Joe Terranova

I seem to have hit a sore spot with regards to my last entry; Dave wrote a fairly scathing entry about my remarks on running Windows in qemu, and running beryl, etc. Let me take a moment to set a few things straight:

As far as running Windows in qemu, what I’m showing is that it can be done. Do I run Windows? No. Do I use any Windows applications? no. But here’s where pragmatism kicks in:

• My girlfriend needs Flash in order to do her school assignments. There is no version of Flash for linux (the editor, not the player).
• My mother needs Turbotax to do her taxes (she’s an accountant; javascript based e-file isn’t going to cut it). She needs Windows.
• etc. Are you in a WoW guild? Windows. Your company requires you use Visual Studio? Windows.

My point is this: I can afford to give up everything that won’t run in linux; most people can’t. While Wine solves some of these issues, it’s constantly one step forward and two steps back; a program might run flawlessly, but an upgrade or patch later it’ll be garbage. What I’m showing by running running Windows in qemu is that, for people that need those apps, they can run them seamlessy, and then be rid of them when they’re done. The need for dual-booting is gone. As it is, it’s a vicious cycle: companies don’t make apps for linux because they don’t think people use it; people don’t use linux because the apps they need only run on Windows. Virtualization bridges that gap, instead of leaving users high and dry.

As for beryl: yes, I’ll be running the proprietary nvidia driver — had I a system with an intel chipset, I’d use that instead. Once again, pragmatism: for many people, it’s all about the eye candy; if Ubuntu, and linux in general, can’t look as good or better than Aero, we’re left in the dust.

The goal of Ubuntu is to build a free operating system that everyone can use. Correct, Ubuntu is about humanity, and free software. It’s also about choice. Neither the proprietary video driver, nor Windows in qemu, nor proprietary wireless drivers are the default in Ubuntu, but the option is there. In fact, Feisty Fawn adds a new panel that informs you that X driver is proprietary, and requires you to enable it to use it.

Choice goes both ways. You can choose to only run open source programs, or you can choose to run proprietary ones as well; I’d argue that denying the ability to choose proprietary software is against the mission of Ubuntu. That’s not all that Ubuntu has to offer, but it is certainly part of what Ubuntu has to offer. As for your offer, you’re more than welcome to have gNewSense running on our table — as you may be aware, Mark has announced that come time for Gutsy Gibbon, they’ll be a new branch of the distro that is 100% free software, just as gNewSense is.

Ubuntu gets a new color: Purple — in summary, that article is a tease. While I’m very happy that there’s more java support in Feisty Fawn, I’d have been happier if the title was literal: if the default background was purple instead of brown. One of the biggest complaints I hear about Ubuntu is “what’s with the brown?”, and a release where it wasn’t brown would at least quiet that sentiment for around 6 months.

As for the update: I’m currently running Feisty on my laptop, so I’m updating to the stable release of it. I’m also downloading the iso for the release, since several people were asking for a copy of it. I’ll be updating my desktop to Feisty sometime next week so that I can set up beryl and QEMU for TCF. I’ve got Seamless Virtualization up and working on my laptop, so IE running as a window on my desktop should turn a few heads (I know a certain Flash user is fairly excited about trying it this weekend).

As for the 500 CDs I’m burning for TCF, I’ll be waiting at least a few days to start on that; new releases have a habit of breaking something or other, and I don’t want to be handing out CDs with broken wireless drivers like Edgy had on launch day. However, I’m not seeing rampant panic in the Ubuntu forums, so it looks like we’re probably alright — or people aren’t downloading it fast enough .

Kurt is up in heaven now.

This should be my first post getting syndicated on Planet Ubuntu Users. Hi guys!

The CHLUG meeting on Friday had some great talks. Dave Harding gave a great talk on the history, mechanics, and uses of X-Window. His notes are here.

Ed Laly gave a presentation on Asterisk and FreePBX — Asterisk/FreePBX is a system for managing and routing VOIP and plain telephone traffic, if you’re unaware. I knew somewhat what Asterisk was, since the Ubuntu Devs were using it to connect to UDS, but I didn’t realize the breadth of what it was capable of. The best part about it for me is how easy it seems to transition; you can run your house’s phone system using Asterisk, yet still connect through a normal telephone, and you can route long distance over VOIP, etc. Even more impressive is ENUM, which allows you to look up the number you’re calling to see if they’re also using SIP, and if they are, connect to them directly. I’ll be getting fiber this Friday, so it sounds like a neat summer project to get set up.

A few days ago there was a thread on an OpenBSD mailing list that led to a whole lot of bickering, flaming, and FUD. The lengthy thread made it onto undeadly.org, and then later Slashdot, where all Open Source conflicts go to end in tears. I was pleasantly surprised to see Bruce Perens head off the flaming with a first post that explained and defused the situation.

Moral of the story: GPL != public domain. GPL code retains quite a few rights, and most projects don’t choose GPL because it sounds nice. Part of Harding’s walk down memory lane on X-Window was how the release of X11 under a MIT license splintered the code base; vendors took the source, extended it, and closed it. This happened to a great extent in OS X, and could’ve easily happened again in this situation, since the linux firmware developers came up with ideas Broadcom didn’t even have in their original firmware. I’m sure Marcus didn’t have any bad intentions, but there are bigger forces to worry about here; Mitch not defending his copy right leaves his code within Broadcom’s grasp, and Broadcom doesn’t play well with others.</rant>

In other news, for those who weren’t aware, new policy changes mean that you can file a bug if there’s an app you want packaged. I’ve started off by requesting ioQuake3 to be packaged; it’s been in the queue at Debian for over a year now, and if it gets packaged, we can expect easy packaging of World of Padman and Urban Terror (note: Ubuntu needs more games).

In summary, this post has way too many links. I need to read Wikipedia less.