Prowler Menu

I am just having to much fun making themes. These days I am working with jameshardy88 who resides in Great Britain. he does Themes and I do the GnoMenu designs to go with them. The Prowler theme for Gtk is in the works but then I found the Theme and sent it to James to go over. In the meantime I created the GnoMenu Theme and I really like how the layout happened to come together on this one.

I am also realizing i spend way to much time on my computer (j/k)

Okay I'm addicted to making GnoMenu themes. Its fun and productive. And now I can make a better user's guide because I have just about made every type of menu there is. I haven't done tabs yet but I will on my next theme so I can have knowledge of how they work under GnoMenu.

So I made a Vista like menu to understand how to do it. This was the hardest menu to do so far. The way text is lined out in this style of menu is very different than others. Add that the particular visual elements didn't fit as well as expected at first. Plus somehow hidden characters got into my XML code. The code looked absolutely correct but wasn't working and once I redid the affected sections by hand, over writing the code, it magically started working as it should. Have no idea how or why the erroneous hidden characters got there, but they did and in coding that's all that matters to the interpreter.

Anyway I did do some change ups and added a couple of things so the menu fit more with GnoMenu's abilities and appeal. Vistaish, yes but Vista, Hell No!!

Azenis Look

When I set out to make a Menu Theme for GnoMenu I had no idea what i was getting myself into. First off this is, as far as I know, the first GnoMenu theme made to fit a particular GTK2 theme.

The Azenis Theme was originally created by JJ Ying for Windows Blinds, a Windows Theming Engine. Azenis has won awards for its design and has been ported to KDE and Gnome where it has proven just as popular.

The decision to do this was pretty basic. It was one of those themes that had such a unique look to it that there was no other way for me to complete the look without building the theme for GnoMenu.

Using images I got from the KBFX Azenis Menu I redid the image to fit the GnoMenu scheme better. I did not want to make it look like its Windows XP counterpart, at least not completely. However, I couldn't make it look like the other themes I have created. My designs mostly follow the basic design originally conceived by ZWS from his Black and White Menu. The Azenis menu art work forbade that so I got a bit creative with the design myself. As you can see my Icon columns are both to the right of the listings menu.

It wasn't all that hard to move the elements around to fit the artwork of the Azenis Menu and once I found extra Azenis Icons that weren't in the Icon set from gnome-look and replaced some of the filler Icons with them. Additional Icons were made by jameshardy88 and myself to complete the look.


I also made a button for it as well and of course a simple Icon theme to complete the look.

So what makes this theme special? Well beyond being made to work with a specific GTK theme it created a surge in GnoMenu downloads. We already had a good following but there are those who love the Azenis theme so much they wanted this menu to use with it. Which means they downloaded and installed GnoMenu.

That wasn't my intention, and to be honest I just wanted a Menu that fit the theme I had decided to use. However, its a nice bonus for Gnomenu and brings even more interest to our project. Theme designers are going to give GnoMenu serious consideration when creating themes now to help complete the theme's look. I would say that's a good added bonus.

Why Cookie Cutter Web Sites Are Bad Deals

Never believe marketing hype. This is my mantra when it comes to dealing with sales people. I research before I buy. I look at the brand name, quality and though I look for bargains I certainly don't jump onto something that is easily to good to be true.

That is why I hate cookie cutter web sites. E-bay even tells you because of the number of web sites sold on their auction site. Ezine @rticles also warns you of the same. Finally Search Engine Journal rounds up the disaster one gets in using the cookie cutter web site approach.

I like anyone else looked at ways to make money and I got caught in a similar scam for classified ad placements in newspapers. Let me tell you right here, right now, the only people who are really making money in this type of deal are the ones selling you the material in the first place.

The so called 10 free web sites deal has several restrictions. You have to use their designs, You have to follow their program etcetera and so on, blah blah blah. Oh and yeah they host the site on their servers, which means they control your content and traffic. Add to that even if people buy the products on your particular site they are actually paying you a small commission. The final point, the price of the product is set by them. You are NOT ALLOWED to run your own promotion pricing. Which leads to a final question, are you really running a business?

Then there are other factors to consider. Here in Texas in order to open a merchant account that allows you to take credit cards you must have a business license. This law, which was recently passed, was designed to stop on-line credit card scams and theft. To make this perfectly clear if you have a web site that takes credit cards you as the individual must obtain a Texas Tax Identification Number and separate business license. You can no longer use a corporate sponsor to simply take a credit card on-line on your behalf. The sponsor can still handle all aspects of the transaction but your business must be registered with the state of Texas. You as the individual business owner are responsible to make sure that all Sales Taxes collected get paid to the the State. That's a big obligation if the parent company suddenly goes belly up. (cutting off your income if you are somehow making any) leaving you holding the bag to pay for uncollected Sales Taxes.

