What Difference Does it Make if I Use Chrome vs. Firefox?

Free Mozilla Firefox Open Source Web Browser

What difference does it make if I use Chrome vs. Firefox?

Transparency:

Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. It has been defined simply as "the perceived quality of intentionally shared information from a sender". For example, a cashier making change after a point of sale transaction by offering a record of the items purchased (e.g., a receipt) as well as counting out the customer's change on the counter demonstrates transparency.

Google chose to make Chrome, as distinguished from its open source counterpart Chromium, proprietary, non-open source.  Their decision to exclude public access to the software's code was intentional and designed to place the end-user at a 'disadvantage'.

Should the public have a right to participate in oversight of software's source code that runs on their personal computers?  The answer is an emphatic yes.

If an end-user chooses proprietary solutions, they leave themselves open to exploitation in some fashion.  The licensing terms restrict, the true functionality of the software cannot be vetted as being devoid of 'rogue code' or having hidden unmaintained software defects which, if unpatched, could leave said software in a vulnerable state.


Global Crime Rings find defects and then sell exploit kits on the black market for as yet unpatched 'Zero Day Exploits'.  The likelihood that an unpatched software defect will remain unnoticed increases when using proprietary software.


Most often Linux open source is updated with a downloadable patch within a matter of hours of discovery.  If on the other hand the end-user is running Microsoft Windows Legacy, a patch may never come if the vulnerability remains hidden, unnoticed by Microsoft programming staff, or, at best will be corrected on 'Patch Tuesday', once a month by Microsoft.


The point I hope readers get from this post is this:  

With open source code maintenance, it is difficult at best for an exploitable software 'bug' to go unnoticed for an extended period of time, and it is near-impossible to merge 'rogue code' into a developer team's git repo tree which gets reviewed by many peers around the globe.

The World can and will thrive if we all share, each and every one of us.  It is our human nature to do so.  Without sharing, we will continue to see great exploitation by proprietary business and government which results in human inequality and suffering.

Make a statement which is powerful.  Demand openness.

Insist on and be selective by using only open source software.

Open Source and free Firefox can be downloaded here.  -- Dietrich

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Linux Advocacy: Lessons Learned in 2013

by Dietrich Schmitz

It's been nearly a year now since I created Linux Advocates.  I am reflecting on what has happened during the past year and appraising what changes I need to make that might make Linux Advocates more effective in terms of its advocacy.

As the website domain name implies, it is all about advocating for the use of Linux.  That is obvious but subtle at the same time.

In doing advocacy, I have discovered some things which have resulted in my making changes that seemingly run counter to the definition of advocacy.

Censorship

Over many years, I have learned from my personal experiences in website forums that readers come in varieties and types.  Taking feedback over the past year on Linux Advocates, I have found it necessary to apply rigid censorship so as to keep trolling from ruling the comments section.

It became quickly evident to me and LA co-founder +Katherine Noyes  that regardless of the cause, there is a sub-population who have no real interest in rational discourse on the topics at hand, who are merely intent to 'troll'.  It is unfortunate, but, part of the landscape and without censorship, I have seen comment feedback quickly regress.  So as to be effective in reigning in the trolls, full moderation has been on for over 6 months now.  Largely, the trolls have gone elsewhere.

But it leaves me with a strong impression of the types of people out there who make 'hating' and 'trolling' a game of sorts, who feel by virtue of their anonymity that they are not accountable for their bad behavior.  That is perhaps the most troubling aspect of today's Internet, along with privacy rights.

It represents a disconnect between how a 'normal' person would conduct his/herself in a public place and doing the same in a forum context.  Psychologists will be studying this type of behavior for years.

So be it.  Trolling is rampant, only I have filtered it out with censorship.  I don't like having to do it, but it is absolutely necessary.

Tribalism

In the real world, when you come to work to earn a paycheck, inevitably, there will be some 'friction' during the day due to human interaction.  Some conduct themselves in keeping with good business practices.  Others depart from that and their professional comportment and/or diminished social skills impact on others who come into contact with them.

Hopefully, you quickly identify who those people are and find ways to avoid unpleasant exchanges and get through your day.  Some days, it becomes impossible.

