Opensource on @ppmotskula

Ubuntu magic: releases

peeterpaul@motskula.net (Peeter P. Mõtsküla) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve always admired the way how a large-scale community-developed open-source project — Ubuntu — can deliver new releases with the predictability and regularity of high-quality clockwork. Every six months, a new version comes out with every fourth one getting polished to LTS (Long Term Support) quality.

Mark Shuttleworth, the SABFDL of Ubuntu, has shared his views and thoughts about why and how to manage the release cycle of complex software products. If you’re interested in the topic, then it’s a good read even if you don’t happen to share his preference to free and open source software.

Microsoft opens up Office binary file formats

peeterpaul@motskula.net (Peeter P. Mõtsküla) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft has released the Microsoft Office binary file formats (doc, xls, ppt) under Microsoft Open Specification Promise, which effectively says: “We will never assert our patent claims against you for making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing or distributing implementations of the covered specifications.”

Indeed, these file formats are pretty complicated (it takes more than 200 pages to spec the Word .doc file format; Joel Spolsky explains why). But releasing them into the open means that the makers of OpenOffice and other alternatives will have a legal way of properly supporting these formats — and that they will probably get a lot of user pressure to implement this support.

Kellele kuulub kunst?

peeterpaul@motskula.net (Peeter P. Mõtsküla) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Ennevanasti kuulus kunst rahvale. Ning ma ei pea siinkohal silmas mitte Nõukogude kultuuripoliitikat, vaid muistendeid, rahvalaule ja koopamaalinguid.

Hulk aega hiljem leiutati trükimasin ning Inglismaal võeti kirjastajate survel vastu maailma esimene autoriõiguse seadus, Anne statuut. Kunst hakkas kuuluma rahale.

Veel veidi hiljem mõeldi välja Internet ning mõnedel inimestel tekkis idee, et tegelikult võiks iga teose autor ise otsustada, kes ja kuidas tema teoseid kasutada, levitada, täiendada ja teiste teostega ühendada tohib. Kunst kuulub kunstnikule.

Open Source, Open Funding

peeterpaul@motskula.net (Peeter P. Mõtsküla) — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Horst, an open source enthusiast and a long-time OpenOffice.org user, is running a fundraiser to publish a full-page ad (or a few if he manages to raise enough for reruns) in New York’s Metro newspaper. At the time I write this post, they’re less than $100 short of the first ad, so if you’ve got a few bucks to share, please do so. And if you don’t, then you can help just by sharing the word.