Tsikbal: from my perspective

News about how our information is being intercepted, or how our computers can be compromised either by hackers or by back doors built into it by the vendor for whatever reason. This means that our information and rights are under constant attack, meaning that we need to defend ourselves and be aware on how to protect our computers. This where free and open source software and strong encryption tools comes in, since this combination means that the software is our best bet that is safe and it doesn't have any back doors that could compromise our information stored on it. The encryption can give us two locks, one is that it if someone gets the information we have, they can't read it since they won't have key to it's decryption. On the other hand, encrypting the information we send over the Internet, means that if it's intercepted it will be unreadable to the people who did so. Depending on proprietary software, and not encrypting our information, is the best w...

So, OS X 10.9 Mavericks has been released and the upgrade from the previous version will be free. If I haven't been getting a great OS for free for years, since I've been using Ubuntu for 4 years as my main OS. It bugs me is that while the new OS X will be free as it cost nothing, it's not really free in way that respects people's rights the way free and open source software does. Mavericks is still tied to Apple's hardware, not to mention that the source code is not available to be studied, modified and redistributed by users freely. While Apple does make some good software and hardware, it really bugs me the level of control them even after you buy them. Not only that, how some features are just being added to their software are made to seem as innovations introduced by them which have been around on other OSes for some time. Yes, sometimes their version is more polished than the previous software; but the fact that there was software that did that be...

I made the jump to Ubuntu 13.10, aka Saucy Salamander, since it came out on last Thursday. So far, I've liked the new version of Ubuntu and the experience as a whole has been great. What I've liked the most, is the fact that the upgrade has been seamless. Other than minor things, like new icons, things have been business as usual. Which is great, since it means that I can keep going on as before with just a few things to have to get used to. This is one of the reasons why I love Ubuntu, with every release things have been getting better while it keeps being pretty solid and stable. Ubuntu has become the OS of choice for me, and the one that I recommend each time I can. It's not perfect, yet it's the OS that better fits me and what I use the computer for. It's one of the best options out there for people that new to open source software, and want to jump to an open source OS; while it's also pretty solid for people like me that know their way around ...

You know trademark law is taken out of context when  anyone can make this use of it . That BSA(Boy Scouts of America) can force Hacker Scouts to change its name, or face legal consequences because BSA holds the trademark on the world Scout. It's quite offensive that anyone can deny the use of a word because of trademark. Specially in cases like this one, mainly because BSA is denying the use of the word Scout without a reasonable explanation on why Hacker Scouts are infringing on their trademark. Besides, Hacker Scouts aren't some shady organization. What they do something beneficial for both society and the individual, by giving kids the skills to help be better prepared to face the world or simply enjoy it more. They job is a great way to introduce kids to the world of technology in a collaborative way, while using open source methods. I believe that we need more people that work like Hacker Scouts do, because do all of a great service in our way to make a better socie...