Category: Free as in Free Beer

Yea. I’ve had it.
We are done here.

I’m going to say it ONE more time 😉

We do not need their propaganda.
We do not need their content.
We do not need their control.

We can be free.

The year was … 1998. I was a student in the computer science program at Arizona State. We were invited to CS Night. Back then, they had very few people attend. It was somewhat informal. My friend, Sindhu and I were hanging out and decided to go. Free food is always a good thing when you are a student!

So, we are sitting down and we see this hippy looking guy walk in. I hadn’t seen him before so I figured him for a grad student. We invited him to sit with us. He starts talking with us and then when they are about to start, he apologizes that he has to sit up front because he’s the speaker. I go, “Oh, I thought you were a grad student!” He says, “not for a while”. It was Grady Booch. That day, he gave an analogy of Dorothy and the red shoes and coding. “Write Good Code” was his message.

I’ll never forget the emphasis on writing good code and the Booch method. 2 years later, the CS program had a more Formal CS Night.  The speaker was the guy who created UML. He was telling us how he had a fat million dollar deal and check in hand when his chair called him about finishing his dissertation. He was also a great speaker. However, at that time at Arizona State, the program switched from UNIX to Windows and eliminated the X terminals in the computing commons for Windows machines. These were sad times for a free software advocate.

The truth of the matter was that the support team could not support the x terminals (Sun Solaris boxes) and the college wanted to get rid of the terminals. The IT staff was surveying the usage – in a most unfair manner – by setting times they knew there would be little to no usage, intentionally! They admitted the reason. This was quite upsetting.

Fortunately, around the same time, Arizona State East campus had implemented a lab full of Red Hat dual boot machines. This was somewhat fortunate, but not exactly the same thing. It was something…

My personal opinion on the Operating System course switching from UNIX to Windows fell upon deaf ears. Money is king, right?

Another interesting thing was that Intel and Motorola pushed for the curriculum to include serious math, which is fine. However, the math amounted to a minor in math with only 3 more courses required to complete a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics.  The adviser in the computer science department was someone I helped to get the job in 1998 and in 2000, she had completely changed. There were walk in times with no appointment available. My friend who is African American and a female was turned away from advisement twice, even though she was enrolled in the program! When I complained, the department chair’s solution was not to help a student but to eliminate walk ins. Wow. The program got worse and worse. Ultimately, I decided to forgo a degree in computer science for a few reasons:

1. The adviser miscalculated  my GPA – then told me “I” needed more math! LMFAO

2. The department was targeting women enrolled and claiming they were not doing their work and were monitoring emails to try and find proof but could not.

3. There were some women who were NOT doing work. I met one girl who when asked by another student to explain push and…. push and… she said PULL… not pop. I said, Oh, are you a freshman? She said, “I’m a senior! I’m graduating this semester!” At that point I was like, omfg.

I went to a mentor/professor who proceeded to defend her. I was like, 4th year and you don’t understand Stacks and she gets the degree. This is a WORTHLESS degree program!

So, I was going to go into law. However, ran out of funds before I could get to law school. Too bad, I could have defended hackers. That’s my only regret.

Somehow, though, after leaving the program, I made my way to the FSF and EFF. So, despite not having a BS in comp sci (only an AAS), I was able to have amazing experiences!

Some of my hacker friends say I’m good at social engineering. I do tend to get free passes to cons that cost 1000s…
This past year I attended Cactus con even though there were no available spots and I hadn’t registered. It was free… I didn’t think I had to register!

Then, less than an hour later, I saw some people who turned from free to proprietary for money. Hey, that’s life – right. She was there at the Auth con with a police man and another Linux User group president. So, as she saw me she said to them, “Oh, I guess they let just anyone in.”

I thought, yeah… I guess they will.

Later, I caught her in the hallway alone. I said, “I’m surprised to see you here”. She told me she goes every year. Yeah, I’m not surprised at that… I mean, anyone can get in, even people who work with Canonical. LOL.

 

I’ll be glad when we really are free.

Until then… ENJOY

So, last night, Tina came to visit. I wanted to show her the pi. She was having fun. I always thought maybe the boys would be more interested. Turns out she was!

