For the love of learning...

As a geek, I love learning how thinks work and how systems work to make things happen. How changing any part of a system can alter its functionality, thus being able to make it work better by tweaking any of the individual parts.

This is one of the reasons why I've been using open source software for a long time. Because even though I don't have the technical skill to tweak much, I still can learn about how the software works from the inside-out. And I can do it in an environment that encourages the study of the source code, and if you can't contribute with code you can contribute by giving ideas on how to make the software better.

The first open source software I used was Firefox, and then Songbird as my media player. A couple of years ago I made the jump to Ubuntu, and I've no regrets.

I've fulfilled my thirst of knowledge, and I'm still learning much about software development and how the FLOSS community works. I've seen the complexities inside the FLOSS community, and I'm trilled to be part of it.

Using Ubuntu has been fulfilling, and even though there has been some hiccups along the road, it has been quite a satisfactory road. And I've a new level of respect for those who have build FLOSS and Ubuntu.

They have built quite the great piece of software.And they keep improving it all the time.

It'd be great to see people as engaged on science and mathematics as people are on FLOSS. We can really build a better world if all this was done on the open.

Ubuntu is the distro for me...

As an user that has been using Ubuntu on the regular basis for a couple of years now, I've to say that I simply have enjoyed the experience very much.

When Unity was made the default UI with the 11.04 release, I liked even more.  Yes, at its release Unity had many bugs and was not as customizable as other UI running on Linux. Yet, Unity worked for the and I enjoy using it.

And with at the maturity it has reached on Ubuntu 12.04, I can really can see myself using it for a long time coming. There's no other OS out there that works for me as Ubuntu does, or I enjoy as much using.

Ubuntu is the one distro that I'd share with people that want an easy to use OS, that is stable and easy to use. I like doing some technical stuff on my computer, but in general I just want a OS that works and is in line with what I believe. That's why I use FLOSS almost exclusively, I just use Skype to have video calls with family and friends.

There are some areas of improvement on Ubuntu, but I can see that Canonical and other developers are heading in the right direction to solve the issues I've. And if, for whatever reason, they don't take Ubuntu in a direction I don't feel comfortable with, I can rest assured I can jump to another Linux distro that does.

Chipset manufactures could benefit from Linux...

One would think that chipsets manufactures would benefit greatly by supporting all three major operating systems out there. Yet, you find out that Nvidia and ATI chipsets drivers are lacking on Linux.

Which is ratter baffling, since it would seem logical that supporting drivers for Linux would be beneficial to them in order to sell more chipsets. Linux might have a small share of the market, yet when you see the number of people and companies who run Linux on their systems it starts to make a lot of sense to support Linux.

And if they actually made the Linux drivers open source as the OS itself, they could rely more on the Linux developer community to maintain and develop the drivers needed for the chipsets to be run on Linux.

Not only that, some of the developments that could be ported to other OS because they give more stability or security for benefit to a wider sector of users.

If chipset manufactures really collaborated with the Linux community, and the wider FLOSS community, both sides have a lot of benefits to reap. Working together the development would be faster, and could have a bigger scope, if chipset manufactures and the FLOSS community created synergy by working hand in hand to get to the common goals.

At the end, both sides are not enemies.

FLOSS builds communities...

I like how FLOSS projects allow people to come together to build communities around projects that they want to work on because they believe in them.

This turns out far better software, because individuals are allowed to contribute as the can. They can either contribute their time and expertise to work directly work on the code or help manage the project, or contributing money is an option if the individual doesn't have the skills or time to contribute to the project.

There is also a possibility to help by reporting the bugs that you find along the way, either by filing the report manually or using an automated tool to do so.

This facility to be able to create communities to work on a certain project, or to create either a new project or a fork of an exiting one, give the FLOSS community its unique flavor and strengths. There are several projects at a time aiming to better, or solve, a particular problem or issue, making it progress faster and more since you have people working on it that do it because they want to make the project better.

But, most importantly is that work on FLOSS projects helps to build bonds among users. Mainly because people are working together on something they believe in, and thus they exchange ideas and viewpoints to make their collective goals come to fruition.

It also helps to develop critical thinking, since it's important to have it when solving problems or laying future plans. Also it helps to develop creativity, to solve problems in different ways when the standard way doesn't seem to be able to come with a way do so.

It helps to develop the ability to work with others as a group, to learn how to lead and how to talk with teammates.

