Manhattan Calling

Our world is falling apart at the seams but I take solace in the fact that in a mere 6 years there will be full cell service in the stations of the NYC subway, as announced today.

I wonder how the MTA will mess this up though. It only took 5 years to come up with the plan and then another 2 years to debate it. I take it there might be 45 minute delays getting calls through on Monday mornings because of there being "a red signal in front of us" or "due to an earlier incident" of which we will never be told the truth. Either that or they will decide to charge an auxiliary fare for those passengers carrying cell phones and then hike the fair each year claiming they need more money to maintain the stations now that the radiation from the cell spots is corroding the tracks. You know it will be something crazy. They can't do anything right. Ever. Period.

Cursed Missed Opportunities

Zimbra just got bought out by Yahoo. For $350 million. We could have had them for like 10 million back in the day, but no one listens to Jack.

What I hate the most about this is that it is clearly in response to Google and obviously a tremendous waste of some pretty good software. It had so much potential, its really heartbreaking. The motivations for the acquisition is really what hearts the most man--it's just a parry. I wonder what the future of the Open Source edition looks like now? I'm sure as Yahoo tries to enterprise it up and all it will slowly but surely start sucking exponentially.

Goodnight and Go

This is not my weekly update as promised, but two comments that I have to fire off real quick. First, yes, I finally got Facebook. I hate these social networking sites so damned much, but they are sure as hell a ton of fun. Why did I finally cave? Mainly its because I wanted to do some application stuff and you need an account for that, but otherwise, I don't know, I guess it is better than myspace and I guess I owe it to Mark anyway. So it's been cool finding friends on there that I haven't seen in like a decade and all the college buddies and all that. I'm a friendly person, so this works out well. Find me and add me if you feel the need to validate our acquaintance/friendship/relationship.

Second, regarding Chris' post about my comments regarding the car, when you're going 120 it only feels like 40. When you get up in the 150 range, it starts to feel like 50. God knows I would never do something so stupid as to take a picture while driving at any speed greater than 50! If you don't believe me about that though, I can pick you up on my way down from Nashua and you can experience this phenomenon first hand. All you need to do is make sure to get Boston PD to close off a stretch of highway for us. Alternatively, I can just run people over.

Finally, today is Jono Bacon's birthday. Now I know that those guys get a lot of crap from us sometimes, but in the realm of community builders and people bringer-togethers, Jono is a legend. Let's all wish him a great year and all the desires of his heart! Happy Birthday man.

A real weekly update coming tomorrow, since there is a lot of action going on today.

So Much to Say

Another summer has come and gone and the world is still spinning, silently but surely. That's kind of odd, I went away for a weeks and was almost certain that the earth would stand still. ;) Anyway, Jack is back, more relaxed, more committed than ever, more vigilant and now with a ruthless new machine, of which I will post pictures when it gets off the boat; and there is tons that needs doing. I'll post up an agenda later this week. and then updates on those tasks as they occur.

I've also made a commitment to myself to post at least one entry a week from now on until the foreseeable future. The reasons are twofold, first and foremost I would like to start keeping a decent record of my own comings an goings on in a public, searchable fashion. Second, I already do a ton of writing and most of it is kept privately in various journals and I want to start digitizing all that and so I might as well start posting the new stuff up here. And I think in the near future there will be a good reason for me to start blogging more often.

For now, the one thing I really need to focus on is my foundation which I chartered right before I left for Europe. I'll explain it a bit more detail in a later post, but the gist of the mission is to promote the use and re-mixing of free/open technology, open content, art and education to enrich the lives of people around the world and to help animate the creative spirit which is present within each and every single person. It's a new social revolution! That sounds like a lot of do-gooder fluff really for now, but believe me I already have two projects, working with awesome people, some quite famous, which are close to kickoff which will give the foundation some real perspective.

I've done a write up on what I hope the foundation will be able to accomplish and I need to post that up at some point, when I feel it is sufficiently edited. Also, I've been writing a really awesome essay entitled "Crash" which talks about my new general philosophy on life and works in my experiences as a member of the Open Source community for more than 10 years now. I'll post pieces of that as well periodically, but I am going to hold on on posting the whole rough draft for now, until the very famous person who I hope will edit it gets back to me. It might take a while, but DAMN, its a good story, I can't believe I wrote it.

