Re: Linux coverage on Stuff

[Graeme Kiyoto-Ward]

Hi Here is what I have so far. Targeted at home more than business. Some gaps. A lot of notes and a structure (that can be chopped up into several articles). Also - am staying well away from 'technical' and 'features' where I can. A focus on the human element. Feedback, ideas (and especially encouragement) are welcome. Can post as a OOO document if preferred. Also this is likely to be a big message so happy to continue offline if interested reviewers/contributors make themselves known. Regards Graeme Kiyoto-Ward Article starts below this line _____________________________________________ Needs some Legal Stuff Release under a suitable open licence? What is Open Source? Introduction This is a look at Open Source software for ordinary people. If you have never heard of Open Source software or if you don't believe that software can be free and useful, then this article is for you. This is not a technical article, it is not going to sell you anything and most importantly, it is not going to tell you what to do. What you will learn is what open source software is and why top quality software can be free. This article will also point out some open source software you can run on windows for your kids, your home or your office. What is Open Source Software The computer programme that you install onto your PC (or Mac for that matter) are made by people. To make this software, the people who create the programme produce a script (called Source Code) that is read by a complex computer programme (called a Compiler) which turns this script into a file that your computer can run (Binary File). In the windows world, the binary file may be called an executable file. What is important here is that if you have the source code, a compiler (there are free compilers out there), and the skills then you can modify and create your own binary file. Open Source software is software where the person or group that creates the programme also release the Source Code to the public. This effectively makes the building blocks of the programme available for anyone to modify and create the final programme themselves. This is significantly different from other free software such as Freeware where only the Binary File may be released. Obviously this is also significantly different from many commercial programmes which are only available as binary files. The best metaphor for Open Source involves going to a restaurant for a meal. Commercial software is like buying a meal that is made in the kitchen out of sight. The meal could taste great but you couldn't make it yourself and you can only tell what they put into it from the way it looks on the plate. Open Source would be like going into the restaurant and getting the recipe with the meal. You know what you are getting, you could make the meal yourself and even if you could decide to change the recipe to suit your tastes (let's say you don't like the zucchinis). In fact open source is better than this, in many cases you could go to the restaurant and just get the recipe. Examples of Open Source Software The best known examples of Open Source software are Linux ( a free alternative to the likes of Windows), OpenOffice (a free alternative to the likes of Office), and Firefox (a free alternative to the likes of Internet Explorer). There is significantly more Open Source software than this. Debian Linux currently has around 18,000 binary files call packages available for it. Here to Stay All that is required to write software is a computer, a compiler, some skill, some time and the inclination to write the software itself. Many households have a computer, compilers (as I have mentioned above) are available for free, and there are many people with the skills, time and inclination. In fact many people find writing software enjoyable and the feeling when they solve a particularly difficult problem or produce a particularly clever programme can be very rewarding. Another element that makes Open Source work is the Internet which allows people who enjoy writing software to collaborate. Releasing the Source Code adds to the sense of accomplishment for these people. Their peers can see the results, other people who may have more knowledge than themselves can build on what they have written, or they simply may like to share their achievement. Given that for some writing Open Source software is cheap, enjoyable and rewarding, as long as it is legal to write software, Open Source is here to stay. Benefits To you as an individual To society Challenges What is freedom? I.e. arguments between different Open Source licenses Myths Patents – nice way to mention Patent Armageddon (which sounds cool and interesting if nothing else) Awareness and Marketing – limited budgets Don't go into business doing what others do for fun. Can this comment go somewhere? Why use Open Source? Myths No Support (implies less reliable) Difficult to Use No or few applications Hidden Costs – define? Any other myths? Why Use? How to write without sounding evangelical? Free Reliable Secure Low Hardware Requirements What else – need feedback for this bit... Why not Use? There are a number of very good reasons not to consider using Open Source software, in particular, not to use an Open Source operating system like Linux. The first an major reason is if you use your computer as a gaming console. There are some Open Source games out there and a small number of companies ensure they produce a version of their game that works on Linux (e.g. Id Software). For the most part games are produced for Windows and much of the effort in producing games goes into areas that Open Source developers traditionally struggle with. Many commercial games consist of voice acting, music, lavish graphics running on a software engine that ties these together. The Open Source community does not have any problems producing the software engines for games, it is the voice acting, music, lavish graphics that they cannot compete with. The second major reason not to consider Open Source is if you have already purchased software and are either happy with it or rely on it. In this case you are better off with what you currently have. Many people use and like Windows or commercial Office software. Many small businesses have all their accounts in a commercially purchased accounting software. This reason also covers those people that like to use commercial software – there are also many people who will drink water from a bottle but not from the tap. Using Open Source software is an individual choice. It is there to use if you want to but only if you want to. Software for... Notes this bit is to run through and review some key packages. Focus on packages with working Windows ports to keep the article useful to the vast majority. Not looking to trawling through this lot. Kids & Education Stellarium Celestia Tuxpaint Childsplay Edubuntu with Gcompris & KDE Educational Packages (the motherload of educational software) Internet & Home Firefox Thunderbird What else?? Business OpenOffice Scribus What else?? Multimedia Gimp Audacity MediaCoder...video editing software – alternatives - everything else in the article has a Linux Port. Blender Linux as a home theater system. Running DVDs on Linux. Choosing Open Source Operating Systems Introduction to Culture May need to modify this bit. Written because I think this is the reason people stick to a distribution through thick and