A while back I posted that KDE 4.0 was my perfect desktop. Now, I have one better.
I am running Kubuntu with KDE 4.1. I haven’t used it for more than an hour, but so far it is AMAZING! I really didn’t expect such a change in a point release, but things have really improved. The usability and applications are working much better, and also have a lot more “bling” to them.
Congrats KDE Team!
The FSF is working a physical DoS attack on the Apple Store “Genius Bars.”
They recommend that you reserve a time slot — lots of ‘em, and then print out some sheet full of how the iPhone restricts your freedom.
I don’t care how bad the iPhone restricts your freedom: You do not stoop so low as to harass Apple Tech Support. You know what the support team’s only purpose is? They are there to HELP people.
The FSF’s shenanigans have been unusual in the past, but this one takes the cake. The last thing I would want as an Apple Tech Support person is to have some radical software hippie come barging through the store only to annoy me by telling me and every other customer that the iPhone is “Defective by Design.” Everyone, including myself, would laugh until their lungs popped out.
Needless to say, I am rather disappointed that the FSF wouldn’t do something that would really help the cause — making better software, instead of pulling guerrilla tactics on unsuspecting Apple Store employees. I am glad also not to be a part of such a community that would do such things, but instead handles situations professionaly (ever wonder why Ubuntu is so successful? That’s one more reason!)
Hopefully this particular little project will fail and never be brought back again. It’s amazing how people can think what they are doing is helping free software, when really all it is doing is bringing it back down.
There’s been a lot of action surrounding open source, Microsoft, Ubuntu, and Apple lately. Most of it has come out of OSCON this week.
For one, Microsoft has been coming out with interesting developments with open source. First, they became one of the largest sponsors of the SourceForge.net project competition. Then, they become a diamond sponsor of the OSCON event, where they also announced that they would be giving the Apache project $100,000 a year to help with development costs — development for Windows compatibility. What I see on the surface is a more open Microsoft on some fronts. What I really think: Microsoft is working to get more and more open source development happening on Windows, which is what Steve Ballmer said he wanted. Even deeper speculation: Microsoft is working to take the developers for open source projects and get them working on Windows more, taking away from the time they use to develop Linux applications. Just a speculation, but it would not be impossible knowing Microsoft.
Now on to a bigger topic — Apple.
This week Mark Shuttleworth made it known he wants to see Linux leapfrog Apple in the interface category in the next two years. This is big, because being the head of the largest and most popular Linux distribution, it would only seem natural that he would work to fulfill his wish within his own distribution. Ubuntu has the manpower to do it, but it will take effort out of many in the community outside of Ubuntu to reach this goal. It was nice, however, to see the head of one of the most powerful distributions acknowledging the fact that Apple set the bar for OS interfaces.
Steve Ballmer sent out a company-wide memo talking about the company’s position in the marketplace. It was interesting that he mentions Google and Apple both by name, and shows through the message that they are Microsoft’s largest competitors. Microsoft will have to work hard to redeem themselves in a marketplace that sees them as a company who has become bland. However, Microsoft is a large company, and it will be especially interesting to see how they counter the Apple ads which delt a great blow to Vista’s perception. Interestingly enough, it seems as if Steve Ballmer wants to emulate Apple, where Mark Shuttleworth wants to blast past Apple. Anoter interesting tidbit is that Steve Ballmer tries to convince Microsoft employees that their software is the best. Encouraging at best, but please. Ever hear of Mozilla Firefox?
One thing is clear — Apple will be facing quite a storm throughout the next year. Everyone, and I mean everyone will be gunning to make their systems better than Apple, and will also be marketing to help lead that perception. It will be interesting to watch and see whether or not Apple can withstand the competitions’ repeated blows without gaining a tainted reputation. They will almost certainly have to target Vista, and maybe, just maybe, begin to notice Linux.
I am now running Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 3! Now it’s time to squish some bugs….
After reading about an easter egg in openoffice, I thought I would try some more.
Here’s a screenshot of me playing OpenOffice Space Invaders:
Today is the release day for Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 3, but it’s not here yet. Looks like a little while longer before I can get my hands on it. 
While this is my blog, it is about open source, Linux, and computing topics. Every year or so, I like to take one post out of many, and dedicate it to a topic that I am close with. This time, it’s knives.
