Brainstorm Watch #2

... or how to disrespect developers. This is not about a simple Brainstorm entry, but a general problem with the most popular GNU/Linux system: they don't like development tools! Especially RAD like packages are always very outdated. (Yes, I know: YouDontNeedThat.) This doesn't mean they have too many professional tools, but the few they have are very well hidden somewhere in Synaptic, they are old, buggy, outdated, poorly documented. The brave Cannonical don't really support or try to recommend anything for the poor developers trying to code something on their libre OS. The title of today's story is Eclipse:

• remove eclipse from the ubuntu repositories : ... poor developers are begging the Ubuntu guys to update this package, since three years...
  But they got only a lot of promises:
  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/eclipse/+bug/123064
  
  (Eclipse is almost the only, decent developer IDE available in linux distributions and Ubuntu features a three year old outdated version, 3.2)
  
  Some people say it's easy to get the latest version from the website, because it is only a zip file, but interestingly in the same time is VERY HARD to package. Ok, I don't know too much about a deb package but if is so hard to achieve to store a simple folder in deb file then please drop the whole apt-get-its-soo-easy-to-install-10000-software-with-a-single-click-in-linux thing.
  
  Even the dictator Mark Shuttleworth have something to say here: The beauty of an open community effort is that it inherits the priorities of everyone who participates. Yes, this does not make too much sense, but he continues: One of our requirements in working with Sun is that Eclipse work well. I fully support the idea of being able to apt-get the latest stable Eclipse. Brilliant. Unfortunately this was 2 years ago. And they still have the aged Eclipse 3.2 version. Go, go, go switch to linux....
  
  (of course this is normal in a distro based on a software museum (also called sometimes Debian). you have guessed, the bleeding edge sid also has the stone age version of Eclipse)
  
  So, somebody should wake up the Eclipse team.

Brainstorm Watch #1

One of the funniest website I know is the one made by/for a group of freetards who are trying to develop a Windows 95 like desktop operating system. Yes, that is the Ubuntu Brainstorm, where people can share their genius ideas like: Need a CD/DVD burner that has no bugs and just works or if OpenOffice 3.0 takes really too much time to start-up then (silence please) make it faster !!!

Because I am really impressed by this new wave of ideas, I will try to make these even more popular, so I am starting the Brainstorm Watch series.

Let the fun begin!

• OpenOffice 3.0 takes really too much time to start-up : ya, this huge monolitic application is really heavy, but no problem the solutions are here:
  
  • Solution #1: Speed start-up of OpenOffice: man, I am shocked... and he continues: Probably not all features should be loaded when starting program. When some one needs some feature it could be loaded on demand. Yes, probably. But probably the developers knows this, and probably it's very hard to make it modular now because probably it is poorly designed.
  • Solution #2: Work on c/c++ alternatives to use them in later release: today I don't have time, but tomorrow after 5:00 PM I will make a c++ alternative to OO, so don't cry.
  • ... and finally a more realistic comment: Canonical should start a paid version of Ubuntu desktop, which should have more stable and tested software. Only then can they actually work on individual apps better, its not possible without funds. Ya, and if it's about paid things, here is my solution: take MS Office and have a nice day.
    
    
• Gimp is slower than other photo editing software : ..... you poor GIMP..... basically it's not that bad, but they have to fight with the fact that Linux does not have a professional graphics editor and everybody thinks they will fix this. Hope dies last.
  
  • Solution #1: Make Gimp faster: it's a bit boring to comment this...
  • Solution #2: Help develop a new paint suite: this is more interesting.... Non-destructive filters, Object based editing and change tracking, GPU accelerated ... I think this will be easy. Today I don't have time, but as I told you tomorrow after 5:00 PM we can fix the OpenOffice and the GIMP problem. BTW, when you say "Help develop" what do you mean?
    
    
• Abandoned softwares are unusable after one year : ...first..why? are they rotting? .... ah, the legendary Linux backward compatibility....
  
  • Solution #1: Keep the old packages in the newer repositories: and advertise Ubuntu as a distro with sooooo many useful software.
  • Solution #5: Notify Bloggers, Who Will Provide Information About Maintained Software: for example me.
  • My solution: put a HUGE RED exclamation mark before every abandoned software title in your nice package manager and play the "Critical Stop.wav" if the user still wants to install it. Doing this, you will help people to save precious time and you will contribute to world peace.

That is for today. Good bye.

A Waste of Bandwidth

Did you ever tried Zen computing?

Did you know that dreams can come true?

Do you know where debian meets other things?

Do you know what happens when a gnome reaches something else?

Do you want to discover the difference?

Well, you are one click away to explore these exciting things. Basically you will need a 600 to 4200 MB of bandwidth (and another 2-300MB for the gazillion of updates (there is no escape, *buntu will bombard you with the messages)).

There is nothing wrong here, you will get a lot of software:

• a desktop environment (typically KDE, Gnome of XFCE)
• a complete office suite: OpenOffice (don't forget to search the forums to find the well hidden speed improvement options)
• a "Photoshop replacement" called GIMP (do NOT even try to comment the incredibly ugly UI)
• a really good web browser: Firefox (or the same thing rebranded to Iceweasel because of some weird political reasons)
• other 23672 software titles you never heard of.

