Software patents protect innovation? I’ve a bridge for sale

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The former President and CEO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz, has written an interesting piece on patent racketeering Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal. The comments are well worth a read as well. If you think software patents encourage innovation (overall) then I have a bridge to sell you. Software patents are not only wrong, wrong, wrong … they don’t even achieve what they set out to. On a less serious note, I liked this quote from a comment:

(deep voice here) It’d be a shame if that pretty idea got into a legal “accident”.(end voiceover)

[Follow-up 31/3/2010]
Thumbs down for software patents in NZ – Thank goodness. So far, so good.

Posted in IP

Getting latest Firefox and Thunderbird on Ubuntu

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OK – you have Ubuntu and you want the latest versions of Firefox and Thunderbird. Unfortunately, they aren’t in the current repositories. You consider the option of manually installing from debs but that undermines one of the benefits of desktop linux – the way it automatically keeps your applications up-to-date for you. So what’s the answer? Thanks to the brilliant Daniel Folkinshteyn, there’s Ubuntuzilla. Here is how I got Ubuntuzilla to work for me:

1) in terminal run:

echo -e "\ndeb http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null

2) then run:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com C1289A29

3) and:

sudo apt-get update

4) Download ubuntuzilla deb from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ubuntuzilla/

5) Install ubuntuzilla

6) Install Firefox first using command

ubuntuzilla.py

7) Install Thunderbird 3 using command

ubuntuzilla.py --package=thunderbird
(NB there are two dashes before the word package)
I think the following also works:
ubuntuzilla.py -p thunderbird

In both cases, you get a choice of language and whether to backup everything (choose y for the latter 😉 ).

Then get the personas extension for Thunderbird and choose a persona, get the lightning calendar add-on, and choose a persona for Firefox. You’re good to go.

See also:
easily-upgrade-your-firefox-to-35-in-ubuntu
and
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ubuntuzilla
and if you have problems upgrading to 3.1 see Ubuntuzilla thunderbird 3.1 problem fixed

Support graphics arrive in SOFA Statistics

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The first release for series 0.9 of SOFA Statistics has just been launched. The main focus of series 0.9 will be the “learn-as-you-go” goal. To this end, there will be plenty of support graphics and decision-support documentation. See 0.9.0 can examine normality of variables when selecting main test to use. Matplotlib is being used for the support charting.

Support graphing in the new series of SOFA Statistics releases

Support graphing in the new series of SOFA Statistics releases

Entertaining and important video on copyright

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Anyone who cares about creativity, copyright, and artistic freedom should check out this entertaining and important video:

http://www.vimeo.com/7675598

“© kiwiright” is a 12 minute documentary about how copyright laws have been contorted to bene?t the ?nancial needs of corporate rights holders and no longer bene?ts the public nor the artists who create the work itself. Employing a fair-use argument, © kiwiright” intercuts interviews with New Zealand lawmakers and technologists with Disney clips de?ning and commenting on copyright law.

The filmmaker calls “© kiwiright” a “proof-of-concept” ?lm remixing footage from other ?lms released under Creative Commons licenses to build an argument against “guilt upon accusation” laws and to promote freedom of speech and expression.
http://www.vimeo.com/7675598

Copyright law is very important to protect artists and other people who create things ** – but a balance must be struck with the rights of citizens. “Big Media” is pursuing its interests – we should be pursuing ours.

Also check out: creativefreedom.org.nz

** For example, my creative work SOFA Statistics is protected by copyright.

Posted in IP

FFmpeg deserves support

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I have recommended WinFF before. WinFF is a GUI for the command line video converter, FFMPEG. Without FFmpeg, there would be a lot I couldn’t easily do. So I am happy to support it in my own small way. Please read below:

FFmpeg is an open source project, so it is a shame when companies rip it off by breaching its licence. Here is a link to the FFmpeg Hall of Shame.

Karmic MySQL Server Problem Fixed

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The Karmic upgrade went really well but MySQL server seemed to die along the way. A temporary solution that worked for me was found here – http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1040786.

sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server-5.1
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo rm -rf /etc/mysql
sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.1

[update] This solution doesn’t persist after reboot (at present). Still useful if I need to test MySQL but not a proper answer.
[update] running
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start
does the trick. Not sure why it isn’t happening automatically on startup.
[SOLUTION]
The mysql file was in /etc/rc3/, rc4, and rc5, but not rc2. Why? No idea at all. Anyway, a quick gksu nautilus and copying S19mysql (yours may have a different number) and pasting it from rc3 into rc2 later, then a reboot to be sure. Working as needed. NB a prefix of K means deactivate.

To see if mysql is running:

ps -ef | grep mysql

a single line response (your mysql client?) is not a good sign.

Here is on thread of interest: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8320705

Here are the main resources I found useful:

http://brainwreckedtech.wordpress.com/2008/04/25/ubuntu-804-bug-with-mysql-and-apparmor/
http://case.oncle-tom.net/2008/05/04/modifier-emplacement-donnees-serveur-mysql/
http://www.hobbes.ch/2009/11/mysql-stopped-working-after-update/
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1305921.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1322070
http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=47195
http://www.mail-archive.com/ubuntu-server-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com/msg16084.html
NB My AppArmor mask denied etc didn’t affect the working of the system so was a bit of a side-track in my case. Mainly affects you if you don’t use standard path locations.
http://en.opensuse.org/AppArmor_Geeks
http://www.vanimpe.eu/blog/2009/01/13/requested_mask-denied_mask-errors-on-ubuntu-with-mysql/

Locking Ubuntu Gnome Panel

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Children have a knack for messing up anything tidy. Unlike their rooms, and the car, however, your computer can be kept orderly – at least in part. On Ubuntu, it is possible to lock down the panels (the top and bottom bars with icons and menus).

Firstly, get System Tools>Configuration Editor displaying. Do this from System>Preferences>Main Menu.

Once the menu item is available, go to System Tools>Configuration Editor>apps>panel>global>locked_down and tick it. In Karmic there appears to be no need to reboot or restart Gnome. It is not too painful to undo this, make some changes, and relock it if necessary.

Making custom emblems for Ubuntu

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Have you ever wanted to make your own emblems for Ubuntu? It is very easy. Just use the GIMP (or something similar) to make a png image (make it at least 40x40px) and then open nautilus (e.g. Places>Home Folder>Edit>Backgrounds and Emblems and add it. I store all my emblems in ~/Pictures/emblems. For a brilliant overview of adding emblems etc visit http://www.go2linux.org/How-Customize-Ubuntu-with-Backgrounds-and-Emblems.