A Conservative Techie

There has been quite the discussion on ubuntu-devel-discuss  in regards to the announcement of Ubuntu Remix and its support for various media codecs including a license for Windows Media.  Most of this discussion comes from this point…that Canonical is now supporting and paying Microsoft.  Of course most rants about this always included the M$ which makes the argument sound much more intelligent.

Anyway, I’m glad to see Canonical and Intel working together to deliver yet another avenue for people to use Linux.  I’m especially glad that on these netbooks people will not be limited by the types of videos they can watch.

I wonder if the amount of people who now have the ASUS Eee PC runing Ubuntu is helping out with this?

Part of the goal of this project is “This interface is optimised for a retail sales environment” which means there were be more and more average users running this device who want and need WMV format.  Should we cripple their experience or should we allow them to have the best possible experience?  I vote for the best format.  Including out of the box MP3 support.

Here are the technical specifications of the Ubuntu Netbook.

Technical specifications

Minimum hardware requirements:

• Processor: Intel Atom processor
• RAM: 512 MB
• Storage: 4 GB Flash disk (SSD) or hard disk

Major open source applications included:

• Web browser - Firefox 3 
• E-mail client - Thunderbird
• Instant messenger - Pidgin
• Media player - Rhythmbox†
• eBook reader - FBReader
• RSS reader - Lifrea
• Photo viewer - F-Spot
• Office suite - OpenOffice.org

Market leading applications included:

• Adobe Flash
• Adobe Reader
• Real Player for MID†
• Java JVM

Licensed audio and video decoders:

• MPEG4 (H.263)
• MP3
• AAC
• Windows Media 
• Real Media*

† Choice of one media player
* Only available with Real Player

—– Updated —-

Check out http://thegabfather.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/ubuntu-netbook-remix/ for more information

I sit in front of my computer take a look at my to-do list and do not do anything with it.  A new email comes in and it is something I need to deal with, so I mark it for follow up and then promptly do nothing about despite countless reminders.  I read through my emails and see various people have responded to bugs that I have asked for more information and I don’t feel like doing anything about them.

I wonder why…. is it because I have to much on my to-do list.  Or is it I’m just sitting here waiting for my wife to go to into labor?  Whatever it is if you were waiting for a response from me, I have marked it for follow-up and will be getting to it when I can.

Sorry about that

On the blog search engine land, there is a very interesting article by Danny Sullivan.  In it, Mr. Sullivan argues that because Google made such a stink about Microsoft making Live Search its default for Firefox 3 search.  It is a valid argument that I wish more people would take up.  MS was forced to allow people on a fresh install of IE7 to decide what the default search engine was.  I choose to use Google, instead of Live Search.  However there doesn’t let me add Live Search to the list

In fact w/ MS IE7 I can chooe a whole list:

Something that can’t be done with Firefox, but I can choose to search Creative Commons (what is this?).

The comments are the greatest:

“This story is a joke and you should be [sic]embarassed for posting it.”

“The coexistance of Google and Firefox runs deep enough that you can type a keyword into the browser and you will be directed to the #1 website that is in Google search results for that keyword 90% of the time. Type in a word or a phrase (laptop, cheap laptop, iphone, Danny Sullivan) hit Go and see where you end up.  In IE this is not possible”

Gotta love fanbois

In unbelievable news today, the Seattle Parks and Recreation have proposed a ban on bonfires for the next two years on the public beaches.

According to a memo to the park board from the staff released Thursday, “The overall policy question for the Board is whether it is good policy for Seattle Parks to continue public beach fires when the carbon … emissions produced by thousands of beach fires per year contributes to global warming.”

 

Seriously?  There are other things we can do to help fight carbon emissions then ban bonfires.  The #1 thing we should start doing is build Nuclear Power Points.  What is the carbon emission of a Nuclear Power Plant?  Start building those then…. I think I read someplace the carbon footprint is 1.5% of a gas power plant.

Build Nuclear Power Plants, don’t ban beach bonfires.

THis is probablly posted already to Planet Ubuntu, but in an effort to increase transparency the Ubuntu Server team has created a new blog.

Go visit it to see the minutes of the last meeting.

Found something interesting from Redmondmag.com that I didn’t know about and I bet you didn’t know about either.  Microsoft is a large supporter of MySQL, in fact it was recently signaled out for its contributions to the open source database.

An article here has a quote that probably sums up what you think: “Seriously?”

I learn something new every day

This is the note I sent to both of my State’s Senators.  Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow.  Here are their contact information:

http://stabenow.senate.gov/email.cfm

http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

This is in regards to the Lieberman-Warner bill that is currently in Senate.  I would urge you to vote against this bill with all of the additions that have been added on to it.  This would be the largest tax increase ever on the American people and would drive more jobs away from the United States.

I would urge you instead to start advocating Nuclear Power to help save the environment and reduce our reliance on Oil and Petroluem.

Thanks,

Jonathan

For more information on this terrible crime if passed please visit this site:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/06/020675.php

and

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/05/020620.php

I wrote earlier that I was having problems with SUSE Enterprise Linux 10.1 and my wireless card working.  I thought it worked out of the box w/ Ubuntu but I was looking for a different network card.  The Dell D830 that I have and use with Kubuntu is the Intel 3985 and not the 4985.  This card works fine. 

Now with the newer card and using 8.04 I can’t get the wireless card to work correctly.  I’ve googled and googled and can’t find a simple and easy step by step guide to get this card to work.

Any help

From the National Review Online comes a great article on what will happen when Obama wins.  This is a scary premise that someone like Mr. Obama will become President and also Commander in Chief.

Here are some highlights that need to be pointed out over and over again:

And thus the Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of George McGovern, albeit without McGovern’s military and political record. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far-left candidate in the tradition of Michael Dukakis, albeit without Dukakis’s executive experience as governor. The Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of John Kerry, albeit without Kerry’s record of years of service in the Senate. The Democratic party is about to nominate an unvetted candidate in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, albeit without Jimmy Carter’s religious integrity as he spoke about it in 1976. Questions about all these attributes (from foreign policy expertise to executive experience to senatorial experience to judgment about foreign leaders to the instructors he has had in his cultural values) surround Barack Obama. And the Democratic party has chosen him.

 

Think about it.  Someone with less religious integrity then Jimmy Carter.  Someone without a military tradition and political record like McGovern.  Someone who doesn’t have executive experience.

Seriously what leadership qualities besides “Change” and “Hope” does Mr. Obama have?  He was Senator of the United States, but spent most of his time campaigning for President.  I hope Mrs. Clinton wins.

And its beta?

Ok this is a little wierd to me, I wouldn’t trust my health records to any company that is a search company. In fact out of the 5 people I showed Google Health to none of them would trust their records.  And more specifically to a beta product.

Why would I want to put my information online with a search company?  Will I be searching for things and see paid advertising for health problems I may or may not have?  What happens if this product doesn’t pan out and I “lose” the information I have put in their?  How safe is the information stored there?

Better yet, when I go to my doctor can I say “upload the visit to google heath for me?” If I tried that, the office would stare at me and then laugh.  Then I would have to take notes and spend my own time uploading the information.  Seriously a waste of my time.

Google has some great products, but this seems to be a flop, a real stinker… However since it is “Google” people will just use it