I want no monuments

It really seems like Dell has discovered how many GNU/Linux users out there would like to buy and use Dell computers!

Latest news is the Linux survey Dell has started on March 13. You can give Dell some more hints about things like how you would like to be supported and what GNU/Linux distribution you prefer.
Here you can access the survey directly.

A personal note. A long time ago, I thought advocating about linux was just a waste of time. Someone told me I was wrong.
The answer to the question “How could have Dell ignored Linux for so long?” is “They just didn’t know about it. Until someone told them”. So keep on advocating.

On 1st of April 2007, FSFE will raffle the following devices and books among all its Fellows:

• 1 Free Software Greenphone by Trolltech
• 3 Developer Discount codes for Nokia N800 Internet Tablets (NOTICE: special conditions apply. Read more here), by Nokia
• 2 Free Software based routers KWGR614, by NETGEAR
• 1 LinSoft BTP-PC amounting to 500 EUR, by linsoft.de
• 4 USB smart card readers SCR-335, compatible with the Fellowship crypto card on all GNU/Linux distributions, by kernelconcepts.de
• 30 German books (among German speaking Fellows only), by linuxland.de
• 2 Omnikey PCMCIA CardMan 4040, compatible with the Fellowship crypto card on all GNU/Linux distributions, by xtops.de

While not being the reason, it’s surely one more reason to be a fellow. I am. Are you?

On February 23, 2007, Dell reacted to the thousands of votes some of the ideas in Dell IdeaStorm have received.

Here are some of the best pieces (emphasis by me)

It’s exciting to see the IdeaStorm community’s interest in open source solutions like Linux and OpenOffice. Your feedback has been all about flexibility and we have seen a consistent request to provide platforms that allow people to install their operating system of choice. We are listening, and as a result, we are working with Novell to certify our corporate client products for Linux, including our OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks and Dell Precision workstations. This is another step towards ensuring that our customers have a good experience with Linux on our systems.

We don’t want to pick one distribution and alienate users with a preference for another. We want users to have the opportunity to help define the market for Linux on desktop and notebook systems. In addition to working with Novell, we are also working with other distributors and evaluating the possibility of additional certifications across our product line. We are continuing to investigate your other Linux-related ideas, so please continue to check here for updates.

Dell recognizes our customers’ desire to have unlimited control over the software on their PC. In fact, today XPS customers can opt-out of almost all preinstalled software. We will be expanding this effort in the coming months.

Read the whole announcement here.

I think someone in Redmond is having a headache… >:D

Leggetevi la mail di Carlo Piana (avvocato della Free Software Foundation) sulla mailing list del MiLUG.

Risposta: poco meno di due ore contro un giorno e una notte.

Non ci credete? Buona lettura!

This is not a real news (at least, if you haven’t lived under a stone for some months): Dell offers its customers to have Linux pre-installed on its “Precision” desktops.

You could also buy the FreeDos version, that is just like buying an empty, clean desktop or notebook and have the freedom to install everything you want, without wasting money in useless software such as… uhhh… Windows… :)

As some of you know, I’m leaving Milano for Torino: well, that’s the plan.

Today, my landlord, Mrs. Alessandra, an architect, showed my flat to some potential buyers.

While they were walking around my bathroom, commenting on everything, Mrs. Alessandra asked me help with her computer. My first thought was: “Damn! Another Windows and printer problem!“. Surprise! She said:

I have a double boot, Windows and Linux: Windows refuses to start and with Linux I can’t open some of the files currently stored on the shared partition. I wonder what the problem is. It’s a Compaq.

I wasn’t really able to help her, actually, but think about her question:

• she is an architect, so her life is not actually around computers, not at home at least. Architects concern about CADs, not about computers.
• she uses technical words to describe her problem: she is aware of what she is doing
• she has had the issue since 6 months ago: so she is solving it using Linux

My conclusion: smart people know their tools. Dumb people just use them. If you have ever been told by some-dumb about the “typical linux user”, think about you: are you an architect?

As you should know, a couple of months ago Novell and Microsoft signed an agreement with the public aim of making GNU/Linux and Windows work together more easily.

From the free software community, many smelled another “Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish” implementation, the typical Microsoft tactic when it comes to be too difficult to defeat an enemy.

Now the Free Software Foundation, copyright holder of many key parts of the GNU/Linux operating system (gcc, just to give you an example), is considering to ban Novell from selling Foundation’s softwares.

The FSF will give an official announcement within two weeks.

Linux is 5% of the total annual revenue of Novell (that is almost one billion dollars). The agreement with Microsoft brought to Novell’s cash 350 million dollars. If the FSF will ban Novell, they will need to rewrite most of the code they can no longer use, eventually wasting all the money gathered from Microsoft.

And we’ll eventually hear a very loud “Ouch!” coming from the other side of the Atlantic ocean.

Source: Reuters

UPDATE

This is a story being hyped by the Reuters guy who wrote it.

Source: Linux-Watch

As Zeus News (in italian) says: “Just arrived and already officially recognized defective“.

The first I’ll see using that load of crap won’t ever be a friend of mine. You’ve been warned.

L’Associazione Software Libero ha ricevuto dal TAR parere positivo sulla possibilità di impugnare un bando di gara, emesso all’inizio dello scorso anno, che prevedeva l’accesso solo a quei rivenditori Microsoft riconosciuti (da Microsoft) come Large Account Reseller.

E’ una prima sentenza molto importante, come scrive il presidente dell’associazione nel comunicato stampa,

in quanto ci viene riconosciuto il diritto legittimo di lottare per l’adozione del Software Libero e dei formati liberi nella Pubblica Amministrazione

Il testo integrale della sentenza si può leggere sul sito dell’associazione o sul sito istituzionale giustizia-amministrativa.it.

Oltre alla gioia per la sentenza (che non è LA vittoria, ma è UNA vittoria), mi fa piacere sapere di aver dato economicamente una mano rispondendo all’appello “Ricorri anche tu!“.

Magari fateci una pensata anche voi :)

Receiving and forwarding the latest email from BadVista.org

Most store owners might frown on stickering products on their shelves, but Amazon.com encourages customers to leave labels using their tagging system.

You can help advertise the unadvertised restrictions included in Vista by participating in this action:

DefectiveByDesign.org successfully campaigned to add tags to DRM-laden products being sold via Amazon. You can now find over 775 crippled products tagged with “defectivebydesign”.

Unsurprisingly, the various versions of Windows Vista are already on that list. 14 people have gotten the ball rolling by tagging “Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium” with “defectivebydesign”.

How about we get some more up there? Take a minute to visit the page for each of the Vista versions and leave tags that express your opinion about the software, so that other potential users will have a chance to learn about the unadvertised Vista “features” that lock you out of your own computer.

(Read more at http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/tagging-vista-at-amazon.com, and digg it to help get the word out at http://digg.com/software/BadVista_org_Tagging_Vista_at_Amazon_com.)

Also, thanks to everyone who sent feedback to Microsoft about their exclusion of BadVista.org from search results at live.com! We’re making progress there—a search for “BadVista” does now finally turn up results from the site.

Have you tagged it?