Hello everybody, and welcome once again to the fortnightly newsletter of Free Software Magazine: keeping you well informed about the realm of free software! Happy reading!
General announcements
Now that the dust has settled from our no-more-PDF statement and we have made our position clear, our main aim this fortnight has been ensuring the printer-friendliness of all of our articles. We appreciate all of the support we have had from our loyal readership, and thanks to all of you who have sent messages of support and donations.
Latest content
Wot? Not Vista?—Eddie Macnaghten got his kids off Windows and onto Ubuntu... which didn’t stop his dinner guests accusing their slick new system of being Vista... Read more...
Of virtual machines and gained productivity—and hardware —Mitch Meyran describes his virtual machine... Read more...
The seven sins of programmers —Thanks, Steve Goodwin! Now we realise what little sinners all those programmers are! Read more...
Involving the community: my podcast experience —Jonathon Roberts describes setting up a podcast which attends to those in the free software community. Read more...
Trial balances and tribulations: attempting to import MS Money data —Chris Mostek gives a comprehensive report on getting his MS Money data onto a free software program... and you’ll thank him for doing the leg work for you! Read more...
The massive failure of FOSS —Chris Holt has some things to say on “breakthrough ideas for 2007”—FOSS, a failure? Get real! Read more...
The participation culture —Anthony Taylor examines what makes a culture of participation work... well. Read more...
GNOME vs KDE—Jonathon Roberts is the voice of reason: bringing impartiality to the GNOME/KDE debate. Read more...
Asterisk, the easy way—Mitul Limbani talks about Asterisk, the free software phone system, and why it’s so awesome. Read more...
Interoperability, choice and Open XML—spot the odd one out—Eddy Macnaghten examines the cuddly, pro interoperability side of Microsoft. HAH! Read more...
Latest content continued
Why does KDE use slaves? —Jabari Zakiya puts the question out there—isn’t it time to move away from the master/slave paradigm in computing? Read more...
Jim Kent, hero of free and open source software —Gary Richmond shares a story about a man who helped technology in the world... with free software. Read more...
Interview with Mark Shuttleworth: ask your questions here! —Jonathon Roberts has Mark Shuttleworth as his next podcast guest and he wants your input! Read more...
Vega Strike: my kind of fun —Alan Berg tells you everything you always wanted to know about Vega Strike—not just another space fighter simulator. Read more...
GPLv3: Do we really need it? —Wouter Verhelst explains why, in the face of opposition, GPLv3 is a good thing... Read more...
If transparency is what you want...—Dave Guard, Free Software Magazine’s editor, explains further the position of Free Software Magazine removing PDF magazines. Read more...
Do me a favor, don’t try Linux —Ken Leyba has a request for anyone who isn’t going to test Linux right. Just don’t bother. Read more...
ISO won’t fast-track MS OOXML consideration —Ciaran O’Riordan provides some resources for further reading on Microsoft’s bid to be fast tracked. Read more...
Help yourself—Jonathon Roberts gives tips to new users: how to do stuff yourself! Read more...
A media centre based on GNU/Linux—David Carboni challenges himself and hacks in the living room... Read more...
Latest book reviews released
Red Hat Fedora Core 6 Unleashed by Andrew Hudson and Paul Hudson Alan Berg looks into the new Fedora core. Read more...
Beginning GIMP: from novice to professional by Akkana Peck Bridget Kulakauskas discovers the ins and outs of the GIMP. Read more...
Book competition announcement for this fortnight
This week we are giving away a copy ofThe Definitive Guide to GCC by William von Hagen and a copy of Pro Apache XML by Poornachandra Sarang.
All you need to do to enter is check out the latest book competition announcement on our blogs page.
GOOD LUCK!
Thanks go to Apress for providing these fantastic prizes.
Winner of the book competition from last fortnight
Thanks to all those who entered, unfortunately there can only be one winner...
Congratulations Tyler Smith of Nova Scotia in Canada!
Tyler has won copies of Self Service Linux and Embedded Linux Primer.
Thanks to all who entered.
Thanks also go to Prentice Hall for providing these great prizes.
Winner of the book competition from the 29th of January
Thanks to all those who entered, unfortunately there can only be one winner...
Congratulations Kurt Pfeifle of Stuttgart in Germany!
Kurt has won copies of Ubuntu Hacks and Linux Server Hacks, Volume Two.
Thanks to all who entered.
Thanks also go to O’Reilly for providing these great prizes.
Please comment wherever possible and don’t forget to log in so that you’ll be in the running to win the latest book competition
Poll Results—Who should be the next president of the United States?
We went for a little light hearted fun this week, and it turns out that the out and out winner of this little comp is Richard Stallman, who romped home with 59% of the vote. Maybe we should suggest he runs... Stallman was followed by Linus Torvalds with 23%, Steve Jobs with 16%, and lagging behind was Bill Gates at 14% and most of his votes were from people who want him out of the IT industry. Read more here and stay tuned for...
This fortnight’s poll
How worried are you about trusted computing, DRM, and software patents?
Do you think Digital Rights/Restrictions Management, Trusted/Treacherous Computing and software patents spell the end for free software, will the powers of good prevail, or will the outcome fall somewhere between these extremes? Please let us know your thoughts by voting and by commenting.
Reminders
Comments
Your comments on articles, issues, and blog entries are very welcome. They provide other readers with insightful suggestions, further information, and the feeling that they are not alone. They also provide our authors with the feeling that they are being heard. Please comment wherever possible and don’t forget to log in so that you’ll be in the running to win the latest book competition.
Avatars
Avatars are a great way of expressing your personal identity, whether it be a photo or an image that you feel represents the you you want to be. Read more about avatars here. To add an avatar: log in, go to “my account” in the menu on the left, go to the “edit” tab and scroll down to where it says “Upload picture”. Now, hit the browse button, find the image on your computer that you want to upload and go to the bottom of the page and hit the submit button. That’s it; you now have an avatar image.
Donate
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Think about how much you would normally have to spend buying a magazine of this quality. We provide it for free!
Your donations will help us to continue spreading the word about free software and producing more fantastic issues.
Contacting us
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Thanks
Thank you for subscribing to Free Software Magazine. You are a part of a growing community who help to raise the awareness of, and educate new users in, the joys of free software. Without you we would not have this community and without you we would not have a magazine. Happy reading!