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Confusing Words and Phrases that are Worth Avoiding or how to do bad stuff and not feel bad about itToday

It turns out that the GNU Org has some recommendations for people who are releasing software using the GPL or General Public License, these terms and reasons were taken directly from their website. I find these suggestions humorous so I am going to add some comical commentary to this page on the GNU Project or Free Software Foundation’s website (Confusing words and Phrases that are Worth Avoiding):

“BSD-style”

The expression “BSD-style license” leads to confusion because it lumps together licenses that have important differences. For instance, the original BSD license with the advertising clause is incompatible with the GNU GPL, but the revised BSD license is compatible with the GPL.

To avoid confusion, it is best to name the specific license in question and avoid the vague term “BSD-style.”

GNU is a brand, please don’t confuse people. Even though we want software to be a free for all love fest, we don’t want people to forget that we run this joint.

“Closed”

Describing non-free software as “closed” clearly refers to the term “open source”. In the free software movement, we want to avoid being confused with the more recent open source movement, so we are careful to avoid usage that would encourage people to lump us in with them. Therefore, we avoid describing non-free software as “closed”. We call it “non-free

Is the Linux advantage Free or Freedom?Today

I have been quite actively interjecting my own opinion in a thread on a website about Linux. I know, I know, don’t say anything if you can’t say something nice, but sometimes it’s just so much fun. There is actually quite a bit nice to say about Linux, I just happen to believe that it really belongs in the same place Unix does, on servers, maintained by really smart people who have good reason to use it. Ouch, maybe that’s a bit harsh, it is a cool desktop operating system… if you are pretty knowledgable to keep it running and do not mind the total lack of support from pretty much all major hardware and software vendors.

I wanted to repost a comment I made because I firmly believe it and think it brings to light a lot of the misconceptions of Linux. Kevin, a poster on this thread also believes, rightfully so of course, that his true reason for using Linux is the freedom, not the price or lack thereof. Kevin personally feels that he is shackled by proprietary tools. Now I am not sure if he would feel that he needed to be able to open up Photoshop, look under the hood and change and recompile it to fit his need (this seems pretty ridiculous to me) but he says:

You are all missing the point. What makes GNU/Linux great is that is is free software. Free as in freedom. What this means to the computer user is that you can make it do anything you

Think the new $0.69 iTunes Price is cheap? It’s nothing compared to Zune Pass.Yesterday

What’s that you say? Subscription sucks because you want to own your music? Here are some numbers for you.

iPod Classic 120GB Zune 120GB $224 @ Amazon $239 @ Amazon.com $0.69 DRM $14.99/mo. 16,000 songs 16,000 songs $11,040 61 years @ 14.99/mo.

What’s that you say? let me explain a little further. I pay $14.99 per month with my Zune Pass subscription. It gives me access to millions of songs to download, and I get to keep 10 songs DRM free per month. At iTunes prices, DRM free is $1.29, so that’s $12.99 worth if iTunes music per month, and I get to download unlimited DRM’d music to listen to for the additional $2 per month.

Basically, if you were to fill up your iPod Classic 120GB device with the cheaper DRM’d music at $0.69 per song, it would cost you roughly $11,000. I can download at will, all I want for $14.99 a month for the same songs at the same quality, also under DRM control. At the monthly rate, I would be 95 years old by the time it because more expensive than buying them from iTunes. That’s 61 years!

I have been a devoted Zune/Zune Pass user for about 3 months now, I have two iPods that I haven’t touched in that time. The device is awesome, great interface, built in FM Radio and Wifi that allows you to sync wirelessly and download new music wirelessly.

Why are you still using an iPod again?

Macworld must be freaking out….December 30 2008

I am getting so many emails trying to get me to go to MacWorld, 3-5 a week. They must be really hurting for attendance. Is anyone else going? Did anyone cancel after the Apple news? Is it over?

Holy Cow, I am not a geek after all!December 26 2008

I was reading an article this morning judging President-elect Obama’s geek creds and reaized something scary. I am a fake, a poser…I am not a real geek. Now some people might be relieved by such a revelation but personally I am terrified. I feel like the walls are crumbling and I don’t know who I am at all. Perhaps I have been living a lie all this time!

GeekDad contributor Matt Blum, a software engineer in Reston, Va., defines geeks as having high intellects, embracing technology, “getting excited about things in the future especially, particularly fiction,” having a science viewpoint and being steeped in the geek culture of science fiction and fantasy.

Geeks know and use references from “Star Trek,” “Dungeons and Dragons” and comic books. And, he added, they are nit-picky, unafraid to correct mixed science fiction metaphors, such as confusing Star Trek’s Andorians with “Star Wars” Iridonians.

Wow. I had it wrong this whole time. Unfortunately I am not a sci-fi addict, I can count all the comic books I have purchased in the last 20 years on two fingers and I haven’t played Dungeons and Drago