- Posts tagged freesoftware
- Explore freesoftware on posterous
Corporate Takeover of a Software Project
If you’re worried...
Matt Mackall, the lead developer of Mercurial, is one of the coolest project leaders out there. This whole list is great, but my favorite item is #8. Click through for the whole thing.
Pumpichank: What We Do
To me, the free and open source ethos goes much deeper than just the software we write. It's about collaboration, community, sharing, learning, teaching, and having a truly positive impact on the world. It's about empowering individuals to realize their full potential, to give them the opportunity to build a merit based reputation, to carve out their own areas of interest and expertise, and relate that to the larger society, to know that they make a difference, and that their opinions and contributions matter.
By Barry Warsaw, of Python community fame. Read the whole thing, it's great.
Revisiting Ethos | jonobacon@home
When I first heard about Free Software in 1998 I was mesmerized by it’s potential. Sure, back then the software was complex and some would argue ugly, but underneath the rough edges was a thing of beauty — the opportunity for people to come together to make new things, and anyone with the inclination and energy could take part.
Jono's description really rings home for me. When I first really started hearing about FLOSS, I was 18. I'd been using Linux and Unix for seven years (but only on dial-in BBSes and the like) but I'd never considered using it on my desktop. And then I picked up a copy of SUSE 6.1, installed it, and started looking beneath the surface. I still believe in the principles, but it's hard not to get frustrated with where computing is going. I've tried to use those principles in my research, pushing my code and my data into the open while encouraging my colleagues and collaborators to do so as well. We've been successful so far, but the Grand Experiment (as my current mentor likes to call it) is just beginning. (More on that as it occurs.) In many ways the FLOSS community and the Scientific communities are very similar, but the cross-talk is sadly limited.
To answer the prompt from Jono that I didn't quote above, I'm passionate about Free Software and Open Source software because I want my kids to have the same opportunities and the same encouragements that I did. And because I think it's really guided me, my personal and my professional interactions in many ways, and I want to make sure that spirit of collaboration, of openness, of tinkering and problem solving never dies out.
Ubuntu Wicoh'an: Free Software on the reservations
Clearly the logical way forward is to look at sustainable models based on voluntary cooperative economics, and there are a number examples found practiced today which do not require high levels of (presumably external) investment to get started and which have already been demonstratively effective. One of the best examples of this is found in the economics of free (as in freedom) software, and this is where I think technological-social projects like Ubuntu could have an important role that can effect the real future of families, and not just in enabling education.
Making Programming Easier For Kids With PyJunior | jonobacon@home
PyJunior is a little program that has a very focused goal: to provide a simple environment for kids to play with Python. Python is a beautiful language and one ideally suited for kids and others to get started with programming. My goal was to make something incredibly simple and very focused on simple programming tasks. My intention here is not to build a full programming environment with access to Glade, PyGTK documentation and testing tools: that is simply too much. It was instead to allow a kid to write instructions in a program, press a button and watch it work.
Jono Bacon continues to amaze. This program is the anti-iPad.
