Linspiration...

... drinking the Microsoft Kool-Aide

Microsoft Will Help Deliver a "Better" Linux

by Kevin Carmony

June 14th, 2007

...

But isn't Microsoft the enemy of Linux?

They certainly compete, just like Ubuntu, Red Hat, and Novell compete with each other, but we all have to live in the same desktop computing ecosystem. I'd prefer to use diplomacy and cooperation, than go to war. Linspire plans on working with Microsoft, just like we have with dozens of other partners, to build a better Linux. We will never force anyone to use what we produce. The choice to use, or not to use, the "better" Linux we strive to produce will always be up to you, but I like the idea of finding a mutually advantageous way for Microsoft and Linspire to work together.

...

Emphasis is mine... I have real difficulty (and a very uneasy feeling) when I consider 'diplomacy' coerced by the threat of a promised law suite.

"Money can't buy me love... but evidently it will buy cooperation. Oh well...

Linux FUD ... Make It Stop!

Linux leaders plot counterattack on Microsoft

This 'headline' reported by Reuters is just plain bad press for Linux. Further establishing the "Us vs. Them" mentality that does neither any good.

I wish that Linux folks would just focus on what is right about Linux and Open Source and let the behemoth that is Microsoft die its quiet ignominious death.

Getting up at 10, going to work at 12, UTC

Daylight Saving Time kicked my a$$. More specifically I felt the 1-hour shift this year more than in years past. That and my work with computers, specifically computer networks, has brought the issue of Time to the forefront of my thinking.

While I believe I understand the various arguments for 'adjusting' the clock to accommodate afternoon/evening commerce I still find the practice unnecessarily disruptive. If that extra hour of daylight is so valuable then let us just set the clocks to include it and leave them that way. This back-and-forth is senseless. And it screws up a great deal of computer related technology.

Instead I am personally campaigning for one time, UTC. Coordinated Universal Time. This is a scientific abstraction of physical time. Roughly equivalent to the old standard, GMT, UTC is not strictly speaking celestial (sun in relation to earth) time.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is a high-precision atomic time standard.

In fairness, while I have been giving this idea lot of mind-time, it wasn't until I read Joi Ito's post "Going UTC" detailing his scheduling problems that I decided to enter into the social-time experiment.

Where to begin?

Community clocks need to display community time. So I couldn't just change all the house clocks to UTC - I would face a time revolt from my wife and children. System clocks on network computers that communicated 'time' with other computers were out for much the same reasons. That left me with my personal clocks. So I started with this laptop... KDE desktop clock reads 5:51 UTC as I type this.

That reminds me, 5:00 UTC is lunch time here. Which brings me to my first important observation about time. Years and years of behavior modification has sensitized me to 'feeling' hungry about the same time every day. This, in turn, brought to light additional time awarenesses. My sense of time is predicated on deeply ingrained behaviors. Behaviors that will not change just because I change my time grid perspective. The bottom line is that I have 50+ years of training to overcome to be able to sense UTC instead of Central Daylight Time.

I still catch myself 'translating' time. If it is 5:57 UTC then it is what time here in my familial community. I liken this experience to learning a second language. I had the opportunity to study Spanish many years ago. Then I was immersed in a Spanish speaking community for two summers. By the end of my second summer I was able to 'think' in Spanish. I was not longer 'trans-literating' everything back to English for processing. I was able to process the Spanish that I was hearing and speaking in-situ.

I look forward to a time when I don't have to translate UTC.

Weekday UTC Schedule

10:00 Morning alarm
12:00 Arrive work
16:30 Lunch
22:00 Arrive home
23:30 Dinner
03:00 Bedtime

(Folks here in Kentucky see that and figure I am some sort of slacker:) )

Takin' a day off... sorta

In addition to showing up for work I have spent every free moment of the last three days doing 'tech' work for the Mystery Theater Festival.

And it was good!

After taking a 25 year vacation from Technical Theater it is good great to get back in. While I did contribute significantly to the Set Design and construction of Picasso at the Lapin Agile it was adjunct to my directing the show. The work I have been doing for MTF is just plain tech. Painting flats, setting scenery, spiking furniture, affixing light switches, hanging paintings, mounting door hardware, and the list goes on. In fact the phrase made popular by POTUS in West Wing comes to mind, "What's next?"