Burn, format, install and enjoy. Not for your taste? No problem, you can go with the next.
Just download another 600MB iso. I think it's worth this price. Just imagine, you will get a lot of software:

• a desktop environment (typically KDE, Gnome of XFCE)
• a complete office suite: OpenOffice (don't forget to .......

Wait.... Something is wrong here? YES!#~ We are installing the same things again and again.....

This is caused by another fundamental lie in this whole penguin advocacy: the choose the right GNU/Linux distribution trap. Theoretically you are supposed to choose the right distribution, by downloading each of them from their nice website. These websites will promise you everything you have ever imagined. But looking more carefully you will notice that most of them are just clones, the differences are minor, they contain the exactly same set of software with a different desktop background and of course a different slogan. Building from the source, installing in text of graphical mode, does not matter: you will have the same results.

One thing may be different: one hardware (or software) may work with one (because they forget include a bug from upstream) and the same hardware (or software) will fail with another (because a bug passed the "community" tests).

My favorite is this *buntu clone. They are producing an elegant and comfortable distribution. You can download their 650MB / edition ISO's. But I can give you a better idea. Just add their repository to your apt list and you have Mint (in Ubuntu for example). Their whole work is only a few megabytes. No disrespect for the creators, but what is the point of this Mint thing?

Just imagine MS doing the same thing with Windows. Selling Windows under 200 different names:

• Windows Brown Background edition
• Windows Green Background edition
• Windows Start Menu on Top edition
• ...
• Windows Satanic edition
  

In the real world any respected download site does not allows posting of clones of the same software. They are protecting their users from downloading them same or sligtly modified thing again.

Yes, I know. The freedom. The freedom to be stupid.

The spirit of free software

While the followers of RMS are fighting with the evil using and defending their communist license it seems that they forget to respect the others:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/medibuntu/+bug/203214

• Medibuntu shouldn't distribute software against their license. Inside the medibuntu repos you offer packages which violate most likely the distribution policy of these products.

Let's say what the first poster says:

• To put in a nutshell, because that's the purpose of Medibuntu (like debian-multimedia for debian or plf for mandriva for example).

Should I comment this?

BTW Launchpad looks great. I am sure that I can download and install on my machine. Or... What???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Launchpad_(website)

Launchpad, the software founded by the father of the most popular open source system is not free software ?!?!? I am destroyed... But the boss will explain why:

• Launchpad has been criticized by the Jem Report and other members of the free software community for not being available under a free license, such as the GNU GPL, despite its aims. The developers have stated that they aim to eventually release it under a free software license, but that it could potentially take years.
  Founder Mark Shuttleworth responded to this criticism that Launchpad needs paid-programmers to continue the development of the Launchpad platform and that there would be no point in developing multiple versions of Launchpad due to the probable incompatibility of the forks. However, this has still left some members of the open-source movement dissatisfied.

Paid-programmers? No forks? No source code? Where are the great benefits of being open source?

Nowhere, good software needs exactly this and not a bunch of loud fanboys.

Oh, oh, life is complicated.

Locked into the repository

I hate package management systems. The biggest problem with them, that they are forcing you to use a specific version of the software.

Apt, yum or pacman (ya, it is a requirement to develop the same thing again and again) is one of key feature of every damn distro. Videos like this are heart touching. Easy, easy, update, ugrade, choice, freedom, more than 20.000 packages, freedom again, and choice again.

(A special warning for linux beginners: do NOT use Synaptic, because it is too easy and you will look stupid on the forums.)

If you want OpenOffice 3 on a distro with v2.4 then you are fucked. You can a do this but be aware of this. Oh, I have found the solution: you don't need that anyway.

With real world operating systems you go to the program homepage, choose a PREFERRED version/edition and go with download/install. Please observe the possibility of the REAL CHOICE. Eventually you can remove the whole OpenOffice shit safely without destroying the half of your system, because of a stupid dependency problem.

Further readings:

• apt or aptitude? This is a big mistery, apparently nobody is sure.
• YAY! BIG UPDATE COMING! This does not sounds very friendly. "Now go watch TV for a while." ... or go think about your own distribution.
• Why Debian Is Not My Favourite Operating System. Does anybody knows a linux distro without this package management shit?
  

Yes yes another anti linux blog...

Welcome!

With this blog I am trying to counterbalance the COCK spread by the freetard community.

I am thinking to set this url as my home page: http://www.ubuntustory.com

• Its open architecture guarantees that it is almost 100% bug free, and even if some bugs occur, they are being fixed in a matter of hours.

So, Debian should go to hell with Lenny, because Ubuntu is also ("almost") 100% bug free.

Further readings:

• Every program in Ubuntu is using different way of handling the same problem
• I love this company!

Note: this blog is experimental, changes to existing posts are possible and most probably will never be consequent and structured. So it is like a linux distro. And it is free to read and somehow open source (just send me your patches). Being free and open also means I may cancel anytime without any notification.