At the end, even if you aren't paid to do a certain job, the abilities and skills you learn from working on any given project can prove invaluable later.

Linux and the distros are not the same thing...

It's somewhat sad to see how many tech commentators don't seem to get that Linux is the core than runs all the various distros out there. In a sense, Linux is the engine that powers all the distros, while each distro picks what parts will it use to give the usability and looks the distro's team is looking for.

That's why there are several user interfaces, like GNOME, Unity, and KDE, from which distros can pick the one they feel is right to get their flavor of Linux to work and look a certain way.

To some extend, the development of the Linux core and the different user interfaces are on separate tracks. Mainly because Linux interacts with the machine itself, and the user interface interacts with the person using the computer. So, their development has different targets to hit.

But, that's where Linux sets itself apart. Since each distro has the choice to use any of the different users interfaces out there, the user get a real choice of what suits his computing needs. Systems can be readily be built to suit the needs of a certain user with relative ease, and using components that can integrate a lot better with those needs.

If you don't like where a particular distro is going, there are others that can take you where you want to. As users, Linux and the distros using it as a core give users a level of freedom that Windows or Mac OS X will never give.

If you want to have freedom to choose how your computer works and how it looks, jump over to Linux. It's only a matter of finding the right distro for you.

Linus Torvalds and the Millennium Technology Prize...

Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, was awarded today Finland's Millennium Technology Prize. This prize is awarded every second year, and it's awarded to life-enhancing technological innovations.

For me that Linus Torvalds was awarded with the Millennium Technology Prize is a well deserved recognition. After all, the operating system that he created not only powers the Internet and some of the most important stock exchanges in the world. It also powers the supercomputers on which most of modern scientific research is carried out.

This way, Linus Torvalds' OS is on the forefront of the things that contribute to the betterment of our quality of life. And not only that, it has proven that free and open source software is a legitimate development platform on which people can work together and contribute to create something larger than the sum of its parts.

Personally as a Linux users, it makes me proud that the who created the core of the OS I use and love was recognized for the work and effort he has been doing over the years.

So, cheers Mister Torvalds, and congratulations for a well deserved prize!

Walled gardens are not desirable...

I wonder why people runs to walled gardens, and convinces themselves that there is no better way to do things other than they way fed to them by the owner of the walled garden.

Even though they know at some level that they are giving up many freedoms, they gladly do it just to have the most pretty gadget on the blog. They'll anything to comply to what the owner of the walled garden wants them to comply with, even when they don't fully understand what they are giving up to be part of the walled garden.

What bothers me the most of this system is the fact that you have to give any freedom to even modify, or install, third party apps that aren't approved to begin with by the vendor by default. The choice of whether doing it or not is taken from the user without the ability to opt out without voiding the warranty, or being liable of being taken action against by the vendor.

The truth is that walled gardens are desirable on only a few cases, and for a minority of users. The interests of the majority of users are better served by having free and open gardens, where a wide selection of apps are offered by a wide selection of vendors who choose to serve any particular garden.

Let the users be the ones that select the vendors who have the best products. That's the way it should work, and the most healthy way for the ecosystems to work.

Having an open garden helps apps evolve more organically, according to the changes of user needs and wants. Vendors shouldn't be making that choice for the user in any way, shape, or form. Yes, having educated users requires some time to do, but it's something that should be done.

At the end, who knows the users needs other than the users himself?

Source code should be free to study by all...

One would think that in time, software companies keep trying to keep people from at least freely studying the source code of their products.

The benefits from this far outweigh any concern, and most of the benefits would be for the users themselves. Users would get better software with less cost and development time, than with the current model. Not only that, users would have the opportunity to implement code that better suits their needs if there is a need of doing so.

Locking the source code doesn't lock the code itself, it also locks the user options to have the best software the user could possibly have. Since there is no way to know how the source code functions, there is no way for the user to know if there is a way to make the software a better suit for what the user needs the software for.

Not only that, there is no way to check if the software does what the vendor says it does and nothing more. The user has to blindly trust that there is no malicious code, or code that bridges the privacy of the data the users feeds the software.

Software companies have the right to set limits on how third parties use their source code, but third parties have the right to at least freely study the source code.

What should be encrypted and out of reach of third parties, is the private data that any feed into any piece of software.

