For all you foaming-at-the-mouth freedomites out there, this Saturday is Software Freedom Day. See: http://softwarefreedomday.org/ Show your friends, family, and colleagues that you care about them by celebrating Software Freedom Day with them this Saturday. This is a big one. This September marks the FSF's 25th Birthday.
How can you celebrate Software Freedom Day? -------------------------------------------------------------------- Upgrade any computers running Windows or OS X to any GNU+Linux distribution of your choosing. Nuke that flash player. Or, next time it breaks, let Adobe fix it for you. rm -rf ~/.ies4linux Switch from IIS webhosting to Apache. Upgrade your home NAT/router firmware to OpenWRT. Become more familiar with SSH and screen. When a website doesn't render in Firefox, it's broken. So call up the company and let them know. Replace vmware with kvm, qemu, Xen, VirtualBox-OSE or any of the other Free Software alternatives. Check out the latest gNewSense (Ubuntu with proprietary blobs removed) from http://torrent.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-livecd-deltah-2.1.iso.torrent It is even more free than Fedora! If you use gNewSense, you basically have zero risk of running proprietary code on your machine. Learn the difference between Free Software and Open Source. Become an FSF associate member. The FSF campaigns to raise awareness of software freedom, and end software tyranny. They are also to thank for most of the core GNU utilities upon which your GNU+Linux system is built. http://www.fsf.org/associate/ Buy your next workstation, or server, with GNU+Linux pre-installed! Even if you prefer to do your own install, you will have assurance that the hardware works, and is validated by the manufacturer. And you will be giving your vote for Free Software. Support the SFLC, who defend software freedom by holding violators accountable, and enforcing free software licenses in and out of court. http://www.softwarefreedom.org/ When choosing hardware, consider which vendors provide Free drivers, or participate in kernel development. Speak with your wallet, and ask "Does this support GNU+Linux?" and "Will you refund my purchase if it doesn't work?" before buying hardware. Stop using proprietary and patent encumbered formats like .mp3, .doc, .xls, .gif, .jpeg, .wmv, etc., and convert your old media to Free formats like ogg vorbis, open document format, png, svg, and theora. If someone "can't open" a free format, don't give them a patent encumbered file. Give them Free Software to open and work with it. There are even versions of most Free Software that users can use without installing to a system, or modifying system configuration so they don't have any excuses not to use it. Support other GNU+Linux users at http://www.linuxquestions.org/ and on your mailing lists. Switch from proprietary network services like Twitter, and Google Reader, to Free Software Solutions like itenti.ca, and Gregarious. Keep an eye out for AfferoGPL licensed Software As A Service sites, and give preference to them. They're gaining steam, quickly.
Can older wireless routers be converted to OpenWRT? I have a SMC Barricade Wireless B/router/switch/firewall that has worked great as-is since I bought it. It's even better than the Motorola 802.11 G router I bought.
Never heard of "AfferoGPL" before or itenti.ca, and Gregarious.
Nice email, with lots of meat to chew on.
Brian Kelsay
-----Original Message----- From: Billy Crook Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 3:54 AM
For all you foaming-at-the-mouth freedomites out there, this Saturday is Software Freedom Day. See: http://softwarefreedomday.org/ Show your friends, family, and colleagues that you care about them by celebrating Software Freedom Day with them this Saturday. This is a big one. This September marks the FSF's 25th Birthday.
How can you celebrate Software Freedom Day? -------------------------------------------------------------------- <snip> Upgrade your home NAT/router firmware to OpenWRT. <snip>
Switch from proprietary network services like Twitter, and Google Reader, to Free Software Solutions like itenti.ca, and Gregarious. Keep an eye out for AfferoGPL licensed Software As A Service sites, and give preference to them. They're gaining steam, quickly. _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list [email protected] http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
On 2008-09-16, Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO [email protected] wrote:
Can older wireless routers be converted to OpenWRT?
Your best bet on the SMC Barricade and Motorola router is to search for their model numbers and OpenWRT on Google or in the OpenWRT Wiki http://wiki.openwrt.org/ Documented successes and obstacles for various models of hardware can be found at http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware
Never heard of "AfferoGPL" before or itenti.ca, and Gregarious.
The full text of the AGPLv3, translations, and FAQ, are available at http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html
The AGPL was created to allow software authors to close what some people would call the SaaS (Software as a Service) loophole. The GPL compels distributors of a modified GPL program to provide freedom to its recipients. However, it is becoming more and more common for people to use "software" without ever having received a copy of it, and thus, without it ever having been distributed. Everything from blogs to online auction houses can be seen as "software", even though it ultimately only returns static html documents to a user's browser. Under the traditional GPL, companies may obtain, and modify FLOSS without providing freedom to their users if their users don't specifically receive that software, and instead only interact with it over a network. Authors choosing the AGPL instead of the GPL don't think that should matter. The AGPL gives the same freedom to users that the GPL gives to recipients.
Chris Bier told me about Gregarious when I mentioned I didn't particularly have any need for Google to be 'in charge' of my rss feeds. Gregarious is only GPL, not AGPL, so it's possible say, for Google to obtain a copy, modify it and add features, call it Google Reader++, but never share their code with anyone else. The AGPL would allow the original project to benefit, and allow users to run their own server for privacy, security, and sovereignty if they chose.
On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 11:59 AM, [email protected] wrote:
On 2008-09-16, Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO [email protected] wrote:
Never heard of "AfferoGPL" before or itenti.ca, and Gregarious.
The full text of the AGPLv3, translations, and FAQ, are available at http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/agpl-3.0.html
You can read more than you ever wanted to about the AGPL on debian-legal, specifically, debate over the DSFG-freeness of the license[1].
[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2008/08/msg00045.html
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Billy Crook -
billycrook＠gmail.com
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Christofer C. Bell -
Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO