Creative Commons

The Open Source movement is about freedom and it relies on the willingness of creators to share their work so that others can build upon and improve it. Of course, not all content needs to be shared completely and the creator is and always should be in control of how much of their content is shared. Creative Commons is a way for creators to open up their work to the community under their own terms. On the Creative Commons licensing page we learn:

"The Creative Commons licenses enable people to easily change their copyright terms from the default of 'all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.'

Creators choose a set of conditions they wish to apply to their work.

Attribution. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request.

Noncommercial. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only.

No Derivative Works. You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

Share Alike. You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work."

So when you see these symbols, know what they mean.

To learn more visit the Creative Commons Website and watch the video below.

Free Software Foundation - A Worthy Cause

Free software is not all about saving money. I certainly do not mind paying for the applications and games that I have purchased if they are good, but once I purchase them I believe they should actually be mine. I think it would be quite silly if I purchased a movie and was only allowed to use it on one DVD player, but no one seems to find it silly when I can only install a program or game on one computer or run it on only one operating system. Championing Open Source software is not just something I do to save money, rather it is a way to exercise my rights to use what belongs to me. If I pay good money for a product, I should be able to use it however I want. Open Source is about giving the user freedom to share, study, and modify what they own.

Since it is not all about the money my husband and I have decided to increase our financial support to more of the Open Source projects that we believe in. Once a month we will pick a project we think is worthy and give them our financial support. I will then highlight them here so that others can learn about what they are doing. Since I am just really beginning to seriously explore Open Source we thought we would start the year off by highlighting and donating to the Free Software Foundation. The main goal of the FSF to is fight for the freedoms of computer users like myself. Here are some excerpts from their website that explain exactly what they do.

"The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)3 donor supported charity founded in 1985 and based in Boston, MA, USA. The FSF has a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users."

"The FSF maintains the Free Software Definition - to show clearly what must be true about a particular software program for it to be considered free software."

"The FSF sponsors the GNU project the ongoing effort to provide a complete operating system licensed as free software. "

"The FSF holds copyright on a large proportion of the GNU operating system, and other free software. We hold these assets to defend free software from efforts to turn free software proprietary... We do this to ensure that free software distributors respect their obligations to pass on the freedom to all users..."

"The FSF publishes the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), the worlds most popular free software license, and the only license written with the express purpose of promoting and preserving software freedom."

There are several ways you can support the Free Software Foundation, and of course financial support is always a great way to start. The FSF receives the bulk of their income from individual donors just like you and me. You can make a donation online or in the mail, or even become a member. Your membership can be paid in full or split up into monthly installments.

At the FSF website you can see this video from Stephen Fry as he announces the birthday of the GNU project. In it he explains the concept of "free" software in a manner in which I think you will understand and enjoy. I hope this will at least explain to you why I am so passionate about the Open Source movement.

How To Install The Ubuntu Linux OS

I am about ready to install a Linux Operating System (OS) onto my machine. After much research I have decided to install Ubuntu. Not only is it the OS my husband prefers but in my research I have heard that it is one of the easiest to both use and install. It is very user friendly and their website has very easy step-by-step instructions on how to download and install it.

I found a pretty good video which instructs the average user on how to install and run Linux. In it you will notice that he mentions instructions on downloading and burning the Cd. For those who do do not have the ability or desire to burn a copy of Ubuntu (or any other distribution) they do offer to send you the Ubuntu CD free of charge, but it can take up to 10 weeks to receive it so make sure you are prepared to wait if you do that. The video also shows how to install Ubuntu but he then actually runs the Mepis distribution. I will be installing and running only Ubuntu.

I found out some great information for those of you who are still not sure you are ready or willing to commit to a full Linux OS. When you boot to the Ubuntu Cd for the first time it gives you an option to run the OS straight from the CD. This requires absolutely no installation onto your machine. You can play around in the Linux environment and get a feel for it without the risk of messing anything up and without any commitment to keep it. I did that last night and played around with it for awhile. It really did have a similar feel to Windows and it was not long before I was able to figure out how things worked. I really looked into everything on my menu and even read through some help files to learn about some aspects that were new to me. Do realize that it does run slower running it off the Cd than it would if you actually installed it though, so don't let that make you think running Ubuntu is slow. Just use it to get a feel for the environment.

Another option for those either unwilling to commit to full Linux or who simply want to run both Operating Systems is to install it inside Windows using Wubi. The Wubi installer is already part of the Cd you have either downloaded or ordered from Ubuntu. When you run the disk while in Windows it will give you an option to install inside Windows. If you do this you will be able to boot to either Windows or Linux on startup and if you decide you do not like it you can uninstall it inside Windows without having done any damage.

With all that in mind I wanted to share the videos I found. The Videos below are part of a four part series from DottoTech on installing Linux fully onto a machine. No matter which option you choose, he does a pretty good job at explaining all that is involved in a way that is easy for any user to understand. If you find them helpful and want more info you can check out his Youtube page and look for the other videos in the series. I think these two cover most of the basics. If you have any doubt about it at all I really suggest playing around in the demo first and then using the Wubi to install it (although I will not be nor have I used Wubi, I have heard it works pretty reliably). This is the safest way to get some experience with Linux.