Category Archives: open source

Endnote Suing Virginia Over Zotero

Stop using Endnote.
Thomson Reuters, the maker of Endnote, is suing Virginia over Zotero. The claim is that the makers of Zotero reverse engineered Endnote to make Zotero.
However, it doesn’t look like that’s true. It looks like Zotero allows users to use their own Endnote file and save their bibliographic information back as an Endnote file [...]

Open Source Textbooks

[Update: Bad news philosophers. I contacted the company to see what philosophy offerings they might have in 2009 and found out they have none. It turns out they're only a four person operation and are focusing on just Business and Economics right now.]
Awesome. I’ve ranted a lot about open source software and open access publishing. [...]

Assortment of Fun News for Linux Lovers

I’ve been ranting enough about switching to Ubuntu for professional reasons, that I thought people interested in those posts might be interested in some of these items that I’ve come across today. Here’s a fun list that should be of interest to Linux lovers.

This is kind of funny. Dell has discovered a loophole to give [...]

Bad Press for Windows in the New York Times

In this New York Times article, a business professor discusses one of the major issues he thinks Windows faces.
My Summary: Windows is a piece-meal, monothilic OS based on 60s and 70s code dogma. It’s a Frankenstein OS. It’s basically 30 years of patching and unfinished quilt-work.
His recommendation as a business professor to a business - [...]

User-Generated Content = Sweatshop Labor?

This article claims that running user generated content sites like YouTube and Wikipedia is like running a virtual sweatshop. Really? I don’t even know where to begin.
What concerns me is that I could easily see this kind of argument get co-opted by proprietary software companies to try and say that there is something morally wrong [...]

More Thoughts On the Ubuntu Switch

I’m still loving my switch to Ubuntu. I’m even making philosophy Ubuntu wallpapers.
Now it looks like Richard Chapelle recently made the switch to Ubuntu. He’s got a list of possible downsides and concludes, the benefits seem to outweigh the costs. I agree.
There is one downside that came up in the comments that I do agree [...]

Linux in Our High Schools

I’ve blogged a bit about the switch to Linux for personal reasons. I’ve also blogged a bit about the switch to Linux on a college campus.
Here is an interesting article that discusses why and how K-12 schools should switch to Linux.

European Union Encourages Use of Open-Source Software

Story here. In other news - I’m still loving the switch to Ubuntu and LaTeX.

Why Universities Should Switch to Open Source Software

Last week, I posted about switching to Ubuntu. Many of those reasons are also reasons for colleges to switch to open source software. Universities spend lots of money each year on proprietary software (e.g., Microsoft Operating Systems, Microsoft Office Suites, Anti-virus software, Course Management software, and networking software.) Universities pay a fee per machine (often [...]

Ubuntu and LaTeX

I’ve decided that I’m switching to Ubuntu (Linux). I’m also switching to LatTeX. They are both awesome. Here are some reasons why.
Ubuntu: Linux for Human Beings
A while back, during my open access rants, Jeremy predicted (in this post) that I would become a Linux user soon. Jeremy, it seems, is a bit of a prophet. [...]