Former Linux Architect Moves to Microsoft

June 18, 2005 Leave a comment

A little late on this one, but as you have probably heard, Dan Robbins has been hired by Microsoft. One has to wonder if he is a bit bitter. He founded Gentoo and was forced to quite about a year ago for financial reasons. He graciously transfered absolutely everything to a non-profit that he created. The fact that he poured time, energy, blood/sweat/tears and a whole bunch of money into something that he couldn't make work had to hurt a bit. I pour much of the same into LQ and can testify to the fact that making a project financially viable while sticking to your original goals is extremely difficult. Luckily (or maybe nothing to do with luck, I dunno) we have been able to survive so far. Danny is clearly a smart guy that contributed a ton to the community. Surely he'll be missed. I wish him the best wherever he goes (including MSFT), but one does have to wonder how is could have been different. If I have time at some point I'd really like to look into why he wasn't able to make things work. I'd guess there are some valuable lessons there. On a side note, Scoble is having an interesting back and forth discussion about why one would or would not want to work at Microsoft.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Is Linux For Losers?

June 18, 2005 Leave a comment

An article entitled “Is Linux For Losers?” recently ran in Forbes magazine. Theo really does have a way with people, doesn't he? While he can come off a bit harsh at time, he is often correct. One thing that struck me as odd about the article though was that Theo never said that Linux was for Losers. Looking into the author, Dan Lyons, it seems like he doesn't really care for Linux (or Open Source in general). Seems to me he probably sought out Theo (who he knew he could get some choice quotes from), put a controversial title on the article and bam – instant story. I really don't know how articles like this get published sometimes. One of the choice quotes from the article:
“It's terrible,” De Raadt says. “Everyone is using it, and they don't realize how bad it is. And the Linux people will just stick with it and add to it rather than stepping back and saying, 'This is garbage and we should fix it.'”
The response from Linus is once again all class and composure: “Torvalds, via e-mail, says De Raadt is “difficult” and declined to comment further. “
One final thing I noticed that struck me as funny. The article contains a testimonial from someone who switched from Linux to OpenBSD because of a comment in the code (side note: if you switch your OS because of a comment and not because of the code, that's insane). From the article: You know what I found? Right in the kernel, in the heart of the operating system, I found a developer's comment that said, 'Does this belong here?' “Lok says. “What kind of confidence does that inspire? Right then I knew it was time to switch.”
Guess what. The OpenBSD code contains an identical comment.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Is Linux For Losers? II

June 17, 2005 1 Comment

One more comment about this article. Here is another quote from the article:
There's also a difference in motivation. “Linux people do what they do because they hate Microsoft. We do what we do because we love Unix,” De Raadt says.
I don't know where this perception came from. I know I don't hate Microsoft and talking to many Open Source people, they don't either. Of course some do, but I don't think it's a majority and you can find some people that hate any corporation that huge. Now, a lot of OSS people do think that Windows is insecure/unstable and that Microsoft has pulled some extremely shady and flat out illegal business practices, but that is not hate. The reality is that Linus didn't start Linux to get away from Microsoft. He started it to have a open and gratis Unix (In this case Minix) clone. Going head to head with Microsoft didn't come until years later and just wasn't part of the culture when the community started to form.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Why Major Retailers are Taking Baby Penguin Steps with Linux

June 15, 2005 Leave a comment

It looks like Micro Center is not only stocking Linux machines, but are also staffing knowledgeable sales and tech people to go along with them. This is good news and something that is sorely needed. Even better, it looks like large retailers such as Fry's, Best Buy and Walmart are keeping an eye on this. There isn't a Micro Center near me, but I wish them the best of Luck. One thing I don't like about this though is that it seems that Linux is always preinstalled on the cheapest of machines. I think this is one place that being gratis can actually hurt Linux. To the untrained eye it becomes the cheap (and in some peoples eyes therefor crappy) alternative to Windows. You and I know that Linux is a stable and mature OS that is certainly worth as much as Windows from a cost perspective, but perception is reality and I don't think the perception that Linux is a “cheap” version of Windows is a good perception for Linux to have. Once again, education is the answer – but education is expensive and time consuming. Here's hoping that one day soon someone simply starts offering Linux as an additional option to any machine as opposed to just an preload on a couple of cheap machines. Have to crawl before you walk though…
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Gnomedex bound

June 14, 2005 Leave a comment

A little late, but I just booked my Gnomedex trip. So late in fact, that I'll be in the “cove” (aka in the room next door with a live A/V feed). Better late than never though. If you'll be attending, so you there.
–jeremy

Filed under Main Page

I'm back

June 11, 2005 Leave a comment

It's been quiet here for a little while now. I didn't go anywhere, but sometimes life gets in the way. I should return to my normal posting frequency “real soon now”.
–jeremy

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Next Office Edition to Default to XML

June 2, 2005 2 Comments

We're all quick to bash Microsoft when they do something silly, so we should also pay attention when they do something good. I was happy when I saw an article entitled “Microsoft Ends Era Of Closed File Formats”. Could it be true, I thought?? Are they finally starting to get it? I read the announcement, but there's not too much detail in there. So I started digging around. In the end I think this is, unfortunately, being a little bit over-hyped. There is some good though: Word, Excel, and Powerpoint will get a new file format all based on XML. The new file format is actually enclosed in a ZIP file. Change the extension name to .ZIP and you'll be able to double-click and get access to all the pieces of the new format. The new file format will be usable on existing versions of Office (all the way back to '97) and the format will be document and available gratis. So far, so good. The bad news? First, one has to wonder if this patent will come into play here. I hope not. If they wanted true interoperability, wouldn't they have adopted the OASIS standard? I think they want to appeal to all the large corporations and Governments who are demanding open formats, while still retaining a lot of control over that format. Additionally, reading the FAQ, it looks like the license is completely incompatible with the GPL. Once again, this really seems like something we'll have to wait out and keep a close eye on to see how it plays out. One thing is for sure though, the importance of open document formats can no longer be denied.
–jeremy

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Free CDs Spread Open Source in India

May 29, 2005 1 Comment

Good to see that the Indian government is distributing free CDs that contain localized versions of popular open-source applications. From the article:

The government has started distributing CDs containing Tamil-language versions of various open-source applications, including the Firefox browser, the OpenOffice.org productivity suite and the Columba e-mail client. It plans to freely distribute 3.5 million copies of the CD to Tamil speakers worldwide
Eventually, the government plans to release CDs in all of the 22 official languages of India. The great thing here from my point of view is that “cost” does not seem to be the main driver for this decision. The ability to modify the code, in this case to do UI changes to suit a different culture and do localizations, was the deciding factor here. The fact that we are seeing more and more Open Source adoption for reasons besides “it's cheaper”, to me means that many Open Source apps are indeed ready for prime time adoption.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Is Windows Ready for the Desktop?

May 28, 2005 1 Comment

We often hear the question “Is Linux ready for the desktop. Robin 'Roblimo' Miller asks a different question. What do you think ;)
–jeremy

Filed under Main Page

More on the LQ Radio Audio Improvements

May 24, 2005 Leave a comment

Chatted with Doug Kaye from IT Conversations a little today about the audio quality of LQ Radio. He had given me a few tips in the past, and I just purchased the same audio processor that he uses for ITC to use for LQ Radio. I'll be using his suggestions for knob turning for the next Podcast. If you've never heard the quality releases that Doug does at IT Conversations, I encourage you to go take a listen. Thanks Doug.
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, Main Page, podcast

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