Tech News – Canonical Bringing Music to Ubuntu, LH Strikes Again & Affero GPL Can’t Fix the Cloud

Canonical Launching a Music Store?

Rumours on the world wild web point to the possibility of Canonical building an iTunes-like music store.  Works for U thinks such a move would add another viable revenue stream for Canonical, even if it seems to stretch the resources of the firm.  If this music store comes to Ubuntu, I’m sure many users will enjoy using it.  And it will help Canonical start a community of artists, musicians and software firms to using Canonical and Ubuntu as a platform for selling content and applications.

The Linux Hater Tries Karmic Koala

No one knows who hides behind the LH mask.  Is he an enlightened but disgruntle Linux programmer?  Or is the king of all trolls?  Who cares!  Read up his (or her) review of the “fail” that is Ubuntu’s Karmic Koala.  You’ll get a kick out of it.

Kubuntu Needs Documentation Help

nixternal (Richard Johnson) calls for help to improve the sad state of the Kubuntu documentation.  If you are a tech writer and enjoy using Kubuntu, please help out.  UPDATE: You should know how to use DocBook to help.

Affero GPL Can’t Fix the Cloud

One of the great opportunities and threats for commercial open source is the emerging cloud computing landscape.  However Matthew Asslett (451 Group) points out the Affero GPL doesn’t negate the threat of no monetary contributions from cloud providers to commercial open source vendors.  Yes it doesn’t.  But the licenses were designed to get  source code contributions from developers.  Business models need to focus on selling value (some scarce resource based on real scarcity not an artificial one) to clients, and some clients will not see the value.  There will always be those that get away.  The Affero GPL does help “guide” most cloud providers contribute back.  If anything the GPL will give more freedom and opportunities for many more smaller players than a few large ones.  And that solves many more economic and social problems than anything else.

I’m Hating it!

Humanity has a love-hate relationship with technology. Geeks like to take it to the extreme. Take the recent hub-bub in the blogosphere about the aptly named: Linux Hater’s Blog. In that blog, the anonymous blogger (or bloggers) rants about how BAD Linux is. Its entertaining and educational! Entertaining because rants and rabble-raising is fun… in a perverse sort of fashion.

This is not just a simply a rehash of Microsoftian propaganda; a machination of an ingenious marketing machine feeding FUD to an ignorant public. Rather the Linux Hater’s Blog (LHB) looks at the issues that Linux suffers from. Just like the Unix Hater’s Guide (thanks LH) before it, LHB satires the attitudes of the community, developers and companies in the Linux landscape. And hopeful as satire has done before, maybe better the Linux, Open Source and Software Libre ecosystem as a whole. Don’t be fooled. The Linux Hater is most likely an experience developer in the Linux world, and knows damn well what he is talking err… ranting about. And deep down inside he loves it.

I read both of the Linux Hater’s Blog and Unix Hater’s Guide in their entirety. It changed my perspective. Linux and UNIX are not perfect. The design and implementation of both of them aren’t the shining gems of computer science. And for historical reasons, and laziness on the part of Linux/FOSS developers, just doesn’t cut it anymore.

I admit it. I still prefer Linux. I’ll continue using Linux with all its wrinkles and weirdness because it’s still the best OS out there. I’ll still think freedom in software is paramount. I’ll still advocate open source as the most ethical and efficient way of doing business in the software industry. And I’ll still write in C, C++ and its spawn Java. Cause Lisp is way too hard to do in my head.

Thanks Linux Hater.