When Ben Rousch joined Van Dam Iron Works close to a decade ago, it didn't take him long to move off a proprietary network operating system and start experimenting with a Linux server. He changed horses again, to a Windows server, but today Van Dam is back in the Linux fold -- lesson learned.
The myths
* Ubuntu does not have a good UI : This is absolutely rubbish, checkout the new KDE that comes with Ubuntu.
Now as you have seen, evangelizing FOSS and Linux is a very hands on proposition. You can't just hand them a CD and say "go for it". Your parents never did that to you when you were learning to ride a bike, so we can't expect them to just leap on the Linux bike, so to speak, and ride off into the sunset. But once we get them on that bike and take off the training wheels, the rest becomes a lot of fun.
I am constantly amazed by how rare it is to work with any consumer electronics (CE) device that does not run on Linux. Other then two big markets — laptops and mobile phones, nearly every new consumer electronics device runs Linux. Sony televisions, Amazon Kindle, Dash automotive GPS, and nearly every other device you can imagine.
A Chinese vendor of microprocessors and computer systems will reportedly soon ship a low-cost "netbook" with an 8.9-inch display, Debian Linux-based software, and a Chinese-made processor. The Lemote Tech "Fuloong Mini" has a 600-800MHz Loongson 2F processor, 512MB of DDR2-666 RAM, and an 80GB hard drive.
After the glut of netbooks on the market, Imovio, an offshoot of U.S. company Comsciences, presents the iKit Multimedia Messenger, a palm-sized netbook with Linux.
With a dimension of 3.7" x 2.6" x 0.6" and a weight of 4 oz. (including battery), the iKit is more like a PDA (the company calls it a pocket mobile companion). The device is equipped with Bluetooth and WLAN and is perfect for chats and email, although it brings along other applications. Included are those for multimedia such as graphic display and a video player. Its camera is 0.3 megapixels, it has a built-in mic, and a mini-USB port for a stereo headset. The browser provided is Opera Mini 4.1.
While Microsoft has not produced an ARM-compatible version of its mainstream Windows operating system, the chip architecture is supported by Windows CE, multiple Linux distributions and a version of Apple's OS X.
LM5 FCE is a great piece of work. It takes a distribution that is justifiably very highly thought of, keeps all the best bits and adds something extra special - the speed, flexibility and stability of Fluxbox but with that Linux Mint eye toward user-friendliness.
The second maintenance release of Parsix GNU/Linux 1.5 code name `Viola` is available now. Viola r2 is synchronized with Debian testing repositories as of July 24, 2008. This version contains several bug fixes, several updated packages and updated kernel drivers. Highlights: GNOME 2.22.3, GNU Iceweasel 3.0.3, Pidgin 2.4.3 and OpenOffice.org 2.4.1.
The KOffice Team has announced the release of KOffice version 2.0 Beta 2, the second beta version of the upcoming version 2.0. The goal for the second beta is to show progress made since beta 1, as well as to gather feedback from both users and developers on the new UI and underlying infrastructure.
As a journalist, I don’t often come straight out and endorse anything. Having worked as a marketer, I have had a strong reaction against hype of any sort, including my own. Nor is endorsement my style. Anyway, just by writing on an issue, I can often do far more by encouraging others to support it than I could if I were to volunteer time or money. However, every once in a while, a cause comes along that is so obvious worthy that I make an exception.
Take, for example, the Free Software Foundation’s high-priority list. How anyone who is the least interested in free and open source software (FOSS) could not support this cause is almost inexplicable to me.
Comments
Technie
2008-10-24 09:25:38
#boycottnovell