Archive for category Free Software
The Free Software Way
Posted by Jason in Free Software, Red Hat on January 27, 2010
Wowiee wow wow! So happy to see this! Red Hat’s new site opensource.com has a brilliant article up entitled “The free software way“. Written by Richard Fontana, the Open Source Licensing and Patent Counsel at Red Hat, it eloquently hits on a number of my favorite points. The term “open source” originated in a 1998 [...]
Checking in on the GNOME Foundation
Posted by Jason in Free Software on January 27, 2010
It’s been a little over a month since the initial kerfluffle about GNOME and GNU. In that first run-up we basically had a couple of the usual chuckleheads waging war against a flimsly constructed straw man in hopes of discrediting RMS/FSF/Free Software with a secondary effect of promoting “Open Source” as the preferred term (and [...]
The Lantern: WTF?
Posted by Jason in Free Software on January 25, 2010
I really, really hope this is just poor reporting: Alek Rollyson, a third-year in information systems and the club’s president, said there is a difference between free software and open source software. Free software is like “free beer, or free as in it doesn’t cost me anything,” he said. Open source software is not just [...]
OSFA: Guidelines for Government
Posted by Jason in Free Software, Standardization on January 20, 2010
Open Source For America is a coalition organized to support and promote Open Source Software use by the US Government. (They are a bit inconsistent in deciding if it is “Open Source” or “Free and Open Source” – both terms are used, the former much more than the latter). One of the strongest arguments against proprietary [...]
On Selling Exceptions
Posted by Jason in Free Software on January 14, 2010
In the continuing and complex drama surrounding MySQL and Oracle, RMS expressed concerns on the acquisition, and later expounded on his position in “On Selling Exceptions to the GNU GPL“. The latter document is an informative read, and Bruce Byfield has an insightful take on the situation in his article “Selling GPL Exceptions isn’t Exceptional“. [...]
Fatal Flaw: On Competition
Posted by Jason in Free Software, Microsoft, Propriatery Technology on January 14, 2010
A long time ago in a distant blog, I had a short series of posts where each one addressed a single common (and flawed) argument. I’d like to try that same thing on The Source from time to time, so here is the first “Fatal Flaw” – I welcome your comments and suggestions! The Premise [...]
Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX
Posted by Jason in Free Software, Propriatery Technology on January 11, 2010
The Wolfire Games Blog has a great article up, “Why you should use OpenGL and not DirectX“. Lots of well-informed information specific to games development using OpenGL, but check out this paragraph: It’s common geek wisdom that standards-based websites, for instance, trounce Silverlight, Flash, or ActiveX. Cross-platform development is laudable and smart. No self-respecting geek [...]
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