That's it for now. I'm hungry and tired and I have a nice grilled mushroom with my name on it.

Behind a Counter in a Small Town

I fell in love with her. I fell in love with her hard and fast. I fell in love with her from the second I laid eyes on here. I fell in love with her in the middle of Austria. I fell in love with a city called Vienna.

What a place!

I Just Want to Scream, Hellooooooo

The expo is over. Another one bites the dust. A full wrap up report/media/pictures is soon to come. Right now though, Karsten just dropped me off at the hotel and what can I say, for the first time ever I feel very homesick. Some people know why, but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I know I'm coming back home to an empty house for a day and then I'm jetting away for another 2 weeks.

With all this in mind though, a tremendous amount of work got done this week in the background masked by all the good press and the seemingly never-ending line waiting to speak to us. There is a ton of news to come soon, I promise. As for now, even through all the loneliness, I have an odd feeling of infinite hope and I take away a renewed commitment. A renewed commitment to many many things. We'll see whether that ends up being good or bad.

756

I was there. Section 121, Row 28, Seat 8. It was surreal, after the two prior at bats, we all knew it was coming. The stadium exploded and strangers were slapping each other five and giving each other hugs. I almost fell on top of Dave I was so excited. Good, bad, controversial for sure, whatever it was, I was there as a witness to history.

It's My Blooooood

Someone just asked me if I did have to chose a lyric for the last post what would it have been? It's my blood. Courtesy of Pearl Jam of their second album Vs. Track #7. Enjoy.

To Infinity and Beyond

I know some of my blog reading faithful will be shocked. I've deviated from my standard of titling posts after alterna-rock lyrics. What is this dude thinking? Well listen up, its with good reason.

Today, I'm at LinuxWorld in San Francisco and I've just wrapped up a set of press interviews along with our very good friends from the Creative Commons. Whats the skinny you ask? I'll tell you, but only because I like you. Today we have announced (link to press release) the first step in what is a long term partnership between Fedora and he Creative Commons. That first step is the CC LiveContent Distribution (available off the Fedora torrent site), built on Fedora, available to all.

The story is as follows. After we broke our backs getting Fedora 7 and all the little bits and pieces in place to let people remix it out the door, we were wondering who would come knocking at our door. That's the beauty of the culture in which we operate, you never known from whence innovation will come, all you can do release something that will hopefully be useful to someone and marvel at the results of what they come back to you with. Anyway, luckily enough Creative Commons had been fishing around for a while for a platform upon which they could build a distribution that will be used to proliferate and educate people about Open Content. They had already been looking at using Fedora for this and then I met Jon Philips, and the rest as they say, is history.

Around a month and a half ago we sat down and defined what needed to be done, why, and how we were going to go about doing it. The result is CC LiveContent v1.0 (direct torrent link), a Fedora-based live-cd distro jam packed with educational material about CC, CC licensed content and a set of applications with which you can manipulate that content. Remix your OS, your content. As I'm known for saying, it's all good in the hood. Don't just sit there, make something, dammit!

I am personally proud to be standing here. One reason is because I have been busting my ass to make sure this happens. (Well not really, the credit really goes to Tim Vollmer and Scott Shawcroft of CC, but I tried!) The second reason is that with the release of Fedora 7 and the opening up of our build process and tools such as pungi and revisor, we have really tried to position Fedora as more than just a Linux distro and the reason we have been encouraging the masses to "Remix" their fedora is that we have tried and pushed over the past 3 years to transform Fedora into a true platform for innovation.

That innovation occurs on a number of levels, there is of course the technical excellence which we always strive to live up to and which we are well-known for. Then there is innovation in other areas which need a viable platform through which to deliver their message to the masses. There is also innovation in unexplored areas that we will only find out when we afford the community the ability to go about and explore those themselves. We have positioned Fedora to act as a platform for whatever it is you are interested in and to that effect, we have done well.

Obviously, as members of the open source community, one of the causes which we are passionate about is Open Content and as such we are proud to partner with Creative Commons who have, for the same reasons described above, chosen Fedora to server as the basis for their LiveConent Distribution.

