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free software: Firefox is open source and free to download. Here's more informatio about free software.

March 09, 2008

Legal Primer For Open Source And Free Software

Important to understand legal issues revolving around open source and free software.

A Legal Issues Primer for Open Source and Free Software Projects: All software is subject to copyright law. The moment you save code to a file, copyright law gives you certain rights to control what other people can do with your work. Because almost everybody who contributes code to a software project has rights with respect to their code, understanding the basics of copyright is essential to running a FOSS project.

 

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A Legal Issues Primer for Open Source and Free Software Projects

Posted on March 9, 2008 04:38 AM by Free S87.
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September 23, 2007

Yochai Benkler At Gartner Web Open Source Summit

Notes on a talk by Yochai Benkler on changes in economics related to free software and creative commons licensing.

This is really a new kind of production in that it is not market driven and it is not centralized. We’ve had market-driven, decentralized production (standard firms in the US), we’ve had market-driven, centralized production (large corporations), we’ve had non-market, centralized production (governments and NGOs, non-profits). What we have not had is non-market, decentralized production. (This echoes Clary Shirky’s assertions about Perl being an act of love).

 

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Yochai Benkler at the Gartner Web Innovation / Open Source Summit

Posted on September 23, 2007 04:38 AM by Free S87.
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September 10, 2007

Free Pocket PC Software

In case you have an old Windows Smartphone, here's some free software.

From the creators of PocketPCFreeware.mobi, this new site specializes in free software for the non-touch screen "Standard" version of Windows Mobile formerly called Windows Smartphone. Currently SmartphoneFreeware only has about 500 files for download compared with 6000 for on the Pocket PC site and 9000 on Palm freeware site.

 

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Found on the Mobile Web 23

Posted on September 10, 2007 04:38 AM by Free S87.
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August 13, 2007

Quitting OSI

Leaving OSI over a free software dispute.

Although I had thought myself an active member and fervent evangelist of this community I obviously was not. This became clear when the OSI board clearly coached Ross Mayfield, CEO of Socialtext, on what and how to submit when he resubmitted his badgeware license, renamed CPAL. The board then approved, in a private session at OSCON this license against the wishes of the community at large. A license that is not even compatible with the most widely used free software licenses: GPL and LGPL. Also disturbing to me is the fact that Socialtext had, for as much as, four years claimed to be an open source company, but never released a single line of source code for the software they were distributing for a fee.

 

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Posted on August 13, 2007 12:39 AM by Free S87.
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May 15, 2007

Microsoft Takes On Free World

Microsoft is threatening free software with patents infringement.

. . . there's a shadow hanging over Linux and other free software, and it's being cast by Microsoft. The Redmond behemoth asserts that one reason free software is of such high quality is that it violates more than 200 of Microsoft's patents. And as a mature company facing unfavorable market trends and fearsome competitors like Google, Microsoft is pulling no punches: It wants royalties. If the company gets its way, free software won't be free anymore.

 

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Microsoft wants to destroy free software.

Posted on May 15, 2007 04:44 AM by Free S87.
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May 11, 2007

Backup Outlook Express Email

Isn't free software to make a Microsoft product work an oxymoron?

I’m using Outlook Express to send and receive my email during office hours and it is necessary for me to backup the important emails periodically. I have spent a lot of time to search the free software to backup the email from Outlook Express, at last I found this software is only allowed 30 days trials, it is not very useful because I can’t backup my email after one month because this software will be expired and even you reinstall also cannot use at all.

 

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Steps To Backup Outlook Express Email without Software Installation

Posted on May 11, 2007 04:43 AM by Free S87.
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April 19, 2007

IPRED Vote

Intellectual property and software patents at the top of the agenda for the EU.

Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Software Foundation Europe and Open Rights Group launched a call for action because next week the European Parliament will vote IPRED2, the EU’s second intellectual property enforcement directive.

 

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FSF Europe call for action: next week IPRED will be voted

Posted on April 19, 2007 04:43 AM by Free S87.
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GetJar.com Review

Free software for your mobile phone here.

Check out getjar.com. You’ll find a list of free software arranged by title, device and platform. There’s e-crypt, pocket wallet, pocket oxford english dictionary and the oh so popular PalmaSutra.

 

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GetJar.com Review

Posted on April 19, 2007 04:43 AM by Free S87.
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April 13, 2007

Write Software For NASA

NASA tries the free software approach to software development.

NASA is looking for volunteers to write code. In an attempt to start an open source collaboration with software developers, NASA has started CosmosCode:

 

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CosmosCode: Now We Can Write Software for NASA

Posted on April 13, 2007 04:43 AM by Free S87.
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April 03, 2007

Sahana Wins Free Software Award

If you have a disaster, you may want some free software.

Sahana , an Open Source Disaster Management system that addresses the common coordination problems during a disaster from finding missing people, has won the 2006 Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit awarded by the Free Software Foundation.

 

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Free Software Award: Sahana won the annual award for Projects of Social Benefit

Posted on April 3, 2007 04:42 AM by Free S87.
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March 21, 2007

Cheap Way To Go VPS

Xen is free software that enables virtualization.

This blogger details out a simple way to use Xen for webmaster's using VPS. You can start up your own ISP that way!

 

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Cheaper way to go VPS: Use Xen and webmin

Posted on March 21, 2007 04:43 AM by Free S87.
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February 16, 2007

Free As In Culture

A look at the new Definition of Free Cultural Works vis a vis Free Software.

Benjamin, started thinking about the issue almost two years ago, explaining that unlike Free Software, Creative Commons in his opinion failed to set any standard of freedom. Then he argued that:

 

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Free as in Culture: a possible definition of Free Cultural Works

Posted on February 16, 2007 03:49 AM by Free S87.
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February 08, 2007

Ruport News

From the latest Ruport news, info on free software.

As if that wasn’t enough new developments, there are more. Gregory Brown will give a presentation at the Boston Ruby Group on February 13. The presentation will consist of a short introduction to Ruport and a demonstration of a camping application running on top of Ruport. On the heels of that talk, Gregory will be attending the Mountain West Ruby Conference on March 16-17. While there, he will give a talk about the “tools, techniques, and practices necessary to build a successful free software project.” Gregory will refer to his experiences with Ruport and will therefore be able to give pragmatic advice on getting through choke points during a project’s growth.

 

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Ruport News, Issue 11

Posted on February 8, 2007 03:43 AM by Free S87.
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January 18, 2007

BadVista

Click through for more on the Free Software Foundation and Microsoft Vista.

The always remarkable Free Software Foundation have released a new campaign/site: http://badvista.fsf.org/

 

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BadVista

Posted on January 18, 2007 11:49 PM by Free S87.
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January 03, 2007

Free TACACS+ Server Software

Cisco offers TACACS+ as free software, but it's not supported.

Cisco offers a free version of TACACS+ that you can download. However, please note that it is not a fully supported version. In fact, Cisco seldom updates the free TACACS+ daemon and it lacks several of the advanced features of commercially available TACACS+ software. Furthermore, Cisco warns that this free software comes with no warranty or support.

 

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Downloading Free TACACS+ Server Software

Posted on January 3, 2007 03:45 AM by Free S87.
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December 29, 2006

ISO Image File

Infra Recorder is free software to help you work with ISO image files.

