Any Guesses?

Any guesses as to what I am running now?  It’s PCLinuxOS 2009!  So far I am really liking the new system.  As usual I had to do some visual overhaul to make it look better.  For whatever reason the default themes never look good on my desktop.  I’ll probably get around to writing a review here in the next couple of days.

It’s Time For Change: Part I

The Linux community can always be a better place.  I have always pictured the “perfect” Linux community as one that is helpful and kind to others, nonexclusive, professional (not in the sense of business formality) and free of bureaucracy.  As picturesque as that is, I have doubts to whether that will ever happen.  Too many people have attitudes that limit the community.  I cannot recount how many people have told me they want to use Linux but don’t want to get around the online community.  In this series of blog posts, I plan on addressing several sticking points that are not helping the Linux community, basically a subject per part.  We’re close, but we’re not there yet.

The Activism Needs to End

Anyone remember the failed “BadVista” campaign the FSF ran a few years ago?  Remember the protests in the hazmat suits?  How about the protesters against the OOXML document format?  Or even the student who ran across a stage behind Bill Gates with a sign that said “FLOSS” on it?  Ever feel a little… embarassed?  I’m not saying that the people protesting are not fighting the good fight, because they are, just not in the best way.

Thankfully, the FSF seems to be changing it’s tune.  It’s turning to actually creating better products than the competition, rather than having a fit because the competition has a lock on the market.  The truth is that there are better ways to approach software injustice… and step one is to not blow it out of proportion.  It’s just a piece of software — remember that.

Protesting, of course, is not the only form of activism.  There’s also the issue of what is said online.  Of course, I could make a 1000 volume book on the junk that happens online.  People say a lot of stupid things — mainly because they feel free from the consequences that could be faced in the real world.  It’s a shame, it’s a freak show, it’s the online community… not much that can be done there.  However, there are a few things that can make things better for everyone.  First, attack blogs need to go.

When I think of an attack blog, the first one that comes to mind is “Boycott Novell.”  Just a few minutes on the site makes me nautious.  So many self-pointing links, angry rants (and pointless rants?…  irrational rants?), and images disparaging Microsoft, it leaves me almost embarassed to say I know of anything about Linux.  It’s not that the site fights for a competitor, it’s on our side.  The site just goes about it in the wrong way – primarily by demonizing a company, and even more specifically demonizing individuals.  That’s not good.  It makes us look bad and very unprofessional.  I mean professional in the sense that we can stand competition, we face it with our own offerings, and we do not stoop to such low levels as attacking individuals.  Remember, it’s just a piece of software!

So, instead of activism, we should keep focusing on what we do best: software! If we stick to that, how can we go wrong?  If we fall behind, it may not be because of the software, but if it really is better than the competition, people will use it.  Remember that the business world is a dirty place, and sometimes someone will sleaze by with a plan that will hold us back.  Help somebody on the forums, IRC, or mailing lists.  A little kindness goes a long way — a lot further than any sleazy business plan because you end up with another happy user using your software, a user earned by hard work, not just paying someone off.  It is also important respect the competition, because that will give us a good reputation with end users, and possibly make things easier when working with the competition.

I’ll follow up soon with Part II.  I’m not exactly sure what topic I will hit at just yet, but the Linux community has given me a lot to work with. 

UDN Update

I am continuing to move forward with my idea for the Ubuntu Developer Network, which has over 400 votes on the Ubuntu Brainstorm site.  Today, I finished the plan and created a blueprint over in launchpad.  Who knows?  Maybe it will turn into something…

The New Linux.com: A Review

Recently the Linux Foundation took over Linux.com and restarted it with a whole new look and focus. Now, the site includes original articles, news from distributions and applications, as well as release information for distributions as well. Part of the genius behind the design is that much of the information is aggregated from the main web sites, freeing the Linux.com folks from having to enter information every time news happens.

However, that’s just scratching the surface.

There is also a new community edge to the site as well — and it comes in a big way. Registration is free, and once you’re connected, you have a rich social web experience at your fingertips. You get the typical services, a friends list, an inbox, etc. What begins to separate the Linux.com community is that you also get a blog, photos, wall, and twitter updates (there’s more but that’s all I’ve tried at the moment…). It is almost reminiscent of LinuxQuestions.org, but instead has been built around information rather than a forum.

It’s like Facebook for your Linux life, which is great for me, since I like to keep my tech life separate from the other half of my life, which doesn’t care or want to hear about what desktop I think is best. It’s also a very active community: in one day, my Linux.com blog had half as many hits as this blog. Interestingly enough, there are competitions also being held, the current one is for a full-out laptop signed by Linus Torvalds. A couple thousand people have already signed up, and it keeps growing every day.

In conclusion, Linux.com is a great resource for the Linux community. It connects people, it spreads information about upcoming events, and provides information from all aspects of the Linux world. If you haven’t seen it already, be sure to check it out, and if you register, look me up!

Ubuntu 9.04 InstallFest

I’m at the Ubuntu Georgia 9.04 InstallFest at Emory University today. To see what’s going on, check out the live stream over at the Ubuntu Podcast!

Ubuntu 9.04 InstallFest!!!

The Ubuntu 9.04 InstallFest will be held this Saturday! We’ll have free CDs, installation help, and just some time to hang out with other Linux users from around the area!

Here’s the details:

Saturday, May 16th
10-5pm
Emory School of Law, Room 5E
1301 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA

If there are any questions, please feel free to hit up the mailing list, forums, or IRC channel. See you all there!

