Evil CSS vs. Open CSS and why M$ is doomed to fail...

Evil CSS vs. Open CSS and why M$ is doomed to fail...

#written by:Kevin James Lausen for Http://open-source—construction.blogspot.com

#I only had time to write the article, but not the tags, sharing, and so on b4 leaving for work this #morning.

#feel free to use any/all of this article it will be up on my blog by night-fall...

My first step is going to have to be to define Evil CSS, as well as it's saintly brother Open CSS. Evil CSS I(personally) define as “corporation supported software”, as well as “community supported software”. I came up with the idea of “community supported software” after attempting and failing to teach people what FLOSS(Free/Libre Open-source software). On the flip side of the coin, I have found that when I tell them Linux is a “community supported software” platform the concept seems to stick.

Ways to get support in Open Vs. Evil CSS:

Evil:

~buy a book or magazine about the Window$ or Adobe software you need help with.

~There are usually more You-tube videos for closed source projects because they are @ the moment more popular.

~Call the sometimes toll-free number on the back of the products package.

~There are User groups, and Blogs dedicated to any kind of software.

Open:

~Blogs(Muktware, Open-source—construction, OMGubuntu, webUpd8)

~Podcasts(audio and video)(Linux action show{jupiter-broadcasting-Bryan Lunduke && Chris Fisher}, FLOSS weekly{twit.tv}, Osalt{nixie-pixel rev3})

~User Groups(UseNet does still exhist)

~E-mail lists.(open to the public unlike many Evil CSS mailing lists are internal only)

~Personal developer web-site(Lunduke.com/opentablets.org/

~community forums(Linux forums

~IRC(Internet-Relay Chat) The original free Internet chat, where you can chat directly w/ your software's developers.

~Man(manual) pages. Now also on-line, and built into your Linux distribution. (where the old-school hacker term RTFM—read the freaking manual came from)

~Word of mouth. Generally your super geeky friend's are using Linux, and are willing to share their knowledge and time with you to further “Open CSS”.

Besides the many more ways to get support from a passionate community of users, there are many other reasons I think OpenCSS Linux, is going to trounce EvilCSS. The number one I believe is that Linux is going to be the go to gaming platform of the next century. This is mainly to do with a native steam client able to run the core steam games(portal, half-life, counter-strike...etc), as well as a great show of interest from Ubisoft, and EA games for Ubuntu(Linux). The Humble-indie-bundle has consistently proven that Linux users have extra $ to pay for great games. We have extra money because we don't pay the extortion rates of Micro$oft, Apple, or Adobe.

The other main reason I believe that Micro$oft is going to fail is the cost of Upgrade. Windows 8 is going to be 64-bit ONLY. That means that you are going to need a minimum of 4gb of RAM, with a preferred amount of 8gb or more. One of the major problems with 64-bit on windows, is that Mal-ware scans are going to take days, instead of hours; because 64-bit files are generally much larger. So that makes running a 64-bit Window$ system on a HDD impractical. That means you will need to upgrade @ least your Operating System partition on an SSD(Solid State Drive). So in order to upgrade my desktop computer to Windows 8 I would have to buy an SSD($150+),memory($80+), on top of the minimum hundred dollars to Lease(License) your software. The main draw-back is that you never truly Own all of the software on your computer.

I also want to briefly mention that there are entire countries(Russia, China, and Germany), that are either moving away from Microsoft's vendor lock-in; or have even written Laws to out-law Microsoft software. I would also like to mention that Microsoft software is not allowed in Google, although Apple is because it has roots in Unix. Unix is the grand-Father Operating system, before all of the modern pretty graphics started showing up.

I don't really know if the terms I enjoy using to explain free software will become popular, or enrage the FLOSS community; but I have found them to be the best way to teach the foundational concepts of Free software to Microsoft or Apple prone users.

Humble indie bundle...only one week left.

Humble-Indie bundle...only one week left...

I want none of our readers no matter what platform they use to lose out on this incredible Bundle.