The purpose of the LiveContent Distribution is to act as as tool and an enabler to both educate people about what Creative Commons is and does, and to provide them the tools and a selection of content with which they can begin to explore the remix culture and how endless the possibilities really are when a culture of collaboration is fostered, not detested.

Clearly not everyone understands computer software, so trying to reach out to people about freedom, democracy and rights at a software level alone would be a huge fallacy.

Open Software, Open Content, Free Culture and the hope for a better tomorrow side-by-side, forging a brighter future for tomorrow's programmers AND artists, children, educators, creators and consumers, society in general.

Code or content, pick whichever one you want to explore; they are both there on one handy disc.

That being said, there are many people who deserve thanks. First and foremost, Max Spevack, for being the greatest leader Fedora has ever had and a true champion of everything we believe in. Max busts his ass all day every day through thick and thin to make sure this machine keeps on rolling. Greg DeKeonigsberg, for well, being Greg and constantly reminding us that thinking is a good thing and to always push the boundary. The Fedora Board and the Fedora crew within Red Hat who really have thankless jobs and yet give it their all on a daily basis. The Fedora community who won't ever stop harassing us to fix whats broken and make things even better for them all the time and especially those who contribute back, we all owe you thanks. Jesse for pungi. Jon, Jeroen and Bob and the Fedora Unity folks for spearheading the Revisor project. The NYC interns, Mo, Yankee, Arjun, Hunter, Ben, James and Bobby for doing some awesome work over this summer and who still aren't sure that I don't work for Creative Commons, I hope you guys can stay part of the Fedora family. The Red Hat PR team who so gracefully handled all of the press stuff for this, including Caroline, Kerri and Leigh. Last but not least, I think a huge thank you of the largest proportions needs to go out to Matthew Szulik, who really works himself to the bone every day trying to run a company which can at the same time be public, profitable, accountable and yet so righteous and benevolent and who affords Fedora the freedoms with which it operates. The whole concept of Fedora was such a radical idea and here we are years later still going strong and it is only due to the dedication, persistence and wisdom of great people. For giving of yourselves to make this life just a little better for ourselves and others. For that, thanks.

OSCON Wrap-Up

This got backlogged due to all of the stuff I had to deal with before I up and disappear for close to month, but here it finally is.

OSCON, in a word, kicked ass. Okay, so two words. Aside from the fact that my luggage was lost for most of the time I was there, people were really impressed with our booth setup and with our commitment to the community. Let me explain.

We went in figuring that we would get railed due to the fact a large majority of people there would be there for Ubuntu live as well. I thought that at least every other person would walk up to us and say "Ive Switched." In fact, what we got was the exact opposite. We even got Ubuntu users AND developers coming up to us and tell us that we are doing some really cool stuff in Fedora. Boy, if they could only see the future!

A large number of people were visibly distraught at the fact that they paid $700 bucks for Ubuntu live and then Ubuntu didn't have an OSCON booth and not a single CD was there to be had. Naturally, they thought that Fedora would be the best place to vent this anger. After speaking to many of them, it seems as though they couldn't care less which distro they were running, they cared more about having someone at these shows representing their "clan" and someone they can vent their frustrations and delights at. Us being there worked well in this case.

I cannot begin to tell you how many people were so extremely enthusiastic about our little PS3 demo. People were walking up to us left and right asking us, "Hey is that Fedora on the PS3? That's wicked Cool!" I know, thats why I thought we should be showing that off. We even had a couple of IBM developers walk by us and tell us, "All of the cool innovation happens in Fedora anyway." Thats a direct quote.

That quote sums it up pretty efficiently and we heard alot of that stuff especially after Dave Jones' "Why Userspace Sucks" talk. It was really nice to have people acknowledge what we've been saying all along--we are the ones driving innovation forward.

Also, and this goes without saying, the OLPC was a massive draw. Everyone was really interesting in finally seeing the machines which will lead us to the promised land and did we ever deliver! We had non stop action around the thing. Education people, software people, government people, social movement people, a group of economists and we even had a monk come by and give us a benediction and thank us for contributing to such an awesome project.

