Tsikbal: from my perspective

Reading this article at wired.com , there is a point that seems really good for me. There is a real need to change how code security audits are done, in order to catch bugs like like Shellshock a lot faster. Yet, I disagree with the tenant that the Linus's Law is a lie, since having more eye balls looking for bugs makes catching them more likely in a faster way. What happens with some project, as the article correctly points out, is that they just don't have enough people working on them to catch bugs as fast and effectively as possible. Which in core projects can be quite a big problem, since the impact of those bugs on security can be quite big and dangerous for users. This is why there is a urgent need to change how code audits are carried out, and a need to make software open so we have as many people as possible looking at the code. In a sense, what we need is to have better auditing tools being used as widely as possible to make code both better and with much le...

That you can now stream Photoshop to Chromebooks it's not just not a big win for Google, but to GNU/Linux at large. It means that now the idea that Photoshop could become available in other distros is not really all that crazy. That Adobe finally decided to bring the flagship photo editing software to GNU/Linux via Chromebooks is a big thing since it takes away another reason for not coming to GNU/Linux.  Most importantly, if it does well on Chromebooks Adobe might have an incentive to bring Photoshop some of the other major GNU/Linux distros like Ubuntu or OpenSUSE. If more people start moving to use Photoshop on GNU/Linux, it might the spark that GNU/Linux has been looking to really become a mainstream OS and not just something used a few. There will be a bigger set of people that now will be able to see, and use, a GNU/Linux distro as a viable option to use on daily basis to work with. I still temper my optimism with a grain of salt. It's a great first step, bu...

This article at fossforce.com got me wondering, do FOSSers are the only ones who "get" FOSS? While in some cases non FOSS users seem unable to get what FOSS is all about, most of the time it's more about not caring enough to even try to understand FOSS at all. Most people just want computers that work according to their expectations for whatever use they have for them. For them, that it works the way they expect it to work is all that matters and anything else is irrelevant. So far, the likes of Microsoft and Apple have done quite a good job giving people products that let people a familiar product that lets them work in a way that they feel comfortable with. Since they have this products that work as they come to expect, why care about much about what FOSS people arguments about how software must respects users freedoms? Let's face it, the whole argument for most users is not a technical one since most people don't really want to get that side of the so...

This article in infoworld.com, about the pros and cons that Apple face about open sourcing its new Swift programing language got me thinking that I'd love to see Apple coming to the FOSS community completely. I know there are many people at the FOSS community at large that, to say the least, hate Apple with a passion. And for the looks of it, Apple feels quite the same way about FOSS. But if Apple came to embrace the FOSS movement completely, the benefits for itself and the FOSS movement at large would be many and to good to ignore. For Apple, some advantages would be having access to a wider set of developers to work with them to make their software better. It would have more developers looking to make their software better in more ways than any one could think about now. Not only that, it could take advantage of developments that are being put forward at places outside itself a lot easier and faster that if does now. Developers would have a proven platform that is ...

If this SanDisk SD card can be paired with Chromebooks , suddenly having a Chromebook becomes an option worth considering for me. The main issue for me with having a Chromebook, is the internal storage capacity. Until now, most Chromebooks top at 64 GB is way lower than the amount of storage that I feel comfortable with. For me, the minimum size for the hard drive is 500 GB. This means, that an SD card with a capacity of 512 GB hits the mark quite nicely. As a plus, storing my data on an SD card means that it can be easier to move it around devices. With the local data storage issue solved, Chromebooks also have the benefit of price. They are cheaper, and most of them offer a great value for me since they are a perfect fit for my computing needs. I just need something to edit text, do some light work on spreadsheets, listen music and do light Internet browsing. All this can be done with ease with a Chromebooks, meaning that a Windows laptop might be an over kill. Sin...

