I'm referring to this (Slashdot) piece on the White House releasing open-source code relating to Drupal.
I fully admit that I really have no idea what Drupal is. However, what is more significant is that the White House has released this code to the public for unlimited viewing, modification, and distribution.
I've read many articles and blog posts by Glyn Moody (e.g. this article here) describing how the UK government has essentially viewed open-source as blasphemy. I feared that, with ACTA and all, the US government would generally follow suit. Thankfully, my fears can now be (at least partially) assuaged. In fact, in that article (on Slashdot) itself is a link to a British observer's opinion piece on how the UK absolutely rejects open-source while paying lip service to the ideals of openness.
2010-04-23
2010-04-17
MPAA + RIAA = Big Brother
It comes from this (Richard Esguerra, EFF) article on what is basically a wishlist for the US government drawn up by the MPAA and RIAA regarding protection of copyrights. I come to basically the same conclusions just by reading the material from the MPAA and RIAA. Follow the jump to read more.
2010-04-13
Our School's Stupidity Regarding Microsoft
It is fairly well known that while the vast majority of servers use the open-source Apache technology (as opposed to Microsoft's closed IIS technology), the vast majority of computers hooked up to these servers use Microsoft Windows. Due to the huge price benefits schools and businesses get from Microsoft, these organizations are also partially bound to Microsoft's ideologies. Case in point: the Ubuntu forums are blocked sites in my school.
I am here to report that the situation has gotten even worse.
It is common for office workers who want to use open-source software at work but can't install such software directly to use Mozilla Firefox Portable and OpenOffice.org Portable from their flash drives to avoid using Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Office.
This is what I did for a while.
However, as of today, neither of these are possible anymore on the school computers due to new user privilege restrictions disallowing the use of any software not installed on the computers themselves.
While I appreciate the newfound appreciation for user privileges (something that UNIX started and has been continued on with Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris, Mac OS, and (more recently) Windows [Vista and 7]), this is a huge step backwards from 3 years ago, when Mozilla Firefox was preinstalled on the computers already as an alternative to Internet Explorer. I was pleased then.
I am highly displeased now.
(UPDATE: I know this is a little delayed, but I kept forgetting to add this...until now. It seems that third-party software can be run from one's "My Documents" folder, just not from a flash drive. However, I can see changes to that as well.)
I am here to report that the situation has gotten even worse.
It is common for office workers who want to use open-source software at work but can't install such software directly to use Mozilla Firefox Portable and OpenOffice.org Portable from their flash drives to avoid using Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Office.
This is what I did for a while.
However, as of today, neither of these are possible anymore on the school computers due to new user privilege restrictions disallowing the use of any software not installed on the computers themselves.
While I appreciate the newfound appreciation for user privileges (something that UNIX started and has been continued on with Linux, BSD, OpenSolaris, Mac OS, and (more recently) Windows [Vista and 7]), this is a huge step backwards from 3 years ago, when Mozilla Firefox was preinstalled on the computers already as an alternative to Internet Explorer. I was pleased then.
I am highly displeased now.
(UPDATE: I know this is a little delayed, but I kept forgetting to add this...until now. It seems that third-party software can be run from one's "My Documents" folder, just not from a flash drive. However, I can see changes to that as well.)
2010-04-10
How to Make a Multiboot Live USB: Revision 1
I realized that I've written this article twice before, so I'm going to title subsequent rewrites "Revision 2", "Revision 3", etc.
This time should be easier as there is no command line involved.
The USB flash drive involved is still an 8 GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro.
I still did this on Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" GNOME.
The distributions used are Sabayon 5.2 KDE, SimplyMEPIS 8.5 KDE, CrunchBang (often abbreviated "#!") 9.04.01 Openbox, and Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" Xfce. I could not find a suitable GNOME distribution that was not Ubuntu or Fedora that could be put onto a live USB with Unetbootin (many now use the "dd" command, which does not allow for multibooting - more on that later; also, I tried putting on Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" GNOME, but for some reason it wouldn't work with Unetbootin, though it has in the past). Also, with the hubbub about GNOME Shell, I am now staying away from newer versions of GNOME.
Follow the jump to read the rest.
This time should be easier as there is no command line involved.
The USB flash drive involved is still an 8 GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro.
I still did this on Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" GNOME.
