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Posts in 2008 November
Brilliant Brainstorms #38 – Widgets Without The Screensaver
Brilliant Brainstorms is a weekly summary of some of the best/most interesting brainstorms from the Ubuntu Brainstorm site.
Warning! Please use your judgment about the person, the computer, and the prank before attempting this. Always try whatever you plan to do on your own computer or some other safe computer before doing anything.
- Set XKill to start when the user logs in Go to System > Preferences > Sessions and add an entry with the command ‘xkill’. If you have not used xkill before, it turns your cursor into an ‘x’ (may vary by distribution) and kills the process behind the next thing you click on. Watch out with this one! Using this on unsaved work would be very bad.
- Change/remove main menu shortcuts Go to System > Preferences > Main Menu. Then either just uncheck any boxes you want or switch the command associated with the application shortcuts around. Either way, the recipient of this prank will have no idea how to get their programs to launch. (You can also set one of them to the command ‘xkill’ described above. This is probably not a good idea, though, since it is very possible that the user would accidentally click on something they shouldn’t. In short, be careful and don’t do it.)
- Replace desktop background with a picture of the desktop This trick will work on any OS, but it is still one of my favorites. Just take a screenshot of the computer’s desktop without any windows open. Then set that screenshot as their desktop background. Just move some or all of the desktop icons to another folder (be sure you don’t delete them) and watch as the computer’s user tries to click on his/her icons without any luck.
- Change the terminal’s colors Know a geek who loves to use the terminal? Open terminal and go to Edit > Profiles. Then choose to edit the default profile and mess with the colors. For maximum confusion, leave the background color, but change the text color to match it. Be careful you write down the previous settings, though, if the user has changed them.
- Free the fish When you walk by the person’s computer, simply press Alt+F2 and type in “free the fish”. This will cause a fish you swim across the desktop over and over again. You will have to do it again after every reboot, though.
- Bonus! Sometimes the simple tricks are the best. Unplug the keyboard or mouse.
As stated above, be careful and use your judgment. I do not recommend using any of these ideas unless you are absolutely sure no harm will be done.
Know of any great tricks? Share them and tell us how these tricks and others have worked for you.
Right now, despite requests for clocks and other such things, the login page and the locked screen page are both pretty useless in terms of information. The problem is that you could put a clock on that page, but then someone would ask for weather. Then for stocks. Then for news. And so on. The solution: widgets.
We already have widgets that display all the types of information you might want at a glance (and more), but they are stuck on our desktops. Why? Sure, the desktop is a great place to put widgets, but the login page would be even better, since then everyone can see them. Better yet: both places.
With widgets on your login scree, you could put whatever you want there for other people to see as they go past, turning your computer into something of use for everybody, not just you.
Simply making it possible to add widgets to the login and locked screen pages would resolve complaints about adding clocks, weather, etc. and create a far more useful and functional login page, while allowing anyone who likes things clean to leave their login page blank.
Thanksgiving is a season to think about all the things we are grateful for, but so often we forget the bits of technology that we enjoy. Here are the pieces of technology I am grateful for:
Digital Rights Management We so rarely think about it, but DRM touches our lives every day. This proven useless piece of wonderful technology brought to us by wonderful narrow-minded people of the music and movie industries brings joy to our lives every time we try to do anything with our legally purchased content. Then, it makes us go buy new hardware, providing an incredible excuse to waste more money.
Dumb Comments Without the occasional dose of stupid, annoying comments, I would never be able to put up with the huge number of intelligent comments. Can you imagine only getting intelligent comments on your blog? No dumb ones and no spam? How would you survive?
Monopolies Ahhh… monopolies… Don’t listen to those people who say they’re bad for consumers or whatever! Monopolies are just another excuse to waste some more money (always fun!) and develop another idol (the company’s marketing department). Besides, without monopolies, we wouldn’t have this guy making a fool of himself.
