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We need to loudly reward corporations for doing the right thing, so as to encourage others to do the same.

The Assemblée Nationale, an institution that is meaningful to any freedom-loving, truth and justice-seeking french citizen, chooses Linux, OpenOffice.org and OpenDocument on its desktops. This can be seen as a major victory in France, but although I applause these news, I am, just like many of my fellow citizens involved in the fight for digital freedom and independence quite skeptical on the progress of the Linux Desktop in France.

Our battle is not about escaping software patents infringement. It is about invalidating software patenting as a whole. The former is basically impossible and hence pretty worthless. If you really want to fight the MS-Novell deal in the area of their patent covenant then support GPLv3 and urge as many developers as possible to switch to it.

While there are often negative connotations being associated with a conglomerate, the new one which we are witnessing today is different in so many ways. This is a conglomerate you, your project or your business can be a part of to the full extent. All you have to do is observe and play by the rules. This is a conglomerate that we today call: The Community. That is its name.

What's the point of gNewSense?

Nuxified.org is an unique, friendly community powered Free Software support site launched at the beginning of this year as an alternative to the big players in the field of GNU/Linux help forums such as LinuxQuestions.org and LinuxForums.org. We are different in many ways.

It is increasingly becoming clear what the deal between Microsoft and Novell really means for GNU/Linux. Hear it from Microsoft itself: Ballmer: Linux users owe Microsoft. Can you hear the sound of those rattles? Microsoft is hitting the patent threat hard this time, and no matter if it is just empty words or a true promise, this could hurt GNU/Linux much more than the whole Novell deal was supposed to help.

Unfortunately, Ubuntu is becoming more and more of a disappointment lately. First they start shipping non-free software by default, then the edgy upgrade turns into a disaster and now I read about plans for including more non-free software and a 3D desktop by default in feisty (the next Ubuntu after edgy). To be honest, ever since I've seen the Feisty Fawn announcement I've been wondering what does the focus on "multimedia enablement and desktop effects" imply, the basic suspicion being will it include more non-free software by default?

It is almost a common knowledge that Bill Gates had a certain vision when he co-founded Microsoft: a computer in every home that can be easily operated. Pity that this vision seemed to have had a hidden implication that every of these computers would have to run Microsoft's operating system. Nevertheless, the vision of widespread and pretty much ubiquitous digital empowerment is largely coming true.

It is, ironically, as if one of the most significant effects of "Vista" (meaning sight) may end up being the "awakening" of the masses rather than whatever the MS marketing team wanted the name to represent. In effect, people are being literally chased away from Microsoft to alternative Free Software options such as GNU/Linux.

"When we think of this we think of mobs going around beating and killing people they believe have broken the law. In these cases the police usually treat the vigilantes as offenders and those the vigilantes persecuted as victims. This seems fair and just doesn't it? People shouldn't take the law into their own hands." It is different with DRM though.

This article argues that the fundamental moral layer is the "state of freedom" and hence the most fundamental moral question, the first one to ask, is how free is the society and its individuals.

In part 2 of this essay, I had discussed the relationship between users and developers of the Free and Open Source Software from the point of view of the community. I tried to show in what kind of framework this relationship could work, and how it could ensure the community's coherence and plausibility. In this last part, I will briefly discuss the GPLv3 in the light of the user-developer relationship.

This tutorial is intended for people with at least basic Unix knowledge, such as mounting file systems and copying files. OpenSSH, an OpenBSD project, is an incredibly secure implementation of the SSH protocol, a way of logging into a remote machine. For users of outdated protocols such as RSH, rlogin, and Telnet, it's an updated, secure replacement. For those who have never used anything like it, SSH can become a very valuable tool.

Without developers, no project could ever come into existence; without the users, developers would not even exist. Forget the mighty developer, and forget the demanding user. Both of them are archetypes not of any sort of tangible reality but of badly mismanaged free or proprietary I.T. projects.

Have you ever noticed that people external to the world of Free and Open Source Software keep wondering about «the Community»? They seem to be curious to know the phenomenon of the so-called FOSS community. They usually show themselves eager to «know more» about it, sometimes -perhaps unconsciously so- willing to join it, to be be part of that Thing that pertains as much to their own fantasies of hackerdom as to the widespread interest on secret societies (which the FOSS community really is not).

Famous for his reverse engineering, an author of the DeCSS content de-scrambling software "DVD Jon" is playing a slightly different tune now. Rather than working against DRM as he has been known to do, he is now apparently experimenting with the idea of using DRM to his and supposedly customers advantage.

Some say "if you don't like the fact you can't run a modified version of TiVo linux on a TiVo, then don't buy a TiVo, you're still free to take your modified version and install it on something else". This is very flawed reasoning. Hardware and software are not separate. TiVo linux is meant for running on a TiVo.

BLAG aims to create a one CD distribution with everything people need for the desktop environment. It also aims to be a 100% Free Software distribution and has been recognized by as doing this on the GNU website, along with only six other distributions of GNU/Linux.

Are you in control over your own digital life? It just isn't fun to have someone else tell you what you can or can't do with your own property, from your computer to the music you bought. This article was written to contrast the two worlds and inspire you to make the leap, escape an increasingly dystopian system.