Gathered News...

[AndreL]

Analysis -- The Thunderbird email client doesn't get half the attention that its big brother, the Firefox browser, gets, but the Mozilla Foundation has finally gotten around to lavishing some love on it, and the first beta of version 2 is now out.

If you think there's nothing more that can added to an email client -- except for the fabled seek-out-and-destroy-spam option -- prepare to be pleasantly surprised. The new Thunderbird comes with numerous new features. http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9918201306.html
The results of DesktopLinux.com's 2006 Desktop Linux Market survey are in, and the votes are all tallied. This first article of a series offers a perspective on how the various desktop Linux distributions fared, and why. http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT5816278551.html
Software Freedom Law Center Comes to Microsoft's Aid
If you thought Novell partnering up with Microsoft was shocking news, then you probably don't want to read the rest of this story. Just remember, we warned you. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2073771,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
Berkeley Data Systems Unveils Unlimited Online Storage
Online data storage provider Berkeley Data Systems on Dec. 14 introduced Mozy Unlimited Backup, a new service that individuals can use to back up an unlimited amount of digital files—documents, photos, video —to a secure, multi-petabyte outside server. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2073628,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
Open Source Leaps Toward Accessible Applications
Thanks to efforts of IBM and the Free Standards Group, new open standardized interfaces, called IAccessible2, combined with the Open Document Format, will make it much easier for developers to make open-source applications accessible to computer users with disabilities. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2073549,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
OpenOffice.org Rolls Out 'Significant' Update
The OpenOffice.org project team has revved its popular open-source office suite all the way from v2.0.4—released in October—to v2.1, available as of Dec. 15. "OpenOffice.org 2.1 is recommended for all users, as it represents a significant improvement over all previous versions," the project team said. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2073543,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594
Linus won't ban binary kernel modules
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061215-8428.htmlBadVista.org: FSF launches campaign against Microsoft Vista
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today launched BadVista.org, a campaign with a twofold mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free software alternatives that respect users' security and privacy rights. http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/launch-press-releaseHow to enable DVD playback:Ubuntu
DVD playback is not a feature that is installed by default due to license restrictions. In my opinion the restriction is stupid, very restrictive and violates my rights (of course I am not a lawyer so don’t listen to my rants.) This tutorial will show you how to install DVD playback capability on your Ubuntu linuxmachine. http://christer.homeip.net/index.php/2006/12/14/how-to-enable-dvd-playback-ubuntu-510-6061-610/
The Free Software Foundation Year End Appeal
Free software is a matter of liberty not price - support our efforts in 2007
http://www.fsf.org/
May you have an interesting read...
.

[AndreL]

I wrote to "Berkeley Data Systems" to let them know how deceived I was that their services are only available from Windows...

[Lavene]

BadVista.org: FSF launches campaign against Microsoft Vista
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today launched BadVista.org, a campaign with a twofold mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and promoting free software alternatives that respect users' security and privacy rights. http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/launch-press-release

Please tell me this is a joke. I have looked through the site, whois'ed the url and I can not find any sign of this being a joke. So I will assume it's legit.

This is LOW! Even for RMS and the FSF. Exactly what is the difference between this and Microsft's infamous "Get the facts" campaign which was well and truly trashed by the FSF as being mainly FUD. But now FSF decides to do the same with great articles like Kaspersky predicts Vista security holes (http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Kaspersky_predicts_Vista_security_holes/0,130061744,339272639,00.htm) and "Vista bound to have holes" (http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2043660,00.html)

So now we'll have a genuine FUD war! Great! Why the fsck cant FSF stick with promoting free software, it's ideas and it's community. Why do they have to stoop to a MS level?

And again... please someone... tell me it's a joke..?

Tina

[danieldk]

I hope this isn't the kind of crap I donate for as a FSF member.

[AndreL]

Why the fsck cant FSF stick with promoting free software, it's ideas and it's community. Why do they have to stoop to a MS level?I had the same reaction!
Starting an open war with MS has never proved to be a good idea, anyway.

I hope that idea will just fade away.

(Maybe we should write to them about this.)

Edit: There are some who disagree already, in their blogs on the site.

[Lavene]

I have sent the following e-mail to webmaster@badvista.org and info@fsf.org :

Open letter regarding FSF's new "BadVista" campaign.

I have been supporting FSF for a number of years. I'm advocating free software and use free software whenever I can. We have three computer in our household all of which is running GNU/ Linux. I do not hold a single Microsoft licence and would not dream of ever acquiring one.

The greatest strength of FSF has, in my opinion, always been the fact that they have the ability to lead a good argument backed by relevant facts on key topics such as DRM and Trusted Computing. It's therefore with great disappointment I now see that you have stopped down to Microsoft's level on spreading Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD). You have obviously lost sight of your main objective and have resorted to trashing MS Vista regardless of relevance to the cause.

From the right sidebar "Vista news watch":

- 'Vista - Why bother?" is an article about why one should upgrade from XP to Vista. It has no relevance to FSF.
- 'Windows Vista: Facts or fiction' is article saying it might be wise to hold off upgrading until the first servicepack is available. It has no relevance to FSF.
- '25 shortcomings..." none of which is relevant to FSF.

I could go on and on. Not compatible with SQL... why do FSF care? Some one predicts security holes... not exactly a problem exclusively for MS but common for pretty much all complex pieces of software, free and non-free alike. It might be of interest if MS didn't patch, but alas... they do.

What you are doing with "BadVista" is throwing gasoline on an already wildly burning fire. This causes people to loose sight on what's actually important. You need to focus strongly on the areas that is relevant to *freedom* and then maintain that focus. Everything else like counting bugs, usability, file size etc is irrelevant. Every single operating system has it's quirks, it's fair share of bugs and features loved by some and hated by others.

FSF has done great job so far, spreading awareness about the important thing: peoples liberty. The moment people see that you resort to simple trashing you have lost because that is a typical tactic for someone that have run out of good arguments. Please don't let that happen.

Respectfully

Feel free to copy it, partly or in it's entirety.

Tina

[AndreL]

Perfect!
..

[fos]

After reading the article and links for IAccesible2, I'm not sure how this is going to help those of us that can't afford JAWS and WindowEyes, etc.

It would be nice if IBM would open source Viavoice and invest in open source screen reading software. Maybe they do but it certainly isn't obvious.


fos....

[AndreL]

This is the reply I've gotten from Mozy Unlimited Backup:
We will not be supporting Linux until our Mac client is finished.

Thanks,
Chuck

[Lavene]

Sorry to revive a long dead thread, but today, exactly eight months after I sent the e-mail mentioned above, I actually received a reply from the FSF. For those interested, here it is:
Hi Tina,

Thank you for this letter. Many of these journalists may not win pulitzers,
but, for the most part they are being fair in their editorials and
in their articles---and they certainly aren't using FUD, they are
presenting opinions based upon facts about Vista, and most of their
claims are simple and easily varifiable.

Secondly, the news feed is not the focus of BadVista, it is just that,
a news feed for additional reading. We try to remove the poor articles
and we try to keep the good ones. To help people
appreciate the freedoms that free software carries, it is sometimes
necessary to illuminate the restrictions and problems with proprietary
software.

If there are specific articles you
would like removed, your help and suggestions are appreciated.

Joshua Gay
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation


I'm not exactly impressed...

Tina