SUNny Days

Sun releases appx. 1600 patents to their new license scheme, CDDL, and declares them ‘open source’. But don’t be fooled…while this is a great thing for open source, it doesn’t mean Linux will benefit from this at all.

I’ve been fighting the urge to chip in my one and a half cents worth. I’ve been holding back, reading what analysts say. I’ve been perusing quotes from various PRs and company heads…reading, reading, reading. The thing that gets me about this is that IBM just opened up 500 of its licenses. Not to be outdone, Sun sweeps in and usurps the thunder.

That’s reminds me of a time when I was growing up. I remember when I got my first skateboard…a Lance Mountain Street with H-Street wheels and indy trucks…man that baby was sweet.? Not to be outdone, my neighbor had to pick up a Tony Hawk board with slimeball wheels and tracker trucks and all the fixins. Next to his board mine looked rather plain. I felt a bit left out at times, but there was no emotional scarring 🙂 IBM is fast becoming that left out kid, which truly is sad considering IBM is the largest patent holder in the world. I sure hope they don’t begin to feel left out and decide not to open source anything else.

Back to the subject at hand…the Sun peaked its head through the open sourced clouds, its body shrouded by a CDDL blanket…and all of us that have been frolicking in open source bliss atop of these open source clouds have taken notice. Then Sun dropped back through with OpenSolaris and Java bait rimming the small opening from which they came. The question that comes to my mind is…where are they going to get a community from?

I’ve talked this over on some different channels with quite a few different people. Most of them think that a community will spring up. I don’t doubt that at all. However, I don’t think this community will be very large at all. The reason?  Because of loyalty to the GPL. The CDDL is incompatible with the GPL and this will prevent it from ever crossing most functions into GPL’d code.? Thus far…albeit very early in the game…Sun has “an initial Open Solaris community of more than 100 people, from inside and outside the company, which it plans to expand”? (eweek article). 100 people? Come on! That’s it?? What the heck?!?!? I’d be worried if I was Sun. If January 31st, 2005 comes around and they don’t have more than 500 people in the community…I’d say they better toss in the old white towel on this movement because that community isn’t going to spontaneously generate.

Continue reading “SUNny Days”

Groklaw and Censorship?

I think I may be on to something here.  I’ve come across an increasingly controversial example similar to what I’ve been posting about in this category.  I’ve posted about censorship in Linux forums and open source supportive websites, systematic categorization of Linux, as well as infiltrating open source and Linux with political and social views.  I’m an avid open source enthusiast…but I’m beginning to become ashamed of being associated with the groups I posted about.  I recently read a webpage that chronicles the traded messages of a person that posted comments on Groklaw.net and who believes that they were censored from public view.

Some of you may be familiar with Groklaw…and some of you might not.  For those of you that aren’t, Groklaw is a site started up to chronicle SCO vs. TheWorld but it has morphed into a little bit more by adding MS into the mix along with some other companies.  The site has some great information for those seeking it and it is powered by Geeklog which makes the format nice on the eyes, easy to navigate, and open source powered.

While Groklaw isn’t a direct open source project…according to the Second article on their Mission Statement, open source principles are applied.  This makes a powerful ally to FOSS, Linux, and the OSI. Or does it?  Is Groklaw actually speaking out the corners of its proverbial mouth?  At least this one user thinks so.

Al Petrofsky is the owner/operator of scofacts.org which is a site dedicated to the systematic documentation of all information on the SCO case.  I had a chance to trade a few emails with Mr. Petrofsky in order to get his take on why he feels his comments at Groklaw were censored from public view.  He believes that the main argument that Groklaw had against his comments was over copyright issues of recordings (audio/visual) that he posted.  He also argues that these copyright issues were bogus because he provides written authorization and release notices for each of his sources.  As Mr. Petrofsky found, his posts were made viewable to only himself and erased from public view as opposed to outright deletion.  It also seems that Mr. Petrofsky wasn’t the only one that reported this phenomenon either.  Al attempted to contact both Pamela Jones and Mathfox, two POC’s for groklaw.  He did receive responses that you can view in his email traffic with PJ at Groklaw, which he vouches for; “The six emails on that page were really sent or received by me, and the eight groklaw pages were really retrieved from groklaw. (I think the fact that I’m publishing that page at a website registered to me already constitutes a representation, no less official than this one, that the evidence there is not manufactured.)”

