Today:
July 28, 2008
There has been an almighty storm running roughshod down my coast here. The houses closer to the water got his worse than us, and some up the street lost their roofs. I tried to read the high-wind warning in the Herald, but it was blown out of my grasp - thanks guys: timely.
In the aftermath - all the trees up Vipond road suffered noticeable damage - some losing major limbs. Our pool-deck has filled with branches and leaves and theres some minor damage to the reef and downspouts. Nothing I can't handle. I guess all that imported sand on Orewa Beach has seen it's last Winter...
Cathy and I had planned to go to the Incredibly Strange Film Festival this year, but stayed home instead ... weather again. We rented seven DVDs, moved the heater into the bedroom, and stayed in bed all day. (But guess who has to go out in all that wind to get pizza for dinner? Muggins - that's who!)
Movies:
Tin Man: A re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz for the Sci Fi Channel. Actually quite good. "DG" travels to the "Outer Zone" or Oh-Zee for short and meets up with a lawman (the tin man, on account of his badge) out for vengeance. He's "lost heart" you see. The rest of the cast are similarly re-worked. Remarkably engaging - worth seeing. Be warned - it comes in three parts for a total 4.5 hours.
Va Savoir: odd French film - what's it about? Who knows! It manages to have a satisfying and upbeat ending despite not actually resolving anything in the plot. Basically, it's a character-driven art piece.
Pulp Fiction: the Quentin Tarantino classic - which I'd never seen. Apparently someone had a heart-attack watching the "adrenaline shot" scene and Q's reaction was "Man I made an awesome movie!" I didn't think it was all that tense. I found it charming and silly. The heavy story-focus was welcome after Va Savoir!
Three down, four to go.
July 26, 2008
Annaversary of Corwin's
accident today. I expect to be a bit tender for a while. But this is a good time to repeat the message: gas cabinet heaters should not be used where there are small children. If you must - use a guard which bolts in place.
July 24, 2008
Things are taking off on the RMS front. There seems to be much more interest this time around. I'm looking at radio and magazine interviews, meets with polititians, business leaders, as well as grass-roots events. There is still plenty of space in the itinerary, particularly for central North Island. Check out the ongoing chaos
here.
It's getting exciting because a large (well - largeer) sponsor has stepped up to bat. You'll find out once the deal is set. If all goes according to plan, everything will get very easy. (And if I survive this, maybe I'll run for office!)
Thinking about promoting Free software... consider:
Microsoft Windows is the most popular computer operating system.
I disagree: if you are popular, this means that people like you. The vast majority of Windows users have not made a conscious choice to use windows - they use windows because they feel they have to. This circumstance is a direct result and object of Microsofts market positioning over the last twenty years.
When people have an informed choice, they choose not to use windows. Windows is not popular. Windows is common. Like the cold.
There are many Free software alternatives to popular proprietary applications.
I take issue with this too... Free Software is not alternative like alternative medicine or alternative lifestyle. Alternatives, in this sence, are associated with fringe groups, con-artists, crackpots. Free software is anything but.
This sentence should read: "There are many mainstream Free Software applications to choose ahead of the common proprietary ones."
If Free Software advocates start thinking of Free Software as mainstream and proprietary software as common, and modify their language to reflect this, we'll actually make some headway. After all, this is a marketing war - it will be won or lost on the words we use.
July 22, 2008
Found the final version of the Copyright Amendment Act
here [pdf: 1.2MiB]. All the clauses in the summary seem to be present. There is an aweful lot on sound recordings, but little explicitly mentioning audio-visuals (DVD movies for eg). But then, it's hardly a gripping read (easy to miss bits). Government documents need more plot.
I've not heard from any lawyers... so I guess I gotta find my own.
Q. What do you call 10000 lawyers chained to the bottom of the sea?
A. A good start.
I have the dates wrong for the Open Source Computing course - not my fault, the dates come from early correspondence with them. Seems the term III course is to start on the 7th of August. This will clash horribly with the Richard Stallman visit.
The session on the 14th will have to be cancelled - but I can be back for the rest - so I'll see if I can arrainge to have the final session at an alternate venue.
Meantime, everything is getting dicey - with media to organise. The main ones are Kim Hill (breakfast show) and Computerworld NZ. Stay tuned.
