When you think of freedom, what comes to mind? The men in woman in the armed forces? the red white and blue of the United States flag? The freedoms we supposed still have in our Constitution? But what if I asked you what freedom means when it comes to software?
The man who is leading the "fight" of software freedom is Richard Stallman, or more commonly known as RMS.
RMS wrote the GNU utilities that was eventually paired with the Linux kernel, which was created by Linus Torvolds. He also wrote the GPL license, which pretty much spells out his ideals of freedom in software.
Contributing to open source has brought us countless Linux distributions and Linux software. Also Windows and MAC software as well.
The open source community, I believe has been instrumental in software development and progress. Most servers, more then likely the server that is hosing this blog, is running on Linux. Android uses the Linux kernel. Microsoft and Apple even contribute code to the Linux community.
Suffice to say, open source is great and has made a lot of things possible in the computing world.
But getting back to the topic at hand. RMS believes all software must me open sourced, being able to change the code and freely distribute that code/software. In other words, if I make a piece of software, I cannot keep the source code closed. I cannot let people not distribute the software I made without my permission. And I have to let people change my software as they see fit.
The issue of this "freedom" is people, alot of times will take a free sandwich when possible. Why pay 50 bucks for a piece of software when I can get it for free? Why should I have to pay for something if I don't have to.
Now, RMS does give the caveat of charging someone a fee for writing a custom pievce of software. But even that does not negate the possibility of the custom piece of software getting out in the open. Therefore, that, more then likely multi thousand investment a company made was for not, since now anyone can use the same software someone "paid" for now for free.
I take issue that someone is telling me that to be free, I have to restrict my choices on what software I can use. That someone believes that if I make the decision to use a closed source piece of software, I somehow am restricting my freedom. Isnt my freedom to use any software I want, without it having to be part of the GPL license? Do I not have that right to pay for something that only I have access to, since I am the one who made the investment for that software to be created?
And what about the developers? How many developers, besides Linus Torvalds is making a great living on the making software, per the GPL? As the great Bryan Lunduke has said, developers have to eat. We have to realize that if we want good software we have to pay for it and we have to realize that it might be proprietary. Do you really think AAA game shops like Valve, EA, ect is going to invest millions of dollars into a game, only to immediately open source the entire project for anyone to do anything with?
Long story short, I have the right to use any software I legally obtain. More to the point, I have the freedom to choose to use proprietary software.
Showing posts with label Linux. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Linux. Show all posts
Monday, August 5, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Ubuntu Edge, X86 or go home
For those who are not aware, Ubuntu by Canonical is the one of, the not the most popular Linux distributions out there. Ubuntu is great for beginners going into Linux, especially if they do not know much about command line.
Recently, Canonical announced their ambitious 32,000,000 Indi GoGo campaign to fun Ubuntu Edge. A smart phone that is supposed to bridge the gap between mobile device/phone and desktop computer. Something Mark Shuttleworth is calling "convergence". This "phone" will boast a 2.4Ghz quad core processor and 4GB of RAM. That is just shy of the specs of my home computer. At of the time of the posting of this blog, the are into their second week and have passed the 7,000,000 mark.
Its an ambitious goal and though I did not contribute to this funding campaign, mostly due to lack of funds, I hope it brings them success. But, I unfortunately feel that this is doomed for failure.
In a previous blog post I wrote entitled "The Idea of Convergence", I go into my thoughts on if bridging between mobile and home computing. But that is not the reason I think this is doomed for failure, it all has to do with application compatibility.
Last year, Microsoft's Windows 8 launched with Windows 8RT. The main problem with Windows 8RT was their tablet operating system and run on a ARM processor, as opposed to an X86 processor, which all home computers and "normal" Windows runs on as well.
That is where windows screwed the pooch on Windows 8. They came out with an operating system that "looked" identical to its X86 counterpart. Something that confused a lot of people why they could not install their "legacy" applications.
I know the Ubuntu Edge will be dual booting Android for the phone and using Ubuntu for "desktop". But, since it will probably be running on an ARM processor, they will find themselves in the same boat as people did with Windows RT.
I know this first generation is supposed to be for the backers only. But, if I cannot really see "power" users using this as their main computing device, since a lot of applications that people rely on do not run on ARM yet.
I will say this though, for everyday computing, like web browsing, emailing and things of that nature, I think this will do well for a lot of people who do not mind having their computer and phone in the same device.
Recently, Canonical announced their ambitious 32,000,000 Indi GoGo campaign to fun Ubuntu Edge. A smart phone that is supposed to bridge the gap between mobile device/phone and desktop computer. Something Mark Shuttleworth is calling "convergence". This "phone" will boast a 2.4Ghz quad core processor and 4GB of RAM. That is just shy of the specs of my home computer. At of the time of the posting of this blog, the are into their second week and have passed the 7,000,000 mark.
Its an ambitious goal and though I did not contribute to this funding campaign, mostly due to lack of funds, I hope it brings them success. But, I unfortunately feel that this is doomed for failure.
In a previous blog post I wrote entitled "The Idea of Convergence", I go into my thoughts on if bridging between mobile and home computing. But that is not the reason I think this is doomed for failure, it all has to do with application compatibility.