If you are using windows operating system, Infra Recorder is a good free software to burn the ISO into a CD. Just insert a bland CD and select actions>Burn Image from the menu.

 

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ISO image file - what is it?

Posted on December 29, 2006 03:39 AM by Free S87.
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December 20, 2006

OpenPBX.org Releases OpenPBX RC2

OpenPBX free software is a fork from the Asterisk PBX software project.

OpenPBX is a free software PBX now running on several platforms.

 

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OpenPBX.org releases OpenPBX RC2

Posted on December 20, 2006 03:41 AM by Free S87.
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December 09, 2006

"Freetown" And Freetown

The developer of Freetown has some words about free software and open source.

She’s right. My only quibble is that what we’re doing isn’t just making any old basic software. We’re unique in that we create tools, and those tools are by and for the sector we work in. When a tool doesn’t exist, and we see a need - an itch that can be scratched, to use the old Free Software term - we create the tool to address the need.

 

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“Freetown” and Freetown

Posted on December 9, 2006 03:40 AM by Free S87.
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November 04, 2006

Blackboard's New Patent

A dicussion of Blackboard, free software, and patents.

I think that given what the free open source community has achieved especially in the short term, project wise, it is plain to see one does not need to invest $100 million dollars to develop a course management system. For Blackboard to break even on their costs and make a profit, I would suspect that Blackboard’s CMS features a rather large price tag (note you don’t actually own what you paid for, you get a license to use it under their terms and restrictions). I personally thus do not support Blackboard on this matter because it’s interest in developing a patent portfolio (funny name; seem to be the next new thing…?) conflicts especially with free software projects that aim to make the world a better place by providing quality education tools and not make supernormal profits.

 

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Update on Blackboard’s new patent

Posted on November 4, 2006 01:40 AM by Free S87.
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October 24, 2006

Hackers Zero In On Online Stock Accounts

If you're day trading, make sure it's not for someone else's benefit.

Ameritrade’s Becker said the company advises clients to make sure they have good spyware detection software on their computers. Ameritrade’s Web site also offers clients free software that helps detect or eliminate snooping programs.

 

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Hackers Zero In on Online Stock Accounts

Posted on October 24, 2006 03:39 AM by Free S87.
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CCleaner

Data-be-gone, for free!

This free software isn’t just an uninstaller utility but also a clicktrail and Registry cleaner, secure file file eraser and basic system privacy tool.

 

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Freebies of The Week : CCleaner

Posted on October 24, 2006 02:39 AM by Free S87.
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August 31, 2006

Taking The Ubuntu Plunge

We love Ubuntu, and not just because it's free software.

Ubuntu is open source and free. It comes with loads of free software, including OpenOffice which users have told me will do most anything Microsoft Office can do. It too is free.

 

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Taking the Ubuntu plunge

Posted on August 31, 2006 03:41 AM by Free S87.
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July 20, 2006

Protecting Your Online Privacy

From a good post on protecting online privacy, some free software that will help.

Using a proxy software in our computer. There are almost 100 Free software proxies in http://www.download.com. Among them ‘Proxy+ 3.0′ is most popular among the users. There are two types of Proxies HTTP proxy and the CGI proxy. I think the HTTP proxies are faster than the CGI ones.

 

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Some solutions for protecting your online privacy ($urpa$$ing the Blogging B@n)

Posted on July 20, 2006 03:41 AM by Free S87.
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July 04, 2006

GPL License Issues

A look at the impact of the GPL on free software development.

If that's the case, perhaps Richard Stallman should rewrite the GPL so that it doesn't (rather effectively) hinder small, grass-roots, free software development and distribution projects. Perhaps he ought to use his influence to stop the Free Software Foundation from using the clauses already in the GPL as an excuse to bully small free software development and distribution projects with its legal heft. MEPIS wasn't the only distribution targeted: also take note of the threat of legal action looming over other projects such as Kororaa Xgl LiveCD. John Andrews of Damn Small Linux reportedly agrees with the estimation of MEPIS' founder Warren Woodford that a great many small Linux distribution projects are at significant risk, and new projects are considerably less likely to spring up in the evolving legal climate of the "free" software community.

 

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RMS and the FSF: one map, one flashlight, no ass in sight

Posted on July 4, 2006 03:45 AM by Free S87.
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Automattic: Enterprise Blogging Support

A look at how WordPress has transformed its free software package into a not-for-free enterprise version.

Seems like the developers of WordPresss made such a solid product that they are finally getting paid for it, good for them. The price seems relatively reasonable for an enterprise level blogging solution, to boot. I am wondering how they understand the term “customizable”? I will assume that virtually all of the corporations interested in the Automattic support service will want a Multi-User platform. Yet, WPMU for the open source community is still in the nightly stages, and from my last go-round with it two months ago it was no fun to play with at all - is the Automattic support service rolling out a packaged version of this? -as well as top notch support?

 

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Automattic: Enterprise Blogging Support from the Folks that Brought you WordPress

Posted on July 4, 2006 02:41 AM by Free S87.
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Free Software Versus Apple

Links about switching from Apple to free software.

I’ve been following with interest the Mark Pilgrim Apple->Free Software Switch. Time for more bullet points!

 

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Notes On A Clean Ubuntu (Dapper Drake) Install on a Gateway Laptop

Posted on July 4, 2006 02:41 AM by Free S87.
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May 08, 2006

Ubuntu Podcast

You'll have to listen to find out why Gnome versus KDE is so funny.

Here (.mp3 25Mb, .ogg 21Mb) is an interesting talk with Mark Shuttleworth, the founder and funder of the Ubuntu project. It provides some interesting insights into the direction of the project and Shuttleworth’s vision for free software in general. He make it quite clear the Ubuntu with Gnome, and Kubuntu (Ubuntu + KDE) are equal citizens and will be promoted, developed and funded as a such. My person favorite moment is when the German interviewer almost spits on the ground while asking why Gnome is the default desktop instead of KDE.

 

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More Ubuntu fun. Podcast from Mark Shuttleworth

Posted on May 8, 2006 03:43 AM by Free S87.
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May 01, 2006

Full Conversion Or Dual Boot

Linux or dual boot? Only his hairdresser knows for sure.

Summer’s almost over, and this summer I’m going to build a computer, so I’m not restricted to my shared computer. I’m thinking of converting to Linux 100%, but I don’t know if I can or if I’ll just install it Dual-Boot. I can navigate linux pretty good (without GUI :P) since I’ve been messing with shell accounts and things. Not to mention my favor of irssi. My bud claims he can play Counter-Strike: Source using WINE. So I wouldn’t have to worry about leaving that behind, I’m not sure if I can WINE XFire, Trillian, etc… but then again there is gAIM (Not that I favor gAIM) but yeah. I’m not sure if I’ll go all the way, I’ve already converted from mIRC -> irssi (Yep, except DCC cause I don’t exactly have unlimited bandwitdth on the shell im irssing off.) So I’m not sure what to do. I’d like to take the plunge and become a full linux user. Anywhos. Everything’s going well on this end. Talk to you all later, maybe I’ll post about Perl, or Bittorrent or something technical.

 

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Full Conversion, or can I only handle dual-boot?

Posted on May 1, 2006 09:41 PM by Free S87.
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April 25, 2006

Website Photo Album Generating Software

Check out JAlbum for your photo albums.