But the real joy, above and beyond paint under my fingernails and sawdust in my... the real joy has been getting to work with people who know how to do Theater. Not people who are learning but people who have 'been there, done that.' My joy comes from a.) being among my peers and b.) being among people from whom I can learn(1). To me this is the greatest reward.

...but today I am takin' a day off...sorta.

Free Knowledge

With the advent of the printing press, radio, television, and now the Internet knowledge has become progressively more available.

But understanding is still at a premium. Hence the need for education systems...

Free knowledge is becoming more readily available through free education in the form of ... Open Courseware

B-b-bout says it all

Thanks xkcd

Silence is golden.

"If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."
- Albert Einstein

Ripped from Editor I&T Weekly

Linux love AND Linux lust

The way that can be spoken of
is not the constant way.
- Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching

A couple of weeks ago I experienced a hardware 'meltdown' ... my primary system decided to commit seppuku, slit its own CPU and was delivered to the void. With its good digital karmic standing I sincerely hope that it is reincarnated as a cardiac monitor.

Meanwhile as I posted last I received a hulking beast of a system. In that post I attempted to shed light on the 64-bit dilemma - which OS is best suited to the hardware in today's computational environment. I still cannot bring myself to shell out the Microsoft money for Vista so that leaves me scouring the Open Source community for a viable alternative. As detailed in my last I first looked at my first love, Slackware, and its derivatives. No warm and fuzzies to be found.

Then I decided to give the new kids a try. Ubuntu v.7 "Fiesty" - but not without some trepidation. My previous experiences with the "U" was less than satisfactory, inevitably being compared to the established Slack. But all things change - so says the Tao.

As I mentioned in the previous post I stumbled over the "Root" issue initially. Old habits, even bad ones, die hard. Now with that behind me I began to get a feel for the overall U experience. I am allowed to do the things, as a regular user, without any encumbrances - no nagging dialogs about 'do you really want to change the color of your desktop?' Those system administration chores that do require 'authorization' are appropriately challenged. I am not exactly sure but it feels as though the authorization is 'held' so that testing or repeated chores (sometimes) do not require re-authenticating. (Sorry, that was really wordy.)

Now, on to the regular-day-to-day user experience. In a word, "Great!" The true merit of a distro is not the sheer number of applications that are provided but the integration of the programs. How do the programs interact or interrelate? I feel like a kid in a candy store. Where previously I had to go through and 'associate' apps Ubuntu has done a good bit of it already. A handy example is the fact that Evolution already knows to call FireFox for embedded URLs. While this is a simple thing it is a great 'joe-average-user-linux-is-really-friendly' sort of thing.

Bottom line: Ubuntu has broken the "PC Computing = Microsoft" paradigm once and for all.

Exciting developments

Palm w/ USB synchronization - for the first time I have been able to sync my Palm T|X with a linux implementation. I just filled out the setting in the Evolution's Edit|Synchronization Options, connected the USB cable and pushed the button. BINGO! Evolution is populated with my Palm stuff - Ooooooh yeah!

nsplugin-wrapper - Kliz script handled the immediate desire for Macromedia Flash ...AND... even more importantly VMware-server-console (This is HUGE!!!) Being able to display Macromedia Flash in my browser is cool but VMware Server Console is essential to my work. Having to support 2 flavors of Windows (2K and XP-Pro) means that having running instances available on my VMware Server is imperative. Being able to load and run VMware as a third party 32-bit app means that I 'should' be able to load and run other 32-bit apps as well. This is the really HUGE aspect of the nsplugin-wrapper AND the Kliz Script (Thank you!)

BONUS: Extra value hint: sudo bash - but don't tell anyone you heard it from me.

Ubuntu: Young is the new Old.

If you have read any of my stuff you know that in my lexicon Linux = Slackware. Plain and simple, no frills, no flash, just dependable Slackware. I know where most everything is and how most of it works. I know which script to look in to see where things start|stop|restart|status. You might say I feel at home with Slackware.

