you could see living in the farmhouse?
Now, say, you were plucked off the island, and placed into the farmhouse's front yard. Would the experience live up to the beliefs? Where would the rainbow be – that you had seen coming from the farmhouse? What would that do to your world view and beliefs?
Reality really depends on the observer. A cat, dog, insect and human have radically different views of what reality is. Is any of their views less probable, or less real then ours? How about the world view of a bat, that only sees thought reflected sound?
I propose that what we call reality is in fact a convenient illusion, created in part by our minds to deal with the world around us, and in part created by the collective beliefs of all of us to provide a common frame of reference to enable communication.
Reality is taught to us by our community and our parents.
-Tsyko
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Yahoo! News - Army Prepares 'Robo-Soldier' for Iraq
Army Prepares 'Robo-Soldier' for Iraq: "Made by a small Massachusetts company, the SWORDS, short for Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection Systems, will be the first armed robotic vehicles to see combat"
The story goes on to talk about how this machine was created using off the shelf gear for only $2 million and in six months. Fantastic results do not need fantastic budgets. It's nice to see folks who can think out of the box.
Right now they are mounting an automatic rifle on the little buggers, but have expermented with rocket launchers, grenade lauchers, the Metal Storm launcher and a .50 cal.
The story goes on to talk about how this machine was created using off the shelf gear for only $2 million and in six months. Fantastic results do not need fantastic budgets. It's nice to see folks who can think out of the box.
Right now they are mounting an automatic rifle on the little buggers, but have expermented with rocket launchers, grenade lauchers, the Metal Storm launcher and a .50 cal.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Gaming Funny
Morning Coffee
How evil are you?
from here
Kind of dissapointing - I had always hoped that I was Evil. Guess I need to work on that.
Also - you need to check this commercial out.
Thanks Justus for giving me a good morning laugh!
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
NPR : Firings Raise Questions of Blogger Freedoms
NPR : Firings Raise Questions of Blogger Freedoms: "Day to Day, January 19, 2005: Can blogging about your work get you canned? NPR's Eric Weiner reports on people who have been fired from their jobs because they maintain Web logs about their work. The firings raise questions about the rights of bloggers."
Check it out for an interview with Heather of Dooce
Check it out for an interview with Heather of Dooce
Galaxy.OSNews.com - Exploring the OS Bloggers
I read OS News... well, too much. And now they have a cool blog aggreator called Galaxy.OSNews.com. Some of the computer industry heavyweights's blogs are featured there.
Meaty Goodness!
Meaty Goodness!
Attack of the Killer Back Flab!
I was driving around the blog-o-sphere last nite, and I came across a mention of Back Flab at PoorRoleModel. Now this got me thinking. And jiggling.
Do I have back flab?
How can I tell? I do not often actually look at my back. So, sitting in the Comfy Chair I started to jiggle my back. To see if it would, infact, jiggle.
Sadly, no jiggling.
Well, no jiggling on my back.
I guess I will have to work harder if I want to get some back flab of my own. Or perhaps I could just go out and buy some?
I think that I should research companys that sell back flab. When this gets out, there is going to be a run on this stuff, and their stock could do better then a dry herring at a ferret eating contest.
Do I have back flab?
How can I tell? I do not often actually look at my back. So, sitting in the Comfy Chair I started to jiggle my back. To see if it would, infact, jiggle.
Sadly, no jiggling.
Well, no jiggling on my back.
I guess I will have to work harder if I want to get some back flab of my own. Or perhaps I could just go out and buy some?
I think that I should research companys that sell back flab. When this gets out, there is going to be a run on this stuff, and their stock could do better then a dry herring at a ferret eating contest.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
NASA - Huygens at Titan - 2
This is one of the first raw images returned by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe during its successful descent to Titan. It was taken from an altitude of 16.2 kilometers (about 10 miles) with a resolution of approximately 40 meters (about 131 feet) per pixel. It apparently shows short, stubby drainage channels leading to a shoreline.
Wow. They said shoreline. There are more great pictures at the NASA site and the ESA site.
