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The Campaign to Boycott Trend Micro

Submitted by BrianNapoletano on 20 February, 2008 - 04:07
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The growing boycott of web security solutions corporation Trend Micro should be firm warning to the rest of the proprietary software industry: Trying to shipwreck the Free Software movement in the murky waters of software patent litigation is a good way to get bit in the ass by a Barracuda. Cheap metaphors aside, Barracuda Networks' decision to fight Trend Micro's seeming egregious patent claims against ClamAV may be indicative of a growing intolerance of certain proprietary software developers' attempts to use trivial or blatantly meaningless patent claims to strangle open innovation and development.

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Using GNU/Linux

Submitted by BrianNapoletano on 25 January, 2008 - 23:31
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I'm still relatively new to the world of GNU/Linux. While I had tinkered with a few bash components previously, I didn't start officially using GNU/Linux until last December (2006), when my previous OS crashed on me for the last time. While I had some trouble adapting at first, I am now finding that I can do much more with a Linux-based OS than I would have even considered trying with my previous OS. One of the first things I learned was to make use of the abundant support and input available from the online Linux community. Because most Linux distributions are Free Software, available documentation is usually readily available, abundant and accurate. I have listed here some of the resources that I have found particularly helpful in my efforts to learn how to interact with Linux.

What is Free Software?

Submitted by BrianNapoletano on 14 January, 2008 - 18:35
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Traditionally regarded as the specialized tools of hardcore programmers and the hacker 1337 (i.e. the hacker elites), Open-Source and Free Software1 seem to be at the threshold of a new stage of adoption.

  1. 1. While I sometimes appear to use the terms "Open-Source" and "Free Software" interchangeably, I do not consider the two equivalent. "Open-Source" means (when I use it) that the source code is readily available and that you may access it and modify it for your own use. "Free Software" means that the software is freely available to you, and you are free to do with it as you please (even sell it, if you like). While "Free Software" implies "Open-Source", "Open-Source" does not necessarily imply "Free". For a more thorough discussion of the topic, see Stallman's article, "Why "Free Software" is better than "Open Source"" at the GNU Project.
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