Mr. Petrofsky isn’t irritated about the fact that a site admin or owner had a problem with his post.  What gets his proverbial goat is that he discovered Groklaw was making comments (of which their comments page states, “Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments”) posted by users visible only to the users themselves.  Everyone else at the site isn’t able to see the posts.

Is this a case of deception versus rejection?  Would an outright rejection or deletion of the comment be a better way to go?  It seems that this would be a valid avenue to go even if you were unsure about the content of the comment.  If you delete the comment in question, then inform the submitting party that their comment was deleted for X reason, the person could provide validity, reasons, license, and sources for their comment(s).

Would a ‘self-moderated comment’ style of submission OR outright deletion of the comments in question be a better avenue instead of deception?  It is my opinion that it would. Mr. Petrofsky shares this opinion, “I have no problem with a newspaper editor or blog writer accepting submissions from letter writers or web visitors and choosing to publish some and discard others”…”However, groklaw has attempted to prevent that last part [rejecting submissions/content] from happening by deceiving the one person who would normally notice a stupid post-rejection decision and might tell other people about it. I find that outrageous, especially from a site that states its goal is “devotion to the truth.”

Besides Al Petrofsky, there are at least 2 other verified groklaw members who have experienced the same “post is invisible to all but me” phenomenon (note: Geeklog also has a setting for this in its latest version) I have also contacted a group of about 5 others that have first hand knowledge and experience with both Mr. Petrofsky’s situation as well as others in which these cases apply.  The question that begs to be asked is, what is going on at Groklaw?  Wouldn’t outright deletion be a better avenue to go?  While I have not officially contacted Pamela Jones from Groklaw, rest assured that it will be done within the next few days. (Editors note: Still no word back from PJ as of 8 Feb 05).

Interestingly enough, if you go over to Groklaw’s search page and enter al_petrofsky (Mr. Petrofsky’s username) and you won’t find him. I believe that Mr. Petrofsky’s account has been deleted but I have not officially confirmed this information.  A quick look to his userID at groklaw (1098 ) redirects us back to the front page so it seems as though the account has been deleted. Both uid 1099 and 1097 are valid…but 1098 is gone.  Whether this was Mr. Petrofsky’s doing or from Groklaw action has yet to be seen.

To show what Mr. Petrofsky “perceived as” deception and misdirection, look at the following saved threads from Groklaw (saved threads that had comments viewable only to Mr. Petrofsky…taken from groklaw immediately when he noticed his posts weren’t visible) mirrored at scofacts.org:

It is apparent that something happened with Mr. Petrofsky’s posts.  There are far too many plagiarized comments visible from “anonymous” immediately following his posts that received responses on them.  One is curious as to why comments were received on those plagiarized posts and not on Mr. Petrofsky’s.  As he stated earlier, the debate isn’t about the deletion of the aforementioned posts, but rather, the way in which Mr. Petrofsky’s posts were addressed.  Making the posts visible to only himself and site administrators/moderators can be seen as a direct form of deception.  While not outside of the limitations of a site administrator or moderator’s power, it does bring up a question of morals.  Is it ok to deceive your supporters and readers/site visitors?  I say no.  In my opinion, any form of deception discredits your reputation to yourself and your site visitors.

Some may ask, why I posted this at all. Good question.  I think it is because I’ve started documenting in the category “GreatDivide” examples of definite or possible injustice and outright nastiness that happens to people/groups/individuals that are active in or supportive of free and open source software (FOSS).  It’s also a platform for injustices that are done with intent to harm FOSS.  I found it fitting that I post this article in that category and on this blog.  Even though Groklaw is not an open source project, it does support open source…refer back to #2 on the mission statement and you can see why this was posted here.  While not all of you may agree with what is claimed above, rest assured that there will be future developments and clarifications on the way.

Currently, I am contacting PJ of groklaw.net to verify her side in things (one has to be fair). More to come on this.

Groklaw Not Cached on Google?