We have some video footage which will go up somewhere once we have it in our hands. Other than that, I think that OSCON was the proper venue to re-invigorate the troops and to prove to everyone that not only will we not stop, but we are pushing forward even more quickly, with some pretty interesting initiatives and with a renewed commitment to our community showing that the Fedora 7 milestone wasn't the end of anything, it was simply the beginning of all the awesomeness to come.

Come Party With Fedora

Hey all you geeks in the valley or those making your way to LinuxWorld Expo SF! This is an open invitation to come on down and experience Fedora like you've never experienced it before. Heck, come experience open source, open content, free culture and lots of giveaways the way you never have before.

As part our booth goings on at LinuxWorld, we have a very special set up. I can't give it away, but you should know that you'll be stepping into the hottest party north of L.A.!!! We'll be asking you why you love Fedora, how you love Fedora, enabling people to create great open content, talking smack about the future of freedom as it applies to geekdom at large, showcasing some amazing hardware and software, and giving away tons of great stuff.

Oh yeah, did I mention the Live DJs, Fedora Kool Aid and free downloadable music?

It only gets better from there.

Plus, you'll get details about the Fedora BoF happening Wednesday night and very special after party and get together.

See you in SF August 7-9 2007 for the party of your open source, open content, geeked-out-to-the-max-and-loving-it life!

If There Was a Reason, It Was You

You know who you are....

Don't even think about reachin' me,
I won't be home.
Don't even think about stoppin' by,
Don't think of me at all.
I did, what I had to do
If there was a reason, it was you...

Don't even think about gettin' inside,
Voices in my head, voices.
I've got scratches, all over my arms,
One for each day, since I fell apart.
I did, what I had to do,
If there was a reason, it was you...

Footsteps in the hall, it was you,
Pictures on my chest, it was you,
It was you...

I did, what I had to do,
And if there was a reason,
There wasn't no reason,
And if, there's something you'd like to do,
Just let me continue, to blame you...

Footsteps in the hall, it was you.
Pictures on my chest, it was you.

The Guise of a Sheep in a Storm

I couldn't help but notice how Novell ripped off FUDCon and how Ryan Paul over at Arstechnica calls it "An Experiment in Innovation."

Can I get some truth please? Just this once!?

How about calling it like it is--the less than inventive efforts of a company severely lagging behind, and now severely hated in the community, trying to catch up with everyone else who are blazing a trail and leaving them in the dust.

Truth Delivered Daily.

The Novocaine You Pump in Your Cheek

It's quite interesting reading Jonathan Schwartz's blog. Frankly, the fact that he "gets it" is quite refreshing; there aren't too many of those folks around anymore, especially not as his level. Reading his latest post made me want to comment on something which seems kinds of backwards to me and has pissed me off in the recent past.

What's up with companies setting up "Direct" blogs, similar to what Dell has done, through which they communicate directly with customers? Where's the magic? What's the message there exactly? Before blogs we never really ever needed to listen to you guys, but now through the magic of the internets we thought it might be a good idea? Many companies hail this particular setup as a great achievement and, call me stupid, I just don't see it as that.

Wake up!!! You have been foolish not to listen to your customers in the past and just assume you know what was good for them and what they wanted was whatever was on your menu that particular quarter. A blog alone is not going to help until you admit that you've sinned, repented and decided that from now on, not only will you let customers post stuff to a blog for you to read, you will actually read it, listen and adjust accordingly.

I just love how good we've gotten at extolling the virtues of mediocrity.

Another Death by Misadventure

Everyone knows how much I love Linspire, the most useless entity on the face of the planet and now home to Fedora-defector Eric Raymond. So it should come as no surprise that I was less than pleased when I woke up this morning to see this: Linspire signs Patent Deal with Microsoft. They're dropping like flies, boys!

In reality I couldn't be happier that this happened. If we end up having to be the sole defenders of freedom, than so be it. I'm more than willing to line up and take my place amongst the righteous ones in history.

I just can't wait until Click n' Crap is available for every distro so that it infects all the stupid people who will doubtlessly run to use it. It's going to be rather unfortunate for those who are none the wiser though.

If I had the strength I would set up a boycott Linspire sight. I just don't have the time or the energy. Anyone else want to be part of the dismantling of a useless company? Let me know, I'll be glad to help.

