This certainly qualifies as an interesting development. CBC is reporting that FACIL, a non-profit organization that promotes the adoption of free software in Quebec, is suing the provincial government for buying Microsoft software. More specifically, they are alleging that Quebec's provincial government refuses to allow competing bids (including bids from free software vendors) in preference of large players like Microsoft. Allow me to quote from the CBC article.

"Quebec's open-source software association is suing the provincial government, saying it is giving preferential treatment to Microsoft Corp. by buying the company's products rather than using free alternatives. The lawsuit by Facil was lodged with the Quebec Superior Court on July 15 and made public on Wednesday. In it, the group says the provincial government has refused to entertain competing bids from all software providers, opting instead to supply public-sector departments with products bought from proprietary vendors such as Microsoft and Oracle Corp."

You can read the entire article on the CBC Website. You will also want to read FACIL's press release on this suit.

What do you think? Is FACIL doing the right thing? I've said many times that it's very nearly a crime that our governments and schools cry poverty when they spend a veritable fortune on proprietary software and its trappings. Is FACIL's action what's needed to force government to play nice with our tax dollars?

Commenting on this story in the Globe and Mail, I feel like it's just too easy to make fun of some people. You know, fish-in-a-barrel easy.

Apparently, the Canadian pop superstar was to perform in a concert in Malaysia later this month, but the concert was canceled amid complaints. What kind of complaints? Well, it seems that Avril Lavigne is just too darn sexy for Malaysia. Say what? Could these people, the ones complaining, possibly even remotely be Islamic Fundamentalists? Let's check the Globe for clues.

The Arts, Culture and Heritage Ministry said it had decided not to permit Lavigne's planned Aug. 29 performance because it is unsuitable for Malaysian culture. The decision came after complaints by the youth wing of a fundamentalist opposition party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic party.

Odd, how fundamentalists are never any fun. In the end, you must judge for yourself. Head on over to YouTube and click this link to view Avril's video, "Girlfriend". Decide for yourself. Maybe they're right. Maybe Avril Lavigne is just too sexy . . . for Malaysia.

The legal power of open source licencing has won a major victory, upheld by the United States Court of Appeals. I hope you will read the whole thing over at InformationWeek, but the following quote is particularly interesting:

The lower court ultimately ruled that Jacobsen could not sue Katzer and Kamind Associates for copyright violation because the Artistic License is "intentionally broad."  The appeals court dismissed that argument in its ruling, and said that open source software developers have the right to dictate the terms under which their products can be used or modified (bolded emphasis is mine).

That's right, folks. The person who wrote the software has the right to decide. Other takes on this story, for those who are interested, include Groklaw, ZDNet, and the BBC News.

There are plenty more sources out there, but this gives you a sampling of what will inevitably represent a major sea change in how open source and open source licensing is viewed.

Last time I checked, the number 10 was a higher number than the number 8. While that might seem terribly obvious to those of us who managed to make it past elementary school, this is a bit tough for CNN to grasp. At least it's tough for their Website. The screenshot you see below (click the small image for a larger picture) is the result of me trying to follow up a story link posted by Tim O'Reilly, which turned out to be a dead end. I did manage to find the story and the associated video, but I, apparently, need a different kind of math to view it.

A reader writes in with a dilemma. He wants to run Linux desktops in his office, but still needs access to one or more Windows applications. What he wants (and needs) is a solution that does not require him to have a Windows license for each desktop that needs this application. What can he do? In this video, I discuss one possibility.

I've always felt that if you needed to comment on a story or blog post, you should take the time to register with the site, log in, and do things properly. Somewhere along the way, a handful of readers managed to convince me to at the very least, open up anonymous comments and see how it goes. That was the easy part. The hard part cost me a few hours and an eventual trip to the #drupal-support IRC channel where a user who goes by nick "nearlythere" got me there. Allow me to explain.

My sites run on Drupal and while I love the power and flexibility of Drupal, there are times . . . [ insert sounds of growling here ] Since I wanted to avoid a massive influx of comment spam, my first step was to add captchas with the aid of the reCaptcha module which makes use of the wonderful and superb reCAPTCHA system. I also wanted to force Anonymous users to include their names and email addresses, a common enough practice on blog sites around the Net. Here's what Drupal gave me to work with when I turned on anonymous comments.
Read more

This story is one that is both a bit frightening, if you happen to travel to and from the United States, and incredibly stupid on so many fronts, it's downright laughable. Let's start with frightening . . . Michael Willems, in his Unreasonable Man blog, led me to an interesting and scary story regarding US border searches. this CBC article. You should still read it, but here's the short version.

