Yes. I figured I’d go ahead and use GIMP to make a rudimentary wallpaper.
Click the thumbnail to open a new window to see the image in all its glory. Let me know what you think. If anyone wants to submit an image, please feel free to let me know. 😉
Yes. I figured I’d go ahead and use GIMP to make a rudimentary wallpaper.
Click the thumbnail to open a new window to see the image in all its glory. Let me know what you think. If anyone wants to submit an image, please feel free to let me know. 😉
We all forget things from time to time. It happens to the best of us and the worst of us. I have forgotten many things in the past several months (and some may never forgive me, but that’s life attempting to teach me a few lessons), but the one important thing that I have forgotten the most as we are now in the New Year is to give credit where credit is due.
Thank You Bob Moore
Last year was the beginning of a few interesting things for me. One of them was the initiation of the Tux500 Project, an attempt to have Tux plastered on an Indy500 car. Bob was the guy who started the effort to raise enough money to have that logo on a race car for millions of fans watching at the track or on television and listening on the radio. The negative backlash is not what is important at this point. What was important was the fact that were it not for me going through every *nix distribution on DistroWatch in an attempt to communicate with the webmasters and/or developers on those sites, I never would have stumbled upon the NimbleX site, and I never would have met Bogdan, the main developer of such an interesting distribution. I also would not have learned the hard way that not everyone appreciates PDF attachments in their e-mail. I was able to connect to more people because of it. Thanks goes to Bob Moore for such an inspiring idea.
Thank You Cathy Malmrose
The CEO of ZaReason is destroying stereotypes with every passing day. Contrary to what some may believe, women can work with technology, and as far as I am concerned, more women need to be in technology. Many of them are able to take note of even the slightest detail. She loves the idea of sharing software with the world and allowing others to contribute to such a positive undertaking. Thank you Cathy for all that you do and continue to do. Also, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day so that I could interview you. The experience was quite wonderful and enlightening.
Thank You Devnet
When it came to off the wall accusations against you, I was quite surprised. You see, I know of the concept of friends over the web, but how many of them are in regular contact on the phone? Not very many. You and helios have not allowed other forms of conflict to hamper your friendship, and that is a trait I truly admire. When it came to a fellow FOSS enthusiast being accused of wrong-doing, you were fair about the whole ordeal and did not allow bias to skew your judgment. That is quite commendable.
Thank You helios
Were it not for your blog entry on changing an entire company over to a *nix platform in defiance of the Business Software Alliance, I never would have encountered you. I was doing a story on the dark side of Microsoft when I stumbled upon that entry. I was reading, and was quite interested. You are one of the few people in life who has shown a great amount of patience, and I am one of the most annoying people on the face of the planet. Thanks so much for not screaming at me ever and for being such a powerful comrade in the fight for software freedom. There is quite a ways to go yet, but were it not for efforts such as yours, we would not be in the position we are in right now.
And Finally, Thank You Justin Breithaupt
I was doing a show on TruthNet Radio Network. It was a live show via Skype and I was of course promoting Tux500, which I believe is how I first encountered you. It was incredible. I was floundering really badly. You called in to the show and made the rest of it great. You sold me an excellent notebook after doing hour after hour of research into what would be the best for the lowest price. You under-charged me. 😉
Thanks everyone, and may this year be the start of all of us taking the initiative to further promote freedom from Microsoft. Stay tuned, for I am going to announce a project that will be independent and help other projects at the same time. 🙂
For those of you who haven’t checked it out yet, go to the NimbleX site and check out this *nix distro. It’s quite interesting, but not as interesting as the Custom NimbleX creation utility on the web. It allows you to create your own custom LiveCD. In other words, you have a choice of applications and in some cases, drivers. You can also set your wallpaper and sounds (startup and shutdown). It’s a pretty cool idea if you ask me.
I will warn you however, that the Custom NimbleX page that Bogdan created consumes quite a bit of bandwidth and storage space. Therefore, he is going to need all the help he can get. The widget below will allow you to donate whatever you can to him. If you’re strapped for cash at the moment, there is another way to help out: click the “copy” tab, then the “copy” button. Then paste the code into your blog, site, MySpace, etc…. In other words, spread the word.
Oh yeah. This post is going to be biggie. Not as in a big deal, but as in the size of said post. I will not be talking of blogging alone, but blogging FOSS. FOSS blogging can be quite fun. Sharing the excitement of having tested another distribution of *nix (or sharing disappointment of wasting said time… depends on the experience) or sharing an opinion on the happenings of FOSS today can be an interesting experience to say the least. However, blogging is not always without peril.
In the past, I stated how I would not promote my own writings on LXer due to being ripped to pieces over an entry that I eventually wound up deleting. So why did I come out of my exile of sorts with a blog post that made the front page of that news site? It was inspiration of sorts, which I will go into first. The second part of this post will take into account Bruce Byfield’s follow up entry to his prior writing on his blog. Shall we begin?
Flushing Fear Down the Toilet
I will be the first to admit that I do not like being told when I am wrong in any way shape or form. Who does? When I spewed a few choice words out of my keyboard concerning James Burgett and the trouble he was having with a state organization, even he criticized me in his own blog over my entry, and rightly so. Not only that, but I was slammed pretty hard by another reader on LXer. Then I read the comments concerning Justin Briethaupt’s follow-up on the situation with Newegg…
Before I go on any further, you may want to read this first. It explains how this blog has multiple authors. Each author will of course have a different style. As of right now, there are two active authors: Justin and myself.
