The FOSS way...

With time, I've come to become even more sure that free and open-source software(FOSS) is the way to go. Not only that, but some aspects how FOSS is developed could bring enormous benefits to humanity at large if there where replicated in other areas.

One such example is open science, that promotes scientific development could have great positive impact for everyone not only the scientists who work on the research.

Letting people coming together to work openly, and enable them to share their work freely, can help their work have the best possible impact in the widest possible way. Most importantly, since they'll be working in the open it will make it harder to make bad uses anything done this way.

Not all bad use can be prevented, but it will be harder to pull and it would be easier to hold accountable those who act wrongfully.

It's easier to audit things when they are done openly, than when they are done behind closed doors. Most importantly, when you use things that you can actually see how they are made, you don't have to just trust what you are being told. You can actually go, and verify that you are getting what you where promised without encountering road blocks that prevent you from actually knowing the process.

Working on the model that FOSS proposes, enables people work in a way that people naturally tend to do anyway. While there some aspects that can be kept secret, the generalities can be made public so that other can use, study and modify them in a way that's beneficial to all.

As demonstrated time and time again, people will get to the core of how something works and will share that information with others. By allowing them to do that freely, with some reasonable limitations, everyone can benefit from their work.

If we want to really bring people together, and do it for the good of all, we need to give people the proper incentives to do so. The current model only serves to divide, and creates a level of distrust that doesn't benefit anyone on the long run.

Something needs to give, and what must give is the model on which people work.

Back to the OS I call home...

I finally got a new laptop, and since it came with Windows 8.1 I decided to give try first hand. To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I expected from the reviews I've read.

Yet, Windows 8 is not an OS I want to us for several reasons. The main one, is that it's proprietary software and I'm an FLOSS advocate. As such, I avoid using proprietary software as much as possible, and in my case I can use FLOSS on my personal computer.

Also, there is the fact that I simply couldn't stand Windows 8. While it isn't all that bad, it still isn't usable for me. The way the OS is made, makes it hard for me to use the way I want to use it. The whole thing got in the way I do things, and that is not acceptable.

So, as soon I got the time I installed Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn on it. The feeling I got to be back to an OS I love is a real good one, it feels like coming back home after a long trip you didn't want to make but had to make.

I'm happy with my new computer now that I got Ubuntu on it, I got to the place I wanted it to be in a few hours. There where some little bumps on the way, but nothing hard to solve and I got to learn new things along the way. The whole experience has cemented my commitment to FLOSS and Ubuntu as my favorite GNU/Linux distro.

In many ways, I now see better why people who come to know FLOSS with an open mind become so passionate about it. It becomes part of you, and the way you see things.

For me, it even resonates with other aspects of my views on things like politics and community. It's hard not to make such connections, and not changing some of your views along the way.