J_K9 @ Linux

Converting Geeks

Many technology-orientated users, particularly the geekier ones, have heard of Linux. However, the vast majority of these users have never tried it because they have not felt the need to - if Windows suits their needs so (apparently) perfectly, why change?

When I was selected as one of the people to go on the trip to Seattle, one of our designated tasks was to think of and possibly prototype an application which Microsoft might consider investing in. I was placed in a group with three others and, together, we had to develop an idea and a presentation around that idea to take to Microsoft. Before the trip, not one of the three had tried Linux and only one of them was slightly inclined to. Now, two weeks after the trip has ended, two of them are running Linux and are seriously considering running it as their primary OS and the remaining one is going to run Linux soon (if he is not already - I haven’t spoken to him since the trip). I don’t think that’s too bad an effort on my part

So, what happened? Why did these three guys change their minds about Linux and two then go on to try it and enjoy using it? There isn’t a single, specific answer to that, except that they learnt over the trip that Linux is a much more powerful and capable OS than they had believed.

I quote one of them:

Subject: Installing Ubuntu

7.04 beta. It’s gotta be one of the sexiest OS’s I’ve ever seen. I love the default brown, so refreshing after Windows. And such an easy install (so far).

Well, the User Interface and clean design certainly seems to have played a major part in his decision to try Linux and, more specifically, the new (beta) version of Ubuntu. Yes, yes it did:

Subject: Ubuntu!

Screenshot attached. Oh so nice looking.

Well it is very pretty, but it has other advantages as well:

Subject: Ubuntu is genius

It looks amazing. And the GAIM [in] 7.04 is so good. Easy MSN and Google Talk. I’m switchin my desktop. Just need to figure out WINE.

It is also consistently user-friendly across all of the main applications, making it easy to use and configure according to your personal preferences. Not only that, but the APT package management system allows for centralised updates distribution and software installation which surpasses its Windows counterpart (Automatic Updates, which is hardly comparable in terms of functionality):

Subject: Convert?!

I think you may well have converted me to Ubuntu. Can’t really get enough of it!

I just love how easy it is to install stuff using terminal apt-get etc. Having a central place where you can get stuff from = genius!

The other person in my group who recently tried Ubuntu said:

him: does evolution sync with google calendar then?
me: yes
him: OOh
another reason to switch

The “implement support to scratch an itch” principle is one of the reasons that Open Source and Linux were first started, and it’s good to see that this continues to be true today and is appreciated by users.

As these examples show - and there are more - it is misinformation more than anything else that prevents many people, such as power users, from trying Linux. They think of Linux as “that other Operating System” because they have never experienced it. If more people were made aware of Linux’s advantages - even the subtle, minor, less-noticed ones which might be considered irrelevant - the number of downloads of the mainstream Linux distributions would increase drastically.

Raising Linux Awareness

One of the main problems facing GNU/Linux (henceforth referred to as Linux) is that it simply is not known by the majority of the computer-literate users in this world, and is used on a daily basis by even fewer. It is an excellent Operating System which can satisfy the needs of most demographics bar certain specialised ones, such as gamers, so there is nothing stopping it from hitting the mainstream except marketing funds. You know what? These might not be needed.

Continue reading Raising Linux Awareness…

Proposing An Open Source Groove Alternative

Groove is a software initially developed by Groove Networks and now owned and developed by Microsoft as a component of the Office 2007 Enterprise suite. It is a project management application which uses the client-server model and integrates chat, filesharing, calendar, discussion, picture sharing, and is also extensible in that third party tools can be integrated to improve the experience. In Groove, a Workspace may be created and Groove members may be invited to join that Workspace and, if and when they join, they will be set a role in that project by the Workspace’s Manager. It encrypts files in that Workspace on-the-fly so as to maintain the confidentiality of the data and, following the client-server model, each member of the Workspace downloads a synced version of the Workspace’s files and other data for their perusal and modification offline. For more information on how Groove works, see this TechNet article. The only feature that the Groove project management software lacks is a good version control system - and, unfortunately, it is closed-source (proprietary) software.

And good version control systems are exactly what Open Source has: Concurrent Versions System (CVS), Subversion (SVN), Git, etc. However, we don’t have a tool which integrates (or acts as a layer on top of) these excellent systems with collaboration modules to produce an outstanding and free project management system.

Plone (content management)…..would handle most of the online
collaboration…. and dotProject (for project management)

The above quote is taken from a post to a mailing list about Open Source alternatives to Groove, and the situation now is as dire as it was one and a half years ago. Plone and dotProject are excellent projects, but they are not, together, a suitable replacement for an all-in-one project management solution such as Groove. The fact that Plone and dotProject are web-based makes them even less a suitable replacement, especially in our current day, for the interface is slower and is more detached from the desktop. One much also be online to use those solutions, whereas you can alter your Workspace’s files offline and then synchronise them with the server the next time you’re online with Groove.

