Information about Windows 7 is making its way out from PDC, and this screenshot struck me as familiar:
Look familiar?
This should be familiar to Gnome and Mac OS X users, as it almost looks identical to NetworkManager (and whatever they call it in OS X). Kind of cool I guess, but also, NetworkManager has been sped up so much that it’s now a top quality piece of software on a par with any thing else out there – congratulations to the team.
Could anyone point me in the direction of work that’s being done to define the requirements for a free web application. I’m particularly interested in thoughts about data security and portability.
Has anyone thought about what their elevator pitch (30 seconds – sell the idea) would be for free software/Fedora?
Over dinner this evening I got into a short discussion about why I use free software and not Mac OS X/Windows (yes, I am that exciting!), and I damn well couldn’t explain to people in a reasonably short and understandable way. It’s not often I struggle to get words out of my mouth, but this really caught me out.
I’d be interested to hear people’s views on why they use free software, and what their elevator pitch would be. If you care, leave a comment.
NB: I know many people don’t agree with this point of view, but to me the only real argument for using free software on the desktop is freedom – I’m not sure there are any other areas where we knock the competition on its arse, and there are a number of areas where we fail to compete in any meaningful way too.
Although I’ve come across some slightly annoying bugs, F10 beta has also fixed a couple of long standing annoyances I’ve had.
Chief amoung these is that I can now play back video with Compiz enabled flawlessly. This is cool, and makes the whole user experience provided by this kind of eye candy much better.
Secondly, ever since switching to using a Dell Mini as my primary system, flash video playback has been slow and stuttery. I have no idea what the cause of this was, but for YouTube and iPlayer at least it seems to have improved a lot. I’m wondering if it’s something to do with the SSD being a little slow? Whatever it was, something got improved 
NetworkManager also seems to be logging onto the network a lot quicker. Maybe I’m crazy?
The small bugs I’ve seen so far include the screen flickering in Gnome, a few random fails at booting, and also sound dropping out. As I get time, I’m trying to figure out what I need to help get these bugs squashed.
Well, since I last posted my brother got married(!), I moved into my new house for the year, started lectures, built a server, finished up a website for Mum’s school and got my first package approved for Fedora and into F9 updates-testing. Doesn’t sound like that much, but it feels like I haven’t stopped for the last two weeks.
My Brother’s Wedding
This was a really fantastic day! Matt and Sarah both looked awesome, lots of family and friends made the trip down to sunny (for a change) Cornwall, and my best man’s speech went perfectly. We certainly couldn’t have asked for anything more, and it’s the perfect start to their new life together
Think Mum and Dad are finding it a little strange with Matt married and me at uni, but they’re getting used to it and already reaping the benefits with a holiday to the Lake District in half term!
Moving House
Last year I lived in catered halls, so didn’t have to pay bills or cook; this year, I’m living in a private house with 4 friends, having to arrange and pay for utillities, cook for ourselves, and do all the general things you do to keep a house in order. So far, I love cooking Had a crack at a roast dinner on Sunday, hardly a typical student meal, but it was Fay’s birthday and she loves roast potatoes!
General living is the same as last year, but a little busier during the first week, heading out to see lots of different friends again etc.
Bills are rubbish though, and I think I’m going to need to earn a little bit of cash to help me through the year – any body got any suggestions!?
Started Lectures
Have less lectures time tabled this semester, but I think that’s due to Hebrew being 30 credits but only 3 hours. Means I have a fair amount of work to do outside of class this time, but I’m confident I have plenty of room to step up my efforts compared to last year. Besides Hebrew, I’m doing modern theology and the divine world in the Hebrew Bible this semester – both look like they’re going to be really interesting. Hebrew is definitely going to be even better than last year, as we’re doing actual translations and criticism of translations – will help a lot with my understanding of how theologies develop etc.
Trying out the Cornell note taking method this term, as referenced by Life Hacker. Seems cool so far, but I’d like to look into reading methods to help me approach that better too.
Built A Server
Partly for fun, partly because I’m paranoid, I’ve built my own server for hosting all my web related activites. Still working on and learning to deploy the software properly, but it’s been cool so far with lots of learning happening!
Mum’s School’s Website
My Mum’s school were in desperate need of a new website, and while I’m no web designer, anything I did would be better than what was already in place! Finally got that online this week, and all seem pleased with the result.
ume-launcher Package
After switching to the Mini Inspiron 9, I decided to try out my packaging skills from FUDCon and package a few of the Ubuntu netbook packages. I think there’s 5 in total, and I just got one of the major components through review and into updates-testing for F9. Found a bug with it not building for rawhide and F8 which I’m working on now, and I’ve also got to deal with the other reviews and fix the problems with those packages. Hopefully we’ll have a full set of netbook packages in Fedora within the next month or so.
All In All
Things are going well for me… Feel tired tonight, but I’m taking the time to recouperate a little bit. My best wishes to everyone who reads this far, you certainly deserve them (even if you didn’t read this far, you probably deserve them anyway!) . For now, I’m off to read a little non-theology, non-geek related stuff: Pilgrim On Tinker Creek – my Dad recommended it and I’m really enjoying it, although taking it slowly.
