Tsikbal: from my perspective

There is a need to make technology more inclusive, not only to be used, but also in its creation, development and adaptation for different needs. If people can't have ample access to technology to do all of these things, no matter how useful or innovative at the beginning, it'll soon be obsolete or irrelevant. If any technology is made so as much people can do more than just work with it, chances are the technology will reach its full potential. And it's more than likely than that potential is far beyond anyone can foresee. To take technology there, it needs to let everyone in and let them modify it or add to it openly. Closing it to the general public is the best way to ensure a short life for it. Inclusive technology is the best way to make out present, while at the same time ensuring our future. Technology gives us the best tools to do both, and the best way to do so is to have technology that is work on and developed in an open and transparent manner. Peopl...

Another of the reasons that I love FLOSS is the way it works, and the culture that surrounds it, is the fact it allows people work and form communities around it as they would normally do. The best software that come out from FLOSS is one where people can claim as their own, and work on it as they can. In many ways, FLOSS represents people working together in order to produce what they need in they way that best suits them. It really it's the software of the people, for the people and by the people. This is the way software needs to be made, and worked on in order to make it the best possible for use it's intended. People should be able to come together to work on the software they need, to develop it and share it with others freely. Others should also be able to take the source code of any software to be used and modified to suit their needs, with the only condition that they give credit to the original developers and share those modifications back to the community so...

All and every technology should be open sourced, free to be modified by users to better suit their needs and redistributed. What's more, those new modifications need to be easily redistributed to others that find it appealing to their needs. The need to have technology behave this way, is because we need to have the benefits of it to be as widespread as possible. There are far too many cases where the technology to save lives, or communities, existed but couldn't be used to do so because it was to expensive or there was no way to put it to work because it wasn't in the interest of who owned the technology. Technology can't be captive by the interests of the few, and it's more powerful to improve people lives when it's freely available to be worked and redistributed without barriers that impede users to do so in an artificial way do to vested interest in avoiding it. We could be progressing a lot faster if all technology was open to all to study and ...

As with the Internet, software running on your computer should be made in a transparent way and its source code should be available to studied and modified as needed. Not only that, the author of the modifications made to the source code should be able to distribute those modifications freely, along with the source code for it. Also, you should have the freedom to redistribute the software you have freely or share it with others. Just as we share books, and other media, with our friends and family, we should be able to share the software we have with others that might find it useful. And if you find that the software you have needs to be modified to better suit your needs, you should be able to do so independently and be able to share those modifications. FLOSS offers everyone these things, along with communities that share the same goals that you have. Not only that, FLOSS gives people a common framework to work around so that all work around a single standard. This way u...

It's sad to see that now the UN is on the road to try to take control over the Internet. Instead to let the Internet to grow organically, in an open and transparent way in every aspect, it seem that there are special interests groups that want to take Internet behind closed doors. The Internet belongs to the people, all development that affects its inner workings is to be made on the open. Those working on the Internet, whether on its inner workings or developing its standards, should work on a transparent way so that we all know what they are doing and how their contributions work. Not a single part of how the Internet works, or how it's developed, should ever be behind closed door. All activity should be on the open, so that any interested party on a certain aspect of the Internet, can have full access to it and the rest of us to know what that party is doing. Any attempt to take the Internet's control behind closed door, should be opposed by everyone as a qu...

It's sad to see that technology advances faster on times of war, than it does in times of peace. There is a urgent need to change it so the reverse becomes the norm, so that peace time becomes where science and technology advances faster. Not only that, we need to have the benefits from new scientific discoveries, and the technologies that develop from them, get to a larger part of society faster. There must be a way to make peace the norm, by making war at any level undesirable. All conflicts need to be resolved without relying to violence, and people's needs are to be meet as they come. We need to make it so that conflicts that drive the advancement of science and technology, don't result on violence that ends in bloodshed. Science and technology need to be instruments of peace and understanding, not those of war and violence. If wars and violence are common place, it many ways society at large has failed to do what's needed to keep peace. Science, an...