Last year, Microsoft's Windows 8 launched with Windows 8RT. The main problem with Windows 8RT was their tablet operating system and run on a ARM processor, as opposed to an X86 processor, which all home computers and "normal" Windows runs on as well.
That is where windows screwed the pooch on Windows 8. They came out with an operating system that "looked" identical to its X86 counterpart. Something that confused a lot of people why they could not install their "legacy" applications.
I know the Ubuntu Edge will be dual booting Android for the phone and using Ubuntu for "desktop". But, since it will probably be running on an ARM processor, they will find themselves in the same boat as people did with Windows RT.
I know this first generation is supposed to be for the backers only. But, if I cannot really see "power" users using this as their main computing device, since a lot of applications that people rely on do not run on ARM yet.
I will say this though, for everyday computing, like web browsing, emailing and things of that nature, I think this will do well for a lot of people who do not mind having their computer and phone in the same device.
Friday, July 26, 2013
The idea of "Convergence"
The way we compute have come a long way. Even for me, who didn't get his first computer until I was in the mid 90's when I had 486 or 586 computer. I forget which kind. To give you an idea of this powerhouse of computer. It had a whopping 40 megabyte hard drive and I think I had like 4 megs of ram. So, no it couldn't play Crysis.
Fast forward to today, where most of us carry phones that have more computing power then the NASA Shuttle program had when they started in the 80's. Even my phone, A Samsung Galaxy S2, which is now considered low to mid-grade by today's standards has a 1.2 dual core processor with 1GB of Ram, with 8GB on board storage.
Modern phones, or "Smart Phones" do meet a lot of peoples computing needs and it has been thrown around and even proof of concepts have come out about merging the phone and computer. A term, which is being called "convergence". Mark Shuttleworth of Canonical is really pushing this idea, so much Canonical has setup a IndiGoGO campaign to raise a whopping 32 million dollars to fund this effort with Canonical's "Ubuntu Edge". Canonical is also the company behind the Linux Ubuntu Desktop Operating system
Its a promising idea and a great concept. A merge between phone and computer. Literally your computer in your pocket and when you need to use it a "computer" you dock the phone in the docking station and now can use your keyboard, mouse, monitor, ect.
According to the video from IndiGoGo, Mark Shuttleworth stated that this will only be for the backers to the fund and they might come out every new with a new model. That is, partly his reasoning for having the entire project funded by "crowd funding". Mark Shuttleworth did not go into if those future models will be crowd funded though.
Though, I think its great idea and something that should be looked into and is probably the future of main stream computing, but for me, I like my phone as my "phone" and my desktop/laptop for my "computer". If you lose your phone, like it tends to happen with smaller devices that fit in your pocket, your computer and phone is now gone. I know a lot of people have insurance on their phone, but if you use your new phone/computer as your phone and regular computer, you are now SOL and all your non cloud data is gone. Not to mention the fact that since people usually do not encrypt their devices, let alone put a pass code to access your phone, all that personal/business data is now available. I guess I am old codger when it comes to this, but this is something that people have to think about if they are going to go full bore into this "convergence".
I would say that this would a great way as an additional device. Like how people use a tablet to complement their laptop or desktop computer. But i would not, for me anyways, use this as my only device for all of my computing and phone needs. If you only use this, your are literally putting all your eggs in one basket.
Fast forward to today, where most of us carry phones that have more computing power then the NASA Shuttle program had when they started in the 80's. Even my phone, A Samsung Galaxy S2, which is now considered low to mid-grade by today's standards has a 1.2 dual core processor with 1GB of Ram, with 8GB on board storage.
Modern phones, or "Smart Phones" do meet a lot of peoples computing needs and it has been thrown around and even proof of concepts have come out about merging the phone and computer. A term, which is being called "convergence". Mark Shuttleworth of Canonical is really pushing this idea, so much Canonical has setup a IndiGoGO campaign to raise a whopping 32 million dollars to fund this effort with Canonical's "Ubuntu Edge". Canonical is also the company behind the Linux Ubuntu Desktop Operating system
Its a promising idea and a great concept. A merge between phone and computer. Literally your computer in your pocket and when you need to use it a "computer" you dock the phone in the docking station and now can use your keyboard, mouse, monitor, ect.
According to the video from IndiGoGo, Mark Shuttleworth stated that this will only be for the backers to the fund and they might come out every new with a new model. That is, partly his reasoning for having the entire project funded by "crowd funding". Mark Shuttleworth did not go into if those future models will be crowd funded though.
Though, I think its great idea and something that should be looked into and is probably the future of main stream computing, but for me, I like my phone as my "phone" and my desktop/laptop for my "computer". If you lose your phone, like it tends to happen with smaller devices that fit in your pocket, your computer and phone is now gone. I know a lot of people have insurance on their phone, but if you use your new phone/computer as your phone and regular computer, you are now SOL and all your non cloud data is gone. Not to mention the fact that since people usually do not encrypt their devices, let alone put a pass code to access your phone, all that personal/business data is now available. I guess I am old codger when it comes to this, but this is something that people have to think about if they are going to go full bore into this "convergence".
I would say that this would a great way as an additional device. Like how people use a tablet to complement their laptop or desktop computer. But i would not, for me anyways, use this as my only device for all of my computing and phone needs. If you only use this, your are literally putting all your eggs in one basket.
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