http://chris.superuser.com.au Learn to be Free Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:30:01 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Bloom Clock Project is an attempt to create a language for discussing the bloom times of wildflowers and other plants that is neutral in respect to climate, region, and hemisphere. Bloom clocks are kept by gardeners, ecologists, and others to record the time of year different plants are in ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/bloom-clock-project ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a proposed enforcement treaty between United States, the European Community, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, Mexico and New Zealand, with Canada set to join in the near future. Although the proposed treaty’s title suggests that the agreement deals only with counterfeit physical goods ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/acta-threatens-free-software Most people know that stet was the first Web2.0 application, its the software that was built to facilitate public consultation during the Version 3 draft process of the GNU General Public License. I've been meaning to write something about Bradley Kuhn and the AGPL but keep getting sidetracked. Here's his article ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/co-ment-web-based-text-annotation From Slashdot: mako writes "The FSF just announced the results of a meeting it held on software freedom and network services. They are hailing the launch of a new group called Autonomo.us to follow up on these issues and the publication of the Franklin Street Statement on Freedom and Network Services ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/fsf-helps-launch-autonomous-to-focus-on-freedom-in-network-services I've decided to release this theme as a learning exercise for some people more than anything else. This isn't the recommended way to theme laconica and I'm sure theres a laconica developer out there somewhere that wants to hurt me. lol. Make sure you visit identi.ca and signup. Here's my identi.ca user ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/laconica-superuser-theme-released The 5 real reasons to avoid iPhone 3G: iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can't be on everyone's phones. iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology. iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/free-software-foundation-5-reasons-to-avoid-iphone-3g PC World has this week published an article encouraging small businesses to shift from Windows Vista to Linux: Since Windows XP remains available only as a "downgrade" from Vista, at additional cost, businesses that want to replace obsolescent PCs or need to add staff are compelled to buy Windows Vista and ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/migrate-to-linux-instead-of-vista Asus had planned to ship at least two million of the Eee PCs which has a Linux OS, between January and June, but that figure was not met, and now stands at 1.7 million. The slowing economy and growing competition has probably had a knock on effect. I think that ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/asus-eee-pc-sales I have just read an exciting article posted in the The Sydney Morning Herald about a technological breakthrough by University of Sydney scientists. It could potentially lead to people downloading the latest movie in a few seconds or chatting with small, cheap, video systems. The physicists have developed a revolutionary ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/chip-may-speed-up-internet-100-times According to a UK website The Inquirer Microsoft lawyers have stopped Becta, the UK's technology quango for schools, from publishing the details of the three-year megadeal it agreed with Microsoft in April. It would appear that Becta refused to satisfy a Freedom of Information request made by the Inquirer ... http://chris.superuser.com.au/microsoft-gags-uk-schools