Then I received a ASUS M2N-MX

- Socket AM2 for AMD Athlon 64 /FX CPU
- Nvidia GeForce 6100/nForce 430
- 2000 / 1600 HyperTransport
- PCI Express X16
- SATA RAID 0,1,5,0+1
- MAX 4 SATA (3Gb/s) support Dual RAID
- Gb LAN
- Compliant with RoHS


Fitted with a...

As computers go this can best be characterized as ... "Smoooookin'!" (* Did I mention the 2 GB of RAM? *)

So I faced a dilemma of gargantuan proportions. What is the best operating system to put inside this beast.

I could very easily load up Slackware 11 (it is running this IBM ThinkPad very well as I type this.) but it is only 32-bit and wouldn't capitalize on the dual 64-bit processors. So the next logical choice is Slamd64 (SLackware for AMD 64-bit) which immediately gives me warm and fuzzies but only honors one of the two processors... so it is off to an immediate recompile and then the hunt for configuration settings and lost functionality. Seems I can never get agpart re-established after a recompile. And did I mention that there doesn't seem to be any real support for nVidia - as in no bundled drivers. Soooooo, it is off to the nVidia web site to see what is offered for MCP61 ... Huh? Linux what? I am sure we have some one working on it...some where, some time... eventually.

There is no joy in Mudville, the mighty Slamd64 has struck out!

So Bill, that Vi$ta sure is looking better now, don't you think? Just order up a 64-bit version and you can make that new computer get up on its hind legs and dance for you. Except ... except one thing... software. I will spend all of my allowance for the MS-OS and won't have anything left for the proggies... if there are any that will run on a 64-bit MS platform. Hmmmmmm....

Pssssssst, hey buddy, you want a good deal on a new Distro. It was only driven by a little old programmer on Sundays to his regular meeting of Codaholics Anonymous.

So on a whim I download this young upstart, all glossy and sparkling. Sorta makes that ol' Slackware look like a console driven, tough as nails, secure right out of the box Linux Distro. And an antique one at that. Even had to load up enough k3b to burn the .ISO to disk. Of course Patrick Volkerding was kind enough to include k3b in the /extra directory on disk 3. So I burned... and fretted. And fussed. And felt that I was about to commit a atrocity - by loading a Distro other than Slackware on this system that held so much potential. And that Distro is...

Ubuntu ... there, I said it.

A 'fiesty' little version of the popular Distro Ubuntu. Version 7 to be specific. Booted from the CD into the suave and sophisticated GUI that Uie is known for. Double tapped the "Install" icon on the desktop and "...away we go!" Smooth as silk and almost as sexy - the install went on without a hitch. Only the very occasional and easy question. Did I want to use the entire drive? Of course. Did I want to choose a particular time zone? Sure. It went on happily humming and buzzing and whirrrrring.

Then it did that curious "What is your name?" thing. This is one part of Ubuntu that doesn't sit well with me. The primary user thing. Instead of having direct access to the root account U makes the first user into the SuperUser, kinda, sorta... the sudo SuperUser. It was only blind luck a couple of versions back that I stumbled upon the 'your password is the password' deal.

I should mention that I do understand about not running Linux while being logged in as root. It really does make sense not to aim at your foot while you are pulling the trigger but... being treated like my teenage son while I am trying to do system management is a bit...well, like I should lighten up on my son.

Ok, so I get over the limited root deal and I begin to explore ... and I find that Ubuntu has discovered almost every aspect of this new system. Without as much as a hiccup. I have a fully functional Dual Core 64-bit computing platform for the price of a download. But wait, there's more... my favorite apps are the default in Ubuntu; Firefox, OpenOffice, Xchat, Gaim (will soon be updated to Pigeon), Gimp.

Now I am not changing my tune... Linux still = Slackware. However, 'fiesty' Ubuntu 7 certainly has changed my perspective with regards to new hardware and technology.

More to follow...

Google ROCKZ!!!! Palm Calendar!!!

Got a Google account? Use a Palm? Then go to http://calendar.google.com and BINGO!!!!

New word: intermote

intermote, verb, to overlay reader's feelings or emotions on the writings of others.

snap shot

Go here, read this man, be uplifted and well fed. Thanks Milton.



don't eat alone: snap shot

snap shot



...



