"should not be named "humanity, caring, and harmony" in any language (no offense to the Ubuntu guys; but CEO's would probably something that implies 'unfair competitive advantage' rather than charitable sharing."
This is a misconception that often comes up on Slashdot. The Ubuntu / Debian people are likely all about "humanity, caring, and harmony" and not at all about "'unfair competitive advantage' rather than charitable sharing.". Those who criticise and who don't understand, those not politically / etc aligned with those they're criticising, fail to see that in this case for example, the banner used by Ubuntu / Debian people expresses the very driving force behind their work, and so to contradict it just to make it palatable to people not of their mind set is not something that would ever be conceivable to them.
You forget, that to many, this is a social revolution, that cannot be polluted by marketing techniques.
They get to sell people a load of crap: half price unoriginal software that they'll still be making a a profit on, that people think is a good deal for them; or services at reduced cost that require you to pay for every month. Its a normal capitalist technique - make contact with the consumer and you'll invariably sell them something. The sort of people that will buy this just want to be sold something, anything.
And I think, more importantly, they're engendering a culture where-by people expect to have to validate their software with the manufcaturer to test its for real. before you know it they'll have people saying 'what, you expect me to download that dirty Free Software that never even asks me to validate it with the manufacturer? you think I'm a fool? there could be ANYTHING bundled up in that!' Never mind that Microsoft's technique is probably far less secure than the SHA1 verification offered by the Free Software, bcos (currently atleast) that method is a bit too tricky with most distros (that I've seen) and with Free Software on Windows
"btw. you need to realize how automatic updates work - you do *not* need to be an administrator to use it. They download in the background and and are made 'live' by a scheduled reboot overnight. You could have all your users as 'guest' and you'd still be hosed."
WRONG! *You* need to realise how Automatic Updates work. you have complete control over a lot of aspects of how it works and so don't have to have it download and install automatically and don't have to have it prompt non-administrative users
All our documentation on configuring Windows and applications is available on the CD and the web site, GPLd. same with software we've written ourselves (http://thegoldenear.org/tweak/. There is nothing on the CD that isn't available for free on the web
We haven't the resources yet to offer an 800MB download (nearly 150 programs). We would like to eventually but it doesn't offer that much more than is already provided.
We're not charging for the software, merely for the cost of the media.
I take your points about Shareware and cross-platform applications.
Our knowledge is gained from actually moving people away from corporate software toward Free-er alternatives, predominantly cross platform Free software, to make the eventual transition we're working towards of moving to Debian (see the fledgling GNU/Linux Toolbox on the same site at http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/unices/).
Every week, through our work in computer support, we help more and more people make the transition to Free software alternatives. So making the balance between pragmatism and idealism is one we face every day and the balance we have struck is born out of actually working with people, having to provide software they need to actually get things done. So we haven't made our choices from within a bubble
The Windows Toolbox has been available for 4 years, throughout that time working toward a goal of only containing Free and Open Source software, but we're taking a slow evolutionary path toward that goal where-by we're careful to always provide a consistant suite of functionality; so yeah, "idealism vs pragmatism", but people have their choice: use yours or use ours or use someone elses
Of-course you don't charge any money for it, you're not distributing anything physical. we're putting it onto a CD and making a cover and putting it in a box and mailing it out to people, which is what we charge to cover the cost of. In November we'll be giving it away on 3000 copies of a magazine, and that costs money to be able to do. As for tainting it with non-Free software, we're trying to provide everything people might need to use their computer with a wealth of the different media floating around, so compromises have been made so that atleast a Freeware (or very occasionally Shareware) alternative is provided. Your distribution is different in that you only have a dozen or so applications and so aren't trying to achieve the extent of coverage that we are, so you never have to even consider making such a compromise. As soon as something Free is available and worthwhile then we replace the Freeware/Shareware because we do believe strongly in the GPL (but are tempering what we provide with practicability)
I don't know what you're on about. that was my only post on that article. I thought the judge's retort was particularly hilarious, so I pasted it for others to enjoy. I think it far likely that YOU are the one posting for karma without anything to actually say
We provide a similar site to what these people offer (tho nowhere near as polished, and only for Windows) in the form of the Windows Toolbox, distribution of predominantly Free software for Windows, and especially its list of software
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe you should make that same mistake twice, then you won't be able to tell the difference.
yup, well said, I forgot them. first against the wall with Adobe.
And its not as if you can wean people off-of Quickbooks, at this point in time.
I'd like to sign Adobe up to that right away.
So, for all intents and purposes, does Ubuntu = Debian or Ubuntu == Debian or Ubuntu != Debian?
You forget, that to many, this is a social revolution, that cannot be polluted by marketing techniques.
the Windows Toolbox - http://thegoldenear.org/ - all the software on one CD
time to put something interesting on the roof for when the sat passes over
This is another 'brilliant' move on their part...
