So I was reading a post on RedHat pricing and it got the hamsters running around in my brain. I was thinking about CentOS which basically repackages RedHat Enterprise Linux and runs a bunch of mirrors for it’s RPMS. It’s quite popular because it looks, feels and smells like RHEL but it is free to [...]

Categories: free software · linux

Well I’m sure Apple is not quaking in it’s iPhone having boots, but Openmoko has released a developer/alpha version of it’s free (as in liberty) phone the Neo 1973. Unique for being not just free software but free hardware as well - they’ve gone out of their way to choose fully documented components and have [...]

Categories: free software · gear · hardware · smartphones

It isn’t really an interview but we exchanged a few emails and I thought it was an interesting situation. Avid readers of this blog remember my big temporary email shootout post awhile ago where I named MintEmail king. it turns out that behind the scenes MintEmail is using the Open Source software that Mark Percival [...]

Categories: free software · web app · web2.0

If there was any question about Microsoft’s stance on Free Software (and really, there wasn’t) this ought to settle it. Microsoft is claiming that free software violates 235 of its patents and it wants royalties from distributors and users. It was obvious that this was coming given their recent Novell deal.
The piece is surprisingly pro [...]

Categories: free software · microsoft

A bit ago xkcd posted this cartoon starring Richard Stallman himself.

How awesome is that two fans subsequently sent Richard a katana (at the FSF offices) - I wonder what the initial reaction was to receiving an unrequested package with a big sword in it was! You can see a picture of Richard holding the Katana [...]

Categories: comics · free software

So it is an oft cited security maxim that security by obscurity doesn’t work. That is, if a system is secure only by its reliance on keeping its details secret - it isn’t secure. People are very good at finding out secrets and the obscurity only prevents others from finding and pointing out weaknesses.
I [...]

Categories: free software · google

UPDATE: So, I just came across this recent post with another great tool. Here he talks about Kuler, an adobe online tool that’s a palette picker and browser of other’s color combo’s (web2.0 style with highest rated/most popular/newest lists). The picker is pretty sweet, I haven’t spent a lot of time with it yet [...]

Categories: design · free software · geekfindr · software · web2.0

So IBM just announced that they are not certifying Unbreakable Linux to be compatible with their software. This spells trouble for the struggling “distribution”. Oracle was already having difficulty getting people to sign up to their bargain basement rebranding of RedHat Enterprise, with this announcement even more doubt will be cast on the advisability of [...]

Categories: databases · free software

A week or so back, I came across an article asking if Open Source had lost it’s halo. The author, seems confused on several points about open source, seeming to take elements of the Free Software movement and simply free like beer software without any seeming understanding of what Open Source means.
The article starts with [...]

Categories: feature · free software

So, I just came across an article about the changing stance of an analyst who thought that Red Hat was going down due to the onslought of Oracle and Novell/Microsoft. It turns out he’s upped his target price to $30 and thinks everything is going to come out roses for Red Hat. All of these [...]

Categories: free software