The distributions used are Sabayon 5.2 KDE, SimplyMEPIS 8.5 KDE, CrunchBang (often abbreviated "#!") 9.04.01 Openbox, and Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" Xfce. I could not find a suitable GNOME distribution that was not Ubuntu or Fedora that could be put onto a live USB with Unetbootin (many now use the "dd" command, which does not allow for multibooting - more on that later; also, I tried putting on Linux Mint 7 "Gloria" GNOME, but for some reason it wouldn't work with Unetbootin, though it has in the past). Also, with the hubbub about GNOME Shell, I am now staying away from newer versions of GNOME.
Follow the jump to read the rest.
Review: Linux Mint 7 Xfce
This is the final distribution that is part of my live USB. I realized that I never really wrote a thorough review of it. Given that I already use Mint 7 (GNOME) every day, my review of this will be less thorough and much shorter. Follow the jump to see the full review.
2010-04-07
Review: SimplyMEPIS 8.5
In my quest to find new distributions to add to my multiboot live USB, I came across SimplyMEPIS, part of the MEPIS family (which also includes the lightweight Enlightenment [window manager]-based AntiX). MEPIS is based off of Debian, which is also the source of Ubuntu (and its derivatives). However, while Ubuntu uses the Debian unstable "sid" packages (though that has changed with 10.04 to the testing packages), MEPIS has usually used either the stable or relatively stable testing packages. While both MEPIS and Ubuntu aim to make Linux computing easy for those unfamiliar with Linux, Ubuntu goes for the cutting-edge, while MEPIS goes for rock-solid stability. Follow the jump to see the rest of this review.
2010-04-03
Review: Sabayon 5.2 KDE
I have reviewed Sabayon before. Here I am reviewing the latest version. I said before that while Sabayon has a lot of cool features and looks, the performance requirements are too taxing on most computers, which goes somewhat against the trend set by most Linux distributions [of being able to work well on older (6-7 years) computers]. Follow the jump to see what I think now.
2010-04-02
My Trip to MIT
I had an extremely enjoyable visit to MIT over the last few days. I got back home late last night.
Our hotel was quite nice; it was very well-furnished and looked quite clean and well-maintained despite being a cheaper hotel.
I got to sit in 2 classes: Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Mechanics. I found the former to actually be easier to understand; I was completely lost in the latter.
I got to visit a dorm - Simmons Hall. It is totally wacky in construction and design.
I got to speak with all of the people that I intended [to speak].
I found myself loving Boston - it is quite safe and has a lot of nice parks, restaurants, and other attractions, as well as a whole host of other colleges.
Overall, it was quite a great trip, and I could definitely see myself going to MIT!
Our hotel was quite nice; it was very well-furnished and looked quite clean and well-maintained despite being a cheaper hotel.
I got to sit in 2 classes: Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Mechanics. I found the former to actually be easier to understand; I was completely lost in the latter.
I got to visit a dorm - Simmons Hall. It is totally wacky in construction and design.
I got to speak with all of the people that I intended [to speak].
I found myself loving Boston - it is quite safe and has a lot of nice parks, restaurants, and other attractions, as well as a whole host of other colleges.
Overall, it was quite a great trip, and I could definitely see myself going to MIT!
2010-03-26
The Film Industry's Next Avatar
I mean "avatar" as a pun on the movie title and the word as meaning incarnation. It stems from this article (Marguerite Reardon, CNET) talking about Avatar director James Cameron's take on film piracy.
In a few words: he gets it.
He gets that to actually be successful in the marketplace, one must innovate; profits are not one's birthright. Where was all the fuss about the plethora of tech companies failing early last decade? Yet when filmmakers see their products being pirated, they put ever-more restrictions on the media which are ever-quicker bypassed in a vicious cycle both for the filmmakers and for the purchasers of unpirated copies. They also claim to be "victims", though the vast majority of data (not coming from the MPAA) shows that film companies are making ever-increasing profits through...theater ticket sales. I also talk about this in an earlier post.
Somehow, film companies aren't getting the fact that theater viewing is making a comeback. James Cameron understands that DVD sales are a venue for advertising, while the theater sales are the real deal.
