Tag Archives: linux

Of Freedom and Trademarks

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I read an article this past weekend that brought up some interesting issues that I tend to forget about concerning free software. Most people these days are familiar with Firefox. While Firefox is open-source and “essentially” free software, the key area that makes it non-free is in its trademark and copyright. The brand name “Firefox” is a trademark of the Mozilla Foundation, as is the Firefox logo. Since the logo is artwork, it also falls under copyright restrictions.

Trademarks are a funny business. Unlike copyright, which is inherent from the minute that pen touches paper, a quotation is voiced, or a blog post is published, a trademark is not inherent. As such, copyright is enforceable in general. If you find a person violating that copyright, you are empowered to make them stop, but if you choose to ignore it, that’s your decision. Trademarks on the other hand are a “branding” and are not inherent. If you find someone in violation of your trademark, you must act to stop them (or help them to comply). Otherwise, you are forfeiting your right to the trademark.

In general, this is thought to be a good thing because trademarks are “branding” used to ensure quality. I probably don’t want to install just any piece of software on my computer, but if it’s “Mozilla Firefox” then I will. This is especially important when discussing open-source software. With proprietary software, it would be difficult to distribute a “fake” copy without people noticing a difference. But with open-source software, everyone has access to the application’s source code. This means that anyone could build it, modify it, and tell it to collect all of your private information for them. If they can convince you to install “their version” of your favorite program, that’s a major security threat. Sharing code is also the hallmark of free and open-source software, and users are encouraged to modify it. But it doesn’t mean that after doing that, they deserve to still call it “Firefox”. Of course, Firefox should be credited as the basis for the work. It’s good to know when something has been stamped “Mozilla Firefox” because it tells you that it’s endorsed by the Mozilla Foundation and you can trust it.

Now you might be sitting there, scratching your head, and asking, “What’s the big deal? Can’t I just assume that anything I get from mozilla.com is what I want?” For many people, the answer to that is “Yes, you can.” But according to its license, Firefox is free to distribute under its brand name as long as any changes to it have been approved by the developers. This is something that many GNU/Linux distributions take advantage of so that they can package “Firefox” as the official web browser of their operating system. This helps user-friendly distributions like Ubuntu because potential users instantly recognize the brand Firefox and are comfortable with it. This works well for just about everyone involved.

Debian is another GNU/Linux distribution. It has roots as one of the first GNU/Linux distributions, and it defines itself by its commitment to being free. You may have developed a great program that a lot of people like, but if it’s not free software, it’s not good enough to be called “Debian” and included in their operating systems. They would like to be able to use Firefox as their default web browser like other, less “freedom-oriented” distributions do. If it were just a trademark issue, there would be no problem. Debian could easily show Mozilla exactly what changes (if any) are in their version of Firefox. Since the Firefox logo is also under restrictive copyright protection, however, Debian can’t include it. They also can’t just exchange the logo for a non-copyrighted one because the Firefox logo is part of the trademark. This copyright could be changed to a more permissive license by Mozilla, but it looks like their theory is that Debian could just as easily bend their rules. This is where Debian has taken a stand. Since they’re committed to providing a completely free operating system, they do not include Firefox as their browser.

Firefox is a good browser, and Debian doesn’t want to try to code another browser or use a less popular alternative. Since the only real problem they have is with the trademark and artwork, they’d much rather keep the rest of the Firefox code intact. Plus, with the number of Firefox plug-ins available, a lot of users want to use it. So what does Debian do? Since Firefox is open-source, they just strip out the copyrighted logo and come up with their own. This means that they lose the “Firefox” branding, so they chose the name IceWeasel (and a free logo) to replace it.

Now it may seem like kind of a moot point in the long run, but it makes me proud to see that a distribution like Debian will stick to their guns in a situation like this. It may not be for everyone (I’m still using Firefox on Ubuntu), but they chose not to back down on the ideals of their organization and their users when it would have been very easy to do so. So kudos to Debian and IceWeasel.

Learning to Love Linux?

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I noticed an interesting article on ifacethoughts stating “Linux Education Is The Key To Popularity.” I agree to an extent, but there are some caveats. This started off as a comment on his blog, but I decided it was long enough to merit its own post here.

I agree that Linux should be sold on being different than Windows, but I disagree that it’s entirely an education problem. I think there are 2 large issues that make things difficult for new users, and they’re quasi-related. First is that 99.9% of user’s tasks (even complicated ones) need to be GUI-fied for a Windows migrant to feel comfortable. This is quickly gaining momentum (for example, xorg.conf is all but eliminated in Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex), but it’s still not quite there.

The second, and even more important, piece of the puzzle is the need for a central, well-maintained, well-written set of instructions for how to do anything and everything imaginable in Linux. I think one of the hardest things for new users is when they don’t know how to do something, they don’t know where to go next. They can do a quick Google search or a forum search, but these are often filled with outdated information and they can be hard to sift through, especially when you don’t know what you’re doing. Plus, when you don’t really know what you’re doing, you might just go with the first thing you read, which many times is not a good idea. I also think it’s important for the OS itself to be integrated with these instructions and “Help” should point directly toward them.