Open Source Purists I just can’t stand those people who think it is OK to have a little closed code on your system. You know, the people who are too spoiled to use gNewSense. How can you stand touching any evil .doc files and MP3’s? Why can’t they just bug people into using other software! If their boss doesn’t like it, they should just get a new job.
Just in case you didn’t notice, I’m being highly sarcastic.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, profanity is a lot more common in open source than in closed source software. Also not surprisingly, some people find it offensive while others view it as nothing more than an exercise of free speech.
For me it depends on the situation. Using the word f**k in kernel code comments is one thing – I highly doubt that anyone can write code for the Linux kernel without having heard the word f**k before. (See the updated Linux kernel f**k count.)
Another slightly trickier issue is Damn Small Linux. (On a side note, I don’t understand why I have to choose between recommending Puppy Linux or Damn Small Linux to people. I really can’t decide which is worse. If you find yourself in a similar situation, try NimbleX.) Anyway, aside from the abundance of strange names for small Linux distros, the Damn Small Linux FAQ says this on the topic:
Why the name?
It’s really just a way to emphasize the incredible small size of the distro. If you are offended by the name, just do what most people do. Call it “DSL”.
Yeah, great idea – until someone asks you what it stands for. And except for the fact that that happens to be the same acronym used for a very popular type of broadband internet access. (- Hey! You should try out DSL. – I already have DSL. – No, I mean the Linux distro. – The what? What does DSL stand for? – Umm, well.) This topic sparked this thread over at LXer, which happens to be one of the funniest threads ever to appear in a Linux forum.
Still, despite the awkwardness of promoting DSL (yeah, try putting that on a shirt), I have to fall on the developer’s side here. After all, it really is his or her choice. DSL has never exactly been targeted at the average user and it is very upfront about the name.
I draw the line at rudely named packages in the Ubuntu repos, though. You can’t expect people to know that there are references to profanity in obscure packages and Ubuntu does market itself to the average user. In fairness, there are only three packages that mention the word f**k and all of those references are to brainf**k, which is apparently an actual thing, in the description. Still, this should not be there. For me, though, the issue is not that some kid could see it (after all, as has been pointed out, there are many other ways kids will learn these words), but that it is not professional. I want my operating system, no matter who develops it, to appear just as professional as Windows and OS X.
Even worse, in my opinion, are the random uses of damn in descriptions of other packages. Here the word is used simply as a word, not part of a name. Sure it is all just for fun, but there are other places to joke about that sort of thing with other developers. You don’t need to do it in release software.
This is not as big of an issue as it is being made into (yeah, yeah, I know I am not helping), but it should be changed.
How To Implement Brainstorm Bounties
If the number of duplicates on this idea is any indication, there are a lot of people that would like to be able to put bounties on ideas. The way a bounty works is that various people contribute to a fund for a specific idea. Then, when a developer comes along and implements that idea, he/she gets the money.
It is a great idea, in theory, but it is a challenge to implement for a number of reasons. I think that it could be done, though. Here is one possible method.
- Ideas with a certain number of votes and up are reviewed by select developers. Any ideas that are approved are opened for bounties.
- Users pay however much they would like to put on an idea to Canonical, who holds the money.
- Once an idea has a big enough bounty attached to it, a developer can claim the idea. At that point, bounties can no longer be added to. If an idea is not claimed for a certain amount of time (a year?) after being approved, users would have the option of requesting the idea is re-approved or moving their money to another idea. The claim is made by a single developer, with the understanding that he/she can use any code that already exists and request help from others, but only the original developer gets paid. Obviously the developer can do anything with that money, so it could be distributed to others, but not through Canonical.
- The developer submits an implementation. A group of developers is selected to review the implementation. If it is satisfactory, the money is transfered to the claimer (the person who implemented the idea).
I believe this approach is fair to both the developer and the users, prevents stupid wars over little things (since there is an approval process for ideas), and would be possible to implement. I certainly don’t expect this to happen any time soon, but it would definitely be great if it did.