I will talk briefly about what games I am most looking FWD 2, my thought's on the USC(Ubuntu-software-Ctr.) installations, && a little bit of controversy surrounding one of the games and where I stand personally on that issue. Especially as a recent purchaser of the Humble Bundle-V.I definitely wanted to play all of these games before I publish this review; so I can talk about it in the post this time around.

While I could have said forget writing another Blog post about the humble-bundle, I decided it's my duty as a geek to write about games I enjoy on a free-software platform. I will also speak about some of the possible far-reaching consequences of the Humble-bundle to the Linux/BSD communities.

I would also really like to see the humble bundle folks to make widgets that Bloggers such as us can embed within their web-pages. That we we could get spontaneous && hopefully close to instantaneous facts, and figures about who is giving more, how many bundles have been sold, how many days left...etc..

When this will be posted there will be about 9 days left with well over 3 Million dollars for great charities like the FSF(free software foundation), and child's play charity. Linux has consistently won in donations where the Users have the choice to pay as much or little as they so choose. I believe that this is the case for two reasons: one>Linux folks don't have to pay outrageous fees for their hardware/software, so they have extra cash for games, and B>we're sick of getting looked over by companies making AAA titles.

I had mixed results with the ubuntu software center. So please do yourself a favour and only pay for one game @ a time, although I am sure they will work all of that out in time. Also please note that in my opinion the more private(paid software private repositories)that you have on a system, the Longer your update command will work. I often stop just the private * PPAs so that my updates go faster. Although this could just be my horrible Internet connection once again. 

Although all that will change once Linux gets steam, and the source engine for Linux natively. I think this could start the famous Bell curve for Linux. two things that could accelerate this trend even more is if Linux gets seen as enough market share to make adobe fully supported on *NIX systems, or if NetFlix(a co. w/ Linux behind the scenes to run the streaming)were to drop Silverlight making Netflix instantly compatible with most computer platforms. While that is a best case scenario, it does fall within the realm of plausible within the next five years. Especially with the vavaldi/Ubuntu open-source tablets in the near future. Also Ubuntu will look mighty attractive to NetFlix once they start shipping to people's home with an OpenOS.

Who knows one day  there might be a fair and balanced market between "community-supported software", and "corporation developed software". In the more short term I am drooling over the games I have recently downloaded. Although that is subjective, because these are pretty large games compared to previous bundles. Psychonauts is 4.4GB with really intensive gfx. There are really only two games that will work on my netbook more than likely:Limbo, and superbrothers sword and sorcery. All of the other games should play fine on my desktop as soon as I get them. I hope that will be soon. I managed to get superbrothers:sword & sorcery and Limbo, and Bastion  installed on the desktop.

To install Bastion from the .sh file just type this command into the terminal while located within the download directory:

$ sudo bash ./Bastion-HIB-2012-06-01-1.sh <enter> <password>

follow the on-screen prompts...it works fine to keep the defaults, and check register the software upon installation.

I recommend either Vuze, or deluge bit-torrent clients within Linux. This way you help take some of the server costs upon yourselves as part of the community. Torrenting legally has a purpose like to share your favorite Internet show...say...the LinuxActionShow(LAS). I am also torrenting all of the soundtracks, once again seeding until the close of the humbleBundleV.

There was a little bit of controversy surrounding the game Limbo. Basically the developers worked with the codeWeavers project(paid support--customization of wine) to wrap the neat little game inside of a wine wrapper. Although to be fair it is distributed as a 32 or 64bit  .deb/.rpm files for end of distribution. Also if the installer for bastion just compiles a temporary .deb package on Ubuntu

I played the first story...do deaths round on Bastion, and I know I could get hooked way too easily. It ran great on my Desktop HP Ubuntu 12.04LTS. I did manage to get my dart gun, shield, and hammer. :D

In Sword brothers:sword & sorcery didn't really hold my attention, which is weird b/c usually I luv pix-elated old-school styled games. In the games story it explained that the entire game takes 35-45mt.

