Opinions

opinions

Google Chrome OS. Or, how KDE and GNOME managed to shoot each other dead

A lot of people at the moment are immensely intrigued by Google Chrome OS. I won't hide that I am one of them. Google promises a much needed shift in the way small computers work. Problems like softwa ...

by Tony Mobily – 11/24/2009

opinions

Free software in real business

Preamble ======== There are many "theoretical" talks about how free software can be used commercially, that it can greatly stimulate business activity and so on. There are very few real life examples ...

by stargrave – 11/20/2009

opinions

Response to Sam Tuke's Response to "Is free software major league or minor?"

Thanks to Sam Tuke for a well-written and constructive response to my article Is free software major league or minor?. Tuke refers to my post as a "dismissal" of free software, however, which is ironi ...

by Terry Hancock – 11/20/2009

opinions

A response to "free software major league or minor?": Unjustified dismissal?

I just read Terry Hancock's artilce on Is free software major league or minor?. Great article, and I'm very glad to see articulate discussion about these core subjects. Not enough is said about these ...

by sam tuke – 11/10/2009

opinions

Are Microsoft to blame for "hidden" malware costs and will Windows 7 make any difference?

A couple of stories have hit the headlines this year concerning the huge cost that some UK Local Governments incurred when dealing with malware attack on their Windows machines. If you missed them, Ma ...

by Ryan Cartwright – 11/7/2009

opinions

Discovering "Sita Sings The Blues"

"Sita Sings The Blues" by self-taught animator Nina Paley, may be the first feature-length animated film released under a free license (the Creative Commons By-SA). Presented through a variety of anim ...

by Terry Hancock – 11/5/2009

opinions

Implementing a sensible copyright: "FLOW-IT"

It can be hard to get paid for producing free-licensed works. Software represents a niche where a lot of exceptions can be found, but for _aesthetic_ works, the problem is _severe_. This has spurred a ...

by Terry Hancock – 10/16/2009

opinions

Linux-based phones : Why are GNU/Linux users treated as second class?

Like many free software users, I am greatly encouraged by the number of mobile phones that are starting to come out running some form of embedded Linux-based OS. Nokia's Maemo and Palm's webOS are sha ...

by Ryan Cartwright – 10/4/2009

opinions

Is free software major league or minor?

Is free software really capable of serving end users or not? This issue has political consequences, which is part of what makes it important: either free software is "minor league" or it's "major leag ...

by Terry Hancock – 9/24/2009

opinions

In praise of OpenOffice Base and good documentation

After downloading the whole suite of tools from OpenOffice.org, I have been exploring ways of using as many of them to teach an introductory statistics course. Since this is a class in a business scho ...

by shankar13 – 9/24/2009

opinions

Free-licensed art for free software games: OpenGameArt.org

Today I happened upon a site I really, really wish had been there in 2000 when I started my own game project. Free software games often suffer from poorly-executing graphics, simply because it's a rea ...

by Terry Hancock – 9/16/2009

opinions

Proprietary browsers built on proprietary browsers: the blind leading the blind?

A friend of mine has an ADSL account with BT/Yahoo here in the UK. For some reason BT/Yahoo feel compelled to supply (nay insist upon) a customised version of I.E. as the browser for their customers. ...

by Ryan Cartwright – 9/10/2009

opinions

Free Software economics for Indigenous Nations

>Information in the computer age is the last genuine free market left on earth except those free markets where indigenous people are still surviving (Russell Means) Some of the surviving nations in No ...

by David Sugar – 8/31/2009

opinions

Secure VoIP, GNU SIP Witch, and replacing Skype with free software

For the last few years I had occasionally been working on what is called the GNU Telephony Secure Calling initiative. The GNU Telephony Secure Calling initiative was itself originally formed specifica ...

by David Sugar – 8/30/2009

opinions

An Open Letter to Michael Dell: Why I have no choice but return my Ubuntu Inspiron Mini 10

_UPDATE: as it turned out, I was shipped a faulty item by Dell. They changed the motherboard, and things worked smoothly. However, at the end of this exercise I learned that the selection of machines ...

by Tony Mobily – 8/24/2009

opinions

How Free Software Magazine overcame the 3FN disaster and switched to CariNet

A couple of months ago, Free Software Magazine went through what you'd call a "rough patch" in terms of hosting: 3FN, which hosted FSM, was effectively shut down by the FTC in the United States. Many ...

by Tony Mobily – 8/20/2009

opinions

Durian is Coming: Blender's Third Open Movie Project

Blender third open movie project, code-named "Durian" is ramping up to production, and time is running out for the pre-sale campaign if you want to get your spot in the credits. This time the project ...

by Terry Hancock – 8/19/2009

opinions

Debian: contempt for "end user" values has to stop!

Three recent problems with packages in the last stable release of Debian GNU/Linux ("Lenny"), brought me face-to-face with what is still a major obstacle for acceptance of free software on the desktop ...

by Terry Hancock – 8/12/2009

opinions

Writing a book with the help of the Sakai free software community

This article is about writing a book with the help of the free software community. The book in question is Sakai Courseware Management with the main authors being Alan Berg (Me myself and I) and Micha ...

by Alan Berg – 8/3/2009

opinions

Skype shutdown: where are free software and free protocols?

Free software is definitely going strong in some areas, especially in the server market. However, there are other areas where free software and free protocols have failed. Internet based voice and vid ...

by Tony Mobily – 7/31/2009