Archive for the ‘Open Source’ Category

A week with the Cr-48

26. December 2010

3 Comments »

Within five minutes of unboxing my Cr-48, I was on the internet and all my plugins, bookmarks, and passwords were automatically synced. I have always been fond of living on the cloud, but this was almost utopia.

However, Chrome OS definitely requires a paradigm shift that I am not sure I am ready to take. As a web developer, I have crafted a very intimate relationship with Zend Studio, Photoshop, and a local *AMP stack. Although I have found alternatives to almost all desktop software floating somewhere in the cloud, most of these alternatives are not (yet) as powerful as their desktop counterparts, and severely hinder my productivity (almost as much as Facebook). That being said, John the developer probably won’t be using Chrome OS as his main operating system for a while, but John the student feels differently.

The eight hour battery life, (fairly) small footprint, the a/b/g/n and 3g wireless card makes it ideal for taking notes in class on Google Docs or browsing Facebook when the professors accent is just too thick to understand. I think this is exactly what Google was looking for. Chrome OS doesn’t work for John the developer simply because the applications aren’t up to par, not because of the operating system itself.

In the past week I have made every attempt to use the Cr-48 as my primary computer. For the most part, it was an enjoyable experience. Although, at times, it was a bit slow at switching between tabs. I’m not sure if this is due to the hardware, or if it is a glitch with the operating system itself. Below is a list of my likes and dislikes:

Likes

  • The battery life. Although, in the netbook scene 8 hours is not a lot, it is significantly more than my laptop.
  • Two finger scroll. A few weeks ago one of my roommates purchased a MacBook Pro and I fell in love with its tracpad. So I was delighted when I was able to scroll with two fingers. I would really like to see gestures in future releases of Chrome OS. Perhaps a two finger swipe to move forward and back in your browser or between tabs, a three finger swipe to move between workspaces, and pinch to zoom.
  • The wake up time. It is literally one second.
  • 3G Card. When I don’t have access to WiFi I can enable the cellular modem. However, cellular data is expensive, and at this time, Chrome loads pages normally and eats through data pretty quick. It might be worth adding an option to allow users to switch their UserAgents and allow them to load mobile optimized pages.
  • Living on the cloud. It is very nice to be able to go to any computer in the world and have access your data. Plus it puts an end to the misfortune of a hard drive crash.

Dislikes

  • The shell. I have been a Linux user for four years and have grown very familiar with BASH. The shell provided with Chrome OS is complete crap (granted, its probably not a high selling point for the average user). I would really like to see a more powerful shell with the ability to use ssh keys, navigate through your html local storage.
  • Living on the cloud. At this current time, it is impossible for me to abandon.

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Posted in ChromeOS, linux, Open Source, Software Review, Systems Administration | 3 Comments »

Adding Comments to WordPress Pages

25. November 2009

2 Comments »

It really annoyed me that my static pages didn’t have comments enabled, so I searched around and came up with a solution.

Open page.php

Before
[code][/code]
Add
[code]comment_status)) { comments_template(); } ?>[/code]

Posted in Open Source, PHP | 2 Comments »

Microsoft Public License

25. July 2009

No Comments »

There is an ongoing battle in the software industry. It exists between those who believe in the open source paradigm and those who believe in closed source (and usually proprietary) paradigm. Throughout the nineties and much of 2000, Microsoft has dominated the software industry. However, in recent years Microsoft has seen competition from open source software. Most notably Linux and Mozilla Firefox. Perhaps seeing some worth with open source software, in 2007 Microsoft created its own open source license – Microsoft Public License (MSPL not to be confused with MPL, the Mozilla Public License). Below is a copy of the license.

This license governs use of the accompanying software. If you use the software, you accept this license. If you do not accept the license, do not use the software.

1. Definitions
The terms "reproduce," "reproduction," "derivative works," and "distribution" have the same meaning here as under U.S. copyright law.
A "contribution" is the original software, or any additions or changes to the software.
A "contributor" is any person that distributes its contribution under this license.
"Licensed patents" are a contributor's patent claims that read directly on its contribution.

2. Grant of Rights
(A) Copyright Grant- Subject to the terms of this license, including the license conditions and limitations in section 3, each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free copyright license to reproduce its contribution, prepare derivative works of its contribution, and distribute its contribution or any derivative works that you create.
(B) Patent Grant- Subject to the terms of this license, including the license conditions and limitations in section 3, each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license under its licensed patents to make, have made, use, sell, offer for sale, import, and/or otherwise dispose of its contribution in the software or derivative works of the contribution in the software.

3. Conditions and Limitations
(A) No Trademark License- This license does not grant you rights to use any contributors' name, logo, or trademarks.
(B) If you bring a patent claim against any contributor over patents that you claim are infringed by the software, your patent license from such contributor to the software ends automatically.
(C) If you distribute any portion of the software, you must retain all copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices that are present in the software.
(D) If you distribute any portion of the software in source code form, you may do so only under this license by including a complete copy of this license with your distribution. If you distribute any portion of the software in compiled or object code form, you may only do so under a license that complies with this license.
(E) The software is licensed "as-is." You bear the risk of using it. The contributors give no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws which this license cannot change. To the extent permitted under your local laws, the contributors exclude the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

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Posted in Open Source | No Comments »