While doing the research for an article, I discovered an oddity. There are no cached pages of groklaw.net at google. I tried to go back and see if some comments on groklaw?were in cache but it (the google cache) contains no data even though 286 sources link directly to groklaw.net. That would give groklaw serious google crawler activity one would assume…afterall, this site has only 4 links back to it and it has been cached. One has to wonder why groklaw isn’t being cached? Perhaps it is a geeklog websystem CMS (Content Management System)? Perhaps it is…but if so, it isn’t being used at geeklog.net. The question once again is…why is groklaw not cached? Perhaps some could point to a blocking technology (like a robots.txt or crawler controller) that could be limiting the crawler from accessing pages at groklaw. Once again, evidence points that is itsn’t. I did a search for “site:groklaw.net microsoft” and came up with 36 hits…so somehow google is crawling groklaw without caching it. Odd behavior to say the least. Has anyone else ever found this activity with other sites? I’m attempting to contact google about this oddity currently…I’ll let everyone know what develops. Hopefully, the conspiracy theorists will stay quiet 🙂

UPDATE: This has been explained in further detail and has been explained by those commenting as well within the abilities of a standard robots.txt file. So, it looks like I just underestimated the ability to NOT have your site indexed or cached. Thanks goes out to Rob and asdf.

Some Nice Apps to Use

Having used Linux for quite some time, I run across some really cool apps. So, I’ve decided to share a few of them with readers of LinuxBlog. Having only been a GUI kid in Linux for about 2 years now, I’ve only recently begun to find GUI tools.? Since this blog is sort-of geared toward desktop distros of Linux, we’ll concentrate on applications that will work there.

So without further pointless banter, I will give you the apps I find are little known and very useful:

Cantus

Cantus is an easy to use tool for tagging and renaming MP3 and OGG/Vorbis files. It has many features including mass tagging and renaming of MP3s, the ability to generate a tag out of the filename, filter definitions for renaming, recursive actions, CDDB (Freedb) lookup (no CD needed), copy between ID3V1 and ID3V2 tags, and a lot more. Screenshot.

I use Cantus for all my tagging needs. I like the fact that it provides a clean and simple layout for everything and it is self explanatory so I didn’t need to read a manual four inches thick to get going in it. Project Page. Quick, fast, and simple. I wish all apps were like this.

Prozilla

Prozilla is a download accelerator for Linux. It makes multiple server connections to download a file, and also supports FTP searching for faster mirrors. Screenshot.

I saw about a 200% increase in my speed when using this. The great part about it is that it offers http and ftp redirecting, resume, bandwidth maximization (the file is downloaded at the maximum allowed speed), and automatic mirror selection of fastest mirror available. What a kick arse tool! Sourceforge Project Page.

* Please note that I use the console based tool for my needs. There is a GUI based tool available here.

The Rox Desktop

ROX is a fast, user friendly desktop which makes extensive use of drag-and-drop. The interface revolves around the file manager, or filer, following the traditional Unix view that `everything is a file’ rather than trying to hide the filesystem beneath start menus, wizards, or druids. The aim is to make a system that is well designed and clearly presented. The ROX style favours using several small programs together instead of creating all-in-one mega-applications. Screenshot1. Screenshot2. Screenshot3.

This desktop kicks arse because it allows directory based installs. In other words, you copy the entire directory of whatever it is you want to install and you?can run it immediately. Removing is as easy as deleting the directory. It also has?a feature called drag-and-drop saving that saves time and effort. It is exactly what it sounds like…you drag a file, drop it, and it is saved. For example, if you were working on an office doc that you needed to alter in 4 different office programs (Hence, 4 different directories under this?desktop) you would be able to open up the doc in each program, edit it, drag it and drop it into a central window where you want the doc located, and it will update each time on the fly to the most recent copy. Quick, fast, and efficient.

This also provides a nice feature called ZeroInstall. ZeroInstall allows you to run programs through the authors website by utilizing caching. Now you’d think that this would slow you down…well, if you have dialup it probably will…but with a cable modem, it runs as smooth as if I had the app on my own computer. Imagine operating your own computer without any programs installed on it! You’d have the saved projects you started but no vulnerabilities of the programs (if there are any). It boggles the mind. I really dig this desktop…KDE and Gnome should take into consideration what this desktop can do. Sourceforge Project Page.

Continue reading “Some Nice Apps to Use”

Anticipated Problem in Fedora Core 3

I’ve hit quite a few snags with FC3 lately.  Very odd that people consider this one of the most new user friendly.  I have a bad feeling that this is actually going to score very low with my wife when she takes it for a test drive.  The reason I say this is that FC3 doesn’t play mp3’s!  That’s right, you heard me correctly, you can’t play mp3s with FC3…I was shocked as well.  I did some snooping and it turns out that Red Hat thinks they can’t distribute the mp3 codec legally…or are just to scared to do so.  Pretty odd considering all of those mp3 players out there seem to be a-ok with being able to play mp3s.  Let me setup what happened and how I came to this conclusion.