With a bit of Internet Searching, I stumbled across one of the best bits of free software I think I have ever found, JAlbum (currently version 6.4). There's loads of skins available, simple to use and customise (assuming you understand the basics of editing HTT's) and does everything on my list apart from the last one.

 

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Website Photo Album Generating Software

Posted on April 25, 2006 03:40 AM by Free S87.
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Google Summer Of Code 2006

Great way to encourage more free software development.

Google’s Summer of Code 2006 is program that gives “student developers stipends to create new open source programs or to help currently established projects. Google will be working with a variety of open source, free software, and technology-related groups to identify and fund several hundred projects over a three-month period.” It’s the 2nd year for the program, which last year had 400 students and 40 mentoring organizations in 49 countries.

 

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Google Summer of Code 2006

Posted on April 25, 2006 03:40 AM by Free S87.
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March 27, 2006

Paul Flaherty Dies

One of the early search engine designers, Paul Flaherty died recently.
It is sad to hear that one of the pioneers in search-engine technology passed away young at the age of only 42. Paul Flaherty was one of the driving forces and masterbrains behind (originally) Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s AltaVista, which was one of the first real search engines. I personally liked and used it alot back then and because AV helped me numerous times and saved me countless hours, I really do want to express my compassion and condolences for his friends and family.
 

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AltaVista-Founder Paul Flaherty passed away

Posted on March 27, 2006 09:19 PM by Free S87.
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March 03, 2006

SSCLI Source Code Browser Online

Click through for the whole SSCLI story.

Shared Source, is an umbrella term used by Microsoft for its dabbling in the open-source wave. It encompasses multiple programs that grant licensees to access the source codes from ASP.NET sample kit all the way up to the Windows itself. The license under which SSCLI is distributed does not exactly make it free software as the license fails to satisfy the four freedoms of an free software license. However, there is enough discussion on this topic and certainly nobody can argue that having access to the source code of the CLI is worse than not.

 

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Searchable SSCLI Source Code Browser is Now Online

Posted on March 3, 2006 02:41 AM by Free S87.
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February 14, 2006

Splitting The Delphi Heritage

Borland users might want to click through for more on this open source idea for Delphi.

This was found in a comment on Eric's post on open source and IDE's which refelected on Delphi for sale. There is an online petition asking Mark ShuttleWorth to buy Delphi and release it as free software. Nice. But.......

 

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Splitting the Delphi heritage

Posted on February 14, 2006 02:47 AM by Free S87.
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February 07, 2006

Open Source Week

BusinessWeek has some four articles on open source.

Oops, make that 4, I forgot this one: Fixing Patents, Open-Source Style - Free Software devotees decry any and all software patents and the proprietary world can’t get enough of them. This editorial by an ex-VP of Red Hat seems to be a call for compromise. Yes, another ugly word.

Click through for the other three.
 

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Open Source Week

Posted on February 7, 2006 02:42 AM by Free S87.
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January 31, 2006

Recent Google Registrations.

"Google" is showing up in lots of domain names.

Packgoogle.com probably refers to their regrettable free software pack that’s already been released.

 

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Recent Google Registrations.

Posted on January 31, 2006 02:41 AM by Free S87.
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January 27, 2006

Universal Binaries

Univeral binaries are a great idea, though.

Basically, there’s no ‘easy’, trivial, or even takes-a-couple-of-hours way to make most GNU configure built software create a universal binary under a PPC host at the moment; however, this universal build structure is entirely native on the x86 development systems, and the new x86 variants. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a couple grand to throw at free software that costs me money to offer every month.

 

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It’s going to be awhile before you see any Universal Binaries.

Posted on January 27, 2006 02:45 AM by Free S87.
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January 26, 2006

GPLv3: Libertad O Muerte!

GPL version 3 is a sort of "live free or die" manifesto.

Pero ya hay una primera minuta de la *GPLv3 (con exposición de motivos) que ataca asuntos *techie *atualíssimos y, en el mejor estilo de la tradición del *free software, está de ojo en el *establishment , especialmente el americano. Busca revertir la tendencia de *cercear los derechos de los usuarios de software de todas las maneras en nombre de la seguridad y de los logro$.

 

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GPLv3: El manifiesto *geek *brada, libertad o muerte!

Posted on January 26, 2006 02:40 AM by Free S87.
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January 21, 2006

IISPassword Protects Web Site Content

Here's the whole story:

One of my Office mates send me this link. This is a Free Software (IISPassword) which could be used to password protect your web site content, without the hassle of system user Accounts. It is Integrated with IIS and is Compatible with Apache.

 

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Password Protect Your IIS Free…………

Posted on January 21, 2006 02:40 AM by Free S87.
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Open Source Advertising

Open source and advertising aren't mutually exclusive.

While looking up links for another post, I came across this site about Linux Software RAID. The guy has a banner ad at the top of his page for GnuCash and as much as I dislike advertising, maybe it’s a really good idea for breaking into the brand-aware consciousness of non-Open Source and Free Software people. I think if people saw what they were missing, they might do something about getting it.

 

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Open Source Advertising

Posted on January 21, 2006 02:40 AM by Free S87.
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January 18, 2006

Free Software For Intel-based Macs

Might want to wait a while to buy an Intel-based Mac.

So, Java embedding sounds sort of obscure doesn’t it? But what it means is that lots of free software I depend on for my workflow won’t work. Firefox won’t work unless you can give up Java and Flash. 3 months ETA on that. NeoOffice/J, the OpenOffice platform for Mac won’t work either, and there’s no ETA on that.

Read the entire article.
 

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Free Software for Intel-based Macs

Posted on January 18, 2006 02:43 AM by Free S87.
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January 17, 2006

Linux A Go-go!

I'm about to try booting Linux on my laptop.

Ok so I did it! I am now running Linux on my laptop and everything seems to be going well. I even got it to play nice with my Microsoft wireless adapter which was the big hang up for me in the past. If you are curious I am currnetly running Ubuntu Linux (Based on Debian). I will provide updates from time to time to let you know how things are going with it. I am writting this on my linux laptop at the moment in fact. Go free software!

 

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Linux a go-go!

Posted on January 17, 2006 02:42 AM by Free S87.
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January 16, 2006

FrOSCon 2006 - Call For Papers

If you're in Germany and interested in free software, here's your event.

Organized by a commited team, it aims to become a significant event for free software in the Rhineland. The conference is hosted by the faculty of Computer Science of the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg in collaboration with the student body and the Linux/Unix User Group Sankt Augustin.

 

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FrOSCon 2006 - Call for Papers

Posted on January 16, 2006 02:42 AM by Free S87.
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January 02, 2006

Free Versus Freedom

Lots more about open source and free software at this blog.

In the "Open Source for Newbies" department we have yet another author taking a run at explaining the difference between "free" and "freedom." This author (David Chisnall at informit.com) does a pretty good job, as he goes to some effort to explain the 4 freedoms outlined by the Free Software Movement and how the concept of free -- as in "no cost" -- got grafted on to Open Source. Good reading if this is still a topic that causes you some consternation.

 

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Free vs. Freedom

Posted on January 2, 2006 02:40 AM by Free S87.
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December 11, 2005

Gaim 2.0 Close To Beta

If you're looking for Gaim 2.0, here you go!