God Bless Solid State

AWESOME!!! The pictures of the which I thought were lost forever along with my laptop turned up on one of my spare SD cards that I had stored away. I was so happy to find them, I'm freakin' ecstatic. The lesson that I learned from this is to buy more SD cards, the larger the better and just put stuff on them never delete them. When I run out of space, I can just run out and buy more SD. I figure its much better for backup purposes to use something solid state than a hard drive or raid array.

I don't know for some reason I find this the act of leaving stuff on SD more therapeutic than just backing up to a real disk.

OLPC on 60 Minutes this Sunday!!!!!

Congrats to everyone on the OLPC team and FOSS Community. This Sunday we hit the big time!

WATCH IT!!!

I Just Can't Catch A Break

Posting from my phone. Just got back to my car. Out of the 100 cars on the block someone decided to pick mine to break into and steal my laptop, TomTom and police badge. The laptop was going to be replaced soon anyway, and it sucks about the very expensive TomTom, but when my friend found out his family badge was stolen he flipped his lid. I'm in a really bad situation.

At this point I really need to re-evaluate my life. Just when I started to get some semblance of normalcy back, this hits me. Needless to say I'm in very very very low spirits right now. I'm seriously considering dropping off the radar for a long while and trying to make sense of things.

Peace.

Run the Presses

I think after all the awesome work we have done, we should be working equally as hard to make sure our good news makes the press.

So, Digg it.

Fedora Merges Core and Extras

We can now honestly say we are now, completely and 100%, by community, for community and of community.

Thanks to all who made it possible.

I'm Fine, Thank You

I believe things got way out of proportion before and I've taken down my last post for now. Thank you to everyone who helped me and gave me information. I was just looking for someone who was familiar with Fluoroquinolone poisoning who could give me some more information. There has been a mass of misinformation going around and I want to put the rumors to rest.

1. I am okay and will be fine. I suffered a bad reaction to a drug, no more, no less.

2. I did not have a heart attack, not by any means. I said I had a really rapid heart beat, thats it.

3. I do not have fluoride poisoning, I was wrong about that. I got that info from a nurse who suspected thats what I had, but as it turns out, thats not what I have.

4. I know people love to blow things waaaaaaay out of proportion, so please stop doing it. Everything is under control.

5. I found what I am looking for, so you can all stop emailing me/IMing and calling me.

6. Educate yourself about Fluoroquinlone antibotics so that you don't get yourself into a situation you don't want to be in.

7. Thanks to everyone who sent me relevant and useful info.

Condolence

I just wanted to send a shout out to Roozbeh to give him some support, given what he is going through. I also lost my grandfather a little more than a year ago and I was very close to him as well, I know what you're going through. Hang in there.

I Can't Can't Wait, Until You've See See Seen

I am proud as hell to be writing this post. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my unbelievable pleasure to introduce to you the new undisputed champions of Punk, the band which has single handedly brought the rock crown back to New York City where it belongs--our good friends Bayside.

They are quickly rising to the top and it's no surprise. Never since the days of the Ramones has a guitar's every riff smacked you like taking an elbow to the face in the pit. Layered with deeply entertaining and thoughtful lyrics, grooving baselines, killer drums and vocals harmonies so sticky you'll swear they were covered in honey, it is some of the best punk since Green Day first hit the scene.

New York is mighty proud of our boys. Anthony, Jack, Nick and Chris, it was nice seeing you guys again earlier in the week. Keep on rockin' and take over the world! We'll be waiting for you when you get back.

Lay Down Your Arms

I need to get something off my chest. Recently, I feel as though there has been too much distro bashing going on. I admit my guilt in having participated wholeheartedly. I have also come to a realization that it has been, thus far, relentless, childish, foolish and immature. Consequently, it has proven contrary to the spirit of the greater community and clearly not productive.

We are all (well, mostly) reasonable people just looking out for the community and for each other. A difference of opinion shouldn't constitute a declaration of war. More importantly, we all have the same long term goals.

Don't get me wrong, I will still be the first to call out any iniquity on the part of anyone. I can never turn down a good fight--its just not my nature. However, I think that everyone needs to act more diplomatically, myself included, and pursue more savory discussion in an effort to create and coact better policy and solutions.