He understands that the way to combat piracy is not to be restrictive, threatening, or litigious; rather, the way to combat piracy (and this is true of any medium - books, music, etc.) is to make acquisition of legitimate copies easier and more compelling than acquisition of pirated copies. Hence, he made the movie Avatar with 3-D graphics, which is only available in theaters; now, to see all the cool effects, people must go to theaters - watching it on DVD or on the computer is only half the experience (because as far as I know, once the effects are removed, the plot itself is a really poorly written soap opera).
A part of me goes against the notion that movies must resort to gimmicks like 3-D viewing as compelling reasons for people to attend cinema showings (as opposed to buying or pirating the DVD) - the movie has got to have substance behind all the show. That said, the movie makers are creative enough to think of some appropriate way to make their movie seem better in the theaters than on DVD (legal or pirated) - otherwise their movies wouldn't do well in terms of sales in the first place.
I understand that it is hard work for people to make a movie, and that this goes to waste when movies are pirated; what this means, though, is that movie makers need to work a little bit harder in terms of finding new ways to make cinema viewings worth people's money. By the time 3-D technology hits mainstream TVs and computers, James Cameron and other directors should be able to think of even more innovative ways to capture people's attention.
In a few words: he gets it.
He gets that to actually be successful in the marketplace, one must innovate; profits are not one's birthright. Where was all the fuss about the plethora of tech companies failing early last decade? Yet when filmmakers see their products being pirated, they put ever-more restrictions on the media which are ever-quicker bypassed in a vicious cycle both for the filmmakers and for the purchasers of unpirated copies. They also claim to be "victims", though the vast majority of data (not coming from the MPAA) shows that film companies are making ever-increasing profits through...theater ticket sales. I also talk about this in an earlier post.
Somehow, film companies aren't getting the fact that theater viewing is making a comeback. James Cameron understands that DVD sales are a venue for advertising, while the theater sales are the real deal.
He understands that the way to combat piracy is not to be restrictive, threatening, or litigious; rather, the way to combat piracy (and this is true of any medium - books, music, etc.) is to make acquisition of legitimate copies easier and more compelling than acquisition of pirated copies. Hence, he made the movie Avatar with 3-D graphics, which is only available in theaters; now, to see all the cool effects, people must go to theaters - watching it on DVD or on the computer is only half the experience (because as far as I know, once the effects are removed, the plot itself is a really poorly written soap opera).
A part of me goes against the notion that movies must resort to gimmicks like 3-D viewing as compelling reasons for people to attend cinema showings (as opposed to buying or pirating the DVD) - the movie has got to have substance behind all the show. That said, the movie makers are creative enough to think of some appropriate way to make their movie seem better in the theaters than on DVD (legal or pirated) - otherwise their movies wouldn't do well in terms of sales in the first place.
I understand that it is hard work for people to make a movie, and that this goes to waste when movies are pirated; what this means, though, is that movie makers need to work a little bit harder in terms of finding new ways to make cinema viewings worth people's money. By the time 3-D technology hits mainstream TVs and computers, James Cameron and other directors should be able to think of even more innovative ways to capture people's attention.
2010-03-22
Arguments Symptomatic of Occasional Linux Community Dysfunction
This latest argument (Brian Proffitt, IT World) is part of a larger problem within the Linux community: members of the community get too caught up and too angry about the little details - GNOME vs. KDE vs. Xfce, Firefox vs. Konqueror, DEB vs. RPM, GRUB vs. LILO, etc.
This particular argument is even worse in terms of pettiness. It has to do with the fact that while before the window buttons (maximize, minimize, close) were on the right side of the top window bar, now in Ubuntu 10.04 (though (former) Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth insists that the change may not carry over to the production release) the window buttons are moved to the left (Ã la Mac OS X). It started out as a minor discussion before morphing into a vicious online war of words. Finally, Mark Shuttleworth had to end the argument, but not before saying, "This is not a democracy."
Follow the jump for my take.
This particular argument is even worse in terms of pettiness. It has to do with the fact that while before the window buttons (maximize, minimize, close) were on the right side of the top window bar, now in Ubuntu 10.04 (though (former) Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth insists that the change may not carry over to the production release) the window buttons are moved to the left (Ã la Mac OS X). It started out as a minor discussion before morphing into a vicious online war of words. Finally, Mark Shuttleworth had to end the argument, but not before saying, "This is not a democracy."
Follow the jump for my take.
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