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Ruminations on the Digital Realm
Free BSD Magazine download PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jan Stedehouder   
Thursday, 25 June 2009 17:03

OpenBSDAs some of you know, I am a contributor to BSD Magazine since it came out last year. The BSD's deserve to be more in the spotlight, a light that more often falls on Linux. Some time ago BSD Magazine had a special issue about OpenBSD.

If you have never read BSD Magazine before, and wondered whether it would be worth a subscription, there is chance to download this issue for free. The team only requires you to leave your e-mail address.

Subscription isn't killing by the way: $ 39,99 or € 29,99, for four issues each year. Each issue comes with a dvd.

Before I forget: the download campaign runs untill July 5th, 2009.

A more recent issue is available at the stores. In it you will find the following articles:

»Installing FreeBSD 7.1 with Enhanced Security Jails by Remko Lodde
»OpenSMTPD by Gilles Chehade
»Getting a GNOME Desktop on FreeBSD by Jan Stedehouder
»Packaging Software for OpenBSD - part 2 by Edd Barrett
»A Jabber Data Transfer Component Eric Schnoebelen
»Building a FreeBSD Wireless Router by Eric Vintimilla
»CPU Scaling on FreeBSD Unix by Sławomir Wojtczak
»LDAP Authentication on OpenBSD Boxes by Nicolas Greneche
»FreeBSD and Snort Intrusion Detection System by Svetoslav P. Chukov
»Building an Embedded Video Web Server with NetBSD byDonald T. Hayford
»FreeBSD Tips by Dru Lavigne
»Maintaining System Configuration Files Using Subsversion by Mikel King
»Q&A about Dtrace by Federico Biancuzzi

FreeBSD

 

 

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Embrace and extend: a non-binary approach to open source promotion PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jan Stedehouder   
Thursday, 25 June 2009 09:57

OpinionComputers view reality in the simplest of terms. It is either yes or no, black or white, right or wrong. You can’t blame computers for this, their binary view on reality is is hard-coded. As Wikipedia explains, the computer’s memory cells only have two states. This binary outlook on life can take us a long way. Just consider the strengths and complexities of our modern desktop computer, our mobile phone of the AI of a few popular first person shooters. We spend a lot of time interacting with systems that think and work binary. As a Dutch saying goes, what you hang out with tends to rub off on you. And before we know it, we also begin to organize the world around us along simple binary lines: yes or no, black or white, right or wrong. In the open source world we find people who spend a lot of time behind their computers.

Granted, I am not a expert on human brains, but I think we agree that our brains are somewhat more complex than the memory cells of a computer. Humans are unique beings, shaped by a package of genes, passed along at birth, and a collection of experiences within a social, cultural and biological context (and then some more). Both ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’ collaborate to create greatly complex individuals. In order to grasp this complexity we tend to simplify reality, for instancy by stereotyping. Okay, this is enough Dr.Phil-psychology for now. In essence, humans and human organizations are not binary, they cannot be binary in my opinion. But, in the open source world we find people who spend a lot time behind their computers.

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Last Updated on Thursday, 25 June 2009 11:07
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