Me personally, I would rather collect the sales taxes myself and make sure that Texas gets paid. Trust me I worked for one company that got in trouble for that. I have no desire to be on the receiving end of Susan Comb's wrath for failure to collect and pay my taxes. (I do not mean her personally but trust me her staff can make hornets look tame.)

Many states have a whole slew of laws concerning e-commerce alone. Bet your A** they enforce them. You need to know what laws you have to abide by in your state. Many a MLM company and individuals involved in said MLM are finding this out the hard way. Oh and guess what, you may have to follow more than one state's laws as well. You have to know any and all that can affect you.

Finally I will leave you with this from PEK INTERACTIVE

Open Letter To Open Source Developers And Distributors

Dear Developers and Distributors,

I am an advocate and user of Open Source Software, Specifically Ubuntu, in latest incarnation of Jaunty Jackalope 9.04.

In this particular case I am trying to use a scanner. Unfortunately I cannot access this scanner as a normal user, but I do have access as root. This means that all I have to do is give the user permission to access the scanner. Easily done, however, I have no information on how to do this anymore. The way scanners are accessed in Ubuntu has changed and there is no documentation on this.

It is vital to give your users this information so that they can have access to their hardware. Using xsane, or any scanner program, as root is a unsafe practice that I would rather not do.

I understand that software and systems have to mature but removing the 'scanner' group and changing how scanners are handled without giving the information needed to allow scanner access is simply bad support. If a user cannot access the hardware what use is it to them? Please in the future document such important information and disseminate it so that supported hardware can be used.

Sincerely,
Shaun C. Marolf

Building a Business - Growth by Communication

I have officially been in business just over a week. Though I still have many hurdles to get over things are going fairly well. I have two business clients and both are and will lead to even more clients.

Why am I already growing as a business in such a short time? Simple I follow the belief that the bottom line should never be the deciding factor in giving good customer support. If I have to take a loss here and there to be build a better more profitable business, so be it. The loss hurts, especially in the growing stage I am in. I have to get a lot of stuff taken care of and I still need to get the HeliOS Project here in Houston going. However finding, and keeping, clients is vital to all of that. Communication with my clients in every stage of their projects, and service support, is not only vital, its what will make HeliOS Solutions of Houston grow, and allow the HeliOS Project to start.

I cannot stress enough that good business means good communications. Your clients, like mine, want and need to know how you are doing on their project, not someone else's. In other words you need to not only need to work on each project, but all your projects.

Your work becomes a juggling act. You have to divide your time and make the customer think that their project is the most important one you're working on. While treating all projects on your work list equally. Its the never ending cycle.

In all of this you need to get with your client and demonstrate your progress and communicate what you have done, take their feedback, change requests and incorporate those as well.

Business isn't just producing a product and saying "Here it is." its also giving good support and communicating with your client, to produce a better business relationship.

The Open Franchise Experiment

Okay, I am going to discuss something here that is a new concept only in that it is two older concepts combined together.

Open Source Ideals and Business Franchising. Something many would consider a near oxymoron, if not a complete one. Yet despite the Corporate Software Industry saying GNU/Linux and other Open Source Software would never be as good as Commercially Produced Software many Open Source Offerings ended up surpassing their commercial counterparts in quality and user base.

So in this spirit we now introduce the Open Franchise opportunity.

Open Source is about freedom. The freedom to modify, change and improve existing code, documents and other associated items, so long as you give back and share these changes, if you distribute them to others.

Franchises are about business. In a normal franchise you purchase the right to use the name, trademarks, logos and other things from a parent company. In return you get corporate support and service. However franchise contracts are extremely restrictive and do not allow the franchiser many options.

The Open Franchise is a bit different. The franchiser is allowed to use the name, trademarks and logos at no cost. The parent company instead requires that the franchisee run a charitable operation side by side with the business. The support network for this business is not a central corporation but instead a network of other franchisers working on a similar goal and business. Though each Franchiser is given the freedom to run their business as they see fit, they are all essentially running the same kind of business.

Now they can be a one person operation, a family run business or they can have employees. It really depends on the community they are in and what the individual franchiser can sustain. In other words we have flexibility here. You can run it from home or an office, again your choice as a franchiser. Unlike other franchise operations in the Open Franchise concept the franchiser makes the rules with very few stipulations. The main one being that they also work the non-profit charitable business at the same time. Which when done right isn't all that hard.

See the franchisee in this scenario isn't a corporation, rather its another person who is also running this business as well. He has already hit the pitfalls, roadblocks and idiots along the path. He knows how to handle them because he had to learn the hard way. He isn't in it to be rich. He is more interested in working the charity side while simply making an honest buck.

