Oct 20, 2011 11:08pm GMT
For nine years, my default desktop was GNOME. About the third of the time, I'd use another desktop or a shell, either for the purposes of review or just for a change, but I'd always return to GNOME. It was a no-fuss interface in which I could do my common tasks without any problem. But a glitch on my system that left GNOME unstartable coincided with the release of KDE 4.2, and -- not having the... more »
Code names and other coelacanthsOct 14, 2011 4:11am GMT
I'm probably going to be answered as though I were a hybrid of Ebenezer Scrooge and Darth Vader, but can we quit with the code names for Linux distributions, already? People are taking them way too seriously.Code names make sense if you want to keep what you're doing a secret. If you're planning a military operation, you probably don't want anyone to know until you actually hit the beaches of F... more »
A re-evaluation of CanonicalOct 07, 2011 10:32pm GMT
Like many people, I've always thought of Canonical as a FOSS company. Recently, though, I realize that I've been guilty of a category error. Unlike Red Hat, Canonical does not have an open source business model. Rather, like Novell or Google, it's a company with a mixed business model in which free software and proprietary practices mix as convenient.Nothing's wrong with a mixed business model,... more »
FSF Moves to Greater Openness with Free Software Directory RelaunchSep 30, 2011 12:25am GMT
Over the last few years, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has tried to become more open in its operations. The largest of the efforts in this direction is probably the LibrePlanet network and annual conference. But today, the FSF announced another effort: the relaunching of its Free Software Directory, with a redesign that makes it easier for people to contribute. Although what is implement... more »
Bad-mouthing the Free Software FoundationSep 22, 2011 2:54am GMT
Over the past year or so, I've noticed a disturbing trend. Whenever the Free Software Foundation (FSF) posts anything on any subject, pundits leap to criticize it. The FSF is too negative, people like Brian Proffitt say. It's too ineffectual, people like Joe "Zonker"' Brockmeier say [See Correction in comments]. Just how the FSF might communicate effectively, they don't explain, but I... more »
Revolutionizing desktops without causing user revoltsSep 14, 2011 9:22pm GMT
The last few years of development on the free desktop have been instructive. First, KDE stumbled and recovered with the KDE 4 series. Then, this year, GNOME and Ubuntu introduced radically new desktops. In each case, user complaints immediately poured in. Although both GNOME and Ubuntu seem determined to ignore these complaints and continue on their course, I keep wondering: could the disastrou... more »
A community is shared mythologySep 12, 2011 3:53am GMT
Everyone now and then, someone insists that there is no such thing as a free software community -- only a collection of code and licenses. That has always seemed self-evidently false to me, but it struck me as especially so when I attended LinuxCon last month.Probably, I was overly-aware of the sense of community because, for personal reasons, I hadn't attended a conference for several years. C... more »