As a Boy Scout (leader these days) I know that my knife can be my best friend when in a jam. Whether it’s getting a fire started, defending myself, or building a shelter, I know I can depend on my knives to help me accomplish whatever I need to get done. Buck, Gerber (Legendary Blades, not baby food), and CRKT (Columbia River Knife and Tool), are just a few of my favorite brands. They all produce good knives, and are all very dependable. I’m not going to go into the details and basics of knives, but Buck knives has a good introductory page into knife types.
My personal favorite types of knives are lockblades and fixed blade knives. If you visit the above page, head to the bottom of the page where it says “Lockback Knives” and see all entries below for what folks mean by the term “lockblades.” There’s also another lock variation called midlock, which is like lockback, only with the lock mechanism in the middle of the knife. Simple, eh?
When purchasing a knife, be aware that Gerber does not measure their knife blades by the cutting edge, meaning from the base of the cutting edge straight to the height of the point, without following the curve of the blade. It’s misleading on the package. Recently, I purchased a Gerber knife, with a “4 inch blade” star printed on the package. I open it up, measure the cutting edge — 3 1/4 inches. Yeah, smaller than advertised, but it is actually a very good knife. This is the same situation with the other Gerber knives that I have purchased. It seems they measure the blades by several different points, and I have even read different (and wrong) blade lengths on their site. Let me reassure however, that Gerber makes very good knives, and I have been impressed with each one that I have purchased.
So which knife company is favorite? Buck. Why? Outside of making some really good knives, they are a Christian company. I wouldn’t be able to account for every worker on the factory level, but the management has always been keeping to faith to help guide their decisions in their daily lives. You can read the message Buck sends out in their knife boxes here. Several other reasons: Buck is a family owned company, and also still make several of their most popular knives in the USA, something that has become all to rare.
Now for some links!
BUCK:
GERBER:
http://www.gerbergear.com/index.php
CRKT:
The Kubuntu KDE 4 desktop has become my perfect desktop. It has all the functionality I could ask for, and I have added applications to supplement that effect.
1. KBlogger – Yup. It has to be the easiest application I have ever set up. I just entered my blog http address, my username and password, and hit “Autoconfigure”. BAM! I was in. I had all my information and was able to start blogging. There are more features than I can shake a stick at, and it even shows me what the post will actually look like by showing a web-view of my blog with the post preview. It is currently in an “alpha 2″ stage, so development is still on. Things seem to be very stable, however.
2. ThinkFree Office – I have used this free (as in no cost) office suite in the past, and it has always preformed well. It looks and acts like Microsoft Office in a way, and has an online service that integrates as well, all for free.
3. Stellarium – In my opinion, Stellarium is one of the better applications available for Linux. It shows the night sky as you would see it with the naked eye. It also shows the location of thousands of space objects in real time. Very, very cool if you like astronomy like me.
4. Konqueror – I know that Konq. is included by default as the web browser and optional file browser for KDE 4, but I was able to get flash working – something that is not easy to do. What I did (for those interested) is type “sudo apt-get build-dep flashplugin-nonfree, and then I installed the flash plugin “sudo apt-get install flashplugin” and then reboot. After that, it worked! So, now Konqueror is working as my default web browser. KBlogger comes in handy here because it works with the KDE applications, giving me more options that working with the plain-text editor for wordpress that I would be forced to use in Konqueror.
There are several more that I will write about soon, just as soon as I learn more about the system.
Update: Here’s a screenshot…
Oh yeah!
I am writing this post from KBlogger in KDE 4. The latest version (which has been ported to KDE 4) is working perfectly. I will be coming out with a post on what’s up with my desktop… mainly on applications and the differences that I have seen between Windows to Ubuntu.
According to this article , the use of Linux in Eee PCs is not part of its success. It even mentions that Windows is requested more than Linux on the Eee. So, why is this?
In my opinion, this has to do with the fact that the Eee PC, when bought by non-Linux users, was purchased because it was a cool little device that could do email, web, and even edit documents. The best analogy I can think of to better explain my point is Tivo. Sure, it runs Linux, but is that really why people purchased the box?
No.
People will buy whatever companies put out there that has a “cool” factor. As much as Xandros may have hoped, the major inroads made by using Linux inside the Eee has gone unnoticed by the general public. Once the option is given to rather uneducated users between Linux and Windows, you can only take a guess as to which most will use.
