When I first saw GNU/Linux (the kernel plus the utilities) in 1994, I was amazed. I started using GNU/Linux as a server system, rather than a desktop machine, and I just couldn't stop thinking: "This ...
Hello Everybody, This is an emergency post. I am writing it in Dubai. I am on my way to Rome and then London, only have 50 minutes left in my EeePC and no Dubai power adapter. The joys of travelling.. ...
Following on from my recommendation for [apt-buglist][]--where you can see the reported bugs on a package before installing it--I thought it might be useful to look at the other side of the coin, repo ...
Despite having an aversion to configuring and maintaining security and crypto software, I accepted that I had to update my system in response to the recent big Debian security problem. If I can do it, ...
Recently, I attended a small symposium here in Texas, with just over 70 people attending: the inaugural "Texas Open Source Symposium" (TexasOSS). Although small, it was a pleasant conference. Topics r ...
The topic of switching from Windows to Linux has been bashed numerous times and it often comes with the same arguments: high-performance, cheap, goes against the big monopolies, and so forth. Now, as ...
The annual Google Summer of Code is upon us again. For the uninformed, that's when Google pays hundreds of students and hundreds of mentors to work on free software projects, ranging from AbiSource to ...
You've read how Microsoft drove its tank through the international standardization process last year and this year, finally winning ISO approval for its legacy OOXML format. The OOXML event proved tha ...
I'm going to make a rather broad and sweeping statement here: If you're writing free or open source software targeting Unix or Linux systems, then you should be using the GNU Autotools. I'm sure I sou ...
There are few people who would deny that Autoconf, Automake and Libtool have revolutionized the free software world. While there are many thousands of Autotools advocates, some developers absolutely _ ...
In this opening salvo, I will reprise the technical terms and history of DRM and thereafter I will try to keep you abreast of the issues for computer users in general and free software in particular. ...
Recently I've noticed an increases in the number of people I know who are migrating from Windows to GNU/Linux. Either my tireless advocacy is grinding them down, word is starting to spread. Perhaps th ...
Microsoft turn to free software? That'll be the day. Some have suggested that Microsoft might embrace free software and thus resolve the present conflict. That actually would be a terrific strategy fo ...
The Google App Engine doesn't really advance the cause of evil all that much, but it's not exactly good, either. Google makes a big deal about its corporate motto, "Don't be evil", but at the end of t ...
There has always been a section of the free software community which has an anti-Microsoft agenda. It's almost like their mission statement is "It's not over until Microsoft is dead". Certainly there ...
### Language and lock-in One of the favorite arguments for free software is that it avoids lock-in to a particular manufacturer's products. Something similar happens due to choice of programming langu ...
Today evening (15th April, 2008) a candle light vigil/protest was organised at the Town Hall, Bangalore, India to observe Document freedom and also to apply pressure on the Indian Govt. to file an app ...
As some of you already know, I am the main developer for Drigg. I donated probably more than 1000 hours of my life to the Drigg project, because I believed in it. After reviewing existing CMSs out the ...
_Why it should be a lot more about feeling, rather than knowing, that free software and free culture is right._ Over the last ten years or so, free software has grown from being just a geek-phenomena. ...
Unless a small miracle happens, OOXML is a standard. What's next? (I withheld the release of this video in Free Software Magazine until I managed, with the help of a fantastic community member, to mak ...