What we need to do is build an Open Source replacement for Groove. Groove is good, but it is not without its faults. I believe that the Open Source community can build an application which either provides a layer of collaboration over an existing version control system or which integrates one (or multiple) of those systems which will not only rival Groove, but which will be better, faster (Groove’s interface, although minimalistic, is a little slow) and more secure. Here are some of the features or characteristics I envisage:

• User-Friendly and Intuitive Interface

  Take a close look at Groove’s interface. In fact, download a trial copy of Groove on a Windows machine (if you have access to one - if not, please look around or ask me for screenshots) and check it out for yourself. Also scroll down Marc Olson’s Groove 2007 Blog, which will give you a deeper insight into Groove’s functionality.

  Despite Groove’s user-intuitiveness, there are some features which are confusing or unsatisfactory. Resolving name conflicts is a nuisance, because you can’t directly remove one of the names. The version control system employed by Groove is poor at best, although I like the way it notifies you of updates within tools in a Workspace (as explained here). We need to make it even simpler.

  If there is sufficient interest in this application, I shall create a few mockups of its interface, although Groove’s interface is an excellent starting point.

• Support For The Mainstream Version Control Systems

  Ideally, this application would be able to run on top of CVS, SVN and Git by making each different version control system a separate ‘tool’ (to use Groove’s terminology). Thus, to create an SVN-managed repository, for example, all the Workspace’s Manager would need to do is add a ‘Subversion Tool’ to the Workspace.

  Using the method explained above, supporting multiple version control systems would not be as complex as it might first have seemed.

• Extensible And Flexible Design

  An extensible design would allow third party developers to create their own tools which could then be added on to this application to extend its functionality in new and exciting ways. Want a whiteboard to draw things with your fellow developers in real-time? Download and install the tool. Want to implement support for a VoIP application so that you can have conference calls with your developers? Download and install the tool.

I have many, many more ideas in mind for this software. Please take a moment to look at Groove if you have the time and, if you like what you see and read, let me know about it and express an interest in watching an improved, Open Source version of this highly useful and productivity-increasing utility become a reality.

If there is sufficient demand for this application, I will recruit a group of developers, set up a SourceForge.net site for the software and set up a donations account to speed up the development process and support the developers. However, you will only ever see this software spring out of my mind and onto your desktops and servers if you provide your support, so please do leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Update: This project has been dubbed “Mira Groupware” and is now pending review for hosting on SourceForge.net!

jonobacon@home: Features vs. Freedom

The fight for free drivers for reasons of freedom has not proved successful, and the choice to only buy Intel will have some impact, but not a huge impact due to lower market share. We need to become a large and relavent player, a player that can mandate decisions at a market level that will truly affect the market. Sure, there are plenty of challenges to this approach - when we get a large market share, would Linux distributions really want to rock the boat and demand Open Source drivers? Well, this is the proof of the pudding. I expect companies such as Canonical, Red Hat, Linspire and Novell to always place consistant market pressure on the hardware manufacturors to understand and migrate to the ethos of free software.

This is an extremely interesting post by a member of the Ubuntu team - I highly recommend that anyone interested in the BBD (binary blob dilemma) read it!

Binary Drivers May Be Banned

Greg Kroah-Hartman appears to be working on a kernel patch which will only allow drivers licensed under the GPL to be loaded into the kernel - at least, that’s what he said in passing in a longer conversation about driver core patches.

While I respect free software and what that freedom stands for, if this patch were to be included into the Linux kernel in the future (which may stop us from using proprietary drivers such as those for some graphics and wireless cards), this would almost be a form of entrapment. Instead of giving the user - you and I - a choice to be free (and potentially break the law), it would stop us from doing something illegal by preventing the loading of binary modules but at the same time would stop us from enjoying a complete user experience - unless, of course, the driver developers release the source code under the GPL, which is highly unlikely due to Intellectual Property (IP). This is especially the case with graphics card manufacturers, as their technology is constantly advancing and the precise details of their cards could reveal secrets to their competitors.

I am all against binary blobs but I do recognise the fact that there isn’t another viable option at this time - even if this patch has not yet been implemented or even written, is locking the user down the right way to go about this? What is the ultimate aim?

A paintball gun is a recreational item but can be used to kill someone if you shoot them in the temple from point-blank range. The former is its intended use; the latter is an unintended and illegal use, but it is not prevented. So, why prevent the use of binary blobs?

A New Category: Realistic Ideas

I’ve just added a new category called “Realistic Ideas,” and I plan to add some content under that category fairly soon. What I would like to do is share my views on FOSS and Linux in particular, and where I think we shall need to take it in order to penetrate the enterprise desktop and home desktop sectors.

More to come