In order to protect us, the United States government has given its border guards the power to seize your notebook computer, cell phone, digital planner, documents, pamphlets, hard drives (you name it), etc. They can then make full copies of this information in whatever form it takes, and share it with a number of government agencies. Keep in mind as you read this that they do not need just cause to do this, nor do they even need to suspect you of anything. At a later, more convenient time (to them, not you), they can look over the information, presumably to uncover terrorists, but also to ". . . help authorities detect possible instances of terrorism, narcotics smuggling, child pornography and violations of copyright and trademark laws."
Read more

Maybe it's because I'm a writer and perhaps writers are the only ones who are going to find this funny, but I seriously thought this was hilarious. Seriously.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

If you aren't a writer and you thought this was funny too, let me know.
Read more

At first glance, it would seem that you are out of luck if what you want to automate requires human intervention. There are things that need someone to pick from menu options, enter passwords, or make decisions based on the information presented. Interactive applications require a user’s reaction, don’t they? The answer for the cleverly lazy system administrator is “Not always” thanks to a little program called expect.

While I had heard of expect sometime before, I discovered a few years ago just how useful this language is. My partner and I were developing a Web-based system that required regular updates from the main computer’s database, a database that would not allow command-line scripting. The data we needed required the execution of an SQL statement that could only be entered through the vendor’s menu interface. That SQL statement would then generate the data file we needed for the Web interface. The whole process hinged on writing something that mimicked a user sitting at a terminal entering information as the various prompts were presented to him or her. Expect, a software suite/language based on Tcl, was the answer to our dilemma. Later, Expect would make it possible to stretch our Web-tool well beyond what we, ahem, expected at the time.
Read more

Once upon a time, there was a Linux company named SCO. They were a good company until evil overlords bent on sueing the world arrived on the scene. This isn't that story.
Read more

Hello, oh great and powerful Adobe people.

Thank you so much for releasing Flash Player 10 beta 2 for Linux. Thanks even more for (finally) building in support for video4linux2 Webcam technology. You have no idea how much we appreciate that. The only problem is that many (if not most) of us can't use it. You see, it crashes our browsers within seconds.

Reading earlier posts on this subject, it's obvious that Adobe is aware of this problem (Flash player 10 beta 2 crashing Firefox) and that they have fixed it in-house. I think I speak for more than just myself when I say, "Please, just let us have the fixed version." You don't know how long we've waited for video4linux2 support. The suspense is killing us. Besides, it's kind of rough to be told that a beta is available with said features, then not have it work. It's even harder when we are told it's fixed but we can't possibly have it. So, please. Please. Let us have the current fixed version. We know it's not the real, final product, but we accept that. It's cool. Really. What do you say? Come on, guys. One little tiny fixed beta? No one is going to complain. In fact, we'll say nothing but nice things about you. Really.

What do you say?

Please. Pretty please . . .

Looking good is easy for our regular guests. True enough. However, looking good on the Web takes a little more work, which doesn't mean it can't be a lot of fun. With a little help from your Linux system, your smile will shine online!

Yes, François, I think it would be great to add a gallery of our regular guests on the restaurant's Website, but I do have a couple of concerns. First and foremost, I really don't think you should call it a "Rogue's Gallery". Second, why on Earth are you coding HTML by hand. This is going to take you forever and our guests will be here momentarily. Lucky for you, tonight's menu has some great free software for your Linux system that will make creating that gallery a breeze. Later, though. I can see our guests arriving as we speak.

Good evening and welocome one and all to Chez Marcel! Your tables are ready as are we to serve you. My faithful waiter, François, will fetch your wine while I introduce you to tonight's featured Linux software. François, to the wine cellar. Vite! In the South wing, you'll find a case of 2003 Sariza from Bulgaria. The Sariza is a great medium-bodied red wine that I'm sure you'll enjoy.

I must tell you that François had an excellent idea that involved creating a Web photo gallery. Before I show you how easy it can be to create such a gallery, I need to tell you about a package you'll need to have on your system, a package which will let you do all sorts of magical things with images.

read more

Let me confess right away. I found myself panicking just watching this video. My heart rate literally shot up and stayed there for some time. Yes, I'm saying this isn't for the faint of heart. Author Christopher Hitchens, writing for Vanity Fair, decides to find out for himself whether the controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding is, in fact, torture.