Gaim 2.0 should be out next Friday, which is very good news for us alternative os folk and free software windows people. There are a lot of new features planned, and personally I prefer gaim over aol’s client, and to other clients such as trillian. It is open source, so the potential for evil is greatly diminished.

 

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Gaim 2.0 Close To Beta

Posted on December 11, 2005 02:38 AM by Free S87.
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December 04, 2005

France to Ban Open Source Software?

Complications as only the French can imagine.

The Free Software Foundation in France argues that the French government considers a ban on free software. Taking into account the possible implications (namely controversy), I initially believed this to be an overstatement or a case of quote-mining.

 

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Posted on December 4, 2005 02:38 AM by Free S87.
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December 01, 2005

ImaNote: Image And Map Annotation Tool

I like this software.

You can use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) to keep track of the annotations added to the image or make links on your own blog/web site/email that are pointing to the annotations on the image. The links leads right to the points in the image. ImaNote is Open Source and Free Software released under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL).

 

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Posted on December 1, 2005 01:39 AM by Free S87.
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FreeDOS

Some background on freedos, a free DOS operating system.

Then, I saw a discussion thread on the DOS groups asking “hey, why doesn’t someone write their own free version of DOS?” Remember, this was about three years after Linus Torvalds announced his work on the Linux kernel, and by 1993 Linux had shown that free software can achieve incredible results. So in 1994, the suggestion that we could write our own free version of DOS, and give it away with the source code so others could work with it and improve it, really didn’t sound all that far-fetched.

 

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Posted on December 1, 2005 01:39 AM by Free S87.
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November 30, 2005

Open Source And Post-Capitalistic Society

I think open source software is the least of Microsoft's worries right now.

Look at the capitalistic giant, Microsoft! Imagine that there were no free software movement and open source. Microsoft would be the ultimate monopolist, the whole world would be their empire. In such case, there would be no real progress and innovation because there is no force to drive it.

 

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Posted on November 30, 2005 01:42 AM by Free S87.
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Complete Concise History Of Linux

Those who fail to learn from history are bound to relive it.

This history can be very educational to the new Linux user. It gives a definite flare and flavor as to how the open source and free software movement got started. I knew of bits and pieces of the history but All About Linux has put it in a nice concise form I have never seen before.

 

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Posted on November 30, 2005 01:42 AM by Free S87.
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November 28, 2005

Musings

Free software leads to addiction:

That post put me to thinking. I like reading blogs about things that happen to people - snapshots of their day and so on. Now I feel that it is time for me to reveal a dark secret. When I created this blog, it was more in the nature of an experiment than anything serious; I was wondering how the free software installed by my ISP (Free.fr) actually worked. Then the idea of writing posts fascinated me, so I continued, and now, a hundred or so posts and four months on, I feel quite guilty if I don’t update regularily (not guilty enough to actually update, it seems…).

 

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Posted on November 28, 2005 01:39 AM by Free S87.
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November 15, 2005

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Free

When was the last time your saw something like this free from Microsoft.

Microsoft is offering free software development tools for *free* at its website. Yup! The so-called “evil empire” is offering an “Express” version of Visual Studio and MS SQL Server 2005 for free and it can be downloaded here.

 

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Posted on November 15, 2005 01:43 AM by Free S87.
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November 05, 2005

Formula For Milking The Digital Divide

More possibilities with free software.

A blackboard and chalk is not as sexy as a laptop. In fact, a TV and a media player is pretty much all the hardware that you need to provide basic education to a village full of children. That hardware (and some free software) would cost all of $200 a year, and if you pay about $2000 a year as salaries to a couple of village school teachers, you can educate a 100 kids for about $20 per child per year. Compare that to just buying $100 laptops for each kid.

 

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Posted on November 5, 2005 02:40 AM by Free S87.
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October 16, 2005

Wanted: Decent Windows Editor

vi?

Today, I tried to edit the new GSR-website with an editor under Windows. No, I'm not crazy. This is all because we now have an employee at the GSR who'll update our website with new contact-info, meeting reports, news,... He's a windows user at home, so I needed to find a sufficient editor for that platform. Requirements: free software (as in free beer) and keep my original files in utf-8 character encoding!

If you post an answer to this, please submit your post to Blog Carnival with the button in the upper left.
 

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Posted on October 16, 2005 03:45 AM by Free S87.
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October 12, 2005

Gilberto Gil and the Digital Commons

Actually, with the exception of Movable Type, nearly everything here at Blog Carnival is built on top of free software, too.

Oh, and speaking of hackers, have I mentioned this is all built exclusively on top of free software?

 

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Posted on October 12, 2005 03:40 AM by Free S87.
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September 20, 2005

Mambo or Joomla?

It's all kind of mumbo jumbo to me.

The recent case of the Mambo Content Management System for websites shows that these issues aren’t a problem in the free software world. Following a split from the company that held the copyright in Mambo over the direction of the project, the entire development team took the existing code with them to continue working on it as "Joomla", something made possible by the free software licensing of Mambo.

 

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Posted on September 20, 2005 03:38 AM by Free S87.
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September 16, 2005

IP Propaganda

I'd never heard of these IP lessons.

In 2003-4 the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) spent more than $200,000 on an ‘educational’ course for schoolchildren, bizarrely entitled ‘What’s the Diff? A Guide to Digital Citizenship’. This was nothing more than a lesson in IP dogma. ‘If you haven’t paid for it, you’ve stolen it,’ students were told – eliding fair use, public domain works, Free Software, and alternative licensing in one sweep of the revisionist hand. Teachers worked from a -page classroom guide, explaining that the use of a computer to download files was ‘morally and ethically wrong.’ Students played roles such as ‘The Film Producer’ and ‘The Starving Artist’; at the end of one session, according to an article in the Boston Globe, a teacher asked a boy: ‘’Will you stop copying music online and download the right way?’ ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘I’ll go to the music store and buy more CDs.’1 Alongside the propaganda comes bribery: for writing essays about why file sharing is bad, students are offered incentives such as free DVD players and DVDs (first one’s free, but they’re hooked forever), movie tickets and trips to Hollywood.

 

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Posted on September 16, 2005 02:39 AM by Free S87.
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September 06, 2005

Massachusetts Ponders Going Open Source

The only software I have to buy these days is Office and only to stay in sync with new versions of Office.

The state of Massachusetts is considering a proposal that would require all state documents to be compliant with the Open Document format rather than requiring proprietary software. The Open Document format is part of Open Office 2.0, a free software suite that is currently under development. Saying that the proposal is not “an anti-Microsoft initiative,” Peter Quinn, chief information officer of the Commonwealth, pointed out that 200-year-old papers remain readable in their original format. He said he hopes that today’s records will remain accessible far into the future, regardless of the comings and goings of various vendors and their products. Quinn said he hopes Microsoft will decide to support the format, which allows documents to be readable by any computer, similar to Adobe PDF. Microsoft’s Alan Yates said the company would not agree to the Open Document format. He noted that Microsoft provides a free XML schema that allows users without Microsoft Office to read documents created by that suite of applications.

 

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Posted on September 6, 2005 03:39 AM by Free S87.
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September 03, 2005

Free Software RSS Writer

If you need RSS software:

Phelios announced the release of an offline internet software tool for webmasters called, "RSS Writer." The free software application is being offered to website owners who would like to offer an RSS feed of their own sites.

