The WFTL-LUG

Just what the heck, you may be wondering, is the WFTL-LUG? Well, a LUG is a Linux User Group and the WFTL LUG is a global, distributed, Linux User Group. It's a virtual meeting place, provided by your host, Marcel Gagné, where you can share information, ideas, and ask questions regarding Linux and other free and open source software. Despite being a LUG without borders, the WFTL-LUG is listed with CLUE as a Canadian LUG.

This particular site provides links to WFTL-LUG related information, including members' own home pages, articles and books written by members, and other information of interest to the WFTL-LUG. There's also a virtual home on IRC for the WFTL-LUG where people can chat 24 hours a day. To connect, point your favorite IRC client to chat.marcelgagne.com and join channel #wftlchat. On Tuesdays, we meet there for the semi-official Tuesday WFTL chat. If you don't have an IRC client, use this link to connect using any Java-enabled browser.

1. Your houseplants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them.

2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.

3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.

4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.

5. You hear your favorite song in an elevator

6. You watch the Weather Channel.

7. Your friends marry and divorce instead of 'hook up' and 'break up.'

8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.

9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as 'dressed up.'

And here was I thinking that 2008 would be the start of a great year.. HAH !! It looks like the Flying Spaghetti Monster is conspiring against me yet again !!

As another year draws to a close, it leads one to become somewhat introspective - well it does me anyway...:-)

This year has been, to put it bluntly, a complete bitch for me, both personally and professionally.

Another year down.

As I approach the half-decade mark without Micro.... I must raise my glass of wine to my fellow Linux users in the LUG and say, À votre santé.

May the next year see the march of the penguin into a computer near you.

Troy in New Mexico

It is December 19 and I have been looking back on
the year and I must say "that was some year, 2007
was". We saw the long awaited bankruptcy of SCOx.
But that was not a surprise, it was just a matter of time.

But there were surprises. Here is what I believe
are the surprises:

1. A large retailer would sell Linux computers
WOW!! It took almost a full year for the "WOW to start
now". The Green PC at Wal-mart sure turned a few heads.
To think that the masses would buy a computer running
Linux in a non techie environment like Wal-mart. Who knew??

From Thomas the Tank Engine, a little song . . .

Little engines,
Little engines,
Little engines can do the biggest things.
Little engines,
Little engines,
Little engines can do most anything. (Thanks Marcel-I am a parent too.)

Just wanted to share something that is amazing me.

Before I do, I need to preface it. As some of you may remember, 2 distros signed pacts with Microsoft in a short time. Those were Linspire and Xandros. Since 2004 I have been a Linspire Insider. I also had Linspire as a client writing Channel Training materials for their commercial vendors. I even aided with their involvement in Indiana's One for One Linux pilot by way of creating and executing a 3 day training session to Indiana Board of Education IT pros (Linux boot camp if you will). When they launched Freespire, I drafted the base document that became the Community Board Bylaws and was elected as the Vice Chair of the community board. Those were good times. We believed in something.

On Friday, my laptop died. It was an Acer. The screen was damaged. Replacement cost of cracked screen is more than halfway to the cost of a new laptop. So I decide I will support the new Ubuntu Dell Laptops.

I go online to Dell's Website and go to the Ubuntu page. I choose the E1505n. I upgrade to a GB of Ram, I get the Nvidia 256 MB graphics card, I get the DVD burner optical drive. So far so good. I am happy with the default processor and the screen. Now, another driving factor is that Dell has the nifty cool complete care (tm) plan. With this bad boy, a random brick can fly through the air, hit my laptop, shatter it to threads, and Dell will cover it. Think of it more as an insurance plan than a service plan. I have a friend with 3 kids who has had to take advantage of it not once, but twice. Both times Dell took care of them no questions asked. Now, the first time the Dell laptop had XP on it...the second time..gentoo. Still, no problems here.

So, I decide to get it....just in case I get burned twice.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a link to the first episode of a BBC two-part series called, "The Codebreakers", whose focus is FOSS, or Free and Open Source Software. Some fascinating stuff here and well worth watching. You can view the second part below.

Want to get sued by Microsoft? Then read on. At the end of this post, you'll have your opportunity. By now, you've no doubt heard the story that Microsoft claims that Linux and FOSS violates at least 235 of their patents. Once again, Microsoft innnovates through intimidation and litigation. Does anyone really think they'll come clean as to which patents Linux supposedly violates? To quote Ballmer, "What's fair is fair." Well, fair comes with a price, even for the mega-rich like Mr. Ballmer. If he honestly means what he says, that is. In that corner wherein our wildest imagination wanders about, can we even begin to conceive that Microsoft might allow their closed source to be examined for the patents it might violate?