Its about doing it better, doing it ethically and helping others along the way. To him if you can make a successful business following his lead then he has done more than a bottom line will ever give him.

That is what real business is about. Teach you how run a business, make that business work and then return to community some of that success so that those whom aren't as fortunate as others have a chance to better themselves as well.

So what's the experiment? Me. I am his first, and for the moment, only franchiser. The reason why is because I get to be one who is alpha and beta tested. Learning from me we will be able to create the Open Franchise concept and document it. even though it utilizes the Open Source Concept this is still business. A business that relies on a name that has to be synonymous with certain concepts and a reputation, otherwise everyone associated to it gets a bad reputation.

Yes there has to be contracts and agreements but they need to be fair. Allowing the franchiser the ability to run his business his way, while protecting the name, trademarks and reputation of the parent company. Welcome to a new balancing act.

Linux and the Drummer (Part Two)

Finally after a few minor glitches got the wireless card working on the drummer's laptop. Its one of those Broadcom cards that has no functional Linux based drivers yet. This required me to setup and tweak ndiswrapper to make it function. However, he is extremely happy with the results.

Most of the glitches involved getting the system onto a working wired connection. Not the actual setup and configuration of ndiswrapper. Yet once done the card snapped to and worked and Network Manager is seeing it under its wireless interface.

He is impressed to say the least. As he puts it everything is right there in front. The menu is easier to navigate and he is enjoying the Ubuntu Linux experience.

The first thing he remarked about was on line multimedia worked a lot better. I installed all the restricted and medibuntu extras to make sure it would play all the various multimedia files on the Internet, including Flash 10. Under Windows the playback was choppy but with Linux and Firefox they play smoothly.

He still has a basic no bells and whistles install at this point. He and I agree that they're nice but he needs time to learn it better before he adds a bunch of features which may overwhelm his experience at this time.

I will continue to work with him on this but for now its a learning experience.

I am a veteran, a combat veteran from operation Praying Mantis and Desert Shield / Storm. I am not Timothy Mc Veigh whom was an extremist who hated the United States. I love my country and believe in the Constitution. Though I am not overly happy with much of the current political scenario I still support the government.

That said I want to know why on April 7th the Department of Homeland Security labeled myself and fellow veterans as potential domestic terrorists?

Is it because veterans tend to be more vocal about issues? Which we have every right to be. As far as I am concerned veterans have earned this right, even if its in opposition to the current administration.

I will never carry out an attack against my country, but I will vocalize my displeasure on any subject I choose. The first amendment gives me the right and I and my fellow vets put our tails on the line for those who didn't. I will stand up for anyones right to speak freely, even if I disagree with them. It is their right to speak freely, and it is mine as well.

I feel insulted and betrayed.

Linux and the Drummer

when I advocate Linux to a new user I first make sure they know that this is NOT WINDOWS. Though I can make it look similar and react as Windows to some degree we still find ourselves with some incompatibilities.

So where do I get new users involved? Those who are just frustrated and tired of Windows problems. Computer care should involve updating and occasionally basic system maintenance. Conflicker has become a problem for a lot of Windows users and despite an individuals pronounced expertise on the subject no Linux system was reported as infected with conflicker, though it may have been passed on by some Linux based servers unknowingly. I have ClamAV on all my Linux systems for that reason, to keep them from passing on Windows based viruses. And it works.

So when a friend who is a drummer for a band called "The Long Gone Daddys" asked me to fix his computer I asked what do you use it for? Answer to check the MySpace and web site for the band mostly. He also needed better tools for the web site management as well. He knew I used Linux so I asked if he wanted to give it a try. He answered that he wanted to have a working computer that stayed working.

DING DING DING Linux is gonna be installed.

What advantages does he get from Linux?

Better Web Design utilities and programs.
Open Source music composition software. He does write music after all.
A more reliable and secure computer.
Longer usability on his laptop because newer versions of Windows will most likely be unusable on it.

Of course the proof is in whether he keeps Linux or not but I'm willing to bet he will.

Open Source For Business

 

Nothing can give better endorsement than to show where Linux succeeds. We all know businesses use Linux but sometimes we are hard pressed to name them in discussions. Most everybody knows of Ernie Ball but what about AutoZone, Wal-Mart and others and government entities. The list below comes from www.aaxnet.com

Please go to the web site for more information on each company listed.

Amerada Hess Corporation - Oil Exploration Supercomputing - Amerada Hess Corp is a $7.4 billion petroleum company, but the supercomputers traditionally used to analyze oil exploration data are rather costly even for a company of this size. No longer a problem. Amerada Hess now uses a large Linux cluster for the job.Amerada Hess Corporation

 BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) - Light Rail Metropolitan Transit System - This system tracks the flow of electricity from the high voltage DC power lines of Pacific Gas and Electric to the distribution of electricity via the third rail. If an emergency required the evacuation of a train, this system would be used to turn off the electricity to ensure the safety of passengers as they exited the system.