 

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Posted on September 3, 2005 03:38 AM by Free S87.
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September 01, 2005

Using Free Software Alternatives

Click through for free software used in software development.

Next, I'm moving on to cover free development softwares - softwares used by software developer. How entrepreneurs in software related business can leverage on free softwares written by their counterparts.

 

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Posted on September 1, 2005 03:38 AM by Free S87.
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August 14, 2005

My Favorite Open Source Software

The search for free FTP software.

I was having trouble finding a good free FTP client. SmartFTP advertises itself as free, but you get a nag screen after 30 days of use. I tire of having to track down/apply cracks for software all the time, and I try to find truly free software whenever I can. Due to its misleading name, I originally thought Filezilla was the Mozilla foundation’s attempt at an FTP client. Believing in Mozilla software so much, I didn’t even test the software first, I just deleted SmartFTP and started Filezilla. Filezilla is in fact NOT a member of the Mozilla family, but I haven’t been disappointed anyway. Though I’m using FireFTP more and more for smaller FTP transactions, major uploads (lots of files that may need to be uploaded in several sessions for example) are still done through Filezilla. Great FTP client, especially for the price.

 

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Posted on August 14, 2005 03:39 AM by Free S87.
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August 13, 2005

Jonathan Schwartz On Free Software

More info is a click away:

Jonathan Schwartz, one of the highest on the food chain at Sun Microsystems, has a great post entitled Free Software Has No Pirates. Perhaps the most interesting line from the whole essay is:

 

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Posted on August 13, 2005 03:40 AM by Free S87.
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August 01, 2005

Mozilla Financing

Interesting questions about Mozilla financing.

There is nothing wrong or immoral about making money. The economic development of the planet including the poorest members of society depends on everyone being able to generate an income. This is nicely articulated by Jeffrey Sachs in his book “The End of Poverty”. If there’s nothing inherently wrong with making money and we all, even the staff of the Mozilla Foundation, need to do it in order to put food on the table then why is Mitchell so coy about where the money comes from? Maybe the problem is that once you start digging beneath the surface a little bit it turns out that the free software movement is just as dependant on “filthy lucre” as the rest of us. It may in fact be more dependant than commercial software companies because it has no other independant source of income. The reality is that the Mozilla Foundation is nicely capitalized and funded in various ways by some very large, very profitable commercial companies and a few rich donors. I could not seem to find a list of these benefactors on the Mozilla Foundation site; again I'm puzzled by the apprent lack of transparency. Why does the core principle of openness appear not to extend to how the Foundation is financed?

 

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Posted on August 1, 2005 03:41 AM by Free S87.
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July 31, 2005

Lawrence Lessig

Good discussion of "free" here.

A free culture has been our past, but it will only be our future if we change the path we are on right now. Like Stallman's arguments for free software, an argument for free culture stumbles on a confusion that is hard to avoid, and even harder to understand. A free culture is not a culture without property; it is not a culture in which artists don't get paid. A culture without property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not freedom. Anarchy is not what I advance here. Instead, the free culture that I defend in this book is a balance between anarchy and control.

 

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Posted on July 31, 2005 03:40 AM by Free S87.
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July 10, 2005

Skyping Siblings

The free software market is heating up in the VoIP space. Gizmo and Jajah are two new entrants.

The main system for talking over the Internet is something called SIP (Session Initiated Protocol), which like many modern standards seems to be designed by hardware makers to get people to buy expensive stuff. However, the open source/free software people are moving in and have made some good progress lately. See Gizmo, for example. There's also a Skype competitor called Jajah that allows you to talk with Skype users. There will be more options in the future, but at the moment Skype is king if you want it to just work, and work very simply.

 

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Posted on July 10, 2005 03:45 AM by Free S87.
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July 07, 2005

Make A Georeferenced Street Map

Good how-to on mapping.

There are plenty of sources of free topographic maps that someone with a GPS and some good GPS mapping software can use. (Yes, I paid for MacGPS Pro. It works, and the free software I’d played with was pretty unreliable.) Most of the topographic map files out there are in GeoTIFF format, or something similar, which means that they have pixel to lat/lon data built-in. But I’m more likely to need street maps than topographic maps. I could buy something like Microsoft Streets and Trips, but I’m using Mac. Route USA 2004 is the only street map software I can find that runs on OS X, and it doesn’t appear to be very good. I couldn’t find a source of free high quality street maps online, so I rolled my own. Here’s how:

 

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Posted on July 7, 2005 03:49 AM by Free S87.
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July 03, 2005

Google Earth

Firefox is pretty cool, too, but google earth is amazing.

In my opinion there is absolutely no free software available today that is cooler than this. Google Earth, a 3D interface to the planet. Here’s some screen shots for ya:

 

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Posted on July 3, 2005 03:44 AM by Free S87.
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July 02, 2005

The Revolution Will Be GPL'd

Latin America has taken a very different approach to software than the U.S.

'Viva Software Libre!' talks about 'Latin America's free software revolution challenges U.S. corporate domination', which is very much true in description of what is happening throughout Latin America through Free Software and Open Source. And he mixes it in with the Banana Wars. Of course, not many people know about where the phrase Banana republic came from. And it's sort of disturbing that a clothing chain gets a capital 'r' for Republic in the Wikipedia.

 

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Posted on July 2, 2005 03:42 AM by Free S87.
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We Need The GPL

Important distinctions between "free" and "open".

The purpose of ther GPL is not to make people accept open source software - the GPL is about Free Software. Open Source software is in a legally and morally weaker position than Free Software. In addition to this the GPL contains within it a fundamental social goal which Open Source does not.

 

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Posted on July 2, 2005 03:42 AM by Free S87.
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June 29, 2005

Free Software Blog

Check out this new blog on free software and open content.

In Vabavere we want to focus on open content and free software in education. We would also like to include other topics we are interested in, such as social software, network culture, etc. Vabavere will become a central information channel for all our open source projects: IVA, VIKO, KooliPlone and Krihvel. We are also planning to have one category in English language.

 

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Posted on June 29, 2005 03:44 AM by Free S87.
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June 20, 2005

GPL Version 3: Background to Adoption

Good background on the GNU license agreement here:

The GNU General Public License (“the GPL'’) has remained unmodified, at version level 2, since 1991. This is extraordinary longevity for any widely-employed legal instrument. The durability of the GPL is even more surprising when one takes into account the differences between the free software movement at the time of version 2’s release and the situation prevailing in 2005.

 

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Posted on June 20, 2005 03:22 AM by Free S87.
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June 19, 2005

Free Software and Motivation

Interesting motivations:

Thomas Breitner has released his (German) thesis "Freie Software - Motivation und Engagement" which examines the motives of Free Software developers for working on Free Software.

 

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Posted on June 19, 2005 03:25 AM by Free S87.
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June 09, 2005

Free Software And Business

Businesses run on software, but are they software companies, software integrators are software consumers.

I spoke in an earlier post about the possibilities of high quality free software for small businesses. There is another interesting aspect to this theme....that of businesses as software companies. As an industry analyst, for years one of the platitudes I have used when discussing priorities with corporate IT organizations says "Your board doesn't think you are a software development company, so why are you doing ......?". However, the more I think about this, the more I am coming to believe it is exactly wrong. Business not only are software companies,...

