Tsikbal: from my perspective

And yet again, this wired.com article points out the dangers of depending on proprietary software at all. While it may be true that if you use software from some established vendor you have less to worry about having to deal with this problem, the fact that no one can say it will never happen like it happen to the likes of Kodak . The fact that open source software gives you the possibility to keep the software you depend upon alive, since the users can come together to continue the work on the software from where the original company left. It puts the control of the software on the hands of the users, and its up to the user the degree of involvement on the development of the software it uses. Its okay to trust companies to develop and maintain the software we depend upon, but that's not a good reason to give them full control of said software. But, the user should always have ultimate control over the software. There is no way to understate how important that user ha...

With Ubuntu Touch finally coming to the market, and with it's possible release in Mexico soon, it all puts me in a peculiar situation. By the time I come to replace my smart phone, I might have to choose between continuing using Android or make the jump to Ubuntu. So far, I've liked Android. There has been some hiccups, there hasn't been one that I haven't been able to fix myself with a little bit of research. None of those problems has taken me more than a couple of hours to fix, so there isn't much to complain about. The user experience I've had so far, it has been quite good. The only complain, is that the device doesn't have that much memory. As such, that can't be blamed on Android; besides it has enough memory to house the apps that I like and use regularly without any problem. So, if I choose to continue with Android it would be with a device with more memory than the one I currently have. On the Ubuntu Touch side, I use Ubuntu on my ...

With the Women's day at hand, there is a lot of things to ponder about how far women have come over the last century and how much there is left to do for women to reach equality with men. There can't be any question about the fact that women have proven just as men, and can do all men can just as well. We have examples like Marie Curie , Linda B. Buck , Ada Lovelace , Hedy Lamarr , to name a few, who have more than demonstrated that women have as much to offer as men can. They don't need men to patronize them, or to give them any more help that a man needs to contribute to the advancement of science and technology. Now more than ever, we need to put in place a system that allows women to contribute freely and as true equals to their male counterparts. While there have been improvements, there aren't enough to level the playing field to allow women to work as a peer. Its offensive that some propose that women need to be given special places, or treated in a ...

It's quite sad, and unnerving, that governments seem to be so slow to adopting modern technologies to make it's functionalities as streamed lined to make it work more efficiently. With the limited resources governments have, they have to be a lot more conscious on how they use them with the biggest impact. One of the areas that would help, would be using open source software to build a common platform for the government. Mainly because by using open source software, government wouldn't be tied up to a single provider to maintain the systems they use. They would be able to actually make better use of the resources they got, by actually being free to pick the service provider that gives them the best value for what they expend on their services. The adoption of open source software by all the government agencies, has the added benefit that all their operations will become more transparent. Not by allowing full access to their data, but on how they work. Not all t...

When it comes to the GNU/Linux distros, and how to choose the one that's right for you, it seems to come down to what you want and need on OS. There is no single distro that does everything, but there is one that will fit your needs like a glove. The distro that works for some, might not be the distro that would work for you. Because of this, it becomes vital to do some research in order to see what distros are the best fit for you. If there more than one distro that does what you need, the best thing you can do is to actually try them before you settle for one. Not all distros are created equal, since the communities behind them will develop them with a different set of priorities. As such, the way they approach things is different from each other. That's why it's important to give a try to the distros that are geared toward the areas you need, in order to find which one is the one that will allow you to work how you feel most comfortable. This is why I lo...

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 us...

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...