Monthly Archives: October 2009

Windows 7: Released with known critical bug

The debian project defines a critical bug as “makes unrelated software on the system (or the whole system) break, or causes serious data loss, or introduces a security hole on systems where you install the package.” FSF Europe reported that … Continue reading

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What’s in a name? Co-operative in names at Companies House

This was a Freedom of Information request to Companies House. The request was partially successful. I asked: “How many companies have been incorporated with the word co-operative in their name in the last few years and how many have been … Continue reading

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debian kernel, firmware and virtualisation

The debian GNU/Linux kernel’s firmware content is one of the most troubling bugs, and (as I understand it): it mostly came from upstream (so fixing it only in debian isn’t sustainable), it’s something some FSF supporters kick us for (often … Continue reading

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Three Strikes: Out?

The Guardian reported this week that “rights holders will have to obtain a court order before punishing persistent offenders by reducing or cutting off their internet connections.” This is an important step in the right direction. For too long, rights … Continue reading

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Final Decision Time: Koha Foundation Options

Thomas Dukleth writes in: “Remember to vote for your choices in the final Koha foundation forming election before the poll closes on the 25th. Turnout in the final Koha foundation forming election is lower than in the previous preliminary poll … Continue reading

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Some Good Does Come From Ubuntu

I’ve been mouthing off about Ubuntu again, after the forthcoming release parties were advertised in some pretty inappropriate places, lamenting: “Ubuntu has taken a voluntary-sector aim-for-100%-free distribution, built a private-sector free-and-non-free distribution and gets more love and free marketing from … Continue reading

Posted in GNU/Linux | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Royal Mail Rub Our Noses in it

So after Royal Mail shut down useful community websites causing MP comments on the idiocy of Royal Mail, I was rather surprised to get this little thing in the post today: That’s a postmark advert for “Celebrating 50 years of … Continue reading

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Sharing git repositories

Our co-op uses the git revision control system pretty extensively, both directly and through etckeeper. With more workers, we’re keeping more shared copies of our git repositories. So inevitably, we ran into permissions problems. Thanks a lot to Moser for … Continue reading

Posted in GNU/Linux | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

SPI October 2009

A board meeting of Software in the Public Interest will take place on irc.oftc.net #spi tonight (Wed 14 Oct) at 20:00 UTC. The meeting announcement was posted only yesterday, containing a proposal to hold a debian domain. The proposal says … Continue reading

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FOSS Freeskilling, Bristol, 7pm Tue 13 Oct

Sean Kenny emailed us to tell us about an event in Bristol: “This week’s Freeskilling is called Who needs Microsoft? and we are meeting at the Better Food Co. Cafe, St Werburghs @ 7pm Tues 13th Oct. Ben Smith will … Continue reading

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