Welcome to my new ComputerWorldUK blog, where I'll aim to bring you regular dispatches from the front lines of the free and open source software revolution. Starting out with news seems smart, so I'll use this post to announce my new job.
Read more »Software freedom matters, and I intend to prove it
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The Magic Black Box Paradox of Freedom
The free software community understands that free software gives the user more freedom than proprietary software. Proprietary software confines its users, prohibits them from making changes that would allow everyone to benefit, etc. Free software advocates (myself included) have a habit of claiming that using free (libre) software means the same thing as having freedom.
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Why Our Civilization's Video Art and Culture is Threatened by the MPEG-LA
We've all heard how the h.264 is rolled over on patents and royalties. Even with these facts, I kept supporting the best-performing "delivery" codec in the market, which is h.264. "Let the best win", I kept thinking. But it wasn't until very recently when I was made aware that the problem is way deeper. No, my friends.
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The Hobbyists OS
Microsoft's army of apologists like to spread the word that Linux is a "hobbyists OS", so this post is a look at what that means and why it's a label more suited to Windows. The attack is meant to draw attention to the fact that anyone can write code which appears in Linux, inferring the quality of the code is dubious. Basically, it can't be good quality if people outside the corporation write it.
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The real, and unusual, story between Microsoft and Piracy
In a recent post at Pcmag titled "CSI Redmond: How Microsoft Tracks Down Pirates", the author tells a long, suspenseful and obviously MS-sympathetic tale about Microsoft's epic battles against "criminals and pirates".
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World Day of Commons on October 15, 2010.
"Based on the Manifesto Reclaim the Commons crafted in Belem during the WSF 2009, we suggest to organize a World Commons Day on October 15, 2010 [...] The World Commons Day will be a day of public real or virtual actions, presentations, debates, workshops, shows and meetings taking place around the world to share the visions and the practices of the Commons [...] It is an auto-managed and decentra
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Why Apple and Microsoft Operating Systems Are Unethical: New Examples
How proprietary software disables freedom and discourages solidarity, based on the actions of Apple and Microsoft
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Socrates on sharing knowledge
If you have problems in understanding the substance of Free Software, read the following dialogue between Socrates and Antiphon.
How do you feel about this? Does it represent the essence behind FLOSS to you?
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How software patents broke the system
Patent Absurdity explores the case of software patents and the history of judicial activism that led to their rise, and the harm being done to software developers and the wider economy. The film is based on a series of interviews conducted during the Supreme Court's review of in re Bilski — a case that could have profound implications for the patenting of software.
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If they're going to do it anyway...
We free software advocates surely know that, no matter what we say or how we say it, some people have to or (if you prefer) simply want to use proprietary software for one reason or another - and that's even when they've heard and understood everything we have to say on the matter.
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Academia's obligation to software freedom
The Free Software philosophy is founded in the ideals of freedom, openness, and sharing. Educational institutions support the same ideals within academic freedom and the open dissemination of knowledge and information common in academia.
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Trisquel 3.5 and Truly Free Software
Some people put their principles before their lives, dragging the whole of the human race along with them to a better place. But those are the really big, spotlight principles, like freedom of speech, equality and justice.
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Non-free software hidden in your GNU/Linux distribution
Most people with an interest in software freedom will turn to GNU/Linux as their operating system of choice. Few realize however, that the vast majority of GNU/Linux distros are not entirely free. Imagine migrating away from Windows, only to find that by installing GNU/Linux you are accepting a restrictive Microsoft license!
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Send me attachments I can read, use open standards
There are many ways to share documents, files and data over the Internet. Among them, emails are often used to do so, because whoever has an email address can send and receive emails freely. People from one mail server to another can communicate without any difficulty. Why is it working so simply? Because emails are designed to use a set of open standards, based on the Internet protocols.
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Free software: phase two
Free software is ubiquitous. It runs everywhere on (almost) everything. The question that dominated most of the discussions at the Libre Planet Conference in Boston about a week ago is what now? How can the community capitalize on its achievements to make the movement more inclusive and reconceive the relationship between free software and privacy?
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