July 18, 2008
I've been spending much time immersed in NZ Copyright Law. In particular, the Copyright Amendment Act as it applies to free software. There are some rather interesting exceptions - eg. clause 43:
Clause 43---computer programs
Clause 43 inserts new sections 80A to 80C. Section 80A provides for decompilation by the lawful user of a copy of a computer program expressed in a low level language without infringement of copyright in the program. However, this is subject to conditions in section 80A(2). Section 80B provides that the lawful user of a computer program may copy or adapt it without infringement of copyright in the program, if the conditions in section 80B(1)(a) and (b) apply. Section 80C provides that a contractual term or condition has no effect to the
extent that it prohibits or restricts decompilation under the conditions set out in section 80A or section 80B, or prohibits or restricts the use of any device or means to analyse the program.
Did I read that right?!
Central to the concept of Free Software is the freedom to study the software, modify it, and make improvements. This exception appears to all software obtained by Kiwis free, to this extent! Not only that, but it nullifies the "no decompilation" part of the EULAs out there. You cannot contract out of it!
How did this get past Microsoft? Let's check the conditions - first 80A(2), then 80B(1)(a) and (b):
80A(2) The conditions referred to in subsection (1) are that---
(a) decompilation is necessary to obtain information necessary for the
objective of creating an independent program that can be operated with the
program decompiled or with another program; and
(b) the information obtained from the decompilation is not used for any
purpose other than the objective referred to in paragraph (a).
So -I mustn't decompile the program just because I want to. I must
need to do this in order to write my own program. eg. I may be frustrated by incorrect or missing information in the published API (common if you want to write software to interoperate with Microsoft groupware) - I get to decompile the program in question to help me understand what I need to do.
80B(1) The lawful user of a computer program (A) does not infringe copyright
in it by copying or adapting it, if---
(a) copying or adapting it is necessary for A's lawful use of the program
(for example, to correct an error in the program); and
(b) a properly functioning and error-free copy of the program is not
available to A within a reasonable time at an ordinary commercial price.
(2) This section does not apply to copying or adapting that is permitted
under section 80A or section 80C.
I get to fix bugs is code, vulnerabilities etc. without having to wait for an official patch (which can take months). There's nothing stopping me from distributing my patch either. But, if a working patch is available - that's naughty. This does suggest, though, that I don't get to fix vulnerabilities in software if there is an exhorbitantly priced new version available.
Notice that 80A referrs to decompiling a binary, while 80B refers to copying software - period. If you are allowed to do it in 80A, then 80B does not restrict you.
I challenge you to find similar freedom in anyone elses laws. This is not law yet - but is expected to be by October this year. I'll be keeping my eye on this part. Meantime, there is a lot of discussion...
July 15, 2008
Still the RMS thing takes up time. Yesterday, though, Cathy was having ano of those days where nothing goes right so I took her out to dinner and a movie.
Dinner was at Tai Orewa, where we often get takeaways. I had a Tai beer (Singhai) which complimented the dish (Lion Milk - bananas and chicken in a creamy sauce) exceptionally well. Cathy had a vegitable curry and Jasmine tea. The movie was Mama Mia at the Berkely (they seem to have fixed the seats). It's clearly a chick-flick, and noteable for an absence of the usual "hollywood beauties" that we are usually supposed to accept as ordinary folk. The guys chorus-line (dancing in flippers) was halarious, and the Abba hits were belted out with enthusiasm. Some of the vocals were suspiciously polished but who cares.
Take your loved one to see this film - if you don't get laid, there's something wrong.
Since RMS will be talking about copyright a lot, I've decided to research it a bit. Found this summary, but I really need something more up to date. I also need to figure out how the Fair Trading Act modifies the standard MS EULA. Any lawyers out there? Contact me - I'm serious.
July 13, 2008
The Richard Stallman visit is in full swing. Slots are filling up fast. However, it is looking a lot like a pakeha event... c'mon, there must be some Maori groups who'd like an event!?
Meantime - it is heading up to that time of year when everyone is a little tired of winter, and accidents start happening. In particular with fires. Do be careful folks - especially with those cabinet heaters. The Warehouse now stock guards for them - there are two kinds: one you bolt to the wall and one you bolt to the heater. If we'd had one of those last year, we'd still have our son, Corwin. You can't keep an eye on them all the time and it takes less than a second - trust me: it's worth the money.
The anniversary of his accident is very near now. There is an extra tension, and bouts of depression. It's too sad to walk on the beach or eat fish and chips. So I don't. Cathy and I are spending the sunny part of the late morning reading on the wicker sofa in front of the view. There is a secure feeling being inside in the warm just centimeters from the wind and the rain. The sea looks great in rough weather.
Cathy's scar is about three centimeters of shinf pink on her right cheek, below her eye. I tell people it's a duelling scar. If she wore an eye-patch, it would look even better. Like Elle Driver (Darryl Hannahs character in Kill Bill). As if the same event took her eye out. But she won't... oh well.
