simon's blog

The concept of 'open source' is centred around the use of the word 'free'. Open source products are free, as in freedom. Every person involved with the open source product, from its inception through to its use and marketing, has the freedom to interact with it as they see fit. Further, this freedom extends to ownership for the individual interacting with the open source product truly owns this interaction and anything resulting from this interaction. Individuals can keep their 'property' or they can give it away, they can even sell it. This property is truly theirs. Other uses of the word 'free' are often mentioned in relation to open source, particularly the use of free as in cost. It is true that many open source products are cost free but I will be focusing solely upon the use of 'free' as in freedom. I want to explore the implications of freedom, specifically relating to open source software, as it relates to the active externalism view of the extended mind thesis proffered by Clark and Chalmers.

I've been checking out the new Windows 7 beta from Microsoft this week and am I disappointed! Windows 7's slogan is 'Faster and Easier'...these guys (and gals) really need to take a leaf out of Apple or Ubuntu's book if they're going to make a claim like that.

Windows 7 beta has some GUI alterations, the most noticeable of these is the 'new' taskbar.  This isn't 'new' or innovative at all.  All that it really allows the user to do is arrange taskbar shortcut icons.  Guess what Microsoft's hype on this one is? 'you can set the order in which the icons appear and they'll stay put', You'd damn well want them to stay put wouldn't you?  This is nothing on Apple's dock, or the vast array of options under *nix (AWN, Compiz, etc.).  For such a huge corporation isn't it embarrassing to be so far behind?

This letter of attorneys and academics appeared in the Times of London on Sunday.  It has been suggested that all bloggers who agree with it just reprint it so that it is everywhere in the blogosphere.  It is a succinct and cogent refutation of the reigning right-Zionist talking points that have dominated American (and Australian - [Simon]) media reporting on this atrocity.

"January 11, 2009
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is not self-defence – it’s a war crime

ISRAEL has sought to justify its military attacks on Gaza by stating that it amounts to an act of “self-defence” as recognised by Article 51, United Nations Charter. We categorically reject this contention.

Well I suppose I'd better explain my absence from this site for the last little while. My family and I have packed up home on the Sunshine Coast and moved to the outback, to Mt. Isa. I'd love to say that the reason that we moved was for philanthropic reasons, and I'm sure there's a little philanthropy in there, but we came, simply put, because the money's good. It's been quite an interesting experience, especially over the last week or so with the floods, of which I'll explain below the fold for those who are interested.

Seems I've been away for ages (and, I guess, I have).  My health issues are still not completely sorted but until I get everything under control I've enabled posting to my website via SMS so I'll now be able to post short blog entries etc. to keep the site going.

This is simply a short post to let my few readers know that I'll be taking a break from blogging for a little while.  I had a health scare on the weekend and spent a few days in hospital.  I'll be spending the next few months getting my health back in order and will likely not have the time to post here.  It seems Tony Lynch's top ten is not as figurative as I at first thought.  I'll still post up some of my Uni work as that's quite popular and something that gets done outside of this site anyway.

Until sometime in the near future, see ya.