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It can be hard to get paid for producing free-licensed works. Software represents a niche where a lot of exceptions can be found, but for aesthetic works, the problem is severe. This has spurred a lot of innovative ideas for better incentive systems. Along the way, though, the most obvious and simple solution has mostly been overlooked: just re-implement the traditional limited copyright idea in a way that makes sense for the 21st century. Here’s a simple solution that I call “FLOW-IT” for “Free Licensing Of Works — In Time,” which simply leverages existing Creative Commons licensing to do the job. >. Read the full article at Free Software Magazine.

I’m taking Stanford’s Open Courseware “Programming Methodology” this semester, but I got stumped early on by the problem of setting up the special Stanford class libraries in my Debian-standard Eclipse installation. The instructions and files available from the website are only available for Windows and Macintosh platforms. The process is not that hard, but if you’re new to Java and Eclipse (and especially if you are new to programming, as the class assumes), you’ll likely be thrown by this. I couldn’t find any documentation on how to do this after extensive searching, so here it is. Read the howto at Freesoftware Magazine.

A friend of mine has an ADSL account with BT/Yahoo here in the UK. For some reason BT/Yahoo feel compelled to supply (nay insist upon) a customised version of I.E. as the browser for their customers. Okay so first things first: why choose I.E.? If you are thinking it’s for that old chestnut of greater compatibility with a higher number of websites, think again. That argument would work if your customised browser was simply IE rebadged and to all intents and purposes presented as IE. This monstrosity doesn’t — it presents as a BT/Yahoo browser based upon IE. Thus some of the IE compatibility works and some doesn’t. But there’s more — much more. Read the full article at Free Software Magazine.

I have been a fan of yours for many years — since I was a kid in fact! I watched as you created Dell, one of the first (“the” first?) companies that sold computers by mail order. I watched you become wealthy, successful, and then retire, only to come back to Dell to remind its managers what they seemed to have forgotten: listen to your customers. I watched you embrace GNU/Linux; I remember thinking: I wonder if people realise what this will actually mean. I am sure he does. So, here I am: I bought an Inspiron Mini 10. I have no choice but return it. And now I can’t stop wondering: how could Michael Dell get it just so wrong? Read the whole letter at Free Software Magazine.

A couple of months ago, Free Software Magazine went through what you’d call a “rough patch” in terms of hosting: 3FN, which hosted FSM, was effectively shut down by the FTC in the United States. Many companies had their backup servers on 3FN’s networks — and therefore lost everything. We were lucky enough to have a full backup over in Europe. So, we quickly moved everything to CariNet. What’s the aftermath of this adventure? Read about this cautionary tale at Free Software Magazine

Blender third open movie project, code-named “Durian” is ramping up to production, and time is running out for the pre-sale campaign if you want to get your spot in the credits. This time the project is focusing on an adolescent audience with an epic-fantasy setting and a female protagonist (my son aptly dubbed this the “Chicks in Chainmail” genre). The only art yet available from Durian itself is the series of banner ads (by concept artist, David Revoy), but an impressive creative team has already been announced. Read the full story at Free Software Magazine.

Three recent problems with packages in the last stable release of Debian GNU/Linux (“Lenny”), brought me face-to-face with what is still a major obstacle for acceptance of free software on the desktop: contempt for the values of the people who use it. Despite all the accusations of unfair trade practices or other excuses, this remains as one solid reason why free software is still perceived as “geeks only” territory. If we want to progress further, we’ve got to improve our attitudes. Terry Hancock is really hacked off with the Debian developers. Find out why. Read the full article at Free Software Magazine.

This article is about writing a book with the help of the free software community. The book in question is Sakai Courseware Management with the main authors being Alan Berg (Me myself and I) and Michael Korcuska, the executive director of the Sakai Foundation. In reality, around forty community members delivered valuable content, which the authors distributed strategically throughout the book.

You may have seen that the Debian project (my particular GNU/Linux distribution of choice) has decided to schedule fixed time-based releases in future. This has come as a surprise to many — including possibly some Debian developers — largely because of Debian’s long-standing “we ship when it’s ready” policy. So what caused this change of heart and is it a good idea?