The theory that Titan has had liquid seas has always really intrigued me. I guess that liquid of some sort seems like a prequsite for life to spring forth. So, we really have 3 likely objects for life in the solar system. Titan, Europa and Earth. We know that there is life on earth, but the jury is still out on if it's sustainable or not. Europa, with the possiblity of liquid water under it's icey exterior, would be a strange place indeed for life to spring up. Titan, enshrouded in a cloudy mantle has always been a question mark.
Huygens is starting to peirce that mantle. Since this is a joint operation of NASA, European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency we hope that any really stunning findings will not be quashed.
USATODAY.com - Opportunity spots curious object on flat Mars plain
USATODAY.com - Opportunity spots curious object on flat Mars plain - NASA's Opportunity Mars rover has come across an interesting object — perhaps a meteorite sitting out in the open at Meridiani Planum. Initial data taken by the robot's Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) is suggestive that the odd-looking "rock" is made of metal.
It's just amazing that this probe is still doing good science like this. A fantasic investment for the world made by the USA.
It's incredible - in the same week we land a probe on Titan - one of the more likely objects to have an 'interesting' surface, and a really old probe finds a 'strange' thing just lying about on Mars.
There should be some really intresting news coming out of NASA over the next few months.
It's just amazing that this probe is still doing good science like this. A fantasic investment for the world made by the USA.
It's incredible - in the same week we land a probe on Titan - one of the more likely objects to have an 'interesting' surface, and a really old probe finds a 'strange' thing just lying about on Mars.
There should be some really intresting news coming out of NASA over the next few months.
Friday, January 14, 2005
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Huygens moon probe lands on Titan
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Huygens moon probe lands on Titan: "The Huygens space probe has touched down on the surface of one of Saturn's moons, Titan, and is sending back signals, say space agency scientists.
The spacecraft probe had been transmitting data for over two hours as it plunged towards the moon's surface.
This data has not arrived on Earth yet, but the Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia, US, detected its carrier signal - a sign the probe was working.
It is the furthest from Earth a spacecraft has ever been landed."
And we are one step closer to leaving this cradle behind...
The spacecraft probe had been transmitting data for over two hours as it plunged towards the moon's surface.
This data has not arrived on Earth yet, but the Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia, US, detected its carrier signal - a sign the probe was working.
It is the furthest from Earth a spacecraft has ever been landed."
And we are one step closer to leaving this cradle behind...
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Macs for the Masses
Apple has done it again. This little wonder is 6.5 inches square by 2 inches tall. At starting at only $499, there is no reason to not run out and get one today.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Doubt
When you know for yourselves that, "these experiences are good; these experiences are not faulty, these experiences are praised by the wise; these experiences, when undertaken and carried out, lead to welfare and happiness"... then you should enter and remain in them.
The Buddha (From The West End Buddhist Center)
Sunday, January 09, 2005
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Justus for All: Necromancy in Washington
Read This. Just go and read it.
Personally I am on my way to Sportsman's Were-house to grab a pump-action 12 gague. In all the movies, the guys with the shotguns last the longest.
Personally I am on my way to Sportsman's Were-house to grab a pump-action 12 gague. In all the movies, the guys with the shotguns last the longest.
Friday, January 07, 2005
Something Fishy in Seattle
Besides the great food at the pier..
"Miscast provisional votes could be one reason the number of ballots counted in King County outnumbered the list of voters who voted by 3,539." - Seattle Times
Hmm...
Thanks again Emily!
-Still Sicko
"Miscast provisional votes could be one reason the number of ballots counted in King County outnumbered the list of voters who voted by 3,539." - Seattle Times
Hmm...
Thanks again Emily!
-Still Sicko
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Craziness: Back to the governor thing...
emily has this to say
"...Personally, I think that the fact that the results have been changed and victory has been declared over 120-something votes (after people criticizing a so-called victory of 420 votes) is a little out-of-whack. If you still care (and are a voter for WA), you can find the petition for a re-vote here. I don't have time at the moment for a longer post than this. Later!"
Can't agree more. Click on through, nothing to see here citizen.
-Tsyko
"...Personally, I think that the fact that the results have been changed and victory has been declared over 120-something votes (after people criticizing a so-called victory of 420 votes) is a little out-of-whack. If you still care (and are a voter for WA), you can find the petition for a re-vote here. I don't have time at the moment for a longer post than this. Later!"
Can't agree more. Click on through, nothing to see here citizen.
-Tsyko
Open Source Part Two
Yesterday, I ranted at length about the meaning of FOSS and OSS. I think just about everything has been said about OSS development that can be. We all know that it is a better development model because all of the code is open for world wide peer review. We also know that if you have the desire, you can review the code yourself and assure yourself that it is indeed secure. While this is not an option for most home users, large enterprises can use this option to assure their security and modify the code to do what they need.
All of that is well and good. However, for me this whole Free Software movement is more about compassion. While this seems to be a strange link - think of this. If I live in a third world country, and I start a small business, am I going to be able to afford paying the fees to stand up a Windows based Email Server, Web Server, Firewall Server, and put computers with Office and Windows (as well as the all-pervasive virus scanners, spy ware blockers, workstation firewalls, ad naseum) on all of my employees desks? How am I to secure and lock these machines down so that I am sure that my employees are not just playing solitaire and browsing the web? Can I compete with the large company that buys computers by the pallet from Dell?
I propose that Free Software would be a better option. There are industrial strength firewalls, servers, email systems and more. Just about every program that you use has been recreated. I personally use The Gimp for my photo editing, Open Office for my word processing and spreadsheet needs. I use Ubuntu Linux at home as my primary Operating System. I do have a dual boot on one of my machines into Windows XP, but weeks can go by with out my booting into it.
Now, just because you use Windows does not mean that you have to let the wonders of Free Software. Open Office, The Gimp and many other applications have been ported back to windows.
Heh. Ported 'back' to Windows.
Anyways, why would I want to use an office package that costs $600 and is upgraded every few years, when I can download and use Open Office for free? Open office reads and writes Microsoft Office 2000 files pretty much seamlessly – so sharing with my work computer is not a problem.
In fact, I often throw files from work on my thumb drive, take it home, plug in into my Linux Box and work on them. I take them back to work, and open them in Microsoft Office. No headaches, no muss.
My firewall at home is running on a Pentium 90 with 64 megs of RAM and a two gig Hard Drive. I swapped it out with a Netgear router/firewall and noticed no difference in speed or latency. So, now I have the Netgear on the 'outside' facing the Internet, and serving wireless to my laptop. Inside of that is my 'ol firewall, running IP Tables and Linux. Inside of that are my desktops and my server. A VPN punches through the firewall to give my laptop access to my files and printers.
All of this cost me 1 Netgear wireless AP and Router. No software costs, and it's all legal. I think that's the best thing about this. I am honoring the licenses of all of the software that I run. I really dislike people that steal others property. When you pirate software, you are stealing. When you use Free Software, you are not stealing, since it is free to use, and give to others.
So, obey the license restrictions of the software that you use. If you want to try Open Source, check out this CD. It has a bunch of open source software for windows that you can use.
Play Nice!
-Tsyko
All of that is well and good. However, for me this whole Free Software movement is more about compassion. While this seems to be a strange link - think of this. If I live in a third world country, and I start a small business, am I going to be able to afford paying the fees to stand up a Windows based Email Server, Web Server, Firewall Server, and put computers with Office and Windows (as well as the all-pervasive virus scanners, spy ware blockers, workstation firewalls, ad naseum) on all of my employees desks? How am I to secure and lock these machines down so that I am sure that my employees are not just playing solitaire and browsing the web? Can I compete with the large company that buys computers by the pallet from Dell?
I propose that Free Software would be a better option. There are industrial strength firewalls, servers, email systems and more. Just about every program that you use has been recreated. I personally use The Gimp for my photo editing, Open Office for my word processing and spreadsheet needs. I use Ubuntu Linux at home as my primary Operating System. I do have a dual boot on one of my machines into Windows XP, but weeks can go by with out my booting into it.