Linux Has to Support Closed-Source Drivers
A recent Linux Devices article summarizes a speech given by Harald Welte in which he details the technical problems with closed-source drivers in the Linux kernel. Basically the overall problem is that closed-source drivers often break, since they can’t be updated when the kernel is updated.
I understand that improving compatibility with closed-source drivers would mean some technical sacrifices and a giant fight over the politics of it, but I still feel it must be done, at least initially. I am all for open-source drivers, but, quite frankly, it is a big step for companies to go all the way to offering open-source drivers for Linux. It would probably be much easier for more companies to support Linux if they could at least bring their current development method to Linux. Basically, making closed-source drivers work better with the kernel would provide a stepping stone for hardware manufacturers, who would eventually step all the way across into the open-source world. Once everyone has crossed, you can take away the stepping stone and go back to the way things were before.
Plus, the problem is more than just not being comfortable with open-source. Some companies may, for legal reasons, not be able to release source code. Granted there is great help for manufacturers wanting to make open-source drivers for the kernel, but it still usually requires they turn over at least some information.
The point is that some sacrifices may have to be made in the interest of allowing and inviting more people into the Linux and open-source software world.
Brilliant Brainstorms #37 – P2P, Money, and Screenshots
Brilliant Brainstorms is a weekly summary of some of the best/most interesting brainstorms from the Ubuntu Brainstorm site.
Chrome to Be Pre-Installed Through OEMs
As I am sure almost everyone knows, Chrome is Google’s fairly recently released browser. Up till now, Google has done little to promote it after its initial release, leading me to believe that Chrome was never intended to be a major browser, but rather a way of pushing other browsers to deal better with web applications.
Today Google’s VP of Product Management said this:
“We will probably do distribution deals. We could work with an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and have them ship computers with Chrome pre-installed.”
This is really an interesting quote, since it suggests that Google is very serious about promoting and marketing Chrome as a serious competitor, which it can no doubt be if Google throws its weight to the cause. This raises the question again of what Google’s true intention for Chrome is. I don’t think that this announcement rules out simply trying to get better support for web applications in every browser, but it does put things a little closer to Google trying to dominate the market position.
The real answer will probably lie in Google’s deal with Mozilla, in which Mozilla is paid for Google searches made through the search box. If Google leaves this deal in place, it is likely that Google is not really angling to become the market leader. If, on the other hand, Google terminates the deal when it can, that would be a strong signal that it does intend to take over the market.
While I still believe Google is probably not going to terminate this deal, since I don’t see why it would want to be in the browser business, I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.
Asus Says Windows and Linux Eee PCs Getting the Same Return Rate?
Asus’s CEO is grabbing headlines for an interview (which actually happened in late October) in which he stated that Windows and Linux Eee PCs are getting about the same return rate, contrary to what MSI and Canonical have said in the past. Really, though? There are four reasons why I doubt this is completely true.
- Asus’s CEO did not exactly sound sure. In the interview, he said this:
“I think the return rate for the Eee PCs are low but I believe the Linux and Windows have similar return rates.”
To me, that sounds like he was guessing, not stating an actual number - It would not benefit Asus to disclose their return numbers. No matter what the numbers look like, there is really no reason why Asus would want to say that one of their products gets returned a lot, unless they were actually going to discontinue the product.
- The is no real reason why the CEO should know anyway. Asus is a big company and Eee PCs are only a part of their business. Why should their CEO know specific numbers for return rates inside a specific product line, if Asus even knows what those numbers are.
- Even Canonical admitted Linux has higher return rates. If even Canonical says Linux is returned more, then it is highly likely that it is true across all netbooks. Plus, it makes sense that the unfamiliar product would be returned more.
Of course, the counter-argument would be that Linux on the Eee PC has been talked about so much more that it is not as much of an unknown as Linux is on other products.