Tsikbal: from my perspective

Another thing that I like about FOSS, is the how fast it's developed. One of the cases where I've been noticing it most, is on the Unity shell on Ubuntu. I updated from Ubuntu 11.10 to Ubuntu 12.04 yesterday, and in the few hours that I've been using it the improvements are quite impressive. The update has been worth it, and it has solidified Ubuntu as my favorite OS. Yet, the fast pace of development to bring enhancements to the software is not confined to Ubuntu. It can be seen on Linux Mint, Debian, and GNOME to name some other FOSS projects that have seen great strides forward to bring better software to their users. That there is the possibility for anyone coder to contribute to his/her favorite project to bring features, or contribute patches, brings to those projects a whole level of development that is hard to see in closes source software projects. This makes me glad to be part of the FOSS community, and I want to make the largest amount of people ...

So far, RIM has only made their Software Development Kit (SDK) and Application Programming Interface (API) open sourced. Yet, a couple of days ago I came across several that said that RIM is considering making the whole Blackberry OS open source. For me, if the report is true, this is a very welcomed news. After all, the Blackberry OS is known for its robustness and security. Which is a great thing to have, to those like me that put a lot of value to having our private information secure and to share it only with the people we want to do so with. I really hope that RIM do come trough with making the Blackberry OS open source, since it would give the FOSS community another worthy addition on the mobile OS sector. And to RIM it could mean that the Blackberry OS could have a good shoot a bouncing back, and becoming competitive by having other developers contribute innovative features to the OS. To the consumer at large, it would mean having another good option to Apple's ...

Some Linux distros have been adding great improvements on the ease of use, specially by users that aren't as knowledgeable on the technical side of running a computer. That's what I like the most of Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Both of these distros are really easy to use, and you don't need to be an expert to use it or to set it up. Most importantly, they come out of the box with the software the average user use and any additional software can be easily added if needed later on. I've found both to be a lot easier to use, and set to my liking, than Windows. My personal favorite is Ubuntu, since the Unity is a better fit to my computer needs and I like its look and feel. Ever since I started using Ubuntu, with the 10.04 version, my laptop computer has to be able to run it without any problem at all. But, now the argument that Linux is difficult to use or that is to technical to use is no longer a valid point. I've found by personal experience that there a...

Using open source software comes with several benefits, most of them are unknown by users either because they don't do proper research or don't have access to the information needed. One of the benefits is that bugs tend to be found and corrected a lot faster than on closed sourced software, because you have many people working on the source code. Having a lot of eyeballs browsing the source code for trouble, means that bugs are found while before the stable release or soon thereafter. This also makes a software a lot safer, since many different people can find vulnerabilities that could be exploited to gain access to the system. Or any code putted in place that could threaten the end user's interests, mainly because no central power has complete control over all system and people have a sense of ownership of the software they contribute to or use. It's a lot harder to hide code on the source code, and any unwanted code can be removed with greater ease. And...

As an Ubuntu user, and fan, April and October are special because with them a new version of my favorite distro arrives. So, I looking forward to April 26th when Ubuntu 12.04 is set to be released. The changes so far look promising, and being a LTS version most of what has been implemented in the 11.04 and 11.10 versions has matured or is a lot more polished. I upgrade to the new version of Ubuntu each time it's released since it means that it comes with the most resent Linux kernel version, and it has most of the recent versions of the software I use. So, is a good idea to upgrade to the next version since it come with all the advantages of Linux kernel that can make use of newer technologies more efficiently, or comes with code that it's updated and/or patched so it's safer to use and plays nicer with newer hardware. And, I've found Ubuntu to be a joy to use. I fell in love with the Unity shell, it really speaks to me and it doesn't get in my way. As ...

Microsoft just announced that in two years time the plug will be pulled of Windows XP, one of the best OS I've used. With the close release date of Windows 8, it seemed that the best road would be waiting a few months to make the jump from XP. But, after reading various reviews of the upcoming OS and knowing the Windows track record of past Microsoft's OS releases, it seems that if you want to upgrade to a modern OS you are better off jumping to a Linux distro. There are several Linux distros that are easy to use, and that come with all you need to work with on the daily basis. My personal favorites are Ubuntu and Linux Mint, but there are several distros out there that could be a better fit to your personal needs and what you expect of a modern OS. All of them with a community behind it, that is willing and able to help you with any question or problem that you could face along the way. Yet, most of the time you shouldn't have any problem at all. Most the the ...

One trend that I've seeing when somethings changes to a distro, or when comparing two distros, is that reviews tend to focus too much on the relative strengths or weaknesses of whats on the software. Bringing attention to the particular strengths and weaknesses in the software isn't bad in itself. What can be prejudicial to the community is how they are treated. Strengths should be pointed out so people that are interested know what are the benefits of that particular distro, app or software. The weaknesses should be pointed out so users know before hand to help them avoid using a something that wont serve their needs, and the coders now where they need to work to improve their software. Let's face it, all software will have strengths and weakness depending of what are their aims and the particular abilities of the people who creating them. And something that some perceive as a weakness, could be view as one by the people who made the software. All depends for ...