 Boscov's Department Stores - special invoicing, server consolidation, Web site, etc. - Boscov's, America's largest family owned department store chain, has been steadily moving it's back office operations to Linux, and will probably eventually migrate POS (Point of Sale) systems as well.

 Burlington Coat Factory - Entire Systems - Burlington Coat Factory is a "Factory Outlet" retailer with 280 stores in 42 states. Initial Linux installations at their new distribution center and a few new stores proved highly successful, so roll-out to existing stores began. An order for 1,250 Dell computers preloaded with Linux was placed to support the effort.
The Linux systems are used to run warehousing and distribution, the gift registry and back office functions such as ordering and general desktop. The chosen office productivity suite is Applixware Office, which allows a very high degree of customization.

 Conoco - Oil Exploration Supercomputing - Conoco is one of several major petroleum companies that have chosen to use inexpensive Linux clusters instead of costly supercomputers to analyze oil exploration data.

 Cisco - Worldwide Printing System - Cisco, a $21 billion maker of routers that tie the Internet together, signed a major agreement with Microsoft regarding support for Active Directory. As part of that deal, Cisco management declared Cisco an "all Microsoft" company.
Unfortunately, Cisco's IT staff couldn't get network printing services to work right through NT servers (and you can't say Cisco engineers don't understand networking, now, can you?). Cisco's worldwide printing services now run on Linux.

 Digital Domain - Visual Effects Supercomputing - Digital Domain is a major visual effects studio. In particular, they did the visual effects for Appolo 13 and Titanic. The effects for Titanic were particularly demanding, too demanding for their SGI Inigos, and would have normally required a supercomputer costing millions. Digital Domain was able to do the job on an inexpensive Linux cluster instead.

 Ernie Ball Inc. - Entire Operation - Ernie Ball was one of those unfortunate companies turned over to the BSA (Business Software Aliance) by someone with a grudge. While few "infractions" . There's hardly a small business anywhere that has all the paperwork together for their software, and while few "infractions" were found, that was enough to be very costly. Ernie Ball decided this would never happen again and made a very successful migration to Linux.

 Garden Grove California, City of - major operations - The City of Garden Grove began moving operations to Linux in 1995 with central data systems running Samba and the Pick database. The initial deployment was so successful and saved so much money the city has been gradually moving other operations to Linux, including some desktop systems.

 Google - Search Engine - The wildly popular Google search engine simply would not be possible without a customized version of Linux fit exactly to its needs.

 Just Sports USA - A fast growing chain (now 50 stores) selling sports items - All Stores, Back Office functions, Inventory and eCommerce systems run on Linux. All functions are integrated together using a PostgreSQL database. The eCommerce system runs on Linux / Apache Web servers and is also integrated with the inventory database. Postgre and Apache are also Open Source products.

 Kaiser Aluminum - Manufacturing Control - Kaiser, one of the world's largest producer of aluminum, aluminum sheet and foil, has chosen Linux for many applications on the manufacturing floor. It works side by side with Unix, Windows NT and specialty "real time" operating systems.

 Largo Florida, City of - City office desktop systems. - Largo has about 400 thin client workstations running the KDE Desktop from a Linux server. Database workloads were migrated from SCO Unix, AIX and Windows NT servers for a multi-million dollar savings. Largo figures its IT budget is about half that of other cities its size. Using thin clients provides a low cost, very low maintenance, uniform and easily administered computing environment for all city users. At peak, there are about 230 simultaneous users.

 Lawson Inc. (Japan) - In-Store Consumer Web Ordering System - Lawson, a giant convenience store chain (7,600 stores) in Japan, will be placing two Linux based computers in each store to implement it's new Web ordering system. The over 15,000 computers will be purchased from IBM pre-configured with Linux installed.

 Mexico City - government of - Everything! - The government of Mexico City have concluded they can no longer justify the ever rising cost of Microsoft Windows when the cost of Linux software is very low. Linux has already proven itself in the city's motor vehicle licensing agency and in the Mexican school system. Money saved will be used in social welfare programs.

 Mobil Travel Guide - Major Consumer Web Site - This Exxon division found Linux ideal both from a cost/performance standpoint and for scalability as the division grows.

 Omaha Steaks - On-Line Commerce - Advertisements for this mail order company can be found in the back of most up-scale home oriented magazines. They were running their internal systems on an IBM AS/400 and outsourced their Web site, but they wanted to tie the on-line ordering directly into the AS/400. A cluster of Linux servers now runs the Web site and connects to the AS/400.