I decided to go back to FC3 to do some more messing with it…mainly because quite a few of the Lxer.com crew seem to LOVE FC3.  So…I install and have it up and running.  I mount my shared music drive and decide that I want some mood music while I mess with compiling a few things.  XMMS pops open and decides that mp3’s aren’t something it wants to play.  Here I thought of two things I could do.

  1. Convert all of my mp3s to .wavs immediately so that FC3 would be happy with it and play them.
  2. Find out what in the world was up with this and get a workaround

Now, if this were the review we’ve been building up to for the past couple of months…I’m afraid a new user would be more apt to replace my number 2 above with a “ditch Fedora Core 3” and they’d be perfectly justifiable in doing so.  How many new users have even been to a forum before?  How many have asked for help?  If we’re shooting at being viable competition for Windows, we’ll need a distro that allows a person to operate WITHOUT GOING TO FORUMS or helplines.  It will need documentation available to it immediately after installation and it will need things as simple as listening to mp3s to work out of the box.

Snooping led me to a tips and tricks post on a forum that shows me a bunch more stuff I haven’t even run across that doesn’t work out of the box.  I wouldn’t be too concerned if they didn’t have to deal with really basic tasks such as playing music.  But alas, one cannot wish for too much out of a distro evidently.  Fedora came up majorly short in this department and I suspect that my wife will give up on it if she runs across this problem.  We’ll see what happens I guess 😛

The Criteria

I’ve been neglecting the ‘experiment’ for the last couple of days. So, I’ve decided to post the things that will be considered when we review the 5 picked desktop distributions of Linux. This will not be a “normal” Linux review in the sense of that word…instead we’ll opt for a largly ‘new user look’ at how each desktop distro performs for a new user and how it asthetically feels for that new user because, let’s face it, if something doesn’t work or looks unpleasant for a new user right away…they’re going to run back to Windows quick fast and in a hurry. It is also important to note that my wife who knows little of Linux will be taking these distributions for a drive from install to remove. Here I am rambling again! Ok, without further adieu, here it is:

  1. The Feel/Look – How does the desktop layout ‘feel’? Is it pleasant to look at? How is the organization in the menu’s? Do you feel as though you are ‘in control’ of this desktop (i.e., windows control panel gives a one stop place for users to go…is there something similar?). Does the OS make you feel comfortable when you perform your regular tasks? Is it easy to change the look and feel of your desktop?
  2. The Perfomance – How does the desktop perform when you tax it (i.e., when it has multi-apps open and running)? Is it quicker or slower than ‘normal’? Can you perform your regular tasks without any intervention? Do things, ‘just work’ out of the box? Do you notice any difference in speed (overall such as browsing, burning, listening, copying, etc)? Is it scalable?
  3. Hardware/Software – Does the distro detect everything? Does it have all the software you may need? Is it clear up front how to get software? Does it offer visible help if hardware doesn’t detect?? added based on reader comments:? How easy is it to install and use software not included on the default install.
  4. Upgradeability/Security – Is the distro upgradeable? Does the distro make it clear how to patch your system? Does the distro make you feel secure? Does the distro have options for firewall? Does it provide help with setting a firewall up?
  5. Documentation – Is there a clear place to go for documentation on the distro? Are there supportive forums or websites you can visit to get started? Does the existing documentation make you feel good about using the distro? Is there a lack of information available?
  6. The Installation – Was the installation clear and concise? Did the installation complete with minimal interaction? Did the install process have a good look and feel? Did the installation take a long time? Were there any downsides to the installation process?

Ok…so there are the six main points I’ve come up with thus far to rate the distros on. We’re not going to go in depth with most stuff and we’ll post 3-5 screenshots from each distro doing different stuffs. I don’t have a screen capture card so I won’t be able to provide screenshots from the installs. Anyway, as stated earlier, we’ll go into detail with how the distro feels/looks and performs and concentrate on whether or not eveyrthing ‘just works’ out of the box because that is what a new user would do. Hopefully, one of these distros will stand up to that challenge…afterall, they are the top distributions available for free currently right?

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