Tsikbal: from my perspective

One in a while I come across projects like Project: Community Computers really make my day. But this project in particular peaks my interest more than usual, because it's an example on how open source can be a great tool to make a difference on peoples life by providing them with the tools they need to have a better future. The freedom that FOSS(Free and Open-source Software) gives to organizations like Project: Community Computers, is quite impressive and not easily dismissed. It grants them the opportunity to do great things, be the agent of change they need to be in our society. The combination of people doing something to help other and FOSS, is one that I want to see being replicated a lot more. We need to give those people the tools they need to build themselves a better future, without chaining them to a particular software or hardware. They already face to many obstacles, so why burden them with another if we can avoid it? All software, and the hardware it run...

This weekend I saw that a two smartphones using the Firefox OS just arrived to Mexico, via Movistar. They are priced at $999.00 MXN, or about $75.79 USD, which is priced quite well for someone like me. Yet, what I like the most about having a couple of smartphones running the Firefox OS, is that now there are two open source mobile OSes available on the market. Which is great news for people like me, like want open source software to power their devices. Until now, if you wanted an open source OS you had to go to Android. The only choice was which make and model you could pick, which is not that bad but not enough for my taste. With Firefox OS, you get more room to select what's better for you. Yes, there are only two devices running it on a single carrier, but I hope that it soon will extend to more manufactures and other carriers. At least now, I'm pretty sure I'll make the jump to Firefox OS on the Alcatel One Touch Fire model.

One of the main reasons why the Internet should be free and open all humanity, is because it has become one huge library of human knowledge. As such, it's one of the most important tools to share and access that knowledge in the easiest and efficient way by all. While it's true that the Internet in itself won't ever solve anything, it gives people access to the necessary information to be able to solve what they need to. Also, by allowing people to share information with each other in an while not having to be at the same place at the same time it empowers individuals to be an agent of change. As with books, television and radio, the Internet is just a channel by which information flows. The main difference is that the Internet that flow goes not only to the person consuming that information, the person can actually interact with that information in many ways. And many of those interactions can be in ways that the originator didn't intended. The Internet is...

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...