We need to work better together as a community, have more open dialogue and work in a concerted effort to disenfranchise the real enemies here. Unforgivable are the actions which desperate entities such as Novell take. Likewise, Microsoft is also clearly in our sights. Do I even need to mention SCO?

Sun on the other hand seems to have turned a new leaf. I don't think any of us views them as the bad guy any more. The same goes for IBM. Adobe seems to be opening their clamshell slowly. We really need to get on them. Ubuntu, by all accounts has been a run away success and has done much to forward the cause. Given they have all had some missteps, but then again, who hasn't. It just goes to show you how far competent management can take an organization.

The olive branch has been extended. Onward to victory.

Riddled with Metaphors

I would like to take a moment here to thank Novell for providing me with countless hours of priceless comedy. No matter how insanely terrible the weather outside might be, and no matter how crappy my day might be going, I can always look forward to getting an awesome laugh out of the latest story about the Microsoft/Novell deal.

I still don't understand how some people are so easily fooled. Look at what Novell's good friend Steve Ballmer said today.

"I would not anticipate that we make a huge additional revenue stream from our Novell deal, but I do think it clearly establishes that open source is not free, and open source will have to respect the intellectual-property rights of others, just as any other competitor will."

So thanks for selling not only yourselves out, but everyone else, as well. We live in an age where the senselessness of one person or group is amplified and causes a definite domino effect.

To me, the above says that two things. First, Novell might as well fold up today, they're done. Second, the higher ups at Microsoft believe that the only way they can effectively compete with Open Source is via litigation. That's sad news because I know that there are smarter people at Microsoft who understand exactly how Open Source dramatically changes the value proposition for the customer, and are trying to reform that corrupt culture. Who knows, they might one day be successful. After all:

First they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you; Then you win.

Speak the Truth or Make Your Peace Another Way

I feel like I have to respond to the bigillion emails I received over the weekend with regard to my prior post. I am assuming that I owe most of the traffic to Matt Asay quoting me in his InfoWorld blog. Matt is one of that rare breed of people who bring delight with every word they write. If you're not reading him, you should be.

First, to make this blatantly, unequivocally and unmistakably clear--I do not hate neither Mark Shuttleworth nor Ubuntu. We should all be jealous. Mark is a stand up guy. After all, how many people do you know that have invested $10 Million in a true Linux company? I am also very appreciative of all the great work he has done with Canonical/Ubuntu, penetrating into markets which would have otherwise never heard the word Linux. I also have interminable admiration for his awesome humanitarianism. After all, is that not what we fight for day in and day out? To create a culture which values both physical and intellectual freedom and transparency so that future generations can have a freer existence?

Second, with regards to what I said last time, I meant every word of it, although I will admit it was said, somewhat, in the heat of the moment. I will however further explain the context within which I wrote it. I couldn't believe what I read because I believe that what they are doing is such a bad idea. Ubuntu is choosing to act pre-emptively, by providing users a means to access software, which although they might know they want, they don't understand why it is so bad for them to have. The fact that they want it so badly proves the point exactly; it's like an illegal drug.

Now I'm not saying that the users are idiots, which they are clearly not, but what I am saying is that if you are going to target the mainstream desktop and the whole wide world user base which comes along with it, odds are that people are going to be none-the-wiser. The same thing happened to us with fossil fuels and look at the sorry state we are in now, trying with all our wonderous ability to break its suffocating grip.

I believe that education about these social issues (and yes they are as much social issues as anything else), prior to opening these potentially hazardous channels is the only way to solve this problem. Like Matt Asay said in his blog, pragmatism needs to be balanced with advocacy. If we don't educate people then we are opening doors for the same travesties we suffer with to occur over and over and in other parts of the world as well. That being said, I view this as one whole big marketing mess, and while I do believe that the letter of the announcement was written in good faith, (providing value to the user base) it certainly violated the spirit of the values of the Open Source community.

