Tsikbal: from my perspective

As an Ubuntu fan, to hear that two  Ubuntu Touch phones  are coming out this year is really good news. For me, the only downside is that neither of them is coming out in Mexico. On the other hand, the wait for a release in Mexico is even closer and even more possible. With the added plus that by the time a device running Ubuntu Touch reaches Mexico, the app ecosystem for it should have matured enough so that there should be a healthy selection to choose from. I really hope that Ubuntu Touch arrives to Mexico, and running on several devices on at least two of our mobile phone carriers. Not only because I'm a fan of Ubuntu, but because it will bring a wider selection for costumers and giving them another open source option to run on their devices. When, and if, a phone comes out in Mexico running Ubuntu Touch it will be my number one option.

After what it seems like an eternity,  Nokia finally released an Android device.  To be honest, it was something that I really wanted to happen for a long time, but the timing seems to be against it. With Microsoft's deal to acquire Nokia, there isn't much chance that it will continue to have an Android device for long. Nokia was my favorite mobile phone manufacturer until it made the deal to make Window's phone exclusively. As many said at the time, it was an ill fated alliance that saw the downfall of one of my favorite brands. One can just wonder what if Nokia had produced Android devices along Windows, though it's hard to imagine that it could have had the same result as we have now. I'd say that Nokia could have made some of the best Android smartphones if it had worked on them, since they showed  with it's N9 smartphone.  It was the last Nokia device that I really coveted, since then there hasn't been one that I really wanted to have. For ...

This Edward Snowden interview  puts the spaying carried on not only by the US, but other governments it quite new perspective. It comes to show how no government has clean hands on this matter, and the importance of securing data has to give people at least a minimal amount of privacy. It's not that surprising to me, that the laws on the books at the moment aren't follow in spirit. There are many loopholes that allow governments to virtually spy on their own citizens while technically braking the law. The worse part is, that such spying doesn't have to be justified to the courts of law that are supposed to see that our rights aren't wrongfully violated by the government that has the obligation to protect them. Edward Snowden is right to point out that moving our data behind closed gardens isn't the best solution. Even if our data is protected that way, without it being properly secured it doesn't matter where we put out data in. The key is to secure our...

One of the questions I ask myself frequently about how to reach the average person about FLOSS, since most people don't really readily know much about it. For most, FLOSS is an obscure part in the world of computers where you absolutely need to have a college degree to be able to even start using it. As I've said before, they don't seem to able equate software like Firefox or Android with FLOSS. Even then, they seem to be weary to even try any of the GNU/Linux distros available for desktops and laptops. There is a need to find a way to reach those people, and get them to at least give FLOSS a good chance by using it for a meaningful amount of time so they can actually have a better idea of how good it actually is. GNU/Linux distros like Linux Mint and Ubuntu could lure a lot of people away from Windows and Mac OS X, since they are at least as easy to use. They come with all what the average user know, and is ever going to need for the every day computing. Not o...

One of the biggest problems I face when explaining FOSS(Free and Open Source Software) to people that haven't heard of it before, is one of perception. Many seem to perceive FOSS as meaning that it will cost no money. Not only that, it seems that some think that all software that is given away for free is FOSS. Nothing farther than the truth. If any software is to be considered FOSS, it most respect these user freedoms: Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose. Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish. Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor. Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Note that price is not an issue, since anyone can charge for the software they made if it complies to giving users the freedoms mentioned above. Without r...

The news that CentOS joins the Red Hat family is actually good news, and in many ways underpins the benefits of being open source. What CentOS has always given to Red Hat, is the power of collaboration to make it's product better. What this deal means, is that now almost all the work of putting those collaboration efforts now can be made under the same roof with official support. I hope that this deal makes CentOS better, since Fedora is a good example that the deal could be beneficial not only for the parties directly involved. If all goes smoothly, it should be beneficial for the open source community at large. Any way, Red Hat could keep CentOS free and still make a profit.

When I heard a coworker saying that Apple's relied solely on GPU's for it's resolution I was kind of expecting for him to be joking, since he does know about computers. Yet, he really didn't know that the GPU was only part of the game. It seems that he doesn't know that the display also plays a major role for the the high definition that Apple's computers support. Not only that, he was at a lost on the fact that support for such high definition could be implemented on GNU/Linux and Windows. The key part is that the ability to run high definition is not only based on hardware, you also need the software to support it. If the OS you run doesn't have the implementation to run high definition, you won't get it no matter how many GPU's you have nor the fact that you have a display that supports it. The fact that Mac OS X looks the way it does has to do with the fact that the display supports the high pixel density needed. It helps to have a G...