Comments on: Gnu/Linux: first impressions

by: JazzCrazed

Mon, 04 Apr 2005 05:49:51 +0000

Ubuntu’s a great OS… I met a few of the programmers for Canonical (the developer for Ubuntu) and Debian, and they’re all really great (and really smart-as-hell) young people.

Unfortunately, recent upgrades of my mobo, proc, and video card have made Ubuntu’s X-window GUI fail for some reason, and I’ve since reverted to my previously favorite distro, Mepis (which is also a Debian-based OS). I’m hoping the new “Hoary” release will fare better.

by: michaelm

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 08:06:11 +0000

Robert,
I just got home from my linux class, and I’m wishing I’d enrolled in ‘C’ or java, or something, although at the same time I’m grateful with my more than full time job, it’s all I can do to immerse myself in Linux architecture & command languange learning. I really didn’t think I’d all out convert(from Windows) but it’s odd, although sometimes things take a bit more work to tweak right (case in point I’m having a bit of a bind finding an imageviewer that intelligently rotates images with relavant Exif data)… but I enjoy it immensely. I look foward to knowing Python someday.

Saheli,
I’ll bump that book up to #2 I’ve got to finish reading Free Culture first!

by: Saheli

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 07:50:25 +0000

Michael,
You absolutely have to run out and find a copy of the book I’m reading so we can talk about it. The Success of Open Source by Steven Weber. Please! I know you’ll find it interesting.
Saheli

by: Robert

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 07:58:59 +0000

Glad to see the open source and Linux infection has taken root! Next thing you know you will be writing code in Python for a project that is released on SourceForge.

An acronym that has become popular lately is FOSS, or free open source software. Sometimes this is expanded to FLOSS, or free/libere open software, especially when referring to software released under a share-and-share-alike license (e.g., the GPL).

While I’ve released some code I’ve written under a GPL, I have also released code under a less restrictive license, e.g., the Apache Public license. In fact, I offer PhoneBlogger on SourceForge under both of those licenses.

I appreciate the sentiment behind the GPL and I think it is the best license in many cases, but its restrictions make it difficult for many companies to use GPL’d code. The LGPL gets around some of those issues, but I prefer the exact wording of the Apache License to the LGPL. Nonetheless, I am very grateful to the FSF for the work they have done to keep developers like myself from being locked into proprietary, closed platforms.

by: michaelm

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 05:41:29 +0000

After reading more about RMS (Richard Stallman) I realize that I may have used open-source and gnu/gpl in an interchangable way, where open-source is a less philosophically broad movement that started in 1998 and like Gnu, advocates sharing code. Gnu/Gpl stress the openness of code in a cultural context of democracy, liberty, and freedom. Please feel free to clarify what points I may still be fuzzy on.