I read the comments concerning his newegg.com consumer report, and my mind began to race. Then I read this entry from Bruce Byefield that I wholeheartedly disagreed with, which resulted in my previous entry. I began to think to myself, “You know…. it takes courage to endure all those comments against what was posted.” It was those two moments combined that caused me to realize what an intellectual coward I have been. Scott Ruecker of LXer said it best concerning Justin’s newegg.com follow-up…
“In order to think critically about something and stand a chance of coming to a accurate decision or stance on an issue or issues you have to be presented with and have access to information that you agree and disagree with.”
I could not have said it better myself. After all, Justin was trying to do something that I myself was only willing to dream up and talk about for eternity and getting reamed over and over again by the same people, and yet I was too scared to expose myself to criticism from a few readers who can have a different mood at different times? Intellectual cowardice indeed….
So yes, I am coming out of exile of sorts concerning LXer. I am limiting myself if I choose not to do so at this point. The time to hide from everybody’s criticism is over. Even if I only posted on this blog, it is one thing I will not be able to escape, because unlike other bloggers out there, I don’t axe legitimate comments (ones that are spam however are treated appropriately). So next up is my response to Byfield’s follow-up post in response to the feedback that others have provided to his writing concerning conspiracy theorists in FOSS. Prepare to be surprised.
Open Hand to Bruce Byfield
“With all the people baying for my blood some of whom, frankly, sound disingenuous in their demands for proof the entry could easily take over my life, so in the last couple of days, Ive withdrawn from active discussion of it.”
Bruce, I certainly hope that you did not perceive me as wanting your hide or anything of that nature. I was confused when you were making the broad statements in your previous blog entry. To me, it was like lighting a barn on fire and walking away from it, thus forcing everyone else to deal with said fire. Perhaps my humor was misplaced or of the wrong variety when I asked those two very sarcastic questions of mine earlier. Perhaps it was nothing more than an insult. Either way, my apologies.
Now let us take a look at another tidbit of what Byfield wrote.
“To start with, I notice that Brian Profitts suggestion that I was lashing out at some negative criticism I received has been seized on by some commenters as a reason to dismiss what I said.”
Hopefully, I was not one of those individuals who was perceived as having said that. Also, in my opinion, to suggest that Profitt of linuxtoday.com was suggesting that you were lashing out goes a bit far. Here is a sample from what Profitt wrote:
“Byfield, who I think is an excellent writer, by the way, may be projecting a little bit of his own defensiveness in this entry. I know he’s been on the receiving end of some harsh criticisms in the past, and I know from personal experience it’s pretty disheartening.”
I know the feeling to a degree myself. I believe there is a difference between lashing out and being defensive, since lashing out implies (to me) that one is on the offensive.
Thats not to say that I dont find peoples reactions fascinating and more than a little intellectually distressing, since Im an ex-university instructor who once spend his days trying to help people develop their abilities to argue coherently.
Here is another tidbit of opinion from me on the subject of debate and arguing. There are traditional academic methods and methods that are considered unorthodox and unacceptable. It reminds me of the beginnings of the Revolutionary War in America, in which the standard rules of war was not followed by the Minutemen who would pick off soldiers from the British army one by one while hiding behind rocks and trees. During that time, it was considered inappropriate and uncivilized to fight in such a manner. Suffice it to say that declaring that a position of prestige was once held is not going to sway me very much. Read on further to understand why.
“But I think my favorite response was from a commenter who assumed the responsibility of giving me elementary advice about how to write. Im always willing to learn, but, considering that last year I sold roughly a quarter million words about free software, now I know the spirit in which Lauren Bacall responded a few years ago on hearing that she had been voted one of the sexiest elderly women in film. ‘That will certainly pep up my career,’ she said (or something to that effect). ‘I cant wait to tell my agent.'”
Look man, I could care less if you were on the New York Times best seller list. When it comes to blogging about anything, including FOSS and discussion of technology in general, all the titles of prestige, all the accomplishments of the past, no matter how great, are stripped away. At that point, the only thing left is people talking to one another (and in some cases, at another).
“No more working out of ideas publicly for me from now on, I need to make sure that I state my assumptions clearly, and address opposing views in more detail, and not publish on certain subjects until my ideas are fully developed.”
On the other half, it would help. However, not working out an idea publicly is something I disagree with to a degree. While Justin Breithaupt’s consistent stream of criticism was the ignition switch for my mind, it was your situation that cranked my mind over, thus causing me to realize that I should not be so afraid of criticism from others. Listen. There is a way to work out ideas publicly. In the title or at the beginning of a blog entry, indicate that it is a rough draft of sorts (or a brainstorming session). I believe that WordPress also allows the creation of categories, so things can be tagged under something such as “brain storms” or “sand box.” Whatever tag labels you want are up to you. Of course what I am saying are merely suggestions as well.
I disagree with closing things down in a sense. Why not open up a bit more instead? To me, that is an excellent way of learning from each other, and if there is that constant nagging person who constantly annoys the dickens out of you, then you always have the option to ignore them at that point.
Overall, I would like to thank you for acknowledging a lesson that I am still learning today. When it comes to blogging, you are never going to be without feedback, even if it comes in the form of a spam-bot or an individual who vehemently disagrees with you. I know that I do not know enough about you, but I still want to share my views with you. So please, keep sharing yours with me and everyone else.