I've been using Mobo smartphone(link in Spanish) running Android 4.1.2 for a couple of mouths now, and even though it's somewhat on the low end spectrum I've really liked Android as a whole. If anything, I don't really like that I can move some of the apps to my SD card so I can free the internal memory. Yet the device holds the apps I use the most, so I really don't this hasn't become much of an issue. Most importantly, the over all experience has been rather good. So much so, that I've become an Android fan. When time comes to get a new smartphone, I'll get one that comes with more internal memory. Basically I've come to realize that for what I use my smartphone, Android is the OS to go and I need one with more internal storage to better fit my mobile lifestyle. Most importantly on a personal level, is that now my laptop and smartphone are underpinned by GNU/Linux. My go to distro for my laptop has become Linux Mint, though I also rec...

It seems that Apple is happy to blame its users every time something wrong happens with any of its products, no matter what issue is found. Even though some of the blame can be placed on Apple's own security implantation , it's rather odd and insensitive to place the blame on users while the investigation is still ongoing. Even worse when it seems that such blaming games are the modus operandi of a company that prides itself of making the word's mos advanced desktop OS . Ever since the antenna gate , Apple seems rather to blame their users as people that can seem to be able to use their rather user friendly products than to accept mistakes. That really bugs me, I don't mind companies making mistakes from time to time if they admit them and correct them. But, blaming users is something that is not ethical to say the least. In this case, I want to know what was the part that software had to play and what are they going to do to fix it so that something like ...

That China it's looking into making GNU/Linux custom OS, is both something I look forward to and something that makes me worry quite a bit. The good part of China moving to GNU/Linux, is that it has the potential to make other countries to look into GNU/Linux as well. Even if not all who do look into it fully migrate to open source software, which would be the ideal thing to happen, it could mean that at least some of their IT moves to it. Like it or not, China has a lot of sway. Moving to GNU/Linux might start a domino effect not only with some of the other BRIC nations, but with people that do business with the second largest economy. Besides, since it has a population of over 1.35 billion people will have an enormous impact on the economy of scale to produce hardware that supports GNU/Linux and open source software in general. The part that makes me worry, is that China isn't known to go by the spirit of open source. Hopefully, China will see the benefit of adh...

Reading this blog post entitled Work and open source , made me ponder about how to monetize open source projects. Though he's right that not all projects are abandoned because of financial issues; the important thing is what financial issues cause open source projects to stop being maintained. While Gittip seem to be a good tool to monetize some open source projects, it might not be the answer for every project out there. For me, Gittip seems to be a better fit for those projects that individuals use for whatever reason. It gives people a way to personally tip the developers for their hard work, while making contributions bigger by funneling a large sum from different sources in a single place. Another idea I like, and agree with, would be to GitHub to help the ones who use it to monetize their projects directly on the site. By adding a monetizing service to their site, GitHub stands at the chance of becoming an even more valuable tool for developers. Neither Gittip ...

It seems that this article at arstechnica.com about KDE misses the point about whats going on the GNU/Linux camp, in a sense that it's not about the kernel itself. It's about the desktop environment. What's going on, is that there seems to be a race toward convergence. Trying to have an user interface that's pretty much the same on the PCs, tablets and smart-phones. On the GNU/Linux camp, the main example that come to my mind is Canonical's Unity user interface . The main debate it's about how best convergence can be achieved, or if something that can be done. Some argue, like KDE's Aaron Seigo at this article at themutk.com , that convergence isn't coming at all. Even though I'd like to see full convergence across all platforms, I agree that it wont happen. In a sense, I think that we'll have some level of convergence. Yet, that convergence wont be on the user interface, but on the standards used to run software so we can actually ...

As with many things in life, the hardest thing to do with any FOSS (free and open-source software) project is manage it so that it doesn't get sidetracked from it's goal and to get things done. In many cases, FOSS projects that have sound technical foundations fail because their resources where mismanaged or they lost focus because of it. Sometimes it's because of both, which is a shame. The reason why Red Hat , LibreOffice , Firefox , and even Canonical , have had the success is due they have been well managed. These companies have brought together the technical expertise and the vision, and their management have made the right choices to keep true to them. So, they have arrived to the success they enjoy now. Yet, as Mozilla has shown, finding the right people to lead the project forward can be somewhat tricky to say the least. Specially since many FOSS project depend on their communities to take it forward. In a way, the management of some FOSS projects ...