“Free” as in “free lunch”     Friday, June 16 2006 @ 03:16 PM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 3336 Too long ago, when I was a sprog growing up, my elders and betters drummed into me in no uncertain terms that there was “no such thing as a free lunch”. At the time, I was going to school and my lunches were either provided by my parents or paid for by them, so as far as I was concerned my lunches were free. However, I soon appreciated what they meant as I approached adulthood. It is a very rare event, if it happens at all, that someone gives you something for free without some ulterior motive. You, my friend, are reading this article. You probably didn’t have to pay anything to read it (or nothing extra from your usual ISP and computer costs anyway). Myself, and Free Software Magazine give it to you for free. What is our ulterior motives then? Read on...   read more (833 words) Post a comment

Control of where I browse     Friday, June 09 2006 @ 05:56 PM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 3686 I have a car, and I pay car tax that, in theory at least, pays for the roads that I drive on. I can don my driver’s gloves, expensive sun-glasses and cool-looking cap and motor anywhere on the road network in the UK—and Europe for that matter—for no extra charge, or most of it anyway. There are some toll roads where I need to pay extra. I don't have to use these as they are alternative routes, but it usually saves a large amount of time and hassle when I do.   read more (712 words) Post a comment

More on Adobe, Microsoft and the PDF standard     Tuesday, June 06 2006 @ 01:00 AM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 3248 I have been doing a small amount of research on the latest Adobe/Microsoft tussle, as brought to my notice by Matt Barton’s blog entry (thanks Matt). The first thing I found slightly frustrating was trying to obtain suitably unbiased material on the matter. The precise nature of the discussions Adobe and Microsoft had do not seem to be in the public domain anywhere, nor is the precise nature of Adobe’s gripe. The only party “in the know” to have publicised this is Microsoft, and they have obviously put such a large amount of spin on this that their ball is going around in circles. Adobe are remaining tight lipped. Therefore, while the following is based on the digging I have done, a large amount of guesswork has gone into it.   read more (638 words) Post a comment

A view of ODF from the other side (UPDATED)     Thursday, June 01 2006 @ 02:05 AM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 3246 I have, in a past incarnation, worked with Microsoft’s Office products closely in a professional scenario. To this end, I was subscribed to an electronic newsletter then called “Woody’s Office Watch”, and now simply “Office Watch”. This is run as a newsletter for users of Microsoft’s Office Suite, but it is independant and not affiliated with Microsoft in any way. In fact, they have no problems laying into Microsoft hard when the boys in Seattle mess up and inconvenience their users.   read more (896 words) Post a comment

The current Office Wars     Friday, March 10 2006 @ 11:45 PM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 2919 Lately I have been hearing more and more about Microsoft's efforts on furthering what I believe thy call the "Office User Experience". This got me thinking. Doesn't Microsoft have a near monopoly on office software at the moment? OK - There are other offerings out there - but do they warrant the massive expenditure MS is putting out on promoting this? Then it dawned on me. They must be panicking about OpenOffice.org and are doing what they can to prevent an exodus. With that in mind let me give some examples, and my personal thoughts on the issue...   read more (851 words) Post a comment

A somewhat pleasant experience     Saturday, January 14 2006 @ 01:03 AM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 3641 The pleasant experience is the writing of a program. It took me less than a week, and is one of these programs I write as a break from normal coding in order I do not take life too seriously. The program is a 3D maze puzzle and can be found here, the reason why it was such a pleasure to write I will now expand on.   read more (1468 words) Post a comment

On Free vs Proprietary     Thursday, December 15 2005 @ 05:34 PM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 3586 There is currently a competition going on between two types of business models. Each has their strong advocates, supporters and enemies. Many a flame war has raised the temperature of various communication channels. So called independent analysts have aligned their lot with one, singing the praises of their choice whilst condemning to the depths of Hades the other regardless of the facts. In short – it is good old fashioned fun for all and sundry. In the red corner their is the Proprietary Model of building software. Microsoft, and it's legion of followers is a perfect example of this model. In the blue corner is the Free or Open Model of building software. GNU/Linux and it's army of supporters is an epitome of that. Taking my prejudices to one side, which is strongly in the free and open camp, I discover their is both advantages and disadvantages to each.   read more (1223 words) Post a comment

Giving, sharing, copying and piracy     Saturday, November 12 2005 @ 07:00 PM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 3494 I am a free software advocate and, to a much smaller extent, a free software producer. As such copyrights are important to me. I rely on them to stop people propriatorizing free software and protecting the freedoms. I used to write a bit of music too. However, piracy was not a problem for me. The difficulty I had was getting people to listen to my music, not stop them copying it. A new Pink Floyd I was not. However, I understand that there are musicians, and producers of it, who create more popular music. That they choose to charge for it. That is their right, and I have no problem with that. Also that they wish to use copy protection technology to prevent improper copying. I have no objection to that as well. In fact, DRM and Free Software are by no means mutually exclusive in either technology or philosophy. Though a couple of incidents have recently happened for me to think about it further....   read more (917 words) Post a comment

Sometimes there is too much freedom in free software...     Sunday, November 06 2005 @ 02:15 AM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 4466 November has come, the winter nights are drawing in, time for some indoor activities. One of these activities is a long overdue housekeeping exercise in my "home" directory in my GNU/Linux box. Let's face it. In my day-to-day operating of my computer I do not always tidy up after myself. All sorts of unused rubbish clutter up name space and various subdirectories of my home directory, and it uses up significant disc space, not counting the extra resource for my too infrequent backups. Time for a tidy up.   read more (578 words) Post a comment

Internet trap my daughter is falling into...     Thursday, October 27 2005 @ 09:32 PM  Contributed by: Eddy  Views: 3222 I think when a parent tells a child that something is "good" or "cool" their immediate reaction is to disbelieve it. I guess I must have done that to my parents, though I cannot remember any specifics there, certainly my children do it to me. I have had broadband at home with a computer available to be used by them any time for a few years now, but it has been underused. When I tell them what an amazing resource the internet is, do they believe me? - No - of course not. I am only a parent after all. But recently things are changing! - but not all for the better....   read more (834 words) Post a comment