They get to sell people a load of crap: half price unoriginal software that they'll still be making a a profit on, that people think is a good deal for them; or services at reduced cost that require you to pay for every month.
Its a normal capitalist technique - make contact with the consumer and you'll invariably sell them something.
The sort of people that will buy this just want to be sold something, anything.
And I think, more importantly, they're engendering a culture where-by people expect to have to validate their software with the manufcaturer to test its for real. before you know it they'll have people saying 'what, you expect me to download that dirty Free Software that never even asks me to validate it with the manufacturer? you think I'm a fool? there could be ANYTHING bundled up in that!'
Never mind that Microsoft's technique is probably far less secure than the SHA1 verification offered by the Free Software, bcos (currently atleast) that method is a bit too tricky with most distros (that I've seen) and with Free Software on Windows
is Firefox locking up when you use ctrl+shift+tab?
2
if so it'll be this: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=24352
"btw. you need to realize how automatic updates work - you do *not* need to be an administrator to use it. They download in the background and and are made 'live' by a scheduled reboot overnight. You could have all your users as 'guest' and you'd still be hosed."
o .shtml
WRONG! *You* need to realise how Automatic Updates work. you have complete control over a lot of aspects of how it works and so don't have to have it download and install automatically and don't have to have it prompt non-administrative users
see http://www.jmu.edu/computing/security/info/susinf
they're looking for a dedicated HARDWARE player
"Are there any hardware players out there that aren't mired in licensing fights that actually are worth the money?"
sorry, SP2
MS confirmed recently that Windows XP SP1 will atleast will install on versions with ripped off product keys
like this?
from the linked BBC article:
"Holidays in the UK, parts of Europe and Japan may also help to limit the spread of the worm."
> (as i do with lots of programs im trying to replace with oss)
h tml
If you need more, take a look at our list of Free and other predominantly non-commercial software at http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/windows/software.
I don't know. I'd never heard of GNUWin 'til you posted that comment and at the moment I haven't the time to check it out, tho will do soon
perhaps they were, it took 2 hours to get the things ready to wheel out the building
where's "here" when you're on the web?
There is nothing wrong with charging for software, but I didn't see a download link on your website
h tml
All the applications' web sites are linked to from http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/windows/software.
from where people can download the applications
All our documentation on configuring Windows and applications is available on the CD and the web site, GPLd. same with software we've written ourselves (http://thegoldenear.org/tweak/.
There is nothing on the CD that isn't available for free on the web
We haven't the resources yet to offer an 800MB download (nearly 150 programs). We would like to eventually but it doesn't offer that much more than is already provided.
We're not charging for the software, merely for the cost of the media.
I take your points about Shareware and cross-platform applications.
Our knowledge is gained from actually moving people away from corporate software toward Free-er alternatives, predominantly cross platform Free software, to make the eventual transition we're working towards of moving to Debian (see the fledgling GNU/Linux Toolbox on the same site at http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/unices/).
Every week, through our work in computer support, we help more and more people make the transition to Free software alternatives.
So making the balance between pragmatism and idealism is one we face every day and the balance we have struck is born out of actually working with people, having to provide software they need to actually get things done. So we haven't made our choices from within a bubble
The Windows Toolbox has been available for 4 years, throughout that time working toward a goal of only containing Free and Open Source software, but we're taking a slow evolutionary path toward that goal where-by we're careful to always provide a consistant suite of functionality; so yeah, "idealism vs pragmatism", but people have their choice: use yours or use ours or use someone elses
Of-course you don't charge any money for it, you're not distributing anything physical. we're putting it onto a CD and making a cover and putting it in a box and mailing it out to people, which is what we charge to cover the cost of.
In November we'll be giving it away on 3000 copies of a magazine, and that costs money to be able to do.
As for tainting it with non-Free software, we're trying to provide everything people might need to use their computer with a wealth of the different media floating around, so compromises have been made so that atleast a Freeware (or very occasionally Shareware) alternative is provided. Your distribution is different in that you only have a dozen or so applications and so aren't trying to achieve the extent of coverage that we are, so you never have to even consider making such a compromise. As soon as something Free is available and worthwhile then we replace the Freeware/Shareware because we do believe strongly in the GPL (but are tempering what we provide with practicability)
I don't know what you're on about. that was my only post on that article. I thought the judge's retort was particularly hilarious, so I pasted it for others to enjoy.
I think it far likely that YOU are the one posting for karma without anything to actually say
We provide a similar site to what these people offer (tho nowhere near as polished, and only for Windows) in the form of the Windows Toolbox, distribution of predominantly Free software for Windows, and especially its list of software
"What they need is cd's a la AOL filled with OpenOffice.Org, Mozilla"
We're about to distribute a collection like this, called the Windows Toolbox: http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/windows/