Personalities get in the way even more so on the Internet.  When it comes to professional conduct in the upstream software developer team setting, I have seen the worst kind of behavior one can imagine.  Even the grand poobah Linus Torvalds has been charged with exhibiting unprofessional, vulgar behavior.  

All it takes is one person in a position of 'authority' who controls a project to cause alienation to ripple downstream.  The side-effect of such behavior in the Open Source community includes arrogance and those directly affected by the individual must quickly choose sides -- either adversarial or side with the 'bad behavior' and cliques quickly form.  In psychology, the tendency to behave in cliques smooths out difficulties for the project unit but leaves the organization in a position of exhibiting tribalism towards outside developers who wish to advance a special software feature or change. 

In fact, so as to preserve the purity and sanctity of this advocacy, I have had to discharge more than one contributor by virtue of their inappropriate behavior.  It's not something I will ever tolerate from anyone.

The reputation of Linux Open Source has been given a 'black eye' by tribalism.  It is very divisive, damaging and counter-productive to advancing the cause of Linux advocacy.   I don't know what the future holds but while many upstream projects do not suffer from this malady, all it takes is one 'bad apple' to magnify and spread like a contagion.  I hope things improve.

Living

Living.  What do I mean by that?  Everybody wants the same thing: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Living comes at a cost.  Many currently around the globe are in the throws of economic turmoil.  And when you can't pay the rent, you are even more less likely to have any inclination to write code for an Open Source project.

That factors in for many who continue to dedicate themselves to Linux despite their life circumstances.  They are to be commended for their resolve and fidelity.  Others, simply by attrition, have either given up (Cloverleaf and SolusOS) or retired (Fuduntu).  That is the harsh reality.

I have predicted that given the serious economic turmoil, there will be a major consolidation of Linux Distributions resulting in a rapid collapse.  The result will be in the next five years only the strong will survive and that comes down to just a handful of base Distros.  And that has been a major factor influencing my decision to use Fedora -- they will be around.

Conclusion

I sincerely hope to continue providing strong advocacy for all things Linux with original and meaningful content.  I want to thank the readership for visiting my website and hope they will continue to do so throughout the 2014 year.  The average montly pageviews for 2013 was over 60,000.  

A very special thank you goes out to the Linux Advocate Contributors for their continued ongoing support.

Happy New Year Everyone,

Dietrich Schmitz
Linux Advocates, Site Owner

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End Proprietary Software Exploitation. Use Open Source Linux

by Dietrich Schmitz

It seems that every day, we learn more information about how governmental agencies can with impunity view your Internet activities, your emails, documents, everything.

Today, Liveleak has a story about how the FBI admits they have a method whereby they can remotely activate your PC's camera should they need to do so.  Of course they add that it would only be done in extreme narrowly restricted cases such as terrorism.  Isn't that the excuse our government used for invoking the Patriot Act?

Anyhow, it is quite illustrative of how proprietary based software development can ultimately lead to exploitation.  I can assure the readers that no such exploitation will occur with open source transparency at work.  That's thousands of eyes around the world  thoroughly scrutinizing Linux source code.  Whereas, by comparison, there are only a limited few at Microsoft and, given each project being segregated, one hand won't necessarily know what the other hand is doing and the 'whole picture' becomes obscured.  Many simply don't want to do anything but their own coding and won't participate in cross project code maintenance and debugging. 

That is the essence of open source transparency.  Nothing ever goes unnoticed for long.  Bugs are identified, fixed and the repository system gets an update within a matter of hours.  The codebase remains 'fresh', not stale.  

Unlike open source Linux, bugs in Microsoft's proprietary code may linger for months, even years, going entirely overlooked and unfixed which contributes to exploits such as the one discussed in this story.

So please. End proprietary software exploitation.  Begin using open source Linux today, won't you?

Be safe.

-- Dietrich

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The PC is Here to Stay

by Dietrich Schmitz

Oh the proclamations continue to amplify and the pontificators pontificate taking information repeating it, sometimes distorting it along the way and it takes on a life all its own.

