Linux is Not Windows!
Who said it is? But it is not a rhetorical question.
It is true that many to whom desktop computer is synonymous with Windows try to move curiously near Linux with the assumption that it is just another Operating system like windows and they expect it to be like that. More than that. “They come to Linux, expecting to find essentially a free, open-source version of Windows”, avers Dominic Humphries. That is the truth of the matter.
He has written a comprehensive article dwelling on what to expect and what not to in Linux and shapes your mindset such that your Linux experience is smooth and rewarding.
In addition, he imparts ample “gyan” (meaning knowledge in Sanskrit) on Open source, Linux and all that jazz.
A must read for all techies, non-techies and wannabes!
Link? Duh!
Here it is:
!= 
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My presentation at FOSSCONF
I made a presentation on WordPress at FOSSCONF – the Conference of Free and Open Source Software conducted by Indian Linux Users’ Group Chennai and NRC-FOSS at Chennai, India on 2008-02-01.
Here is the certificate to this effect followed by the presentation:
You can view the presentation here:
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Urban legends galore!
The world is full of nihilists, naysayers and conspiracy theorists who repudiate and negate all accepted beliefs, proven theories and obvious events. And the cynics amongst the mankind are ever ready to lap up the antitheses and weird fantasies.
Here are a few of such phantom theories:
- Our ears are quite full of those golden words spoken by the first man on the moon, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind”. If you are to accept it, you have to first believe that a man actually landed on the surface of the satellite that is associated with lunacy. In fact, one whole generation has grown in the belief that man did land on moon. But a certain group of individuals find it hard to get convinced, They have advanced cogent evidence and convincing proof that the whole video clip of Neil Armstrong’s goose step was filmed in a studio or on the Nevada desert.
Moon Truth has further details.
Confused? Read The Moon Landing Hoax and listen to the audio rendering over there.
And to keep you engaged during the weekends, here are the whole lot of web sites vying with each other to propagate the “fake theory”!
- The entire world (almost!) was outraged by the savage attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on the infamous morning of 9/11/2001. But there are some members of human species who claim that the whole thing was a hoax and it was made up by the press. You can get the dope from the “fake-video theorists“.
- The present era can be termed as the “age of the Google”. Yes. Google is touching every aspect of your virtual as well as real life. One should get a daily dose of Googling, whatever be his walk of life. Children do their homework by googling (a generic term now!) and grown-ups subsist on them. Software geeks almost entirely earn their bread thanks to Google. There Will be no writers and doctorates if there be no Google to help them scourge and plagiarize! Folks are going gaga about every new offering that unfolds from the Google stable. Already you have almost everything: Gmail to Gtalk through maps, shopping, blogging, pages, aggregators….. and now an OS too!
And Google made a paradigm shift from the way business is traditionally run. They have made nerds rich by adwords. They have caused a veritable net revolution. They have clustered low-end computers and are running such a successful e-commerce stuff with minimal infrastructure costs. They have made history by their financial success. They promote open source. The do no evil!
But wait a minute. There are folks who think otherwise. They see a conspiracy at every corner.
Go to this website: “Fu@#ed Google dot com“(Since defunct) - And to cap it all, The World is Flat! Yes. For a few, the earth is not a globe spinning and revolving around the Sun. It is flat!
There is never a dull moment with such queer species around!
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Donate to Wikipedia, if you love yourself (who doesn’t)!
Wikipedia needs money: donate now.
What is “Wikipedia”, you ask? You sanctimonious moron, you have no business to dwell on the internet. Scoot, before my mother-in-law is launched on your way!
Wikipedia is one of humanity’s greatest information assets since open source software and the world wide web. It springs a new hope to the despondent. It should not be allowed to wither for want of material resources.
Here is what Nivi exhorts you to do:
Donate to Wikipedia if You Love Your Mom.
If you donate, I will tell everybody you are cool.
If you don’t donate, you hate America and you love the terrorists.
It is that simple.
Seriously though, please donate, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has made a personal appeal.
Here is a Personal Appeal from Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales for donation.
Do not force folks to resort to direct action like what these folks have attempted to do 
:-
Metacafé - Watch - Involuntary Blood Donation!
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My SQL, Your SQL or SCO SQL?
I read from MySQL website that the SCO Group, Inc. (Linux lawsuit fame) has entered into an agreement with MySQL AB to jointly deliver a certified, commercial version of the MySQL database for SCO Open Server 6, the newest release of SCO’s UNIX solutions platform.
This is what A.P.Lawrence has to say about it:-
Of course the vagueness about licensing is deliberate. RedHat does the same thing, as do other vendors who “support” GPL. Really, they use open source as a marketing tool and want you to be confused as to whether you can use the free version and even as to how to get it. It’s only when pushed against the wall, as MySQL was with regard to PHP’s use of MySQL that they’ll make unambiguous statements about acceptable use.
So it seems that SCO may be finally ready to learn some lessons about Open Source, and this deal could be more important in that regard than for any other reason. I’ve said before that if SCO wants to survive, they need to get on the Open Source train. With sufficient skullduggery, misdirection, obfuscation and fud, a company can be “Open Source” and commercial at the same time.
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Love’s labor’s lost
aka Toiling with open source projects aka Thankless sweating out.
Yes, it left-handedly supports the theory of “quid pro quo” and “there is nothing called free lunch”; all other pursuits are attempts against the natural processes and futile attempts to negate the nature’s scheme of things.
Read this lament by Ryan Boren, one of the chief architects of highly successful semantic blogging tool WordPress (you are sitting on it right now!).
Are you expecting fame and reward? I’ve contributed a heaping shitload of time to open source projects over the last decade and in that time one person bought me something off my wishlist and Nuclear Moose interviewed me. Oh, and I received an endless stream of pissy and petty emails from people who think they own me when they use what I give them for free. I was also constantly implicated in the conspiracy theories of raving idiots and mired in the politics of those who find evidence of elitism in every damn decision and make calls for class struggle against the oppressive devs with each breath. Such is the way it is. Do this as a hobby with no expectation of getting anything out of it or do something else and save yourself the disappointment
Anyway, open source and free software enthusiasts are hardy lot. They do not expect anything in return for the donkey’s work they put on any project. They do what is called in Sanskrit as “Nishkamya karma”. They are the true followers of the teachings of Bhagavat Gita. They renounce the natural human urges of possession and zealous protection. They refuse to be bourgeois.
May their tribe grow!
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About Me
I am S.K!
Ok, what's the big deal, you may ask! But you may miss a good deal if you do not dwell deep into this web site, specially hand-crafted for you. But what about me, the person? Wait, I am not good at making things up. If you stumble upon a good-sounding résumé, please pass it on to me!
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The gods gave man fire and he invented fire engines. They gave him love and he invented marriage. -
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