 Panasonic - Major Electronics Manufacturer - Panasonic's popular DBS business telephone system included a voicemail system based on Windows NT, but it was a bit pricy. To be more competitive in smaller businesses, Panasonic developed a system incorporating 1CTI's Linux based voice mail software. The Linux based system has been so well accepted by the customers the Windows based system is being discontinued.

 Raymour & Flanigan - Furniture Chain (50 stores in Northeast) - The store chain has trnsferred most of its servers to Linux, and is replacing Windows 98 PC with Linux based "thin client" workstations in its service centers. Inventory and other databases are now being migrated from Microsoft Access running on Windows servers to Oracle running on Linux.

 Royal Dutch/Shell - Oil Exploration Supercomputing - One of the world's largest petroleum companies, Royal Dutch/Shell could certainly afford the supercomputers traditionally used to analyze oil exploration data, but why do that when your competitors are using inexpensive Linux clusters to do the job. Royal Dutch/Shell has decided to set up a bigger Linux cluster than the ones it's competitors have.

 Tommy Hilfiger - Clothing Brand - Note: website designed by idiots won't let you in at all without Flash plug-in. The company is installing three Linux based portals running on IBM xSeries servers. The first provides remote access to data on the company's IBM iSeries (AS/400) datacenter computers. The second provides access for clothing manufacturers to designs and specifications. The third provides B2B eCommerce access to retailers and a company store for employees. Company officials say the Linux systems provide the required performance at a lower cost than any other platform.

 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. - Dealer Communications System - Toyota is installing a Linux based system connecting all its car dealers to it's factory. This is a Web based system from the ground up, and will be handling 30 different functions including parts ordering, warranties, sales transactions and repairs.

 Travelocity - Travel Agency - Travelocity is the back-end system for the travel services offered by AOL, Yahoo and US Airways. It's Web site gets 11 million page views and 170,000 email transmissions a day. The system is being migrated to Linux and Java.

 U.S. Army - major military organization - The U.S. Army's Land Warrior program, the first stage of a far reaching battlefield information and communications system, leads a general move to Linux. The Army says that "Evidence shows that Linux is more stable". Apparently the Army has issues with Microsoft's "blue screen of death".

 U.S. Federal Courts - case management, case tracking, finance and accounting, probation and pretrial services - A support contract has been awarded (Nov-03) to PEC Solutions for migration of the Federal Judiciary to a Linux based system.

 U.S. Postal Service - OCR Supercomputing - The Postal Service had declared itself an "all Windows NT" house, but you can't use NT for what it simply can't do - so they now sort all the bulk mail on over 900 Linux clusters scattered around the country (at less than half the cost of the next cheapest solution (and that wasn't NT either)).
The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) system uses scanners that were already in place. The Linux system consists of 5 rack mounted PCs, one to handle the scanners and sorting equipment, and 4 to share the computational tasks.

 WesternGeco - Oil Exploration Supercomputing - IBM has built a Linux based supercomputer for analysis of seismic data. This machine is built from 256 IBM eServer xSeries. This is the second largest Linux cluster IBM has built for oil exploration, the largest being the 1024 xSeries cluster for Shell.

This list is far from complete. It doesn't include the U.S. Navy, Air Force or Marines. There are several other companies that use Linux as well. Some use it in speciality applications and some are using it to replace Windows entirely. IBM isnt mentioned despite the infamous challenge to its employees to go from the Windows Desktop to the Linux Desktop.

Really Linux has a very comprehensive guide for small businesses to move to Linux. With so much to show and with guides to help why are we still finding it so challenging to get Linux moved into the small business community?

The main reason is we are still fighting F.U.D. (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) like this one here.

We have to create real life comparisons and show higher reliability compared to MS. Which is very simple to do. TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) proof that Linux reduces costs overall. Is more secure, reliable and just as easy to use.

If we are ever going to expand the use of Linux we must not only target home users but businesses as well.

Myth Busting: "Its Illegal To Remove Windows From A Computer."

If you ever hear this argumnet then you need to say just two simple words, "Prove it." The reality is they can't. I was going to do a bit of research on this but there is nothing to research. Matter of fact when I did a web search at Google all I found was piracy hacks and methods to remove illegal copies of MS software.

Short run, no where in the MS EULA is there such a statement. Simply because said statement itself would be illegal under Federal Law. (IANAL but any good IP lawyer can prove this.) Do an internet search using a law search engine, nope not there.

This myth is not perpetuated by MS but they don't discourage it either. Truth is the myth is usually spewed out as a defense by MSCE types and other MS advocates to keep the status quo going. They fear change, and any inclusion of Linux, replacement of Windows by Linux etcetera is a definite change. They don't know Linux, don't use Linux and feel that Linux can never be a better alternative to the current MS offering.

I was looking for a way to defeat this mythy, lie. However, in this case the simple truth slices right through it. Just two words do it, "Prove it."