Lets examine the Post-PC era.  Would that suggest that at some point there will cease to exist a demand for Desktop PCs?  Will the PC go the way of the VHS Video Player, LP records and Cassette Players for example? If so, I refuse to believe it.  And I don't care if Steve Jobs (rest in peace) predicted it.

The fact is, nothing is constant.  Everything is in a state of eternal change.  You see, every business has its ups and downs.  Every economy too undergoes fluctuations and new events and technologies lead to growth spurts resulting in stronger demand for production.  The key here is that it is cyclical in nature.

Reading in an October 30, 2012 report for example from readwrite.com:

If this is the dawn of the “post-PC era,” then the economy never got the memo. While the tablet segment is finally growing (thank you, Apple), the five-times-larger PC segment is actually growing faster in terms of units, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future....

...Industry analysis firm IDC predicts worldwide growth in tablet shipments from 2013 to 2016 to be about 32 million units per year. In the same period, the rate of PC shipment growth will be about 38 million units per year.

As if in a display of multiple-personality disorder, IDC recants its previous position according to this InformationWeek report on March 5, 2013:

The global PC market will shrink for the second consecutive year, IDC said on Monday. The research firm had previously predicted that PCs would achieve modest growth in 2013, but reversed its forecast due to slowing momentum in emerging markets, limited growth potential in mature segments and consumer indifference to new and expensive hardware.

Yet, reading just a paragraph further in the very same story reveals:

In the meantime, the firm's analysts expect PC shipments to decline by 1.3% over the rest of this year, dropping from 2012's 350.4 million, which itself was a 3.7% setback, to 345.8 million. IDC anticipates that desktops will suffer the biggest slowdown with not only a 4.2% downtick this year but also continued, albeit slower, declines through at least 2017. The outlook is somewhat rosier for portable PCs; IDC projects shipments for these products will increase almost 1% in 2013, and that emerging markets will push this segment to 241 million units by 2017, a 19.3% increase from 2012.

So, you see, this business of sales forecasting, predicting the future if you will, is rather tricky and, often, analysts just get it wrong, correct themselves, and then go further by hedging in the opposite direction.  This IDC analyst predicts PC sales will remain strong in 2013 (a bit negative year over year), but, years going forward through 2017, portable PC sales will see positive growth by as much as 19%

What can be believed?  As for myself, I don't see tablets replacing Desktop systems in the Enterprise or SMBs.  They simply can't perform production tasks as well and IT Managers aren't going to risk a wholesale shift to tablets regardless of how much the media might say the PC is dead.

You can be sure that Lenovo, HP, Dell will continue to build PCs for a long long time.

Make peace with that.  The PC is here to stay.

Oh.  By the way, I just checked my Driver's License and, can confirm, I wasn't born yesterday. ;)


-- Dietrich

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The Awesome Power Of GNU/Linux

By Robert Pogson

Modern computing hardware is awesome. GNU/Linux allows you to have it all. Unlike other operating systems which charge extra for the privilege of using your hardware to its fullest capability, GNU/Linux lets you do everything from Day One for $0, no extra charge, nada...

To focus your mind, consider networking your PCs. Lots of people and organizations have a bunch. They are on a network so you can use them all any way you want, right? Who owns the hardware after all? Look at M$'s EULA:

"The software is not licensed to be used as server software or for commercial hosting ­ for example, you may not make the software available for simultaneous use by multiple users over a network."

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Software To Love

By Robert Pogson

Some software you just have to love. It works well. It's easy to learn. The price is right. You can share it with others and not have to fear a knock at the door. It's Free Software. Love starts with the terms of the licence:

• OK to run the software,
• OK to examine the code,
• OK to modify the code, and
• OK to distribute the code modified or not under the same terms.

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The PC in a Post-PC World

The Post-PC era (Photo credit: henribergius)

Written by Guest Author: Robert Pogson  

Computers are wonderful.

They are the best/fastest/least expensive way to create, find, modify and present information of many kinds. The personal computer has issues, however. At first it was barely affordable by the common man but, thanks to Moore's Law, competition among OEMs and the Internet, PCs have become within range of all but the most poor people of the world.

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