On a final note, Linspire claims that they are going to unify packaging in the Linux world. They also claim the Click-N-Run source is open and available. I spent about two hour earlier today looking through various Linspire sites, wikis, and software repositories and was unable to find the code. Also, I think I sort of figured out they were saying was that the Click-N-Run plugin is Open Source but that the web service backend is not. I am dying for a member of the Linspire community to prove me wrong on this and point me the place where they offer the CNR code. And as for their claims that they will be the end all and be all of Linux package management, well, as they say in Missouri
--SHOW ME!

P.S. I am in no way affiliated with the state of Missouri, either officially, unofficially or clandestinely. I had a friend who was a reporter there once, but he's moved on. In fact the St. Louis Cardinals of Missouri defeated my Mets in the NLDS this year. Boy did that suck. ;)

Have a Drink! They're Buying!

It's mighty funny how things come full circle, often out of the blue. I got back from FUDCon on Sunday and started digging through my collection of CDs and records, trying to organize everything since it was a terrible, hopeless mess. I happened to come upon a CD which I hadn't listened to for a while--Pearl Jam's Binaural. I used to think it wasn't that good for some reason, but then again I hold them to really high standards. Anyway, a review of a 7 year old album isn't the point of the story here.

FUDCon was great. Everything worked out well, we got tons of work done and things were looking up. The community was solid, stronger than ever and I was high on life and confident that we were making inroads, positive progress, in our battle for freedom and liberty. I was so happy and my outlook so positive that even in the frozen New York air I felt like was on a beach somewhere in the Bahamas perhaps. Then I read this and this. Oh crap! What the hell is this nonsense?

I would like to point out one very important part of this press release.

"Beginning with Ubuntu 7.04, Ubuntu users will be able to use CNR to access commercial programs and proprietary drivers with one click of the mouse. In subsequent releases CNR technology will be integrated to provide an even better desktop user experience for getting commercial software."

[Que sound of needle coming off record]

The timing of this was impeccable. Right as I was listening to Binaural, track 9, Grievance. I instantly began to think this song was a message from God or Shadow Man; no one else could have timed this better. Let me explain. It all goes along so well with the lyrics of the song.

Progress laced with ramifications; freedom's Big Blur.

Mark Shuttleworth claims that Ubuntu is "Linux for Human Beings" and that they are going to be the entity which is going to be the pioneer of Linux on the desktop, coming in with guns blazing and driving Microsoft out of Dodge. Yet, the only thing I've seen from Ubuntu is crap, crap, proprietary crap and now, CNR--so more crap essentially. Ubuntu being "Linux for Human Beings" is at this point the same as saying "The Flu is for Human Beings". Hey, we will even ship you up to 5 copies of "The Flu" for free through our proprietary online application.

While some of us in the community are fighting for liberation, fighting to prove that we have a substantial enough user base to warrant the opening of drivers, fighting to be free, apparently the folks over at Canonical and Linspire couldn't care less. They're more than willing to force the poison apple down people's throats. Hey, is the tree too high for you to grab that poison? Why here's a ladder! It's named Ubuntu.

Progress simply cannot be laced with ramifications. It's all or none in this battle. Canonical and Linspire are perpetrating the biggest blur of freedom. In this fight, you are either pure of heart or not. There is no middle ground.

For every tool they lend us a loss of independence.

This line of the songs is clearly talking about CNR and Launchpad. If you're going to be open, be open and enable openness. Don't introduce "solutions" into the community which are going to put people in shackles and then drag them into a hell. A proprietary hell. I just want to call out Eric Raymond here for encouraging this kind of rubbish specifically. Are we so freaking desperate to have Linux win the desktop war that we are willing to compromise our values in order to succeed? To Mark Shuttleworth, Kevin Carmony and Eric Raymond the answer is apparently, yes. Yes we are.

This is why people like Richard Stallman and our very own Max Spevack are heroes. Sure, one of them might be conceived as a little crazy (I'm talking about Max there) but at least they know what is right and are unwilling to compromise the integrity of our community. While RMS actively advocates from freedom, people like Max are doing things to facilitate and further the cause, like collecting stats about our user base and shifting the burden of proof onto the hardware and software vendors. That, my friends, is the right combination, not the mixing of closed and open software. People like Mark Shuttleworth on the other hand might have their hearts in the right place, but they're drinking the wrong cocktail.