 

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Posted on June 9, 2005 03:27 AM by Free S87.
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June 07, 2005

EU Ducks Microsoft Issues

Back to the court for resolution:

The position concerning potential end user restrictions on usage of code embedded in open source applications is unresolved. The commission has taken the extraordinary step of allowing Microsoft to take its argument to court rather than rule itself and so put Microsoft on the back foot. Understandably, the Free Software Foundation Europe is angry and frustrated.

 

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Posted on June 7, 2005 03:26 AM by Free S87.
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Microsoft Taking On Blackberry With Mobile Email

Careful about considering this "free" since it locks you into future payments for Microsoft Exchange and Outlook.

Microsoft will be releasing free software upgrades for Outlook users so they can wirelessly access their corporate email on their mobile devices. Free upgrades will be available for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and the soon-to-be released Windows Mobile 5.0.

You can build mobile email systems from components that don't require licensing fees.
 

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Posted on June 7, 2005 03:26 AM by Free S87.
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May 27, 2005

Report On Computerisation

Good post on computerization in Namibia, including the trials and tribulations of free software.

On the other hand, if well done, free software can be a liberating force in the developing world. Namibia was lucky to have Schoolnet.na, a home-grown organization that focused as much on the human side of computing as the actual hardware.

Click through for full report.
 

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Posted on May 27, 2005 03:26 AM by Free S87.
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May 26, 2005

Discussion: Open Development

There are many businesses popping that help open source and open development products work in business organizations.

It is curious that everyone focuses on open development and open source as the potential source of free software for businesses, when in fact it is also possible that this software will come from business service providers who want you to use their services, and where developers will get paid for their work. It also suggests an alternate business strategy for an organization like Compiere.

 

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On open development, and what makes it tick

Posted on May 26, 2005 03:25 AM by Free S87.
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May 16, 2005

Free Culture

Lawrence Lessig is an important proponent of free software and free culture.

Lessig argues that culture should be “free,” in part so that creativity of this type is not stifled by legal action or the threat of it. As an example of this danger, one need only remark that Walt Disney is now a corporation notorious for litigation and lobbying. I won’t try to summarize his book here. I won’t even explain what he means by “free culture,” save to say that the views expressed in this book have much in common with the views of the Free Software Foundation (FSF).

 

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Posted on May 16, 2005 03:22 AM by Free S87.
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May 12, 2005

Wallace Brings Antitrust Suit Against FSF

How hard can it be to give away software?

Daniel Wallace is a solo software developer and critic of the open source movement; see, for example, his comment to this post of mine. He argues in that comment that the GPL is a contract, not merely a license. Wallace’s ability to prove that claim will be central to the pro se lawsuit he recently filed in federal court against the Free Software Foundation, alleging illegal price-fixing.

 

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Posted on May 12, 2005 03:22 AM by Free S87.
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May 08, 2005

Notes On xmllist And xmlpeek

A somewhat arcane peek into the world of free software development:

Based on an implementation by Richard Case I wrote the same version of his task, but a bit more powerful and using the standard naming for the attributes. Using this task you can extract text from an XML file at the locations specified by an XPath expression, and return those texts separated by a delimiter string. If the XPath expression specifies multiple nodes the node are seperated by the delimiter string, if no nodes are matched, an empty string is returned.

 

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NAnt task xmllist, way more powerful than xmlpeek (source provided)

Posted on May 8, 2005 03:23 AM by Free S87.
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May 06, 2005

ISPs Provide Free Security Software

Good post on Canadian ISPs that are starting to provide free security software so their networks work better.

It's nice to see the ISPs realizing that it's in their own best interest to make security as easy as possible for their users. I guess they finally did the math on having to handle all the support requests, network traffic, and abuse complaints associated with having thousands of infected and compromised PCs on their network. Hopefully as ISPs take a more active role, it will begin to clean up the Internet ecology a bit. I really don't think it's useful trying to push much of this responsibility onto the users. When was the...

Hope this trend accelerates.
 

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Rogers Internet and Cogeco provide free security software

Posted on May 6, 2005 03:23 AM by Free S87.
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Mplayer vs Software Patents

Software patents are bad for innovation and threaten many open source projects.

MPlayer is seriously threatened by software patents due to the numerous patented multimedia techniques. Also threatened are the many programs built upon MPlayer and the other free software multimedia players, like xine, VLC, avifile, gstreamer and especially FFmpeg, which provides the framework all of the above players use.

Multimedia is a patent minefield. All important techniques and formats are covered by broad and trivial patents that are harming progress and alternative implementations, such as free software multimedia players.

 

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Posted on May 6, 2005 03:23 AM by Free S87.
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May 03, 2005

GPL Is Killing Business And The Sky Is Falling

Click through for full story at Groklaw.

Soko writes “Yes, it’s real. The crack team of Daniel Wallace and Maureen O’Gara have ganged up once again to protect their version of “The American Dream,” he by filing a lawsuit in Indiana court saying the GPL is nothing more than a price fixing scheme designed to drive software vendors out of business, she by parroting the proprietary vendors’ “The GPL kills business” mantra (as well as a few well placed insults at the free software community). I found the story on Groklaw - no links to Ms. O’Gara...

 

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Posted on May 3, 2005 03:21 AM by Free S87.
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Apple Releases QT Broadcaster 1.5

Good Quicktime features from Apple for free.

Apple has released QuickTime Broadcaster v1.5, a new version of their free software to let you webcast QuickTime content. Based on Apple’s recently released QuickTime 7 software, QuickTime Broadcaster 1.5 features new capabilities like H.264 broadcasting, improved performance and better 3G video streaming.

 

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Posted on May 3, 2005 03:21 AM by Free S87.
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May 02, 2005

How secure is your email?

Check out this link if you want occasional email encryption:

If the recommendation about the email encryption services is a little to much; there is free software you can use to encrypt the occcasional private note you send to others: Snapfiles.com has a good selection

 

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Posted on May 2, 2005 03:31 AM by Free S87.
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April 28, 2005

Rest of the world sees free software solution

GNU logo Microsoft is pedaling as fast as it can to stop this, but it's happening anyway.

It seems the rest of the world sees the greater advantage in adopting free software solutions. Governments from around the world are looking into low cost, flexible solutions that free software is afording the desktop these days…

 

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Posted on April 28, 2005 04:14 AM by Free S87.
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April 26, 2005

Book Review: The Philosophical Programmer

firefox the philosophical programmer A good book review of The Philosophical Programmer: Reflections on the Moth in the Machine:

I just finished reading the above book, and wanted to write out some thoughts about it while it was still fresh in my head. I've been working on an article for Free Software Magazine about the art of computer programming, and this was one of the books I encountered in my research. The book seems to be trying to accomplish three goals: Provide an introduction to computer science, offer some enlightening history of programming, and describe programming aesthetics. It's actually a very interesting and well-written...

The book discusses the issues of source code and free software.
 

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Posted on April 26, 2005 03:23 AM by Free S87.
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UN Publishes Primer on Free Software in Education

Great online resource for educators:

The International Open Source Network, an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme,has published a primer on free/open source software in education. It’s freely available under a Creative Commons license, and is a good general introduction to free software suitable for a wide audience, not just those in education.

