free software category archive

Now Playing: 'DejaVu Sans' Font

I'm learning the joys of typography. Up until now I haven't really specified fonts on this web site. I've just let the browser and system defaults run the show. For me, using Ubuntu and Firefox, that meant I was seeing my site and many other web pages with DejaVu Serif. That isn't a [...]

Every Shadow of a Shade of an Idea...

Just so, 126 years later:

U.S. Supreme Court
Atlantic Works v. Brady, 107 U.S. 192 (1883)
Decided March 5, 1883
MR. JUSTICE BRADLEY delivered the opinion of the Court.
It was never the object of those laws to grant a monopoly for every trifling device, every shadow of a shade of an idea, which would naturally and spontaneously occur to [...]

FreeMind Review

FreeMind is a great free software program. It is identified as "mind mapping" software, for brainstorming or whatnot, but is also a general productivity/organizational tool. It's early days for me, but I think it may help me organize my notes and projects more effectively. It's basically just arranging things in a tree structure, [...]

Mako: 'Taking a Principled Position on Software Freedom'

Great post today from Benjamin Mako Hill about free software advocacy and principles. It's not very long so you should just go read the whole thing for yourself, but here are a couple of choice parts:

One reason I tend to stay away from "open source" claims in my own advocacy is that I'm worried [...]

Free Software (Briefly)

Free Software is software that you are free to share with your family, friends, and neighbors.
Isn't that a nice thing? It doesn't cost anything to make copies of digital information, and we have these wonderful machines and a worldwide network that are perfect for copying and sharing. Why not use these tools to freely share [...]

Richard Stallman at U of M Tonight (Tuesday, Oct 21)

Happened to run across this last night:
mndaily.com: Comp. sci. activist to talk computing freedom at U
Which led me to dig up this press release with details. Willey Hall on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota at 6:30pm.
I'm not sure if I'll make it. I'd love to hear Richard speak in person, [...]

Some Time After The Move

I've been intending to write something to mark the "completion" of the move. I started this blog two years ago to write about free software and related topics, and to give myself additional motivation to finally make the switch from MS Windows to GNU/Linux.
So where am I at today?
I've been using Ubuntu as the [...]

Free Software and 'Politics,' a Comment by Rufus Polson

A couple of Augusts ago, back in 2006, Keir Thomas wrote an article about switching his office computer from GNU/Linux to Windows and then a follow-up article about the resulting criticism after the post made the front page of Digg and LinuxToday.
(What is it with web sites that don't publish the year as part of [...]

Power of Example (and the Long View)

Martin Sexton
Power of example
My mama said it and I heard
She says one ounce of action
Beats a ton of words.
-- Martin Sexton, "Hallelujah"
Richard Stallman

[...] I didn’t write a whole free operating system, either. I wrote some pieces and invited other people to join me by writing other pieces. So I set an example. I said, “I’m [...]

3rd time not quite a charm: Upgrading to Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)

The other night, sort of kind of on a whim, but not really, I upgraded my main machine from Ubuntu 7.04 to 7.10. There were some problems, but in the end, not very serious. No need for panic.
I'd upgraded my laptop when 7.10 was released, and that went fine. The plan for my [...]