Switch to Open Source software

I temporarily switched from Firefox to Opera because my copy of Firefox developed a sudden habit of semi-spontaneous combustion every time i opened it. I figure this was probably because of some plugin or another but didn’t have a chance to really test it until today.

So i completely uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox, and the only plugin i’m currently using is Speed Dial (Opera spoiled me very quickly.) I might even get rid of that, once i get the hang of bookmarks keywords… the trick is going to be keeping my plugins under control for good now.

When I was young, I used Windows, but I always wanted to strip it down to the bare metal. Unfortunately, (fortunately?) Windows doesn’t make that easy.
So, I tried linux. Everything can be thinned down and customized. I was so excited with it, I switched to linux from scratch. Now I have everything built with debugging symbols (actually, I have a fast kernel, and a debugging kernel), so when something goes wrong, I know exactly what happened. (Or atleast, I can get an idea, and have half a hope of understanding what goes on, limited by my ability.)

However, even if you aren’t into customizing and solving your own problems, free software has huge advantages.

Non-free software often goes obsolete and no one bothers to maintain it. Everyone using Windows or MS Office is pretty much forced to upgrade every few years. Anything substantial that is added to a commercial program usually has to wait for the next release.

Why pay for software in the first place? Why run a program that won’t disclose what it tells your computer to do?

Windows emulation and hardware driver support on free operating systems is much more mature than it used to be. I think, with a little bit of time, anyone could switch. In the long run I think it’s inevitable that non-free software will be the oddball.

Openoffice

Audacity

GIMP for a lot of stuff

...almost. My company still has some (quite a lot, actually) pieces of software that keep being Windows-only.

The ideas behind Open Source/Free Software, and the Creative Commons licenses really appeal to me. It gives me a nice positive, co-operative vibe that I like. It seems to be in my interest as well, a thriving collective of people helping us and each other out. Empowering. There is no need for artificial digital scarcity.

So, all that said, I would like to remove my dependence on non-Open/Free software. At home I mostly use an XP Home machine, but truly it is habit alone keeping me on it. I also have a nice machine I set up with Ubuntu Linux about 2 weeks ago, and I used it just fine. It has more than I need. As it is, even on Windows there is plenty of nice Open Source software I use. At work I managed to get many people using OpenOffice.org, saving us a couple tens of thousands on licensing. I also have managed to use Linux as a DHCP, File, Print, and Tape Back-up server at work. Some people are using Firefox, Thunderbird, etc. I personally use Audacity (an audio editor) quite frequently.

Anyway, switching to open source software is a goal of mine, as is finding some way to give back, be it money, or with Creative Commons licensed music or something for others to enjoy and use freely.

as part of my ‘open source’ drive, which will include linux as an open source OS, I will have to give up iTunes which doesn’t run on linux as far as I’m aware (wine?). Anyway, I saw this:

http://www.gtkpod.org/

Which looks pretty nifty – anyone got any recommendations for iPod, iTunes + linux?

On the computer I use now, I already have MS Office and Windows installed…

Oh my next computer, I want to give Open Office a try… I’ve heard that since 2.0 came out, you can barely tell the difference compared to MS Office. The only way I would switch though is if it continues to be completely compatible with Microsoft Word.

I already use Firefox exclusively. There are so many extensions that can do just about anything you want. (My favorite is the extension from www.bugmenot.com). I love the tabs (but everyone will have that soon).

Linux from a LiveCD is fine for me now, but I still use Windows mainly… Maybe some day I will switch to a dual boot… and then who knows…

I’ve been used to downloading shareware, but I’ve long wanted to try some actual Open Source software – specifically something like OpenOffice – and finally took the plunge and found out it was well worth it. I found out about the OS movement, and the more I read about it – and try out the products – the more I realize how wonderful the efforts all are. Definitely worth trying – the more we can get away from bloated software from Redmond the more the world can be a better place ;)

I realized this goal is more than just ‘live to see the demise of IE’ – it’s about creating usable and useful software for all our computing tasks – be they browsing, creating data, or linking people together. Needless to say, the future will be with those kinds of applications, not with bloated software which shall remain nameless.

Other than use Open Source software, champion Open Source development (spreadfirefox.com!), and steal away engineers from Redmond, is there anything I can do to help complete this goal? Not that I’m doing that last one… I can advocate it to clients, coworkers and keep up on what’s good. Part of this goal will be in learning Zope (which I’ve heard good things about); I’d like to learn Ruby, but I’m thinking baby steps at this point :)

My colleagues and students tend to use MS Office. This year I’m going to make an effort to use OpenOffice more frequently and maybe even introduce others to Open Source productivity software.

http://www.openoffice.org/product/