GPLv3 Released

Important cross-roads day in the world of free and open-source software - the predominant licence is up-issued to a new version - GPLv3 is released.

Will existing projects migrate? Importantly what will the Linux kernel guys do? What about other important projects like Samba? Will it become the licence of choice for new projects? Is this the deal-breaker for the future of the Microsoft-Novell deal (and all others like it)? What will be the response of distributions - Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, SuSE, etc? Will this see TiVo-like devices move away from using Linux and start using a BSD instead? Will this alienate the FSF from "mainstream" open-source, or will this unify free and open-source developers together? Will it be a non-issue altogether?

It will be very interesting, won't it? :-)

Update: Luis Villa provides good commentary about the licence itself, info for developers and for companies and finishes with some good closing thoughts.

tech/IP | 30 Jun 2007 | #

Testing testing testing

So anyone who knows me professionally knows that I'm a big fan of test driven development, so it's no surprise that when the LCA2007 conference had some nice testing presentations I was pretty excited (even though it wasn't specifically about TDD, but rather about testing in general).

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend (but for very good reasons - the birth of Nathaniel).

Fortunately the video was released (paper video, tutorial video) soon afterwards.

So Erik has just put the paper online (which I promise I'll read soon). And there's also an (almost blank :) webpage specifying a mailing list too. Hopefully some traction will be built around this.

So I'd encourage people to think about testing their software. Even better, write your tests before you write your software, and watch the video, read the paper, check out some test driven development resources online (Kent Beck, Martin Fowler etc) and sign-up on the mailing list. Let's advance the state of software by building quality in at the start.

tech/sweng | 29 Jun 2007 | #

Moonlight: Silverlight on Linux

Miguel and his team have been busy - 21 days after Microsoft revealed their cross-platform browser-hosted CLR efforts, the free software world have reimplemented a good junk of it.

• Implementing Silverlight in 21 Days (aka Moonlight)
• Another report of the 21-day hackathon at Novell
• Moonlight-based Desklets
• A Mono Developers Guide to writing XAML by hand. (ie. the language of Silverlight)
• Silverlight Surface demo

Besides the cool tech and the flashy demos, what is very impressive by itself is what can be achieved by a small focused team in a small amount of time. Slow viscosity/inertia/velocity (or whatever you want to call it) is the enemy of innovation. Slow development progress begats further slow progress, whereas quick results sky-rockets the motivation of the team. Seriously, the more projects I see, the more I'm convinced that if you can get the obstacles and interruptions out of the way then you have a great chance to get a coherent, innovative, quality software product developed quickly. It's less about process, it's less about documentation, and it's more about focus.

The hackfest/sprint is certainly under-utilised as a software development lifecycle today.

tech/code/C-Sharp | 29 Jun 2007 | #

Juggling

• Chris Bliss
• 8,9,10 and 11 Balls
• Jason Garfield 2004
• WJF 2006 trailer

Just love the commentary :-)

tech/misc | 18 Jun 2007 | #

LinuxSA June 2007 - Linux on the Nokia N800

  Hi all,

  Time for the June meeting announcement (it's next Tuesday)...

  The usual details:

   When:   7:00pm-9:30pm (doors open 6:45pm) on
           Tuesday, 19th June, 2007
   Where:  Senior Secondary Assessment Board
           of South Australia (SSABSA)
           Boardroom (1st floor)
           60 Greenhill Road
           Wayville SA
   Cost:   FREE
   Who:    Anyone and everyone.
           No pre-registration necessary.

  Presentation:

   Tim Wegener will be giving a presentation about Linux on the Nokia
   N800 Internet Tablet.

   Tim Wegener is an engineer in the microelectronics field. His day
   job involves VLSI hardware design, implementation and verification,
   along with writing design automation tools and gluing them together.

   Tim uses Linux at work and at home; on the server, the desktop, and
   now, the palmtop. In his spare time he enjoys tinkering on the
   computer, writing programs and playing music, among other things.

  Finding the Venue and Parking:

   You can park either beneath or next to the SSABSA building.  If you
   are driving west along Greenhill road, you can turn left into the
   driveway if you are going slow enough to notice the sign and turn in
   time :-), or you can turn left at the next road, and left again to
   go along the street behind the building to access the carpark that
   way.

   If you try to enter the building from street level but the doors are
   locked, walk down the stairs and use the lift in the below-ground
   carpark.

  Pizza:

   After the meeting, please join us for pizza at San Giorgios (cnr.
   Frome Street and Rundle Street in the city).

   For more information:

   Email:        organisers@linuxsa.org.au
   Web Page:     http://www.linuxsa.org.au/
   Mailing List: linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au
   IRC:          #linuxsa on irc.freenode.net

tech/LinuxSA | 14 Jun 2007 | #

You win some, you lose some

So despite this morning's good news, today is an even bigger black day than last time.

Very sad, but thanks for the memories - time to move on with life.

tech/misc | 13 Jun 2007 | #

One Goal Reached

So today I achieved something that I never thought possible - my initial fitness goal has been reached. 10% of body weight reduction in 9 weeks.

How?

• Reduction in carbs overall, and a great reduction in carbs after 4pm
• Reducing portion sizes when I do eat
• Always drink 8 glasses of cold water a day
• Consume lots of Extra chewing gum :-)
• But most importantly, I run every weekday morning on an empty stomach - I've worked up to 6kms daily (with a longer run on Fridays)

I didn't actually think I'd be able to achieve this - so I'm pretty pleased with the result. Now onto the next goal!

exercise | 13 Jun 2007 | #

linux.conf.au 2008 Call For Papers (CFP) opens

linux.conf.au 2008 opens up the Call For Papers (CFP). So,

• If you are doing something cool in the linux/open-source world,
• ...and if you can make it to Melbourne, Australia between Jan 28 and Feb 2, 2008
• ...then submit a proposal, and see if you get accepted as a conference speaker. Trust me, it's a worthwhile thing to do!

As someone who is on the CFP Committee, come on! - submit a paper if you're involved in doing something cool/important/different/zany in the open-source world. We want to see your proposal! :-)

tech/linux-australia/lca2008 | 01 Jun 2007 | #