Linux/FOSS

Why are you telling me this now?

I’ve just come across this article on ‘7 of the Best Free Linux Medical Imaging Software‘. It’s on Linux.com. Now, my problem with this is: why on earth do I want to know about this? And more to the point: why would anyone who does want to know about this want to know about it […]

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Writing

Nothing like a race to make you run faster

Found out today that an old uni friend of mine also writes, and has read stuff out loud at an open mic night. Out loud. Cripes, I can barely read my own work to myself silently. Cojones, that man. Respect. Really wish I had more time to write. It’s great to know of someone who’s […]

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the Web

Free or Die

There’s been a lot written and said these past few months on the subject of Free, Freemium, Freetards etc. And a hell of a lot of it has been crap. First there’s Free, by Chris Anderson, perhaps the Freemium bible. Then there’s Lilly Allen and those who fell upon Allen like several tonnes of bricks. […]

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Writing

Writing Tips – putting them into practice

Very happy with myself today. I’ve done little writing (but this counts, right? ;)) but I’ve been catching up on a couple of writing blogs, and found that I’ve already been putting two of their ideas into practice. Writing this very blog entry is carrying out a third. Larry Brooks is the ‘Story Fixer‘. I […]

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the Web

Computer Training

You need training to use a computer. If you’re not trained, you’re wrecking it for the rest of us. So maybe we’re not trained. Or rather, we’re self-trained. We take a natural interest in computers: how to make them faster, more useful, more powerful, more fun to use. Most people don’t, and that in itself […]

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Linux/FOSS

Year of the Linux Desktop, Again

What is a semi-geeky blog without considering this question of a January? I was listening to the excellent-please-send-me-a-free-gift-cheers Tux Radar podcast on the way to work this morning, and they were discussing just that topic. Thankfully they said straight away that the question was becoming ever more clearly a stupid one, and possibly irrelevant. A […]

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the Web

The End of Civilisation as We Know it. Oh, wait.. no.

I feel like the web, Web 2.0, Freemium, Twitter, AJAX and all that other crazy stuff we find ourselves mired in is about to implode. The backlash has begun. It’s likely because ‘normal’ people (also known as ‘the rest of us’) are now involved (as it should be). I also think that we’re on course […]

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Linux/FOSS

Beauty vs Freedom

“I am shallow when it comes to aesthetics… poetry before prose, Greeks before Romans, dignity before elegance, elegance before culture, culture before erudition, erudition before knowledge, knowledge before intellect, intellect before truth” Nicholas Nassim Taleb Where do Linux users themselves sit on this spectrum? The question really has to be where do which Linux users […]

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Linux/FOSS

No More Command Line

With all the talk of the Windows 7 release, much publicity has fallen on Linux, and in particular Karmic Koala, which is being released not long after Redmond’s stuff. Have a look at Rory Cellan Jones article on the BBC: 24 hours with Ubuntu. The comments section is pretty neutral, but both the for and […]

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