I would like to see science research and technology development being something that brings the world together. Instead of being done in secret, by single individuals, corporations, or countries, they should be conducted in collaboration by anyone interested in the subject. Not only that, it should be done in the open in full view of the world. The education to be able to conduct science research, or technology development, should be given as a priority at any stage of life. Most importantly, people should graduate from basic education with the ability to at least understand the basis science and how it's applied on the technology we use everyday. Even if end goal of an individual isn't getting a degree on a science or engineering area in college, they should have a functional understanding of science. The same goes the other way around, every part of the human knowledge important. In the science and technology areas, it's becoming ever more important not o...

The more I use Ubuntu, the less likely I'm to switch back to Windows or even make the move to Apple. If I ever change my OS, it would be to another Linux distro that's Debian based as Ubuntu. I simply have found that Ubuntu works for me far better than Windows ever did, and I don't agree how Apple manages it's software. Also because as a matter of principle, FLOSS strikes a core with what I believe in. Mainly that software should be free in the sense that anyone should be able to see it's source core, modify it, and to redistribute any improvement made to the code. The freedoms that come with FLOSS gives the users the control over the software they install on their machines. Not only in the way it works and its configuration, but in order to make customizations to the software independently of the source. This makes FLOSS a lot more flexible to the end user, while it benefits the community of users as a whole since those modifications can be shared back. ...

Even though I believe that the diversity on ways to do your work, or have your fun, is one of the strengths of FOSS it means nothing if they aren't built on common ground in order to achieve interoperability. That interoperability should be made through open standards, so that everyone who want to work with them knows that they can so so without fear of being locked into using software from a single vendor. Closed standards are to be avoided at all costs, since they mean that the future of that standard is tied to the whatever happens to whoever holds it or unilateral choices by the vendor. Standards should be considered a common good, and as such they should be keep open for to use or contribute to it with freedom. No single entity should have a position to totally control any standard, all standards should be in the hands of a governing body made up by all those who have a stake on the future of those standard. Not only that, that governing body should work openly an...

I've been doing some checking around for a new smartphone, and I'm convinced that it'll be an Android device. There are a several options out there at my price range, from several manufactures. Not only that, for me it's important my next smartphone to run Android, since it's open source software. In a sense it's a matter of buying a smartphone that runs software that is compatible with what I believe, and the only Android manage to do so. The fact that I can choose from a wide range of manufactures, and several models they offer, calls me even more. It means that I can choose the experience I get from Android, looking for the smartphone thats form and design is what I'm looking for. I'm not tied to a single manufacturer, giving me whatever they think I want. Android gives me the level of freedom I want, letting me choose the handset that better suits my needs and what I like. All this while being a modern a robust mobile operating system, t...

It's interesting to see how technology seems to be consolidating several devices into one, which means that as a whole people will need fewer devices to do more. The idea that with a couple of devices you could replace most of the ones you have now. Not only that, those devices will be portable enough to be taken with you everywhere. And with modern connectivity technology you'll be on line most of the time, with all the implications it brings along. Today we are connected to the Internet almost 24/7, and almost from anywhere, thanks to laptops and smartphones. In many ways, both laptops and smartphones are points of access that grant humanity to share all what they want in an instant. So much so, that nowadays the question is no longer if we could share our daily routine with our friends and family. The real question has become what should be sharing, and how much privacy we want for ourselves. This is why is so important have a complete control on our informa...

As it has come to be the norm, the new phone that caught my eye was the Nexus just released by Google and LG. Personally, I've always preferred Android powered smartphones over the iPhone. Since I prefer open source software over closed source one, Android has always been the option for me. And the Nexus line has been the one I prefer over other Android powered smartphones because it gives the clean and unadulterated Android. Better yet, the new Nexus comes with the most recent version of Android. Which is great, since the I've been looking forward to replace my current smartphone with one that runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box, and not having to wait to be able to upgrade it. I now pretty sure that the new Nexus 4 will be the smartphone I want, and the one I'll get.

Society has gotten to the point where technology is accepted as is, and few people pays any attention on how it affects our lives. It seems that we just take all technology without even an after thought. In many ways, many people don't seem to realize the real life consequences that any technology has within it. And as we embrace more advanced technology, specially that which enables to share personal information with others, those consequences have a bigger impact. That's why we need to be more conscious about how we use technology, and what we share with others. There is a need to understand that it's equally important with who we are sharing what, since sharing something with the wrong person can have the same impact than doing so in the real world. The real and virtual worlds are no longer two separate spheres, and they will only become even more intertwined as time goes on. In order to keep our private lives private, we need to keep technology from taking ...