 

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Posted on April 26, 2005 03:23 AM by Free S87.
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April 20, 2005

Licence Fees in the Developing World

The economics of third-world computing pretty much requires open source solutions.

"There is a strong case for free software (also known as open source or libre software) being deployed widely in developing countries. As argued in this note, the open source development community provides an environment of intensive interactive skills development at little explicit cost, which is particularly useful for local development of skills, especially in economically disadvantaged regions."

 

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Posted on April 20, 2005 03:23 AM by Free S87.
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The Java Trap

Here's the open source response to the "Java Trap"

No. Enter the free runtimes movement. There are a body of open source/free software advocates and developers who have taken on this task, and they have made some quite impressive progress. Projects like Kaffe, GNU Classpath, SableVM, JamVM have taken up the gauntlet, and things are coming along nicely. I regularly compile against these virtual machines and runtime environments and I am...

Click through to read the entire response.
 

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Posted on April 20, 2005 03:23 AM by Free S87.
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April 17, 2005

Revolution

I hadn't heard of Revolution before. It's a movie about the open source movement.

Microsoft fears GNU/Linux, and rightly so. GNU/Linux and the Open Source & Free Software movements arguably represent the greatest threat to Microsoft's way of life. Shot in cinemascope on 35mm film in Silicon Valley, REVOLUTION OS tracks down the key movers and shakers behind Linux, and finds out how and why Linux became such a potent threat.

 

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Posted on April 17, 2005 04:15 AM by Free S87.
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April 15, 2005

Open Source Developers Step Up Anti-Patent Campaign

Predictably, the software patent battle pits Microsoft against open source interests.

Over the last month various open source projects have replaced their Web home page with one that outlines the risk that the EU Directive on the Patentability of Computer Implemented Inventions, more commonly known as the Software Patent Directive, could pose to free software.

 

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Posted on April 15, 2005 03:19 AM by Free S87.
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Microsoft (Dis)connects With Brazil

Any way you look at the situation in Brazil, they have bargained masterfully with Microsoft.

The government is mulling whether to use free software or Microsoft Windows in up to 1 million computers under its PC Conectado, or the Connected PC, “digital inclusion” program, and Microsoft has been actively lobbying for Brazil to buy its product.

 

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Posted on April 15, 2005 03:19 AM by Free S87.
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April 14, 2005

MSDN Academic Alliance vs. Free Software

Open source is technology development rather than retail sales. Microsoft develops technology and retails it. Red Hat leverages open source technology and retails it. That is really the way to think about open source in the software value chain.

This makes me wonder how free software can compete. With such a complete tool box, why would anybody bother to learn anything else? Also, Microsoft actively markets this program. There are several flyers around campus. Free software generally has a good web presense, but lacks such marketing.

 

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Posted on April 14, 2005 03:19 AM by Free S87.
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April 13, 2005

Free Software Is Taking Over

According to this free software zealot, free software is taking over:

As anyone who knows me well enough knows, I am a big fan of Free Software. I use Firefox as my web browser, Thunderbird as my mail client, Gaim as my IM application, and from time to time I use the Linux operating system (I'd switch for good but lots of the things I do require Windows applications that aren't available for Linux. Linux is

 

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Posted on April 13, 2005 03:17 AM by Free S87.
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SDK for Canon XL2 Camcorder

An SDK for a camcorder. Wow, that's pretty wild.

Canon U.S.A. Inc. announced Tuesday that a free Software Developers Kit (SDK) will be released this July to allow Mac OS X software developers to create custom applications to remotely control the Canon XL2 Mini-DV camcorder. A Windows XP-based SDK is available now. The SDK allows software to control all of the XL2's functions, such as switching frame rates, adjusting color gain and managing white balance controls.

 

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Posted on April 13, 2005 03:17 AM by Free S87.
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April 12, 2005

Free DRM Software Available

This will take me a while to understand. You really have to know how a DRM works before you deploy it.

I've also just finished a few revisions to the free software DRM article that I've written. Without delving into the technical aspects of how to build a strong rights management system, my piece is more of a "think piece" asking whether a DRM system makes sense for free software users. I was unable to write a strong definitive piece as I would have liked, but the topic was likely too broad to write a declarative piece. I wish I had some more time to work on it, but I'm simultaneously grateful that I'll need to send it off in a few days and put it...

 

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Posted on April 12, 2005 03:26 AM by Free S87.
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Eight Things Every Author Should Know About Her Own Website

Good tip: don't pay for free software!

6) If you’re being illegally charged for free software. There are many programs available that are fun and free to add to your site, like shoutboxes and weather updates and blogging platforms. Find out if the program you’re requesting is free or if there’s a fee (Google for information on the program you’re interested in.) Your designer may charge you for installation and design of the program into your site, but shouldn’t charge you for the program itself if it’s available for free download.

 

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Posted on April 12, 2005 03:26 AM by Free S87.
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Free Windows Programs

Good reviews at this site of OpenOffice, GIMP and other free software. Check it out:

Great Windows Applications to make going back to school a little easier.

 

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Posted on April 12, 2005 03:26 AM by Free S87.
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April 10, 2005

Hacker Highschool

Great idea to teach kids about security when they go online.

A Program for teaching kids how to be security- and privacy-aware while online, based completely on license-free software. Teaching certification and everything.

Read the whole thing.
 

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Posted on April 10, 2005 02:24 AM by Free S87.
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April 09, 2005

TorrentBox Up Again

The file sharing site TorrentBox is up after a disk crash.
We are very happy to announce TorrentBox, the BitTorrent tracker site is back online after being off for several days. admins of TorrentBox worked hard for several days to bring the torrent site back online. It doesn't seem to have affected TorrentBox's "for Sale" notice and the auction seems to be continuing.
 

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Posted on April 9, 2005 12:53 PM by Free S87.
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Blogs on Skype Today

Skype is adding over 150,000 users a day. You might want to check out this free VoIP software:

You really have nothing to lose. Download the free software, encourage friends and family to do the same, and then talk with each other as if you're all located at the same place. Lockergnome

Blogs on Skype Today in Stories...

 

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Posted on April 9, 2005 02:17 AM by Free S87.
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April 07, 2005

Image Manipulation Software

As good as Photoshop? You be the judge:

Thanks to the the GNU Project and the Free Software philosophy, there is a program that can do almost everything that can be done in Photoshop. That program is The Gimp. GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is freely available for Linux/Unix, Mac...

The Gimp only works with RGB so it is not suitable for publishing. However, most users will not need it for that function. Do yourself a favor and learn more about the Free Software movement and get a copy of The Gimp.

 

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Posted on April 7, 2005 02:27 AM by Free S87.
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April 03, 2005

Free Blog Sites

You may be looking for alternatives to MoveableType and WordPress for your blogware. Unmedidated provides a list. Click for full details.
As the race between MovableType and WordPress for leadership of the DIY blogware market continues, there is any number other alternatives in the marketplace that offer similar services in a range of programming languages. Looking for something different, or always wanted to know what else was available, well heres a list of ten DIY Blog platforms you may not have not have visited, or even heard of, and in the coming weeks, time permitting, we’ll even review them one by one so you know what to expect.
 

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Posted on April 3, 2005 11:28 AM by Free S87.
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WordPress Irks Some Bloggers

This blogger says the WordPress folks may not have the best of open source intentions.