I pledge my grievance to the flag, cause you don't give blood then take it back again. Oh we're all deserving something more.

You heard that? You don't give blood then take it back again.

P.S. I mentioned the other two 8 times, so I need to make up for it. Fedora, Fedora, Fedora, Fedora, Fedora, Fedora, Fedora, Fedora, Fedora. Fedora will set you free.

N800 Envy

All these people posting rave reviews of the N800 is making me jealous. Someone send me a code. Please? Pretty Please?

Send me a code or the kitten gets it.

Rudy

I was completely oblivious to the news today that Rudy Giuliani had officially announced his candidacy for president until someone sent me an email a little while ago. I must say that I am strongly inclined to vote for him, should he win the Republican nomination. Before anyone goes and freaks out, let me explain why I think he would be an excellent president. Only a true New Yorker could describe to you what a phenom Rudy truly is.

Rudy Giuliani is a true political centrist. The man has courage and conviction. Never have I ever seen another politician in my life who was so purely interested in making life better for people. His political ideology and decisions are based on solid logic and good common sense. He doesn't jump to conclusions, he exhibits thought and practices due diligence.

How do I know this? A proven track record. Giuliani is pro-stem cell research, civil unions, social programs and all the other progressive ideas our country seems to want. He doesn't consider them progressive though, he considers them necessary for the betterment of peoples' condition. Giuliani doesn't focus on "right and wrong" as so many Republicans foolishly do, he focuses on "good and bad." The man is a true centrist and a true fighter for the rights people.

When I was growing up, New York City was a terrible shit hole. The physical condition of the city was terrible, graffiti covered almost every square inch, the city agencies ran like crap, there was rampant crime to the point where people were scared to walk around the streets past rush hours. Poverty was everywhere, in every neighborhood, drugs and guns flowed freely on the streets and everyone in the city felt like we were on the verge of the apocalypse. Rudy Giuliani came in and turned all that around and restored New York to its pinnacle. He reformed social programs and city agencies to ensure that they could deal with the growing poverty rate effectively and basically all but stamped it out in New York. He cleaned up our corrupt ass police force and actually made the streets safe for parents and kids alike. Giuliani rehabilitated the MTA and other critical services which restored life to the city and drastically increased the quality of our lives. He pushed the city council to enact fair, thoughtful and useful legislation. Legislation which encouraged freedom and innovation. He works with all sides and pays service to none. New York was on top again, where it belongs. Then came 9/11.

It is what we do in our most trying of times that defines us. Those with natural character and ability will always triumph over any obstacle. The ignorant will fall by the wayside and true leaders emerge. When we were down late in the game, an unlikely hero, Rudy, got us back in it and back on our feet. We went on to win that game.

In a world where New York is a microcosm, a melting pot, a mirror of the country, and even of the world, New Yorkers already know--Rudy Giuliani is not only a president, but a king.

Lost and Found

I just want to report about the awesomeness that is Pam Andrews and Matt Miller at BU. I left my camera in the Computer Lab Room 307 and they helped me track it down and now have it in their posession and it's on its way back to me. Special thanks to Jim Bardin as well.

BU is freaking awesome. I honestly have never seen an institution run as smoothly and as coordinated as the team at BU does. I guess that what happens though when you've got Pam and Matt running the show. My younger brother is applying to colleges right now and BU is one of his top choices. I am most definitely making sure he ends up at BU. This is one relationship worth fostering.

Camera Left in Room 307

Did anyone who was at the hackfest on Sunday perhaps see or pick up a Canon Powershot S3 IS in a small Samsonite case?

I remember I took my camera out and took a couple of shots and then put it back down, not near my belongings. I forgot it wherever I laid it down and didn't pack it up when we were in the mad rush to leave. I just arrived home and realized it isn't in my bag.

If you have any information please email me at jaboutboul@fedoraproject.org .

Thanks,
Jack

Undercover Agent

For those who frequently find themselves around a prominent and well wired coffee chain try setting your user agent to this:

User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
App Name: Microsoft Internet Explorer
App Version: 4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)
Platform: Win32

Restart your browser and there should magically appear a link to a Windows Vista Promotion. Enjoy your free wifi until April 30th.