She started asking all kinds of questions. I was amazed. Not amazed that she was interested. Who wouldn’t be interested in the Pi! I was amazed at how she wanted to know the specs, how it worked, etc. The boys didn’t really care as much.

It’s a girl’s toy in this house!

Tina and her brother – 5 years ago.

So, Tina and I were talking. She does have an AA with Linux Certificate. She was always good at Linux. Then, we sat around the table and she told us the tale of her digital antenna. Coffee can, Nail, Coax and electrical tape. She told us the nail was too long but worked. Then, I realized, she sent her husband to go get that nail from Home Depot. That is why it was the wrong size. She is amazing. I encouraged her to go into Electronic or Electrical Engineering at the college. Then Zack, asked her about math. So, Zack took Calc 1 in high school. Tina was never interested in math. She could do it if she wanted. She was always kick ass in Science and Math. English… not so much.

I was thinking one of the boys would do some Pi stuff with me. I’m going to get Tina one when I get a chance. I hope she will do something with it. Not sure. Maybe I’ll start her with a cheap Raspberry.

At the installfest yesterday, Ubuntu LoCo people pushed Ubuntu on a user who ended up asking us for Mint. We gave him a DVD and a USB.
He was interested in privacy and when we told him that Ubuntu sent data to Amazon… he was really surprised.

This says it all.

Ubuntu is l4m3 as a distro any hay.

http://www.faqlinux.com/?p=230

Ban Ubuntu. They went after Fix Ubuntu… wonder why?
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/11/ubuntus-trademark-folly-fueled-by-misunderstanding-of-law-eff-says/

Here’s the truth.

• The company is failing. The product is second class.
• The company hires people in various states and is worldwide but only has 500 employees. Many of those, working remotely, are tech support.
• As far as I know, no donations from Ubuntu have ever been received by Debian. Ubuntu is not part of the DCC.
  They are partnering with M$.
• These Ubuntu Groups are popping up and taking over LUG events because as the person who wrote the Linux User Group How To stated, Ubuntu LoCo people couldn’t “organise a trip to the bathroom”. He may have stated restroom. Either way.

Ubuntu is not a real threat and will fade into obscurity soon enough. Just don’t use their Spyware Lame product.
Try Mint
LMDE
http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php

Also, Ubuntu doesn’t use swap correctly.

Please listen to The New Ubuntu theme song 😛

Freedom is so important.
Please don’t use Ubuntu!

More on Ubuntu Misbehavior.

As of late, I have been in open discussion regarding the misbehavior by Ubuntu.
There is a long list.

More recently, I noticed a seemingly strong arm effect happening at the Linux User Group where Ubuntu Loco is taking over. This is a great concern to me and I will tell you why in the next few words.

Community, Responsibility, Freedom.

How can I teach my children about freedom over convenience when the groupthink at the LUG is … it’s ok, at least we are using Linux!
How can we stand by and see a beautiful free distribution bastardized like this?
No donations were ever given to Debian to my knowledge.
I want to let Canonical know that some of us are ethically driven.
I believe in free agency. Let the attendee make an informed decision!

How is it acceptable that Ubuntu is spying, trying to maintain their lame trademark rights, and are basically bullying others. Literally, today at the installfest, I really was bullied when I suggested Mint.
Also, at the last installfest, the Canonical employee’s chip on his shoulder interfered with my ability to complete tasks. Fortunately, the attendee and I had already met at a previous event and built a decent repertoire.
Even then, she was like, “Wow. He was rude!” Fantastic representation, Canonical!

This is my opinion based on fact.

1. These Ubuntu groups are popping up all over the place. The members must do multiple tasks including one important ritual – Drinking the Canonical Kool Aid.

2. The Ubuntu groups are supposed to work with other distros but really have a way of pushing out others and forcing Ubuntu during installfests.

3. The Ubuntu groups are a smoke and mirrors tactic to make people believe these people are larger in number and more important than they are. By strategically hiring less than 10 people per state as low level tech support (but making these people believe they are important), Canonical gives an illusion of being a strong and large corporation.

