Just finished reading [[http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/world-domination/world-domination-201.html|World Domination 201]] by ESR and Rob Landley. Its an OK read. They make a good case, but it didn’t come across as urgent and compelling as probably they intended it to. But most catalysts of change tend to be a little extreme, so I actually like the way the article has been written. It remains to be seen how much traction can it generate.
Gone are the days when getting webcams to work under Linux was a distant dream. Until recently I was myself under the illusion that //very few// (if any) webcams work under Linux and even if they do, what good would they be since I wouldn’t be able to use them with Yahoo or MSN or NetMeeting.
Take a look at the [[http://mxhaard.free.fr/spca5xx.html|list of supported webcams]] here. And this is just using **one** driver. Several Philips and Logitech webcams are supported using the [[http://www.saillard.org/linux/pwc/|pwc]] and [[http://www.ee.oulu.fi/~tuukkat/quickcam/quickcam.html|qc]] ([[http://qce-ga.sourceforge.net/|alternative]]) drivers. I just noticed yesterday that my two years old Creative Webcam NX-Pro was also supported by the spca5xx driver. Excited, I got home and plugged the webcam in and voila! //It just worked ™!//
I then went on the test the webcam with [[http://camorama.fixedgear.org/|camorama]], [[http://ekiga.org|Ekiga]], [[http://openwengo.com|Wengophone-NG]] and of course, my beloved [[http://kopete.kde.org|Kopete]]. Infact, I was even able to broadcast my webcam on Yahoo using Kopete! Suh-weet!
Readers who are going “so whats the big deal, we’ve been doing this in Windows for years” must realize that all this has happen **without any** (or little) cooperation from the vendors and manufacturers. This is reverse engineering at its best. Imagine how good desktop linux can be once vendors start endoring and supporting products the way they release drivers for PC and Mac.
So if you have a webcam lying around and you wished it worked on Linux, give it a spin. In all probability, it just will :-)
Now Google has a foot in the mainstream kernel development as well. Whats next? Linux Today – Morton Gets Googled
I just read [[http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2270&Itemid=449|this article]] on OSWeekly.com (via [[http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/08/03/0349226.shtml|Slastdot]]) and I must say I found the article pretty lame. Let me elaborate.
* F/LOSS software is usually open-source and adheres to open standards. Why should the FLOSS community then be help responsible for “finding some ground with closed source software”? Shouldn’t it be the other way round?
* As others have noted, the article is self contradictory. It talks about the lack of “exciting” software on Linux, and then goes on to blabber about Outlook-like software. Outlook has been around since forever now. What major innovations has personal information management seen in that space? Do people really think Outlook is an example software?
* Besides the fact that the article is inconsistent about “exciting” software, the premise itself is wrong. There are //tons// of exciting software on Linux. Infact, much //much// more than there ever will be on M$. The notion of what is exciting may of course vary among individuals, but do you really think that a closed source platform would be more conducive than an open source platform for hackers and developers who want to build truly creative software.
* Needless to say, I think there are several fairly robust and very well done software on Linux that can compete well with any closed source software. Let me list a few here (note that although some of the below //are// available for Windows, they are all still very much F/LOSS and all have their roots in Linux platforms):
* [[http://getfirefox.com|Firefox]] — browser
* [[http://amarok.sf.net|Amarok]] — music player/organizer
* [[http://qalculate.sf.net|Qalculate]] — calculator
* [[http://kopete.kde.org|Kopete]] — Multi-protocol Messenger (before you start whining, the reason why Kopete “lacks” some “features” is because the protocols are proprietary. For apples to apples comparison, compare closed-source Jabber clients with their open source counterparts)
* [[http://inkscape.org|Inkscape]] — Vector graphics
* [[http://httpd.apache.org|Apache]] — the web server that ushered Linux into the server market (//hat tip: Shashikant//).
* Finally, in a lot of cases, the software on Linux isn’t good enough simply because the market forces are not driving software development. Naturally there’s bound to be some divergence between customer requirements/expectations and what developers deliver. Remember that the bulk of this stuff is built on volunteer time.
I agree that a lot of areas could use some user-oriented development. In particular audio and video editing, word-processing, image-processing, video games etc.
One technical: [[http://www.bitrot.de/macswitch.html|When a Linux user buys Apple's Mac mini]]
One non-technical: [[http://www.bitrot.de/workinusa.html|Working in the USA - Experiences of a European]]
Someday I need to write my own versions of both of the above. Someday.