The Proper Promotion Of Linux As An Alternative

The Linux community needs to be a lot more professional if before we can take the desktop market from MS.

Recent blog posts, news articles and comments has brought to light that we, as a community, are not properly promoting Linux. I say this because the community is not helping itself and many statements are rude and vulgar. This does not, and never will, help promote Linux. If we are ever going to bring Linux to main stream users then we need to look at how to educate people on its abilities, usage and advantages.

Usage of derogatory remarks, vulgar language, hateful attitudes and militaristic ideals will never help convert users to the Linux desktop. Instead we need to become helpful and available. We cannot keep the RTFM attitude going anymore. Its this attitude that has held Linux back from adoption in main stream usage and we are simply shooting ourselves in the foot when we use it.

There are several ways to promote Linux that are for more positive and that help convert people to using it without making them feel put off. The community overall already does this but unfortunately the majority is not as vocal as the those whom spew the damaging remarks, attitudes and statements.

Lets take a good look at what it takes to properly promote Linux to people.

Attitude Is Everything:

Negativity will repel people, while positive and helpful attitudes will make them feel welcome. Overall, the latter is the desired outcome. This means we need to be ready, willing and able to answer questions. Regardless of their simplicity, level of understanding and even if it seems like something a user should already know. Trust me when I say there is no such thing as a stupid question, but there are stupid answers.

I have worked help desk support off and on over the years and what I have learned is this, there are people whom just have no understanding of the computer in front of them. This happens in the Windows world more often. Considering that most new computer users are using Windows instead of Linux it happens a lot more often there than it does in the Linux world. However, there will still be those that don't understand the difference between a left mouse click and a right mouse click and the modifiers. Matter fact most base level Windows users don't even know that certain keyboard keys can modify the mouse click at all. This also holds true in Linux.

We have to remember, and understand, when we answer questions that just because we know the answer that they may not. A reply that makes those asking the question feel stupid or insulted is not helping and instead makes people decide Linux is not for them. When someone asks a question it means they want to learn, and its our responsibility to help them learn.

Demonstrate Linux:

Start by showing Linux and the programs available for it. This is easily done and if you know what your doing you can create a Live DVD that is loaded with all the programs, codecs and features to show that it is extremely capable. Of course this DVD should never be distributed for legal reasons, however you can have base distribution CDs and DVDs available to hand out.

If you are lucky and have a decent laptop then you have a demonstration system right there, especially if there is an Internet connection available to you at the time. Here's a fact; most people, approximately ninety percent, use their computers for three basic functions, Internet, email and word proccessing, another five percent use spreadsheets and accounting software. With OpenOffice and Firefox Linux meets these needs easily. You can demonstrate this very easily with a laptop. Play videos, music and DVDs for the interested party you are demonstrating the system to.

To properly show what linux can do educate yourself on the various different server programs, security options and features built in or installable. I say this because there will be times when the final five percent will show an interest and even if you can't demonstrate those abilities you can explain them and answer some questions. You don't need to be an expert but having a base general knowledge of the subject will allow you discuss them intelligently.

Get Involved With The Linux Community:

Writing How Tos, articles and being part of a local LUG are things anyone can do. If you can code get involved with a project. Even if you can't code you can still help a project, like I do.

Use and help at the forums as well. By plugging into the community you stay up to date with changes in Linux in general.

Also use more than one distribution. This allows you to understand the differences in how things are done in each. This way you understand the community as a whole and not just from one perspective.

Conclusion:

Of all the things I discussed the most important is attitude. Our attitudes towards people have more impact than anything else. Knowledge and expertise alone is not enough. Proper promotion requires we be open, friendly and professional to help new Linux users.

The Evolution Of An GNU Project

I'm proud of my involvement with the GnoMenu project and even though I am going to use it as the example (when you write, go with what you know) this post really isn't about GnoMenu. Rather its to show what community involvement can do and how sharing ideas can improve a project.

First off any GNU Open Source project is a community effort. Yes there are project leaders but if they do their jobs right its more about guiding and moving the project in a forward and positive direction. That is exactly what happend in the scenario I'm about to discuss.

First lets be honest GnoMenu is a fork of another project the "Gnome Vista Start Menu" by Chris Hughes. Most hard core Linux users looked at the menu Chris did as a cheap Vista look alike. In some ways it was but Chris also stated that other menu designs were possible yet no one really bothered to pay attention. Well almost nobody. Enter Helder Fraga who took Chris' work and forked it into GnoMenu.

