The long-awaited next release of Debian is finally here: Debian 4.0 codenamed “Etch” was released today. Debian releases are fairly infrequent (for good reason), so this is a big day in the Debian world. Some Linux users (especially some Ubuntu users) forget the importance of Debian to the whole community. I do use Ubuntu on… (read more)
How interesting: EMI have said that they will provide non-DRM encumbered music downloads. For a little more than the basic, DRM-ed cost, one will be able to get a higher-bitrate non-DRM version, which is excellent. Long may this continue… And I couldn’t make a post without mentioning: congratulations to MrBen and MrsBen on the arrival… (read more)
I’ve pointed many people to this article I wrote entitled “Why Microsoft Word May Be Bad For Your Health”. I wrote it five years ago (2002) and much of what I said is still relevant. However, I am planning to write an updated version soon, to take on board a number of interesting changes which… (read more)
A short DVD/film review: I recently purchased a copy of “Das Boot” on DVD: this is an excellent film and the plot is described on Wikipedia. There are a number of different versions going around, including the ‘short’ 2 hours 30 minutes cinema version, the “Director’s Cut”, running to 3 hours 36 minutes and, further,… (read more)
Snow in Oxford. Very rare: the BOFHlets were out bright and early to build this, very excited after they discovered that the schools would not be open today:
Not the house, but this web site. As will be quite apparent if you’re reading this site directly rather than via one of the syndicated feeds, I’ve installed and customized a new theme. I think it looks excellent, and I’m allowed to say that because it’s not my own work: it’s my very minor rewrite… (read more)
BBC are proposing to make TV programmes available for download at some point in the near future. There is an open consultation process about this happening right now. I’ve made a formal comment asking them that they use open media and audio formats for their distribution, thus making it possible for all BBC licence-payers to… (read more)
There seems to have been a reassuring amount of mainstream news coverage of open source recently. Hopefully this is a trend that can continue. The first I noticed was a segment on Radio 4’s “In Business” called New Wave Computing which was a very basic introduction to the ideas behind open source and free software…. (read more)
Recently, I wrote to my MP. I got a reasonably positive reply asking for more information before he would consider signing the Early Day Motion I was encouraging him to. His reply was much faster than mine to him, embarrassingly, but I’ve finally got around to responding. Here is the content of my letter: Dear… (read more)
So I haven’t posted anything here for ages. Christmas, New Year, general laziness etc. Anyway, quick catch-up, divided into two. Christmas presents brought me quite a few books and a number of CDs, as usual: all good, though. I’m reading the latest Pratchett and also a book about the intricacies of WW2 called Europe At… (read more)