I think the larger issue that people are having with this is that WordPress is supposedly a free and open project that isn't out to make money. You can donate money to it and assume that the money goes to the person toiling away on the project. But if the person is making money on the side from the popularity of the project - this irks some people - especially those who are into the whole free software way of life.

 

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Posted on April 3, 2005 01:17 AM by Free S87.
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Spyware: The Top 10

Here's a great round up on the top 10 spyware packages. Click through for the full story.

2) Gator (GAIN): Adware program that may display banner advertisements based on user Web surfing habits. Gator is usually bundled with numerous free software programs, including the popular file-sharing program Kazaa.

 

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Posted on April 3, 2005 01:17 AM by Free S87.
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March 31, 2005

Brazil Going Open Source

This blogger references a New York Times article on how a whole country is going open source.

Since taking office two years ago, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has turned Brazil into a tropical outpost of the free software movement. (by Todd Benson) :: NY Times

Read the entire article.
 

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Posted on March 31, 2005 01:11 AM by Free S87.
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Toll Roads and File Sharing

The MGM v. Grokster case that was heard in the U.S. Supreme Court this week pits technology companies against content companies.

Also of importance this week: The US Supreme Court is hearing the case of Grokster vs. MGM. Grokster is a “file-sharing” company that publishes a free software package called Morpheus. Morpheus allows people to trade digital copies of files in a decentralized manner. Grokster is similar to Napster in that both company’s software facilitated file-sharing. However, Grokster does not running a central “match maker” server like the...

 

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Posted on March 31, 2005 01:11 AM by Free S87.
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March 27, 2005

Free Theme Software

This software lets you set up themes on your desktop.
SuperKaramba is an application that lets you place “themes” on your desktop, somewhat similar to the Windows application Samurize or Konfabulator for Mac OS X. But SuperKaramba themes are like mini-applications that live in their own windows on the desktop background, performing different tasks.
 

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j's blog :: NewsForge | Karamba, what an attractive desktop!

Posted on March 27, 2005 02:40 PM by Free S87.
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March 26, 2005

GPL 3 Should Not Split Open Source Community

We've looked at this a couple times to make sure:

But Eben Moglen, general counsel of the Free Software Foundation, said Thursday that there shouldn't be a problem in persuading Linux developers to migrate to GPL 3, as the license will be developed with their input.

 

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Posted on March 26, 2005 01:05 PM by Free S87.
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March 19, 2005

Thunderbird Review

Good review of Thunderbird and Firefox capabilities.

Thunderbird, an e-mail program developed by the Mozilla Foundation, is offering beleagured e-mail users an alternative, less virus-laden existence.

Following close on the heels of Firefox, the open-source Web browser whose launch included a full-page community-sponsored ad in the New York Times, the open-source e-mail program Thunderbird reached its 1.0 version recently.

Thunderbird has a clean interface that makes it easy to focus on mail. Thunderbird includes built-in filtering for junk mail, and it can encrypt messages (as long as the other party has support for the PGP encryption standard.) It is also not susceptible to most e-mail viruses, which target Microsoft Outlook's scripting features.

 

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Posted on March 19, 2005 10:52 AM by Free S87.
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March 18, 2005

MIT Backs Brazil's Free Software Over Microsoft

Sounds like Firefox might be part of the solution for Brazil.

"We advocate using high quality free software as opposed to scaled-down versions of more costly proprietary software," Walter Bender, director of the Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a letter to the Brazilian government. "Free software is far better on the dimensions of cost, power, and quality."

 

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Posted on March 18, 2005 12:26 AM by Free S87.
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March 15, 2005

Butler for Firefox

Butler is some very cool google functionality for Firefox.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

    * removes ads on most Google pages
    * fixes fonts on most Google pages
    * Google web search:
          o adds links to other search sites ("Try your search on...")
          o in news results, adds links to other news sites
          o in movie results, adds links to other movie sites
          o in weather results, adds links to other weather sites
          o in product results, adds links to other product sites
    * Google image search:
          o adds links to other image/photo/art sites
    * Google News:
          o adds links to other news sites
    * Froogle:
          o adds links to other product sites
    * Google Print:
          o Removes image copying restrictions
          o adds links to other book sites
    * Google Toolbar Firefox page:
          o adds links to other Firefox-friendly toolbars
 

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Posted on March 15, 2005 12:09 AM by Free S87.
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March 09, 2005

BitTorrent 4.0 Available

BitTorrent 4.0 is now available for Windows and Mac. According to some sources, BitTorrent now generates one-third of the traffic on the Internet.

2005-03-07: 4.0.0 is now available. Changes since the last stable release:

* All new queue-based user interface
* Many options are now modifiable from the interface, including upload rate
* Lots of other interface improvements
* Extra stats are visible, for those who like it
* Remembers what it was doing across restarts
* New .torrent maker "btmaketorrentgui" replaces "btcompletedir"
* Better performance, as always
* License has changed to the BitTorrent Open Source License
* Torrent fields are correctly created and interpreted as utf8
* Too many little things to list

A few technical notes, for those interested:

* Single port: launchmany can seed and client can download many files from a single port and thread
* Interface now uses GTK instead of wxWidgets
* BitTorrent packets are marked as bulk data to make traffic shaping easier

 

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Posted on March 9, 2005 10:06 AM by Free S87.
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March 08, 2005

Google Desktop for Firefox

Google has made Google Desktop available for Firefox and other Mozilla applications.
Search giant Google has released the first non-beta version of its Google Desktop application, which now includes support for several Mozilla-based applications. The desktop search tool lets you find Web pages you've visited with the Mozilla Application Suite, Mozilla Firefox and Netscape 7 and locates emails received with Mozilla Mail & Newsgroups, Mozilla Thunderbird and Netscape 7 Mail & Newsgroups (though note that some tinkering may be required if you install any Mozilla applications after Google Desktop). This latest release also adds support for searching PDFs and some multimedia files and has a plugin architecture to add support for other file types. It requires Windows XP or Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 or above.
 

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Posted on March 8, 2005 08:09 PM by Free S87.
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February 22, 2005

Free Software at Download.com

free software download.com

You probably already know about it, but CNET's download.com continues to be a great location for free software and shareware. Below is the description of Firefox on the Mac download page.

Mozilla Firefox (formerly Firebird), which uses a large amount of the Mozilla code, is a lean and fast browser written using Extensible User Interface Language (XUL). It works on Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems and is designed to be cross-platform. Additional features include a new design, a redesigned Preferences window, new icons for the Bookmark Manager toolbar, improved privacy options, smooth scrolling, and various bug fixes and improvements.

New features in this release include a new Default theme that now presents a uniform appearance across all three platforms (fine-tuning for GNOME will follow in future releases); the ability to import data such as Favorites, the history, settings, cookies, and Internet Explorer passwords; the ability to import from Mozilla 1.x, Netscape 4.x, 6.x, and 7.x, and Opera (Mac OS X and Linux migrators for browsers such as Safari, OmniWeb, and Konqueror will be available in future releases). New Extension and Theme managers provide a convenient way to manage and update your add-ons; SmartUpdate notifies you of updates to Firefox; a new online help system is available; and this version includes many bug fixes and improvements.

 

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Posted on February 22, 2005 12:02 PM by Free S87.
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