We’re standing on both sides of my eyes,

but not as mirror image or still life

(life has never been still for us).



...

Neo...Post

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

... just a quick muse whisper

We closed Picasso at the Lapin Agile last Saturday night to an appreciative audience. A fluttering of laughter throughout, a couple of belly driven guffaws and even a heart felt "oh" when the muse surprised a few. Round it all out with a few folks standing in ovation at the curtain call...and you have a very rewarding community theater experience.

Then the wild children partied until the crack of dawn.

I had thought that I might chronicle (blog) the entire 'event' from casting, through rehearsals, to opening night and then beyond. Each time I sat at this keyboard and started I was struck with the intimacy of each moment. Each vignette a prized morsel to be savored and cherished. Each hour spent upon the stage more valuable than the last. I found myself caught up in the drama that is theater. I was in the moment.

Weeks and weeks before I had 'written' the movie that would play in my head. I had mentally created the storyboard that would unfold as the players strode upon the stage. So then the time came to paint with the human brushes the series of still lifes. A long row of canvases, lined up, ready to be dominoed with just a quick muse whisper. There to become the living movie that I had imagined. That is the moment that holds an actor's heart tight, making it difficult to breath.

So delicate are these created visages that I want to protect them. Lest the slightest disturbance would spill them like a tipped glass of wine. Actors living outside of their persons, nearly outside of their bodies. Stripped of their social exoskeletons. Each protective callus softened and pealed away. Until only the newly formed character remains, a new born. Each actor then must endure the bright lights and magnified review of self criticism, naked on the world stage.

Yet when we are in the moment all time stops. Only the play remains. "The play's the thing..."

Then when the last echo of applause drifts away. When the last congratulatory hand shake is a fleeting memory. When the muse, satisfied for the moment, releases the reins ... then the relaxation begins. Actors begin to release their pent up energies and angsts ... they begin to re-inhabit their own persons. They shed their carefully crafted characters and slip back into their mundane lives. Now they are the most vulnerable. Like the butterfly newly emerged from a chrysalis - pliable, waking limp from the long sleep of transformation.

Yet there is one more act to this drama. The last Sunday afternoon performance. It is not open to the public. Seldom if ever do the actors even put in an appearance. Under the harsh glare of florescent work lights technicians do a well choreographed dance, set deconstruction. First the stripping of the props and set dressings, leaving only the underpinnings. Then with surgeon's care the flats and platforms are excised and relieved. One by one stacked against the back wall until the entire show is just a deck of giant wood-framed playing cards. Waiting in the wings to be reshuffled and dealt into a new hand.

Slowly, lonely, the last act is the sweeping of the stage. A sort of cathartic soul cleansing. The push broom shuffle. The last dance number.

That is the moment that an audience longs for, cool water across parched lips.

Microsoft may try to squeeze the Apple

InformationWeek article states

Microsoft Won't Sue Linux Users, Company Exec Says

Despite its claim to own 42 patents used in the creation of the Linux kernel and hundreds more embedded in other free software programs, Microsoft does not plan to take a page from The SCO Group and sue users of the open source operating system, a senior company official said Monday.

Highlighting is mine. I have to wonder if some of those 'free software programs' have found their way into Mac's OS X?

Mac OS X was a radical departure from previous Macintosh operating systems; its underlying code base is completely different from previous versions. Its core, named Darwin, is a free and open source, Unix-like operating system built on top of the XNU kernel, with standard Unix facilities available from the command line interface. Apple layered over Darwin a number of proprietary components, including the Aqua interface and the Finder, to complete the GUI-based operating system which is Mac OS X.

( Wikipedia, Mac OS X)

Highlighting is mine. Pushing users around is called FUD. Pushing Jobs around is called FUDGE. And I bet he won't sit still for any packing.

235 Patents?

I do so hope that the marketing guys at Microsoft will soon take the legal-eagles by the ear out back of the wood shed and whip their collective asses until they are bright red.

Boy oh boy what a stupid move on the part of Microsoft.

Business by intimidation. That smacks of the kind of monolithic totalitarian states that brought so much love like Stalinist Communist Russia or our favorite despot Idi Amin.