Lin-X: A Quick Review

Recently a new Linux distribution was born, called Lin-X.  Based off Ubuntu 8.10, and designed to look like Mac OS X, it grabbed my attention.  As soon as the download went live, I downloaded the 900+MB DVD image and burned a disk.  Placing the disk in my drive, I booted up my PC into the live system.  I was greeted by a Mac-like startup screen, with a circle of outward pointing lines lighting up in a circle.  The Apple logo was there, just a little edited.  Inside the Apple logo (really, the Lin-X logo) there is the famous pirate flag emblem of skull and crossbones.  The desktop itself looks nice, and acts almost like Apple’s Mac OS X.  AWN is used at the bottom of the screen for the dock, and the global menu applet is used at the top of the screen which emulates the Mac’s menu system.  Only a few applications (KDE apps, Mozilla apps, and OpenOffice) do not have support for the global menu.  Two themes are provided – the aqua and the graphite versions, and two backgrounds are also provided, the space background and a grassy-field one.  The one problem I have with the theme is that when a selected item in the menu is highlighted that has a sub-menu (most apparent in the main application menu), the normal arrow appears fuzzed around the edges, and slightly distorted.   The Firefox theme, Nautilus, and Rhythmbox all look really awesome though.  There are several applications preinstalled that add to the common stock of applications. For one, the MPlayer movie player has been added by default.  I had some issues with it however, I kept getting multiple errors when starting it — not exactly a big deal since the default movie player is installed.  I was also surprised to see VirtualBox installed by default, version 2.1.4.  Of course, no review is complete without a screenshot!

Ubuntu Developer Network: Thanks!!!

I just want to say a big thanks to all the folks who have supported the Ubuntu Developer Network idea over on the Ubuntu Brainstorm site.  Over 400 people have voted in favor of the idea, with a good number of comments as well!

For those who may be unfamiliar with this effort, the Ubuntu Developer Network is an idea to create a central resource for developers using Ubuntu.  This goes beyond MOTU and packaging to developing applications on Ubuntu.  Think of MSDN, or perhaps the Sun Developer Network.  When I went to Microsoft’s Developer Network to do a little research for the idea of an Ubuntu Developer Network, I was surprised how easy it was to get started with developing an application.  Within 5 minutes of installing the right software, I had already built a simple web browser.  Given, that’s with Visual Basic, but just the fact that I learned how to use the software that fast was impressive.  That got me thinking, when I tried just packaging an application for Ubuntu, I was lead through countless wiki pages in continuous, confusing loops.  Part of the problem is that the wiki pages were designed for experienced developers, and the other part is that they are just not organized well.  The Ubuntu Developer Network idea is designed to fix all that.

News, videos, how-tos, and different software tracks are all part of the plan.  If you have never looked at it before and like the idea, vote for it!  All you have to do is register at the Brainstorm site.  This idea hasn’t been picked up by anyone higher up in the Ubuntu community or Canonical — yet, but I hope that it is something I will be able to work on in the future.

Ubuntu the Only Answer

As I was watching the whole Microsoft vs Apple thing go down over the past couple of days, I could not help but to notice something wrong with both sides.  Here we have Microsoft claiming Apple has an Apple Tax.  Fair enough, I agree they overprice just about everything (with the sole exception being the iPods and iPod Touch).  Apple then makes a counter-claim that while Microsoft PCs are cheaper, the costs of the extra software (although with a free alternative, the costs are lower), the support, and new hardware all adds up to mean more cost and hassle than owning a Mac.

That’s where I begin to see the problem.  Both companies are right, in a sense.  Microsoft prices their software really, really high.  Apple’s computers are priced really, really high.  Microsoft wants to protect their budget, and Apple is too pompous to admit their computers are overpriced.  Imagine the user bases that could be tapped if only software prices were lowered, and Apple lowered the cost of their PCs!

That will not happen of course.  Both companies are interested in sqeezing out as much cash as possible from customers.  They create lock-in schemes, proprietary codecs, and other detrimental moves that end up hurting consumers.  They quickly forget the fact that we are in tough economic times.  They forget the unemployment rate is at its highest points in years.  With both companies’ heads in the clouds, what option could be more in touch with customers?  Which one could actually help consumers and not lock them into pricey hardware or software?

Ubuntu.

Honestly, there’s not much more that needs to be said.  To be more general, certain distributions of Linux and open source software could end these silly games played by Microsoft and Apple — but what would that take?

That will be the subject of Part II to this post.

Improving Twitter

Twitter seems to be getting more popular every day.  The number of people in my “following” list seems to be growing also.  Using Twitter had me thinking, how can Twitter be improved?

One of the things I noticed is that when using Twitter, updates are constantly moved down the page.  If you happen to follow a multitude of people, you end up with tons of updates running down the page.  If you reply to someone, they often times won’t get it, and if they send a reply, there’s a chance you might not get the message.  Of course you can private message someone, but then it kind of kills the purpose; you can just email the person instead.

Twitter must be kept simple, so how can you see your friends’ comments on twitter, and not just the multitude of companies and individuals you don’t know as well?  You can visit each person’s profile, but that just adds more complexity and time wasted.  Why not have a side bar, where you can add preferred friends, and see just their updates, next to the list of all the updates you see?  It may make it easier to stay in touch with friends.  Of course, I don’t think Twitter would follow this plan, I’m just a humble blogger.  Of course, it would give them one up on facebook, who seems to try to imitate Twitter at times.