Free software is definitely going strong in some areas, especially in the server market. However, there are other areas where free software and free protocols have failed. Internet based voice and video communication is one of those areas. The market is basically fully owned by Skype, a piece of proprietary software based on a proprietary (and abusive) protocol in the hands the same company that runs eBay. Free software advocates have been saying “what if Skype was discontinued?” for years. Then I read about eBay considering shutting Skype down. Pardon? What's bugging Tony Mobily? Read the full article at Free Software Magazine

The submission by Microsoft of twenty thousand lines of code to the Kernel has, predictably, caused many an eyebrow to arch. The phrase “beware Greeks bearing gifts” comes swiftly to mind. I checked the press release. I also checked the calendar just to make sure I hadn’t fallen into a wormhole and emerged back on April Fools Day. I hadn’t. That reaction was probably replicated right across the free software community. Given Microsoft’s track record it’s hardly surprising. Perhaps what was more interesting was Linus Torvalds’ reaction. After all, this is not an inconsequential flame war about using Gnome or KDE. Read the full article at Free Software Magazine.

A few months ago I stumbled across a screenshot utility called Shutter. I liked it. A lot. So I decided to give it some well deserved publicity. I wasn’t the only one. It has been been getting rave reviews and it will be or should be in everyone’s toolbox. Bog standard screenshot software has been available as bundled software in both Gnome and KDE desktops for ever. They’re good at what they do but they are limited to relatively simple tasks. If you want to do more serious, integrated stuff then Shutter’s the kiddie. The latest version of Shutter (0.80) takes the “serious stuff” to the next level by adding six new features to the Edit tool. Shutter’s screenshot-taking features alone make it worth installing but the additions for editing make it the software of choice. This article describes the latest tools. Read the full article at Freesoftware Magazine.

The creator of the C++ programming language brings us a new textbook in programming principles that could well become a classic tome. Read the review at Freesoftware Magazine.

Social networking, micro-blogging and other such buzzwords abound across web development these days, and the “public” is a fickle as ever. The darling of the media-driven, web-based section of the public is dropped as soon as it gets popular or as soon as somebody figures out a way to make money out of it — money usually involves advertising, which usually ends up bombarding users with spurious post-mercials. How can free software make an impact in such an environment? Enter Identi.ca. Read the full story at Free Software Magazine.

Like many people who aren’t able to get DSL, I use mobile broadband. Typically, at least in Ireland and the UK, you are forced to purchase a modem with your contract. What if you want other devices in your house to use this broadband and you don’t want to fork out several hundred wing wangs for a mobile broadband router like the Novatel MiFi when you have a perfectly good modem and wireless router already? Read the full howto atFree Software Magazine.

Note: this is a post from one of our readers. I obviously have different views om the topic, but I think it’s important to share maruadventurer’s views. — Tony Mobily 1: The Operating system is no longer important. In 2009, people develop for the Web, full stop There are whole genre of programs that like Photoshop will probably never make it to the web. Practically any program that requires a physical interface will require an OS. CAD/CAM, topology, astrophysics, astronomy, etc. The list is long. The examples given by the author make a major omission. Read the contrarian view at Free Software Magazine.

This article was originally published on “2008-06-15 13:09:55 +0000”. I re-read it, and decided that it deserved to be re-published in Free Software Magazine as a tribute to those individual who made GNU/Linux possible. Every field has its own key individuals who donated much of their time to the ideas they believed in. Each one of them is a reminder that it’s up to individuals to make a difference — and to make history. Their work affects large chunks of the world’s population, and bring amazing changes to the way we see and experience the world. The free software world has its own heroes. You probably know a lot of them already; if you don’t, you probably use the results of their work on a daily basis. This article is both a tribute to them, and a summary to those people who are new to the free software world. Read the full roll call of open-source honour at Free Software Magazine.

A small revolution in the IT world is about to happen, and we are about to witness it. Microsoft Windows’ domination has been challenged many times: first by OS/2 (failed), then Apple (failed), then Java and network computing (failed), then GNU/Linux and Ubuntu (failed, so far). And now, Google’s Chrome OS. After such a long list of failures, what makes me think that this latest attempt will actually succeed? There is a list of factors. Let’s have a look. Why is Tony Mobily so optimistic? Read the full article at Free Software Magazine.

There are a number of simple games I like to play when waiting for a package to download or compile. Often the available themes don’t really suit me, and in any case I like to make themes or skins when I can. One of the easier packages to create an alternate theme for is KDE Mahjongg (kmahjongg), which I will demonstrate here using Inkscape and Gimp. With the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing coming up, a space exploration theme seems appropriate. Read the full howto at Free Software Magazine.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced that Windows 7 would not ship with Internet Explorer 8 within the European Union. This is to comply with EU demands following the anti-trust case some time back. On the immediate face of this seem like good news for users of other browsers — but is it? Read the full article at Free Software Magazine.