So, lets enumerate...

1. Microsoft uses "drug dealer" tactics to addict poverty stricken users.
2. Microsoft uses threats and intimidation - not unlike some dictators.
3. ???
   

...and all they want is a little loving?

Gitcherowndarnednumber!!!

Go here and get your very own integer ... mine is

31 BF 4E FA 92 52 FC 29 92 27 34 19 E9 3E 8E 30

BullyBillyGates and the Temple of Fear

Reaffirmed once again; I B Clueless!

While I cannot say that I liked the Microsoft product I did have a grudging admiration of the Microsoft Empire as a business entity. Until now...

At some point in your presentation billg will say “that’s the dumbest fucking idea I’ve heard since I’ve been at Microsoft.” He looks like he means it. However, since you knew he was going to say this, you can’t really let it faze you. Moreover, you can’t afford to look fazed; remember: he’s a bully.

“What do you disagree with, Bill?” you ask as assertively as you can. He tells you.

Microsoft Memories

Sadly I realize that in a dawg-eat-dawg world you gots to be the biggest DAWG to keeps from being eaten. Well, I guess it couldn't happen to a better bully.

Dell & Linux... today's version

Yesterday I wrote

DELLinux Redux

and today I see that the major players are getting on the bandwagon...

The empire strikes back

Dell's Linux Problem

and to be fair, here is one with a 'pro' spin on it...

Microsoft-Novell partnership hooks Dell

Open Source, Closed Market?

From the play that I just finished directing, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, a high powered salesman, Charles Dabenow Schmendiman, claims to have had another great idea. "A tall pointy cap for dunces!"

So I tried one on an I had another great idea; I will take the freely offered Open Source code for say... something by Mozilla, how about Firefox. I will fully honor the spirit of the Open Source agreement and leave in all the tributes and adulations to the original authors. I will just slightly touch the source ... just enough so that instead of Fire it would be... PapaFox. Then I will release my version into the wild and wait for my share of the estimated $55 Million that Mozilla in enjoying.

So how come Mozilla isn't shaking in its boots over the prospect of PapaFox cutting so deeply into their revenue stream? Huh? Oh yeah, and where is my cut of that revenue stream - why aren't folks beating a path to my door? It is after all their product just slightly repackaged - "No difference."

• Who in their right mind would download from me what they can get from the original authors? They can get a package that they know will have integrity. The package will be up-to-date. In short the package offered by Mozilla is the real deal.
  
  
• So let's say that I could overcome the image issue of PapaFox. Then, in order to really make it mine I would have to substantially alter the original. Now I am not a programmer nor do I play a Doctor on TV but I know a thing or two about programs. They are huge! They are complex!
  
  Who would have the resources to invest in 'bootlegging' an Open Source application? Where is the profit incentive? Oh I know, I could sell PapaFox for substantially less than Mozilla is getting for it....Uh yeah, what is less than zero?

Now, just for the sake of discussion... lets say that I was able to overcome the previous two stumbling blocks... and I was moderately successful in offering a FireFox decendent that I actually made better (than the original) all the while adhering to the spirit of Open Source software. Now, jftsod, lets say that people started to download and use PapaFox.

Mozilla could take any of three paths; 'lawyer-up', 'pump-up' or 'wither-and-die'. When faced with the Cease&Desist order and being the uber-underdog I would laugh in their faces and try my case in the court of public opinion. Should they decide to Pump-Up then the race is on, as it should be. First they can simply re-incorporate my improvements right back into FireFox (all the while upholding the spirit of the Open Source agreement). Or they could 'black-box' engineer the improvements and just leave me out of it. In either case the product has improved and the consumer has received the real value of the exercise. Lastly, of course Mozilla could simple walk away from their product and I would be the heir apparent as the next browser king. Until the next uber-underdog came along.

This last option, Wither-and-Die, is not all that uncommon in Open Source projects. Authors for a myriad of reasons have to let programs go. Some cannot afford to maintain them. Some just lose interest. The real grace of the Open Source system shines through when an interested individual resurrects an program that has lain fallow. They breath new life into it and once again give it to the community.