In Limbo I was able to make the little shadow boy, jump over a moat and that was that. I will probably end up watching some you-tube videos on how to kick butt in Limbo. The launching, smooth audio/video, and a clean shut-down, along with no lag between menus. All thanks to the Code-Weavers project.  Although I don't really mind a well working whine wrapped in a .deb Debian package, but I did sign the partition to try to keep as much of the games as native as possible in Linux. I also think source-tarbell, .rpm, and .deb should be the only really needed packages should keep 95%. These are all my opinions.

I played Amnesia, for just a few minutes. I didn't need to play it very long to be blown away, and to feel my future free time slipping away...

I was slightly limited by space available in my different distrobutions on my desktop PC. the only distro w/ enough space was my KDEmint. Although the installer finished unlike Ubuntu, I was unable to successfully launch the game. I don't mind it being so huge, because the cut-scenes looked really entertaining.


UPDATE:

The humble-bundle foldks have added three more games to the humble-bundleV:Super-meat boy, Braid, and Lone Survivor. Superr-meat boy and braid are already available in the ubuntu software-center(I also wrote about them in my post about the humble-bundle4. Braid was a downloaded from the x-box360 game for a while, and Braid has consistently topped the charts of the most bought Ubuntu game. Lone-survivor looks to be a retro 16-bit styled, post-apocalyptic survivor hallucination story.

bryan Lunduke w/ radicalbreeze.com && theLAS going open-source...

Bryan's self-portrait.

Bryan Lunduke w/ radicalbreeze.com && theLAS going open-source...

Let me first say that I have been a Huge fan of the Linux action sow since Ubuntu 10.10...;D I appreciate most every week Bryan's intelligence, common sense, and zany style when it comes to his passion for Linux, gaming, comic books, goats, and the freedom dimension.

Bryan is a Hard working is using his computer skills to support his wife and daughter. He also hosts for free the House of LundukeBBS telnet server, for nostalgic geeks who remember the Internet before interactive pictures, audio/txt/video of the web.

I would also add that Bryan's BBS is  running the server(netbook) that runs on his desk out of his own nostalgic goodness(out of his own pocket).

2299:The game Official trailer.

Last Monday(when I should have been writing this Blog post)Bryan made a pitch 2 get two thousand people to do recurring 2 dollar support monthly contributions. That would equal out 2 $4k/mo &  $48K/yr.; not including donations and regular sales.That would mean a slight pay-cut, but possibly more reliability in the long run. We were half way On Saturday.



I just got done watching the "Linux Acton Show" where Bryan spoke of Open-sourcing every piece of software/game under the GPL(GNU{GNU is not Unix} Public License). He also spoke of releasing the statistics win or fail. That excites me to see new Free Software(RMS approved...;D)open-source software, and games.

I was probably the last guy to buy the the "help a guy out" sale after Bryan was getting jerker around by a famous fruit company. So I got the first two issues Bryan's comic book "Rod sign hank" I am hoping if he goes GPL, he will be able to crowd-source some help to his projects; and have more time to work on "road-sign hank". Although Bryan also puts out a daily web comic for free. The software he uses that he wrote himself, is still only 5$(although I suspect not much Longer). If you like the comic book the game is only 5 dollars, much like Linux tycoon, or 2299 the game.

I wish I could give even 2 dollars a month, but unfortunately after this month, I am job searching again. I have been gathering signatures for future legislation in MA, but there is not much time left of that.  I heartily promote free/low cost entertainment/software/gaming. I am going to buy the humble indie bundle today, along with Linux tycoon, and the comic creator. I also remember back to just one year ago when Bryan's Illumination was one of the first 6 apps available to pay for from the Ubuntu S0oftware center, along with Fluendo codec/DVD players and Vendetta.

BLABA:video game creator

Radical Comic Designer

 

 Click here 4 the already open-source:LundukeSDK wiki

Click here 4 the Lunduke.com forums:http://lunduke.com/forum/

Here is the Blog post announcing the drive to GPL Brian's software:Please Donate!

 

All of these images have been linked in from Lunduke.com.