Now, just because you use Windows does not mean that you have to let the wonders of Free Software. Open Office, The Gimp and many other applications have been ported back to windows.
Heh. Ported 'back' to Windows.
Anyways, why would I want to use an office package that costs $600 and is upgraded every few years, when I can download and use Open Office for free? Open office reads and writes Microsoft Office 2000 files pretty much seamlessly – so sharing with my work computer is not a problem.
In fact, I often throw files from work on my thumb drive, take it home, plug in into my Linux Box and work on them. I take them back to work, and open them in Microsoft Office. No headaches, no muss.
My firewall at home is running on a Pentium 90 with 64 megs of RAM and a two gig Hard Drive. I swapped it out with a Netgear router/firewall and noticed no difference in speed or latency. So, now I have the Netgear on the 'outside' facing the Internet, and serving wireless to my laptop. Inside of that is my 'ol firewall, running IP Tables and Linux. Inside of that are my desktops and my server. A VPN punches through the firewall to give my laptop access to my files and printers.
All of this cost me 1 Netgear wireless AP and Router. No software costs, and it's all legal. I think that's the best thing about this. I am honoring the licenses of all of the software that I run. I really dislike people that steal others property. When you pirate software, you are stealing. When you use Free Software, you are not stealing, since it is free to use, and give to others.
So, obey the license restrictions of the software that you use. If you want to try Open Source, check out this CD. It has a bunch of open source software for windows that you can use.
Play Nice!
-Tsyko
Monday, January 03, 2005
Open Source Software
First off, we need to be all reading from the same page, so here are some definitions:
Free software is defined as:
* The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
* The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
* The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
Open Source Software is defined as:
* The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form.
* The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
* The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time.
* The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
* The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
* The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
* The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution.
* The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.
* No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.
Now that we have the definitions out of the way, we can continue on and discuss the rationale behind these movements, and what they bring to the table in our real world. The two terms seem very similar, in fact the only difference is that you can sell open source software, and free software is, well, free.
OSS (Open Source Software) and FOSS (Free/Open Source Software) are on a track to merge. The FOSS movement was started long before the OSS movement, and the OSS language was brought about to entice more corporate involvement. It was thought that in some circles 'free' equated to 'bad' – you get what you pay for.
Mako said:
“While the ideology of open source seems to be waning in popularity, the term "open source" is growing in strength. More importantly, the software itself is bigger than ever and growing quickly. In Spain, regional governments are embracing "open source" and software libre. In Munich, in Brazil, and in non-profit organizations and schools around the globe, "open source" is a familiar phrase.”
Anyways, what does this all mean, you ask?
I am a proponent of OSS/FOSS (to be called Free Software from now on), and I wanted to take a moment to explain why.
If you recall (or read my archives) in one of the first posts, I talked about Ubuntu Linux as my distribution of choice, because I believed in what they were doing and the language that they used.
For me, Free Software is about empowerment. It empowers common people, what ever their lot in life, to have the most powerful tools at their hands. With Open Office, anyone can create professional looking documents, spreadsheets and presentions, and not have to pay hundreds of dollars for the right. People can have a safe computing experience, practically immune to the spate of worms, viruses, and other garbage that threatens Internet users today. They can be assured of their right to privacy, knowing full well that their Operating System is not sending reports about what software they have installed, nor recording how many times the hardware in their machine is changed. It takes the power away from an elite few, and gives it back to the masses.
But software is expensive to develop, you proclaim! Who is going to pay the salary of all of these people?
Some do it for the love of the software, on their weekends. Some are hired by major corporations who service the software, or sell hardware to go along with the software, to insure that their needs are met. IBM, Novell and Apple are companies that embody this new economy. IBM and Novell have teams of developers who work on OSS/FOSS projects, to insure that their needs are met with the next release. Novell has teams of people working on the Gnome Desktop, KDE Desktop, Linux Kernel, Mono and many others. IBM works on many of the same projects, and funds many others. Apple (with the advent of their rocking OS X) has switched to BSD internals and gives back much of the work that they do.
