Windows 7 will not be for “Sale”
July 4, 2009 at 8:17 am | In Tech | 1 CommentTags: for lease, for sale, Microsoft, truth, Windows 7
With the up coming release of Windows 7 and all the hype surrounding it. I would like to take this opportunity to remind people, the press, and that blogosphere that Windows 7 will not be “For Sale” it will be “For lease“.
The terms of Microsoft’s license agreement make it very clear that you do not in any way OWN your copy of Windows. Thus you can not have bought it. Buying implies a transfer of ownership. No such transfer Ever occurs with Windows software.
I personally feel that there should be strict rules governing the terms that vendors and Microsoft can use to describe the availability of Windows 7. I be happy with a much more honest terms like: “For Lease”, Rent, or License. Rather then the inaccurate terms: “For Sale”, Buy, Get.
It should be required of Microsoft (and of most other software manufacturers), and their Vendors to use terminology that avoids any impression of the transfer of ownership. Because if they were honest they’d let you know that the only way to “Buy” Windows 7 would be to buy the Microsoft as a company and all the technology that they have copyrights and patents to.
Flash Reduced Diet #2
June 22, 2009 at 3:32 pm | In Tech | Leave a CommentTags: adobe, alternative, control, flash, gnash, gnu, reduce
About a month ago I started my Flash Reduced diet. I must say, it’s a month on, and I am really enjoying the current state of affairs. Gnash although not perfect, renders what it does render well. As I mentioned in my previous post gives a lot more control to the user, including automatically saving video. I enjoy knowing that all LSO’s are going straight to /dev/null/ now (for the non Linux users in the crowd that is a black hole from which nothing returns). I’ve yet to play with the whitelist/Blacklist. I definitely would recommend Gnash to anyone looking for a Flash alternative or just looking to have a Flash reduced diet.
I am still pondering going totally Flash Free.. but as that would break a lot of sights I’m not (quite) there yet.
E-Toys Tutorial 12 – Getting Jiggy with the Frog
June 7, 2009 at 3:40 pm | In OLPC, Tutorials/Howtos, Vod/Pod casts, XO | Leave a CommentTags: e-toys, etoys, game, howto, OLPC, squeakland, tutorial, XO
In this tutorial we continue building out the game we started in the previous tutorial. We add levelling, scoring, difficulty increases, and a nice background. This tutorial is longer then the rest but covers some advanced ground and nicely demonstrates the development process scripting and debugging.
This E-Toys project will be available to download and experiment with @ http://drop.io/freemor_etoys_projects
The OLPC XO playable version is HERE
You can download this tutorial HERE
E-Toys Tutorial #11 – A new Game
May 28, 2009 at 4:40 pm | In OLPC, Tutorials/Howtos, Vod/Pod casts, XO | 1 CommentTags: e-toy, etoys, game, how to, howto, OLPC, squeak, squeakland, tutorial, XO
In this tutorial for Squeakland.org’s E-Toys we start building a game from scratch. The game involves a frog that eats flies. People following along with these tutorials can download the E-Toys project files from http://drop.io/freemor_etoys_projects . I will try to find a more XO Friendly place for the projects in the future. In the next tutorial we will add levels, scoring, and other features to this game.
The OLPC XO friendly version of this Tutorial is available here.
You can download this tutorial here.
Flash reduced diet.
May 26, 2009 at 5:14 pm | In Life | 1 CommentTags: adobe, flash, gnash, gnu, lso, privacy, reduce
I realized today that I no longer required Flash for video conferencing (had a friend that wasn’t on Skype until recently). And thus I now had the chance to loose a huge proprietary blob from my nice open source system. So out goes Adobe Flash 10 and in goes Gnash.
Today is the first day of living with a Flash reduced diet on my main delaptop (laptop that sits on my desk all day). I have learnt from using my OLPC XO as my main mobile computer that life can go on just fine sans Flash. However after removing Flash from my main delaptop I find myself wondering how much my productivity will increase now that I will be less distracted by cute videos and the like. I’m not talking about ads they don’t exist on my systems thanks to things like “Adblock Plus“. I’m talking about all the “check out this cool vid..” and “Isn’t this cute (Flash animation)” that us netizens are bombarded with daily.