I say the 2 issues of GUI and documentation are quasi-related because many times there are GUI options available for something, but instructions are given by old-school experts who find terminal commands quicker and easier. While that may be, to most Windows and Mac users, it’s intimidating. A good example would be adding Medibuntu repositories in Ubuntu. The wiki guide is all command-line, despite the fact that things are basically just as easy in the GUI to complete the same task. Even better might be to just supply repository and GPG key links and then link to a fuller article about how to install external repositories and what their advantages and disadvantages are.

I also feel like proper documentation could help users learn a lot more while they’re doing this stuff. Interspersed with the instructions could be brief descriptions about some of the inner-workings and why things are the way they are. In the previous example, maybe mentioning GPG keys and why they’re used or a link to learn more about external repositories. Some of this has been done with Ubuntu, but it needs to be more comprehensive, clear, and up-to-date. It also needs to be written for lay people and not by developers unless they’re very effective communicators.

It’s one thing to say that people need to “learn Linux” if they’re going to use it. It’s another to expect them to do it without the proper tools and guidance, especially since many aspects are non-intuitive to non-native users.

Olympic browser blockage

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So I went to check out the replay of last night’s phenomenal 4×100 Men’s relay only to find an annoyingly disturbing message: the NBC Olympics vidoes don’t “support” Linux. First of all, what kind of ludicrous claim is that? They’re freakin’ videos. If I’ve got the correct codecs installed, then I’ll be able to watch them. If I don’t, then I won’t. And what is this? 1998? Who still designs a website for only a select few browsers? I know I reported that the FAFSA website does, but at least theirs turned out to be just a warning, and it lets you continue anyways. Shouldn’t something like coverage of the Olympics be accessible to anyone, especially since broadcast coverage seems so locked down? They currently support 4 browsers: IE (Win), Firefox (Win), Safari (Mac), and Firefox (Mac). Sorry Opera fans, you’re not privileged enough to see the Olympics online.

NBC Olympics only allows 4 browsers

NBC Olympics only allows 4 browsers

The bigger issue here is that the videos appear to be in Windows Media format. In fact, from the looks of the NBC Olympics website, the entire show is being run by Microsoft. Now my problem is that I can probably play their WMVs on my linux operating system, but their silly browser detection is preventing me. Things like this should not be happening to such an international public event.

Sorry to say NBC, but there are a lot of web browsers out there that are capable of displaying your videos. No one’s asking you to go out of your way to “support” them all, just don’t preemptively block them. Plus, is anyone else concerned that they’ll start doing this to Hulu and other network’s sites? Well I am, and I’m not one bit happy about it!

Ubuntu Netbook Remix

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As was expected, Ubuntu announced a new version of its operating system specifically targeted toward netbooks [via Engadget]. This is following the success of OLPC XO laptop in bringing about subnotebooks such as the now famous Asus Eee PC and a number of followers including the HP MiniNote, Elonex ONE, Everex Cloudbook, MSI Wind, the newly announced Dell mini-Inspiron, and many more. A subnotebook is meant to be an extremely small, inexpensive, ultra-lightweight portable computer that is geared towards people who simply want to be able to carry around a computer to browse the internet, check email, compose documents, and play simple games. They’re not meant to replace a desktop computer or more full-featured laptop, but they focus on ultra-portability. Many of these subnotebooks have featured Linux-based operating systems to keep costs down and promote ease of use, but now it seems like nearly all of them offer a more expensive Windows XP option. With the success of the Intel Atom processor, it appears as though this genre of computer will continue to grow in the future and many manufacturers are trying to get in on it.

One of the main criticisms of the Linux-based operating systems used on these notebooks (besides the fact that some people just want nothing to do with Linux) is that the Linux distros being used have been lacking some functionality. Enter Ubuntu, a.k.a. “Linux for Human Beings“. Canonical’s announcement of a light-weight, full-featured version of Ubuntu that can be incorporated for free into any of these sub-notebooks has got to be good news for manufacturers. With companies like Dell already incorporating Ubuntu-loaded products into their lineup, it is only a matter of time before Ubuntu becomes an even more accessible operating system alternative to MS Windows and Mac OS.

There are just a few points that I’ll mention here where I think Canonical, Ubuntu’s parent company, is making particularly good decisions. First, they’re optimizing their release for Intel’s Atom processors via the Moblin project (Mobile Linux Internet). The Atom processor was designed to be used in subnotebooks and mobile internet devices (MIDs) so that you can have good processing power with little power consumption (long battery life). In other words, I think it’s good that Canonical’s focused on creating a custom operating system specifically for the hardware that it will be used on. This will make it an ideal choice for the new and old devices using Atom.

Canonical also appears to be working with ISVs to make sure that a lot of software will be available on this platform. This could mean an increase in software (and hardware) portability to the Linux platform. It’s also great that they’re giving preference to hardware with open-source drivers available. This will give preference to Intel, who has open-sourced their video and wireless drivers, while excluding companies like Broadcom and nVidia who insist that their hardware stay closed-source. Considering how much this subnotebook field could grow over the next year or two, this could pressure these closed-source companies into change their tune. This would be fantastic for the Linux community.

I look forward to hearing a lot more about this in the near future.

Amazon MP3 now officially for Linux

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I just saw that Amazon MP3 now officially supports Linux. Packages are available for the latest versions of Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and openSUSE. Sweet! Even though it’s not an ideal free software solution, it’s still exciting to see a service selling DRM-free music to the free software community. Seems like a step in the right direction. I submitted a brainstorm idea about it:


Update: No 64-bit client available (yet?). :(