-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Software Freedom and Web Applications
,----[ Quote ]
| For some, this is an exciting prospect. But for those, like Stallman,
| concerned with issues of software freedom, it is frightening. Even in the
| dark days of the proprietary printer driver, Stallman still had control over
| the computer which drove the printer, even if he did not have the source code
| to modify it. But with a Web 2.0 application, you don’t have even that. The
| computer running your software is locked away in some distant server farm.
| You can only communicate with it through your web browser.
`----
http://autonomo.us/2008/07/software-freedom-and-web-applications/
Richard Stallman: Free Software and Beyond
,----[ Quote ]
| The key to promote Free Software is not software in itself, the possibility
| to be able to “cook”, but: as long as software is needed to do more and more
| things because of the pervasiveness of the Digital Economy, then we’re
| talking not about the freedom to run some software, but the freedom to
| perform a lot of activities.
|
| For instance, e-Books, DRM, etc. attempt against the possibility to lend
| books, or give them to your sons and grandsons, because electronic book
| readers are not made on free software, hence they subjugate the user to the
| retailers’ will. Buying such devices is like stating you don’t want to share
| your books so you should advice your friends that, if they buy these devices,
| you won’t be friends anymore, because they don’t want to share books in a
| community of readers.
|
| So, the problem is not software in itself, but changing (to worse) the model
| of society we’re living in to another one more closed, selfish, commoditized,
| etc.
`----
http://ictlogy.net/20080715-richard-stallman-free-software-and-beyond/
UNISA uses Freedom Toaster to provide digital course material
,----[ Quote ]
| (Shuttleworth Foundation July 17, 2008) One of the world’s largest distance
| learning institutions, the University of South Africa (UNISA) is now using
| Freedom Toasters to provide students with course-related resources. The
| University of South Africa (UNISA) is one of the world’s largest
| distance-learning universities and is now using Freedom Toasters from
| Breadbin Interactive, rebranded as ‘UNISA Toasters’, to provide students with
| content for their courses. The Freedom Toaster is an innovative content
| delivery kiosk that allows users to choose and burn relevant content onto
| CDs, DVDs or USB flash drives using an easy touch screen interface. The
| Freedom Toaster uses a customised open source operating system that allows
| the kiosks to burn multiple disks at once. Thanks to the open source nature
| of the Freedom Toaster, UNISA has been able to customise the platform for its
| own requirements. Students using the UNISA Toasters simply punch their
| student numbers onto the touch screen interface which then displays their
| registered course list in digital format. The student chooses the course
| material he requires and then burns it onto CD, DVD or USB flash drive.
`----
http://www.freedomtoaster.co.za/
Recent:
Web apps: the next battleground for FOSS?
,----[ Quote ]
| Until Barulli suggested his course of action, Clipperz was best known for its
| problem in having Google Code host the Web site for Clipperz's community
| edition. The project wished to license its software under the Affero General
| Public License (AGPL), a license that closes the distribution loophole in the
| standard GPL by defining the offering of software as a service as a form of
| distribution that carries the same obligations.
|
| However, Google refused to host a project licensed under the AGPL, claiming
| first that it wished to avoid a proliferation of licenses, and later that the
| AGPL was unproven. However, many observers suggested that the real reason was
| that Google, which had profited from the loophole, was simply nervous about
| any association with AGPL.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/140934
Libraries: Eliminate DRM!
,----[ Quote ]
| Recently, we took action against the Boston Public Library (BPL) demanding
| that they embargo the use of DRM technology on their collection and create a
| policy that respects the motto that hangs above their door: "free-to-all." To
| send a message to all libraries that they too should respect their patrons'
| freedom, we urge you to sign our open letter.
`----
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/Libraries-Eliminate-DRM
Following Removal of DRM, MIT Resubscribes to SAE Database
,----[ Quote ]
| IT faculty, students, and staff have access to the Society of Automotive
| Engineer’s technical papers over the web again, because the SAE listened to
| MIT and other universities when they spoke out against the imposition of
| Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology.
|
| Last spring, the MIT Libraries cancelled their web access to the (SAE)
| technical papers, because the society was imposing a DRM plug-in called
| FileOpen that seriously impeded normal scholarly use.
`----
http://news-libraries.mit.edu/blog/following-removal/1024/
Protest DRM at the Boston Public Library
,----[ Quote ]
| the BPL [Boston Public Library] has launched a new service powered by a
| company called OverDrive. The system gives BPL patrons access to books,
| music, and movies online -- but only if they use a Microsoft DRM system.
|
| There are lots of problems with the introduction of this system: it bars
| access to users of GNU/Linux and MacOS and creates a dependence on a single
| technology vendor for access. These are important issues, certainly. The
| worst problem, however, is much more fundamental.
|
| By adopting a DRM system for library content, the BPL is giving OverDrive,
| copyright holders, and Microsoft the ability to decide what, when, and how
| its patrons can and cannot read, listen, and watch these parts of the BPL
| collection.
`----
http://mako.cc/copyrighteous/20080207-00
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAkh/hA8ACgkQU4xAY3RXLo69lwCdH/ZJh/FDoNVAPWVUxj0hGT3g
kWIAnRtOk0+pFPnU1tmKT4qAxiP+Ub3w
=1rTY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
|
|