I can already feel myself being more focused.
Other benefits of installing Gnash. I have a LOT more control over privacy, and a lot more control over the Flash content that I do choose to watch.
I understand that a Flash reduced diet isn’t for everyone. It breaks a lot of the stuff on the web because Flash is way over used. That, however, is one of the reasons I rail against it. I hate being railroaded into using some proprietary thing just because it is popular with the masses, or because it make web 2.0 development fast and easy, and lets admit it one of the large reasons for Flash adoption is so companies can pollute your system with LSO’s which most people don’t know about or how to get rid of. Because in the eyes of companies deploying Flash.. Track you they must.
Jaunty, Remote Desktop, and Advanced settings
May 20, 2009 at 10:42 pm | In Tutorials/Howtos | Leave a CommentTags: advanced, desktop, edit, Jaunty, remote, settings, Ubuntu, vino
If you are like myself you were quite surprised to see that the preferences dialogue for the remote desktop server in Jaunty had gone all retrograde and lost all of the advanced settings it gained in Intrepid. This is a serious and un-necessary reversal. But there is hope. All the settings are still actually supported. They just aren’t easily visible. To get to the settings you’ll need to install gconf-editor. Open a terminal window or Press ALT-F2 and type in:
sudo apt-get install gconf-editor
and press enter
Then you can launch it by either typing gconf-editor in a terminal or using the main menu go Applications -> System Tools -> Configuration Editor
You’ll get a window that looks like this:
The Gconf-Editor
Now click the triangle beside Desktop to expand that folder, then click the triangle beside gnome, then click on the remote-access folder. You should end up with something like this:
Gconf-Editor on Remote Desktop Settings
As you can see all the setting are still there, Encryption, Alternate port, etc. When you select a setting the “Key Documentation” will change and give you information to help set it. The settings take place as soon as you set then (no need to save..). Once you have made the desired changed just close the Gconf-Editor and you should be good to go.
Hope this helps,
Freemor
E-Toys Tutorial #10 – Our First Game
May 16, 2009 at 10:55 am | In OLPC, Tutorials/Howtos, Vod/Pod casts, XO | Leave a CommentTags: etoys, game, howto, OLPC, siblings, tutorial, variables, XO
Finally it is quiet enough to record again.
In this tutorial we look at a simple game I put together. We examine the various players and their scripts to see how it all goes together. Topics covered in this tutorial include Variables, Siblings, Debugging and more.
The Video can be downloaded here
The OLPC XO on-line playable version is here
You can download the E-Toys Project for this tutorial here. This and other projects will be available in my E-Toys Tutorials Drop (not OLPC friendly). If people have a suggestion for a more OLPC friendly hosting site for the E-Toys Projects related to these tutorials please let me know.
Enjoy!!
E-toys tutorials delay…
May 5, 2009 at 12:27 pm | In Life, OLPC, Tutorials/Howtos, XO | Leave a CommentTags: e-toys, etoys, howto, OLPC, tutorial, XO
I apologies for the current delay in getting the next E-Toys Tutorial out. The problem is that there is some rather noisy construction going on and it would be picked up when I tried to record the tutorials. I will get them out as quickly as possible.
E-Toys Tutorial #9 – Advanced Scripting
April 27, 2009 at 1:49 pm | In OLPC, Tutorials/Howtos, Vod/Pod casts, XO | Leave a CommentTags: advanced, e-toys, etoys, howto, OLPC, scripting, squeak, squeakland, tutorial, XO
In this tutorial I cover some more advanced scripting techniques. In particular how to start and stop scripts in one player from another player.
Enjoy
OLPC XO playable Version: here
You can download the video here or at the Internet archive
E-Toys Tutorial #8 – Getting Control
April 23, 2009 at 2:35 pm | In OLPC, Tutorials/Howtos, Vod/Pod casts, XO | Leave a CommentTags: control, e-toys, etoys, howto, joystick, keyboard, move, OLPC, tutorial, XO
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