 

This is the original basic look of GnoMenu. Very Vista like. Meanwhile Helder and I start working on GnoMenu through Launchpad. He works on the coding and bug fixes while I start handling documentation and bug tracking. I also find myself answering questions and writing blueprints not much later. I am also trying to recruit people to help the project move forward and trying to look for ways to improve the product. On my suggestion Helder gets GnoMenu to be system color aware but it also has a unique feature as well. I realized that sometimes menu themes may have and use unique color schemes so I wrote the blueprint stating that theme creators needed a way to toggle the system color awareness off if it would interfere with the theme. We now have what I like to refer to as intelligent color awareness in GnoMenu. Intelligent in the sense that it can be shut off if menu theme designers don't want the menu to be system color aware. Yet, GnoMenu will be system color aware otherwise.

So Helder is fixing bugs and adding features. One of the blueprints he writes states that GnoMenu needs a default menu that is not so Vista like. In response Helder creates this look.

 

This was more a step backwards in many respects since many features were no longer available. Though for GnoMenu's future it was necessary. Why, because it forced change in how we looked at menu designs and what it was we wanted GnoMenu to be. It also forced Helder to make GnoMenu compliant to Gnome's Menu standards. It also stopped us from reinventing the wheel and made us get more serious about the future of this project.

The holidays role around and Helder goes on a hiatus to handle personal issues and be with his family. I in the meantime find myself getting pounded with a whole lot of questions and bug reports which I sort through and file appropriately. I make FAQs and blueprints. Validate some bugs and assign them to an appropriate release. Discover there are themes out there that don't like GnoMenu and with help get the fix. Though small there is a community of GnoMenu users out there and they're helping me by providing information and tracking down those unique if not down right out of the Twilight Zone issues.

Finally things calm down and I get a chance to go back and look at the menu design. Helder's design was just terrible and it ruined many things that made GnoMenu great. So what do I do in response. I make this mockup and post it at Gnome-Look to get feed back on it.

 

The responses were mixed but everybody did like the idea of using Icons instead of words. The fact is we humans are visually orientated creatures. The use of words is something our brain has to be trained to do. Don't get me wrong, reading is very important but we recognize visual cues much easier. It is the main reasons that television became such a powerful and popular form of media delivery. It is second to none, even the Internet. Though as more contect becomes available on the Internet we will eventually be using it to get our television shows and information feeds.

Next step is the community gets involved and two days after my mock up design is posted we have this design pop up.

 

Even the still on hiatus Helder popped in a comment on this Theme. It broke the mold. (By the way, this is an actual working theme.) Its a large menu theme and just a bit disorganized but it raised the bar and immediately brought more life to GnoMenu and Both Helder and I were duly impressed. So impressed that there wasn't much doubt how the new default theme was going to be laid out.

I created this layout as a possible canidate:

 

Much smaller, a bit more polished and very professional looking. Now I'm not saying this is, or will be, the next default theme for GnoMenu 1.7. What I'm saying is that because we stepped back and reworked our ideas GnoMenu evolved. We took our ideas to the community and got an explosive response in return. So explosive GnoMenu took a major leap forward with a whole new look and feel. One that is much more Gnome centric and yet beatiful and functional.

Now if your saying to yourself that I did nothing but talk about GnoMenu then you missed the whole point. That community driven projects can and, in many cases, do outpace closed sourced development cycles. Here's why, ideas pile up on each other as each person whom gets involved takes the idea of the previous person and adds to or improves it. In my case I wanted to return functionality without destroying Helder's desire to have something completely different from a Vista look a like. That was the main driving reason for the Icon usage. Plus it has another major advantage. Words are not universal, pictures and images are. Words have to be translated to languages others can read, pictures and images do not. So long as they follow a universal concept. This effectively solves a major issue in translation problems. Though we still have to do it, the pressure to do so will be a lot less.

ZWS the creator of the Black White Theme probably had very different motives behind his design but none the less he made a huge impact. An impact that will carry GnoMenu forward for a long time to come. Though on rare occassions this may happen in closed source development It is far more likely to happen when design and development is open to the public.

What I want to point out especially is that by taking my basic idea and throwing it out and making sure people knew that it could be done, it did. Far better than I expected it to as well. So very often I see projects that lose track of what it really means to be an open project. Anyone can add value and sometimes users have great ideas. To often we as project leaders fail to listen to those ideas. More often than not we should.

Need A Laugh - Here You Go

 A first grade teacher had a small number of children gathered around a table for a reading group. After the story was read she gave the children a work sheet to do.

While they were working she heard a little girl say very softly "damn!"

The teacher leaned over and said quietly, "We don't say that in school."

The little girl looked at the teacher, her eyes got very big and she said, "Not even when things are all f***** up?!"

Being A Non-Coding Contributor

 I am not a programmer. With that last statement many would be surprised to also learn I am heavily involved with a software project.

Though I don't write code, I do handle a lot at the project tracking site. Bug reports, documentation, Answering questions, writing FAQs and blueprints.

