News about KDE & Gnome

Lately I blogged much more about KDE than about Gnome. Maybe because I use KDE on my PC and not Gnome (which does not mean that I’m VERY happy
to see Gnome being successful).

Now this entry contains information about KDE… BUT Gnome too. So… be informed.

One step forward: a review of GNOME 2.22

This article will examine many of the new features and programs included in GNOME 2.22 and illuminate how the changes and improvements impact the overall user experience. We will also provide some insight into some of the new architectural features and demonstrate how they can be leveraged by third-party software developers.

ArsTechnica has an detailed report about the new Gnome release.

Source: Lwn.net

Interview: Aaron Seigo, KDE Project Lead

In a nutshell: KDE has grown up in just about every way imaginable in the years I’ve had the pleasure and privelege of being a contributor. The successful maturation of the project is certainly one indicator of its success, and the fact that it has done this while the active leadership has gone through a couple of generations shows that this likely to continue on.
If anything defines KDE, it is the deep internalization of the values and goals of the group within every corner and sub-project.

Sirius.co.uk has an interview with Aaron Seigo about the development of KDE and especially KDE 4.X

Source: Lwn.net

Monochrom’s Marxist sock puppets

More details…

Enough whining about the financial crisis?

Then laugh about it instead

Miro fundraising campaign

Online video is growing rapidly, but is also facing a crisis:
A few very large sites have dominant market share and cases of corporate censorship are happening every single day. Creators are stuck.
Miro is leading the fight to ensure that video online can be open to every creator, anywhere in the world. This is truly a battle for the future of free speech and media access.

This is the situation told by the Participatory Culture Foundation which is responsible for miro (an open source/free software internet television application).

Our team cares deeply about our mission and we need to ensure that our work can continue. Two large donors have promised to commit funding if we can also build strong support from our users.
There is no more important time than right now for you to donate–we’re taking steps towards self-sustainability–in the meantime we urgently need your support.

I think its very important to have a open internet television infrastructure to allow free speech for individuals and companies alongside. NOW is the chance to establish
a form of media which is not top down driven and company centered like the established one but democratic and open for everybody!

There are also two videos which are explaining the cause of the miro software. One is with Dave Glassco – Miro Funder and the other with OK Go’s Andy Ross talking about: Why Miro Matters.

Donating for miro can be done on this page.

Robot dog

Suprising for me how good these robots can be. Watch and be fascinated (and a little scared too *g*) …

How It All Ends: Nature of Science

In the past I made a post about great video episodes of a chemistry teacher talking about climate change and why it is important
and logical to try to do something against it.

The next three episodes are about the nature of science. Why it is so difficult to prove something is absolutely right, or better, why it is NOT possible
to do so.
They also show how beliefs and views can lead us to wrong assumptions. Enjoy and lean!

You can also add the channel into miro if you want to.

Addressing Doubts about REST

If you are interested in the field of SOA technologies you may have noticed that there are two technologies rivaling against each other.
The older on of the two is SOAP/WSDL-based Web services.
The other one is called REST.

As REST is a new technology and philosophy there are some doubts if it can fulfill the tasks it promises to master.
InfoQ.com has an article addressing the 10 biggest doubts.

Stefan Tilkov has written another article attempting to addresses the 10 of the most common doubts people have about REST when they start exploring it, especially if they have a strong background in the architectural approach behind SOAP/WSDL-based Web services.

Source: InfoQ.com

Rockin’ Eco Hero

Over the past 25 years, “illusionist, eco-entertainer and kid comedian” Steve Trash has been sharing tips with kids about what we can do to make the world just a little bit greener.

CreativeCommons.org reports that Steve Trash released his book The Magic of Ecology as an E-Book… licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license.

The Magic of Ecology offers 22 magic tricks that illustrate ecological principles of science. Steve says the tricks are great for teachers and kids (both little and big)

I think its a great idea to combine the art of illusions to attract children and in the same time teaching them being green is cool.

Source: CreativeCommons.org

10 comic books released under Creative Commons

Steven Richards, creator of the Diesel Sweeties comic strips decided to license the archive with 2.000 comic strips under CC BY-NC license.

These files will be in PDF form, available one per week for ten weeks. You can donate if so inclined.

The first e-book is already available as torrent and direct download.

All eBooks will be released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license. You’re free to reformat them into .CBR, Word docs, XML, whatever you like. You’re also free to archive and share them with others for free. They’re even small enough to email. Just don’t use them commercially.

Source: CreativeCommons.org

We’d love to work with Microsoft

We’d love to work with Microsoft is not something someone would expect to hear from the Linux Foundation.
The define their roles as such:

• We obviously are the home of [Linux founder] Linus Torvalds
• Promote Linux as a technology solution, and that’s across embedded, mobile, server, desktop computing.
• Respond to competitive marketing on behalf of the platform, so when competitors are out spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt about open source or if there is a general lack of understanding of open-source licensing practices or governance practices, our organization plays a role educating [the] industry and end-users on those issues.
• We protect the platform by allowing people … to work as fellows at the foundation so that they can be neutral actors in a mass collaboration project like Linux.
• We manage the Linux trademark.
• We have a legal defense fund for the platform.
• We work with the USPTO on patent quality issues.
• We work on the standardizing the Linux platform.

As Infoworld.com talks with the Linux Foundation they are also mentioning Microsoft

We’d like to have a place where developers can come and work on making Linux more effectively interoperate with Microsoft products. And we’d like to do that in the open-source way that’s not tied to any specific marketing agreement, that’s not tied to any specific contract, that is an open process that can be participated in by anyone in the community.

Source: Lwn.net