July 9, 2008
I have been snowed in organizing the Richard Stallman visit. The itinerary is in a state of flux, but it currently looks like
this.
For the sort of thing RMS stands for, see this BBC article. He also has a biography in wikipedia.
Organising this thing is like dress rehearsals for theatre - there's lots of chaos and everything is going wrong all at once. I can only have faith that it will be all right on the night.
July 3, 2008
Heh - I am corrected on something I said last month - Basal Cell Carcinoma is not, in fact, a kind of melanoma. Whew!
Cathy's stitches are out tomorrow - dressing has already been scaled down and it's healing nicely. We'll do something nice - dunno what yet.
The fit is hitting the shan over the Richard Stallman visit. He's supposed to be coming on the 6th of August and, so for, only the Dept of Computer Science at the Uni has stepped up to the plate - and they havn't set a date. NZOSS seems to be having trouble getting any sort of WGT interest going. If this keeps up the trip will get cancelled.
However - I'll procede on the assumption that it won't be.
My Acer contact has vanished - e-mails keep getting bounced. I'll have to phone someone and ask what's going on. I suspect I'm not getting any help from that direction.
Meantime - webpages are slowly being updated. I started out with just a handful, now there are dozens. It may be time for a kull. And I have done nothing about Intrepid... yet.
OpenSUSE 11 [download] is out! (Actually - came out last month while I wasn't looking.) This is a "kitchen sink" distro so the best value is in the DVD. This will bust your bandwidth cap - so there are CD versions as well.
The other distros I follow - fedora 9 was released in May, with 10 to come in October. This tends to be a bleading-edge style distro, which informs development in the more conservative (and expensive) RHEL. Zenwalk 5.2 came out last month - this distro is something of a gem. The whole feel is off the mainstream and it will slot nicely into lower-spec hardware.
OpenSUSE and fedora have versions for the PPC (Older Macs) so HBCLUG will probably supply these for the Software Freedom Day handouts. Newer Macs use the intel platform, so you're fine with the i686 or x64 versions. SFD is in September - so if you find these downloads a tad much, there will be giveaways and installfests around that time.
And now it's time for bills, housework, and de-dinging that car...
July 1, 2008
Another month - woo hoo! Last month clocked up 2033 unique visitors for a total 21621 hits. Doing well, even though I've been erratic with the posts. Most hits come from the USA, then NZ, then Oz.
You guys are about 50:50 Linux:Windows - but I'm starting to see some hits from cell phones! Most of you are using firefox - and proprietary browsers account for barely a fifth of the traffic. We're winning!
Almost half the hits come from bookmarks - seems I've got some fans. Nice to see you good folks ;) But I'm mostly getting referred to by google and a bit from other people's blogs (thanks).
Feedback last month was mostly technical concerning those Acer pages. I do read the e-mails and they do have an effect. Sitting here it is too easy to stuff up, so stuff-up spotting is welcome. I also got a few notes of appreciation.
The Acer+Intrepid page is moving slowly - regular readers will know I've been distracted. I should make some headway this month: though goodness only knows what there is to write about. Maybe Acer NZ will be kind enough to give me another laptop to review? Huh guys??
Cathy has totally enjoyed her "Anything Cathy Wants" weekend and her wound is healing on schedule. There are other family health stuff - but I have been asked not to blog it. Sorry - press has been muzzled (I have to live with these people).
Movies:
St Trinians double feature (Belles and Blue Murder) - the original with George (Athur Daily) Cole. Suspiciously old sixth-formers but feisty 4ths - committing felonies in full school uniform. A fun romp and the remake is in cinimas. Now - do I wait for the DVD?
Ghost Rider and Die Hard 4: I waited for the DVD and then some. OK I guess, but tending towards the silly. GH in particular had all the right ingredients but just didn't come together. And, with any luck, DH4 kills the franchise... though I may go back for another look at the computer screens - I think I saw a linux desktop in there (some of the cooler ones look like fluxbox themes).
F*CK is a documentary all about the eff-word - fuck-yeah! Billy Connolly and Ron Jeremy in the same movie is what caught my eye - though the title explains the link. This film will raise more than a few hackles regardless of where you stand - however, let's all take up Pat Boone's suggestion to use his name as a swear word... then he'll have to ban it ;)
And that's a sampler. We've been big on movies last weekend. I was going to blog all the chick flicks too (it was "anything she wants") but I decided I only wanted to see my lunch once today thanks.