Yet, it has come a bad habit to close the source code of the software we use to work on. This limits greatly the way we can actually work, since it make us more and more dependent on the vendor that originally sold us the software the first time.

Open source should be the natural state of the software ecosystem, sadly we couldn't be any more distant of this goal.

Open source has more benefits for all...

One of the worst thing that comes out of not being able to see how software works from the inside, is that it becomes harder to understand how it works. Not only that, it prevents to make modifications to make it work on how the users want it or to make another program all together.

What's more, it prevents any work to make any software better. In order to understand how a certain piece of software works, one need to be able to see how it's put together and how those parts interact with each other. Without that know how it becomes impossible to study and learn how it works, therefore it's not possible to work to improve or modify it by any one that doesn't have access to the source code.

This situation puts the users on the losing side, since they completely depend on a third party to keep the software not only current and safe from attacks. They depend on that third party to keep the software available to them at any moment, and have to trust that it doesn't go under taking the access to their data with it.

At the end, closing the software to the study and modification by the user is a bad thing in general. It only benefits the company that makes the software, and just on the account of keeping the users out from seeing the source code. But, it loses from any improvement that might come from an user tinkering with the source code.

The users lose the most, since they lose all the ability to control what happens on their machine and how to manage their data. They are at the mercy of whatever decisions are made by the vendor, and have to go down any road the vendor chooses if there aren't any other options to the software they use.

Having open source software is beneficial to everyone. Users can study and modify their software according to their needs, making it work better for their individual needs. Companies benefit from having third parties checking their codes for any bug or vulnerability that they could have missed, and being able to add any improvement to their code made by third parties.

Closing the source code it's a sure road to stagnation, since it makes any innovation hard to get to. It closes all roads, making hard to make any corrections in course.

It's in everyones best interest to avoid closed source, or proprietary, software. Use and support open source software, it's for the benefit of all.

Let the market decide...

The tactics that many tech companies use to handle to try to stop competitors, and how they lock the devices or software they sell.

It's sad to see that in order to keep successful products from competing with theirs, many companies use patents and copyright law to try to take them out of the market. Instead of coming out with something better and take it to the market for the people to decide what they want to buy for themselves, it has come an almost standard practice to have the courts to decide what options should the people find in the market.

The moment laws set limits to what the people can find on the market place, other than on safety and health grounds, they get in the way of having a healthy market with the options that the people are willing to sustain.

At the end, the market is the one who should have the last word on what is consumed and it's value. Companies and governments have no business doing so, their business is making the choices that should be of the market.

I also dislike the fact that many companies lock the devices they sell in order to prevent the user to tinker with it. As a result, the user loses her or his right to do as he wants with the devices he legally purchases.

If the user chooses to keep his devices as they come or to tinker them to make them work as the user wants to, is the right of the user to do so. Companies should have no say on it one the user pays for the devices, since the devices becomes property of the user.

Companies have no place on saying how I use my device, how I can modify it, and what I can in it or take from it. Much less putting in any piece of software or hardware that monitor the use or changes I make to the device, much less do something to prevent me from making them.

The government role should have users rights on the forefront, and currently it doesn't do it. We need to make sure that both companies and governments understand that the users have the final say on what we buy and use.

Anything else is just plain wrong.

There needs to be balance...

It's sad that tech companies are using patents in order to keep competitors from doing business.

To make matter worse, companies that are known to be leading innovators are the ones that engage on patent wars the most often. The current system seem to be putting a premium on those who can defend the current state of things, instead of putting that premium on actually brining forth innovative products to the marketplace.

Because of this, is no wonder than in some areas innovation seem to be at a standstill. The threat of being closed by bigger players with deeper pockets to play the system, keeps many small innovative players from even trying to put their products out.

The system needs to balance things. There should be protections to keep people from taking ideas and not compensate the one who originally put it out, while making it easy enough to use ideas on different products.

Laws need to benefit the most people, and not protect just a narrow band of groups. Things are as they are because people in charge of making laws and regulations are not really thinking on the benefit for most people.

By not letting easy use to innovate on software, the real loss to the people is difficult to quantify. Specially since is hard to put a number, or percentage, on new ideas that weren't developed because of the threat of being shut down by a bigger competitor afraid of losing some aspect of the control over the software itself, or profit that could be generated at some point in the future.

If you really want to benefit the most people and make the marketplace more vibrant, make it easier to innovators to use ideas of others while the one who came up with it can make a living out of it.