Archive for July, 2006

Jul 31 2006

Jabbin looking for beta testers and packagers

Published by Stef under business

I have been asked to relay this information and I happily do so:

The Jabbin project is looking for packagers and testers.  Jabbin is a multi-platform Jabber free software client, adding VoIP feature (it is possible to speak with GTalk users) and a new friendly UI .

They have released a new version and would like to focus more on GNU/Linux adding more support and documentation for it.

At the moment they have only the rpm package for SuSE, but more packages are necessary: Debian, Fedora and Ubuntu, at least.

To collaborate please contact the developer Stefano Grini via jabber JID stefanogrini@jabber.org

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Jul 26 2006

campusparty 2006

Published by stefano under business

charla campusparty 2006

charla campusparty 2006,
originally uploaded by Stefano Maffulli.

Valencia, mon amour. Stasera darò il terzo discorso al campus party, sul tema creatività, mondo hacker e personaggi controversi. Poi da domani sarò in vacanza, fino a domenica.

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Jul 21 2006

Questioni di parentela

Published by Stef under misc

La mia saggia collega in FSFE, Antonella Beccaria, mi bacchetta per le parole dure scorrette usate nel mio post sul cambio di rotta di Lessig. Ha ragione lei e ha ragione JC De Martin ad essersi irritato: scrivo sempre d’impulso e a ruota libera su questo spazio (altrimenti scriverei comunicati stampa per qualche organizzazione di cui faccio parte).

Non sono mai stato diffidente verso CC. Non sono mai stato d’accordo con Stallman che amplifica le sottili distinzioni tra le varie licenze CC bollandone alcune come accettabili e altre non accettabili: che si sperimenti pure.

Neppure ho mai approvato completamente il ragionamento di Mako, almeno fino a poco tempo fa.

Ha ancora ragione Antonella quando dice che le minacce arrivano da ben altre parti. Ma in questo momento io sono e resto preoccupato: non mi piacquero le licenze Sampling e Developing Nations (ma non era un tema importante), restai in silenzio davanti all’endorsement di Lessig per il DRM di Sun. Ora l’euforia per un discorso di Gil distribuito in un formato proprietario.

La roadmap delle FSF è:

  • lotta senza quartiere ai DRM, perché sono incompatibili col software libero. Quindi le FSF hanno attivato GPLv3 e la campagna DefectivebyDesign
  • supporto ai formati ‘liberi’, unencumbered, fair o come la comunità deciderà di chiamarli

Quali di questi percorsi possono essere condotti con CC? E come? Parliamone.

Antonella Beccaria’s Blog

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Jul 21 2006

La riscossa delle corporazioni contro gli uomini liberi.

Published by Stef under del.icio.us

Io non sciopero! Nonostante sia deluso dal primo round, governo vs tassisti, perso dal governo (e dai cittadini).

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Jul 19 2006

Beyond ‘open standards’

Published by Stef under business

I am dealing with a paper about standards and Free Software and I’ve found out that the term ‘open standard’ is a very common term in literature (and commercial advertising).  According to most of the definitions I found, an ‘open standard’ can be patented and, at best, subject to RAND licensing policies.  This translate into ‘open standard _can_ be impossible to implement in Free Software’.

Now, since I am summarizing in this paper what defines a standard that is implementable in Free Software, it would be nice to propose also a term that is non controversial like ‘open standard’. 

Free standard is not good: I don’t think it’s savvy to replicate the fight between ‘open’ and ‘free’.  A friend whispered ‘non discriminatory standard’ but he agrees that the negation at the beginning is less than optimal.  I couldn’t think of any more solutions, so I ask here two questions: 

1) does it make sense to introduce in the Free Software community a new term that is non-controversial and more precise than the generic ‘open standard’?

2) if yes, what would that term be?

Any suggestion appreciated. Please comment here or on the list Discussion where I posted this same message and I will summarize any useful result.

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Jul 18 2006

MilanoCarSharing - L’auto solo quando serve

Published by Stef under misc

Mi hanno appena comunicato che Car Sharing Italia s.r.l. ha appena stipulato un accordo di cooperazione con Stadt Teil Auto di Fresing e V., società che gestisce il car sharing in Germania.

Il che vuol dire che, oltre alle vetture a Milano e a Rimini potrà utilizzare oltre 2000 vetture in GERMANIA e circa 1700 vetture in SVIZZERA. Bello. Spero che questa cooperazione venga estesa anche agli altri servizi di carsharing in Italia.

MilanoCarSharing - L’auto solo quando serve

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Jul 13 2006

Software Freedom Law Center approva ODF

Published by Stef under business

Aspettavo questo documento da un paio di settimane. Ora ne vedremo delle belle :)

Software Freedom Law Center
On the factual basis described, and subject to reservations, it is our opinion that ODF, as standardized and licensed by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information (OASIS), is free of legal encumbrances that would prevent its use in free and open source software, as distributed under licenses authored by Apache and the FSF.

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Jul 12 2006

Explaining how DRM works

Published by Stef under business

 There are many descriptions online of how DRM (digital restrictions
management) work, but few images actually try to picture a real life
scenario. These images have been modeled after a simple scenario
described in the Digital Media Project, the people that is trying to
develop an interoperable DRM. I have used the use case n. 8 (Personal Photo) from the Approved Document No. 4 –
Technical Specification: Use Cases and Value Chains
to help Fellows explain why Free Software is incompatible with DRM, no matter what others say.

Get the file from here and let me know what you think, if it is correct and how to improve it.

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Jul 11 2006

Cursing in Italian

Published by Stef under business

After Zidane trying to stop Materazzi’s heart, Liberation tries to suggest some ‘bad words’ in Italian in this mp3 file…  How disappointing, it is repetitive and boring.  I can do better as Georg and kyrah know ;-)

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Jul 11 2006

[ASSOCIAZIONE NAZIONALE ARCHITETTI ITALIANI] I “professionisti” in rivolta!

Published by Stef under del.icio.us

Se credo che i [tassisti|architetti|farmacisti|ecc] scioperino per difendere i clienti? L’asino che vola? Dove?

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