The Vanity Fair article can be found here.

read more

After reading an article on CBC about the possible banning of Mark Steyn's book in Canada, "America Alone", I knew I had to read it. I will confess up front that I am also terrified by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. But then, I am also terrified by the rise of Christian fundamentalism. I am an atheist and I make no apologies for it. In fact, I believe that for the world to survive, and by the world, I mean human beings (the planet will be here long after we are gone), religion must die. We, the rationalists of the world, must launch a campaign to educate the world about the dangers of religion. Religion, after all, is an organized movement designed to control large groups of people. Control them to do what, you might ask? Well, sometimes it's to vote for you. Sometimes to fill your coffers with cash. Sometimes to fight for you. And far too many times, religion's purpose has been to rally the troops to kill for you, possibly by strapping a bomb to your chest and blowing yourself up in a public place. In God's name, of course.

I'll start by giving Mark Steyn credit for writing what is, in fact, a courageous book, though not one without its flaws. The trouble with Mark's book (for me, at least) comes at the end of the introduction to the paperback edition. He says that "10 years from now, of the two groups, those worried about global warming and those worried about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, one will be right and the other will feel like an idiot."

read more

Well, he tells some, anyhow. By now, you've probably heard the news that Xandros has purchased Linspire. Moments ago, I was sent the following Q&A with Xandros CEO, Andreas Typaldos. Enjoy . . .

Q: What are you announcing today?
A: Xandros' acquisition of Linspire, a pioneer in the commercial desktop Linux marketplace with its easy-to-use commercial Linspire operating system and innovative Linux software delivery service CNR.

Q: How did this deal come about?
A: Xandros and Linspire have had talks at the CEO level over the years about the possibility of a combination given their historically similar Debian-based roots and complementary product lines. Such talks accelerated in late 2007 and culminated in the current agreement.

read more

Over at Practical Tech Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols suggests that it may be time for a fork of KDE, mostly because he doesn't believe that KDE 4.1 is heading in the right direction. It's obviously an interesting and emotional topic as the comments will attest. I'll quote a small portion of one of the comments. A writer who goes by burpnrun said, "I can understand the emotional investment that Asiego has in Kde4. But the article writer is correct: the desktop should not get in the way of the mainstream user’s productive needs, and that is what KDE4 does."

First of all, the Asiego (sic) in question is Aaron Seigo, a KDE luminary if ever there was one. The article writer is Stephen J. Vaughan-Nichols, a luminary in his own right -- of the tech-journalist variety. Now, Stephen may have said a lot more about KDE 4 in earlier postings but in this article, he points to one feature of one icon in one application. Not much to go on really. However, he does, indirectly, remind us of an important aspect of Linux and the world of FOSS (free and open source software).

read more

You've heard of open source software. You've probably even heard of open source beer? How bout some open source music to add to the mix? Hmm . . . software, beer, and music . . . Yum!

The Dejunair Project creates "Free and Open Source Music" or "Open Music". This means simply, you can use the music for whatever you want at no cost (free beer!). The stated goal of the project is to share music with others for free and provide them the building blocks which make up a particular instrumental to reuse however they see fit. To read more about the Dejunair Project and to listen to a sample of the music, click here and let your ears be transported.

read more

Once upon a time, ASCII art was practiced in e-mail messages sent around the world. Unfortunately, fancy fonts and HTML-ized e-mails have struck a powerful blow to this ancient and noble art form. The most missed are probably the cows, for Tony Monroe, anyhow. His cowsay program (a nice, easy-to-play-with Perl script) provides a simple way to generate an ASCII cow that speaks your message. Head on over to www.nog.net/~tony/warez/cowsay.shtml to pick up your copy and extract it into your directory. (A number of distributions have cowsay in their repositories, so look there first). The installation consists of running an install.sh file. Running the program also is quite simple. Let's pretend that I want a cow saying “More wine, please”:

$ cowsay More wine please. ------------------- < More wine please. > ------------------- \ ^__^ \ (oo)\_______ (__)\ )\/\ ||----w | || ||

But wait! There's more . . . oh yes!

read more

Was there every a more natural combination? Depends on where you expected to find it.

Nothing like chilled Bawls, eh?

read more

Ever wonder why a guy like me writes all these articles, pens all these books, gives talks at trade shows, universities, or appears on radio and television. It's not the fame and glory (there isn't much anyhow). No, it's something entirely different.

I've got more, but I thought it best to stop when I did.

read more