thin. Also, a comparison of features only lasts until the next release. Another note to self about structure- how the hell did I jump from applications to distributions? When we make the choices about what we buy and use, open we pick things based on what we value and identify with the product. Marketing people know this and take full advantage of it. Choosing and Open Source operating system is no different – except there are often no marketing budgets involved. There are any number of articles out there on the Internet that compare and assess the features of each system but in the end, most free Operating Systems have significantly more in common than differences. Much effort and energy is spent trying to explain why this or that system has the best features. This article will look at some of the core values that some key Open Source operating system have. This may be a better place to look to see what you value. Chances are for many people, they stick with what first works the best for them - like I do – and will change if their system no longer fulfills the original promise. To give an example, my brother favours Debian Linux, because it is completely non-commercial and completely free (as in speech). On the other hand, I favour Ubuntu because of the ease of use and BSD because of the excellent documentation. There is nothing in either of our choices that is based on functionality, rather we have based our preference on what each system holds as its key values. If you want to compare or assess the feature of different open source operating systems, there are a couple of sites that you may find useful. The first of these is distrowatch (www.distrowatch.org). On this site, each Operating System has it's own page that contains links to reviews done by other sites. Next there is PolishLinux (www.polishlinux.org). This site allows you to compare the features of different versions of operating systems side by side. A Values look at Open Source Software This section looks at what various systems focus on so that you can better understand why these systems make the decision that they do. For example, if can be confusing why Debian does not include the Open Source Firefox web browser or why Ubuntu does not come with video drivers for some graphics cards by default. Generally for any distribution there is one (or maybe two) overriding concerns that affect all the decision that the group maintaining the distribution make. Freedom The makers of some systems have the goal of making sure that all the components are completely free as a top priority. This has a number of interesting consequences. Firstly it can make the system more stable is it relies entirely on open source drivers to run the hardware. In addition, this can make it difficult to install non-free software – most notably software that allows you to use the 3D graphics cards or play encrypted DVDs. This can even extend to open Source applications for example, Debian does not come with Firefox (an Open Source web browser) because the Firefox logo is trademarked. Ease of use is secondary and only included where this does not conflict with the primary goal of freedom. The best examples of distributions focusing on freedom are Debian (championing the GPL license) and OpenBSD (championing the BSD license). OpenBSD refuses to let non Open software interact with core parts of the system which can reduce functionality of some hardware – most notably Nvidia or ATI graphics cards. Ubuntu has a freedom focus as well as a functionality focus. Functionality Functionality covers those varieties of system that try to make things easy for the user. These systems are normally built with graphical tools so that you can use the menus and control panels to configure the system. Most of the distributions of Linux aimed at functionality are aimed at desktop users and in particular new users. For someone attempting to try Linux for the first time, picking a distribution that has functionality as its primary concern is highly recommended. These distributions all have the goal of trying to make the installation of additional software as simple and painless as possible. Many of the distributions that focus on functionality come bundled with non-free components – typically 3d drivers for graphics cards or the software to play encypted DVDs. Examples of distributions that focus on functionality are Linux Mint and PCLinuxOS. Ubuntu has a foot in the functionality camp but maintains a freedom focus by making non-free components easy to install but not part of the basic install. Control A distribution that focuses on control is attempting to ensure that the user decides what software gets installed. Some of the more popular (and functionality focused) distributions bundle a large number of features and applications. People who prefer control over their systems refer to this as bloat and argue that more unnecessary applications makes the system less stable, less secure and run more slowly. Those distributions that focus on control are generally aimed at power users. The basic system can be set up with very little in the way of applications allowing the user to add only what they want. It is up to the user to set up the applications that they need. Of all the systems those focusing on control generally have the steepest learning curve for new users. Examples of systems that have a focus on control are Gentoo and Slackware. The main versions of BSD (FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD) are similar in that the base system is minimalist and the user needs to add the applications that they require. Security Many mainstream distributions have a strong awareness of security. There is usually some form of security focused mailing list for the distribution and updated versions of applications that are found to have security holes are usually made available very quickly. Of all the distributions there is only one that has security as the overriding concern where security takes precedence over all other considerations. This is OpenBSD. This operating system is not recommended for new users however. Stability Like security, stability is usually a strong focus but not the primary focus of a distribution. Stability normally depends on how conservative the distribution is. Generally Debian (stable), Slackware and the BSD systems are known for stability. For someone coming from Windows, and wanting to use Linux on the desktop, there probably isn't a significant different in the levels of stability between different distributions. Commercial Distributions There are a number of distributions that are supported by commercial interests. Fedora is supported by the Red Hat Corporation, SUSE by Novell and Mandriva is developed and maintained by a company in France. These distributions are often somewhat suitable for new users though they may not be quite as easy to use as some of the more functionality focused distributions. Often the key benefit that these provide is indemnity against software patent lawsuits – for those countries that enforce software patents. This can be a a draw-card for large enterprise customers. Specialized Distributions There are a number of smaller, less mainstream distributions aimed at performing specialized tasks such as educational use, computer forensics, firewalls or clusters computing. If you want to find a specialized distribution I suggest that you use the excellent search page at Distrowatch.