Software (and documentation) wants to be free

If you hang out with me long enough you will come to realize my affinity with open source software (OSS). I am a firm believer in it and think that it levels the playing field, somewhat, between the "haves" and the "have nots" of this world. I have followed the One Laptop Per Child initiative with great interest and think that India and China, with their huge low-income populations and technical resources, will have a big role to play on the hardware side of things. Indeed, this is already happening in India at least. Well, I ran across an initiative that I think will be as important as the open source software movement.

One does not have to be perusing the availability of open source software long before they realize that the documentation that accompanies it is often not of the highest caliber. It may be too detailed for people like me, poorly organized, or non-existent. There is a foundation that is centered in the Netherlands that aims to change that. It is called FLOSS Manuals and it is a collection of information that explains how to use a wide range of free and open source software.

Not being a code monkey, or even a very good script kiddie, I see this as a way to contribute to the OSS movement in a substantial way. I had always thought of writing a portion of some documentation for a piece of OSS, but didn't quite know where to start. This foundation makes it possible to have an impact right away in this regard. It looks to be highly organized and is very specific about what OSS applications they want documentation for. That is a good thing for a scatterbrain like me.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

tightvnc keyboard mapping problem in Ubuntu 9.04

Image
I have been, off and on, having an issue with the keys on my keyboard mapping to the correct values when using the tightvnc client when paired with the vncserver vino in Ubuntu 9.04. I am not exactly sure what keyboard layout the client and server was expecting, but it seemed like every time I restarted the OS the keyboard mapping problem would come back and I would be at square one again. Well, I think I have found the workaround I was looking for . Hopefully this will help anyone else that is having this issue.
Read more

The manifestation of the "I" and the gift of self - Part 1

I am continuing my journey through Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body and I had never realized how body-focused the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis truly are.  But then it all makes so much more sense when it was brought to my attention that the body we have been given in a manifestation of me, or to put it another way, the "I". And it goes beyond that still. Not only does it reveal me, but my body also reveals, in no small measure, the image of God. That is not to say that God is made of flesh like me as is depicted in so many Renaissance paintings. The old man in the sky is nothing like the God as revealed in the Bible. However, the love that God is, the holiness that he is, the justice he is, the righteousness that he is...all of it is shown to the world through my body. In a very real way, my body allows for others, and for me, to participate in the mystery (the hiddenness) of the image of God. That is by design; from the beginning.  If God is revealed in nature...
Read more

Let me learn what I need to learn

In the “I don’t know what God is trying to produce in me…” portion of the blog: I work across (not with) an incredibly loud person. We are in cubes and he refuses to use a handset when he is in a conference call…or headphones. Everything is done via speaker phone. Maybe his handset is broken? I don’t know and am too timid (read “interested in keeping the peace”) to ask him. Of course he shouts into his speaker phone as well when he talks. Now he even refuses to use a keyboard. He has a speech recognition program that allows him to speak to the computer rather than type. Good for him! Now we can all hear “Comma…open parenthesis…close parenthesis…tab…tab...tab…” Was it my sin or my parents sin that relegated me to this placement in the office. We all know the answer to that but man…it sure feels like I am getting punished for something.
Read more