4. Ubuntu is in bed with Microsoft.
The Nokia Here phone GPS will give data to Canonical unless a user is aware of and opts out of the data and advertisement scheme.

As a free software advocate, I am absolutely disgusted with Canonical. The actions are far from community minded. Their actions are tantamount to manipulation, maneuvering and the evil empire.

I would like to advocate the boycott and banning of Ubuntu and Ubuntu products including the phone.

If you value your freedom. If you value privacy, If you have any values at all, avoid Ubuntu at all costs. There are still proprietary companies that are going to be involved with Ubuntu, sure.

I might be fine with Ubuntu had I not noticed a few key things…

1. At installfests, Ubuntu Loco tried to take over what was initially a Phoenix LUG event. I know because I started the Installfest. However, it was kept going in my absence. However, it was NEVER an Ubuntu event.

In my absence, I suppose they were used to installing Ubuntu only. Several people have been installing other distros (thank you Mike and Sergio).

In the past 3 installfests, I have attended, Ubuntu has been shoved down the throats of attendees. I even had one lady who wanted MINT. She WANTED Mint.

Why you ask? There was a video error on her monitor with Ubuntu. Funny… she did not have the error with Mint…

2. Then, a woman wanted her printer working. A Canonical “employee” and I use the term loosely because of the smoke and mirrors was “helping”. Of course, I use the term “helping” loosely also.

Now, here’s the thing – the Canonical guy – Mark Thomas, decided because she no longer had internal wireless card working, he would install 14.04… over 14.04.
He didn’t bother to say… find out what module was needed.
He didn’t bother to say… install the module for the nic…

No… he reinstalled 14.04. This is a guy who works at Canonical for a living. This begs the question, “Why is a Canonical employee at an installfest”. To possibly push SpyBuntu? The reinstall threw errors. Mark Thomas LEFT! Then, the woman said she would NEVER return!

How horrible is that for our community?!

Canonical and their flagship product is sinking fast. They are using our community minded people to push their fallen product.

There are so many flaws with Ubuntu.
Let’s think about the virtual memory issue.
They don’t know how to use swap.

Ever have the system freeze up on you?
Well, guess what!

3. Ubuntu “reps” will not argue. They just blindly follow and believe that Ubuntu is correct all the time, even when it is obvious to everyone else how corrupt and broken Ubuntu is.

4. These Ubuntu people are not exactly the most socially acceptable people in the world. Many of them are rude.
5. AZ Ubuntu Loco group members have great excuses as to why Ubuntu was put on attendees machines.
Low space, low memory, low processing.
Netboot? Low band.

I had a Debian Live USB with me and ISOs for Debian, Mint, Arch on my laptop. It wouldn’t take long to write it and install it.
My idea is to create a demo box. Different distros could be selected to demonstrate to users. Users could select he distro they wanted.

There was a lot of resistance to this by the AZ Ubuntu Loco lead. Guess what? That tells me this is exactly what I need to do!

The fact is that one guy, who even wanted to be an “Official Ubuntu member”, just found out today about the cookies and data being sent to Amazon by Ubuntu. If you can imagine the shock of hearing such news – after installing Ubuntu for years at installfests. Poor guy!

The truth comes out, SPYBUNTU! As Alex states – Until you change your spying ways… for now you get 1 star, only because we cannot give you a 0.
If there was an option for 0 stars, Ubuntu would get that rating!

Yes, That’s right. Ubuntu is spyware.

When you search for something using Ubuntu, those results are reported to Canonical. Once the results are reported, these results are forwarded to Amazon who displays ads based on your search.

Amazon Lens is spyware by definition and while there is an option to turn off the settings, why are these there in free software in the first place?
Richard Stallman on Ubuntu

http://www.fsf.org/blogs/rms/ubuntu-spyware-what-to-do

 

How to turn off the search results
http://refugeeks.com/ubuntu-spyware-is-it-true/
A better idea is to just use another distro.

 

Freedom over convenience!

Valve is already warning that “unless you’re an intrepid Linux hacker already, we’re going to recommend that you wait until later in 2014 to try it out.”

Challenge accepted!