Now, these are simply companies, with their bottom line to watch out for, so not all have done a fantastic job over the years. It's been fits and starts for a while, but the future is bright indeed.
From the Ubuntu Linux Homepage:
* Ubuntu will always be free of charge, and there is no extra fee for the "enterprise edition", we make our very best work available to everyone on the same Free terms.
* Ubuntu includes the very best in translations and accessibility infrastructure that the Free Software community has to offer, to make Ubuntu usable by as many people as possible.
* Ubuntu is released regularly and predictably; a new release is made every six months. You can use the current stable release or the current development release. Each release is supported for at least 18 months.
* Ubuntu is entirely committed to the principles of open source software development; we encourage people to use open source software, improve it and pass it on.
-Tsyko
Free software is defined as:
* The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
* The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
* The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
Open Source Software is defined as:
* The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form.
* The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
* The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time.
* The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
* The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
* The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
* The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution.
* The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open-source software.
* No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.
Now that we have the definitions out of the way, we can continue on and discuss the rationale behind these movements, and what they bring to the table in our real world. The two terms seem very similar, in fact the only difference is that you can sell open source software, and free software is, well, free.
OSS (Open Source Software) and FOSS (Free/Open Source Software) are on a track to merge. The FOSS movement was started long before the OSS movement, and the OSS language was brought about to entice more corporate involvement. It was thought that in some circles 'free' equated to 'bad' – you get what you pay for.
Mako said:
“While the ideology of open source seems to be waning in popularity, the term "open source" is growing in strength. More importantly, the software itself is bigger than ever and growing quickly. In Spain, regional governments are embracing "open source" and software libre. In Munich, in Brazil, and in non-profit organizations and schools around the globe, "open source" is a familiar phrase.”
Anyways, what does this all mean, you ask?
I am a proponent of OSS/FOSS (to be called Free Software from now on), and I wanted to take a moment to explain why.
If you recall (or read my archives) in one of the first posts, I talked about Ubuntu Linux as my distribution of choice, because I believed in what they were doing and the language that they used.
For me, Free Software is about empowerment. It empowers common people, what ever their lot in life, to have the most powerful tools at their hands. With Open Office, anyone can create professional looking documents, spreadsheets and presentions, and not have to pay hundreds of dollars for the right. People can have a safe computing experience, practically immune to the spate of worms, viruses, and other garbage that threatens Internet users today. They can be assured of their right to privacy, knowing full well that their Operating System is not sending reports about what software they have installed, nor recording how many times the hardware in their machine is changed. It takes the power away from an elite few, and gives it back to the masses.
But software is expensive to develop, you proclaim! Who is going to pay the salary of all of these people?
Some do it for the love of the software, on their weekends. Some are hired by major corporations who service the software, or sell hardware to go along with the software, to insure that their needs are met. IBM, Novell and Apple are companies that embody this new economy. IBM and Novell have teams of developers who work on OSS/FOSS projects, to insure that their needs are met with the next release. Novell has teams of people working on the Gnome Desktop, KDE Desktop, Linux Kernel, Mono and many others. IBM works on many of the same projects, and funds many others. Apple (with the advent of their rocking OS X) has switched to BSD internals and gives back much of the work that they do.
Now, these are simply companies, with their bottom line to watch out for, so not all have done a fantastic job over the years. It's been fits and starts for a while, but the future is bright indeed.
From the Ubuntu Linux Homepage:
* Ubuntu will always be free of charge, and there is no extra fee for the "enterprise edition", we make our very best work available to everyone on the same Free terms.
* Ubuntu includes the very best in translations and accessibility infrastructure that the Free Software community has to offer, to make Ubuntu usable by as many people as possible.
* Ubuntu is released regularly and predictably; a new release is made every six months. You can use the current stable release or the current development release. Each release is supported for at least 18 months.
* Ubuntu is entirely committed to the principles of open source software development; we encourage people to use open source software, improve it and pass it on.
-Tsyko
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