I write most of the blueprints for the project, act as the bug report manager and I am the main contact for answering questions when they come in. Even had to answer one question in Spanish though I barely speak a word of it. Love translation programs.

The point is I am doing a lot for the project, freeing up time for the developers handling the day to administration that would otherwise fall behind. Its also a statement that even non-coders can become big time contributors to projects.

This is an important realization for people. You don't have to write code to help on a project. There are many aspects of project development that you can help with:

Specification Tracking: Drafting Blueprints for developers to work from. You only need a basic understanding of software operations and standards to do this. Blueprinting a feature basically involves stating what the feature is, how it should work and even in some cases how it should look. Most often you will most likely build a Blueprint from a bug report, as many bug reports are feature (or lack of) requests.

Bug Tracking: This one is a lot harder because some bug reports are really questions, some are feature requests and some are legitimate issues. Experience in beta testing will be very helpful here. Also knowing the software that is being developed is vital as well. Basically you have to decide if the bug reported is one of the above three. If its a question or a feature request then obviously its not a bug and should be reclassified appropriately. Keep in mind though you may decide to make a report a question only to later find out its actually a real bug. However running the issue as a question allows you to create a much more accurate bug report if necessary.

Answering Questions: This is usually where people can help the most. If the software project proves to be popular (as the one I am working on has) among users then people are going to need some level of support. Helping others fix small to large issues or referring them to the correct FAQ can be tremendously helpful to the developers. They don't always have the time to answer a question. The hardest part of dealing with a question is narrowing things down till a resolution is reached. This is a great way in honing your trouble shooting skills. Sometimes you will know what the answer is, or you know there is a FAQ that has the answer. One should always refer the question to the available FAQ if possible before stepping into the world of step by step trouble shooting. Most questions I work on find themselves becoming a FAQ. This is because it keeps me from having to trouble shoot the same issues over and over when I can send the user straight to the answer. Does the FAQ I send them to always work? Nope, but I either update that FAQ with more information or create a new one when done trouble shooting that particular issue.

Step by step trouble shooting is very tedious because its all done by email. Sometimes you will give an answer and sometimes you will need ask a question. I honestly have a sense of accomplishment when I help someone resolve an issue. Especially when we spent days working on it. (Yes I have had those happen and yes they are now FAQs.)

One of the last things I do is try to get people involved. Coders, interface designers and graphic artists in my case. I even try to find people to help me do the day to day stuff. Our project is small but popular. More popular than we expected to become really.

Small to large projects are always looking for help. Non-coders can be very helpful in the right project. It is time consuming but well worth it if one is looking to get a sense of being part of the community.

Brutal Lessons And Hopefully Positive Outcomes

I was not going to talk about this in my blog initially. There was no real need to at first, when this storm started as it was Slashdotted and I myself created links to it as well so people would find it. More significantly, I was not expecting Ken to have this situation reach this level of communication this soon. However, the Slashdot effect played a major role in bringing about communication between the two antagonists. And yes Ken admits his antagonism. Though we may never know Karen's full side of the story I believe we know enough to say she too is apologetic. I believe and gather from the gist of things that she has apologized to both Ken and Aaron. If this is the case, that is good enough for me, and it should be good enough for everyone else as well.

Yes Karen was ignorant about Linux and F/OSS in general. Yet the perception about ignorance is that its a sin major sin in the F/OSS community. A sin that one should be burned at the stake for. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ignorance as follows:

ig·no·rance
Pronunciation:
\ˈig-n(ə-)rən(t)s\
Function:
noun
Date:
13th century

: the state or fact of being ignorant : lack of knowledge, education, or awareness

Harsh reality check. Everyone on the planet Earth is ignorant about more thing than they are knowledgeable of. To be ignorant is not a sin. However, ignorance can only be countered with education and discussion in an honest and open dialog. It can not be countered with statements of hate, harranging and harassment.

Many of the community responses were outright derogatory, hateful, threatening and unwarranted.

Even in Ken's follow up blog post there are still statements like "Throw that b**** under the bus..." Despite the fact that Ken made it very clear that communications had been established and Karen had learned more in the last few days than in the five previous years.

Yes Ken went a bit overboard in his initial response to Karen. Karen definitely crossed the line with her first email to Ken. However, and this is the lessen all of us F/OSS supporters must learn, Ken used this as an opportunity to educate another person about F/OSS. Despite all the negativity that arose towards Karen (most were outright attacks and character assassinations) she became educated about what F/OSS is, how it works and what it means to technology.


People, people, people we must never ever attack someone for being ignorant. Ignorance is simply a fact of life. No human being is omnipotent and has knowledge of all things. That is simply not possible. What made this situation explode more than anything else is that Karen is a teacher and the initial response from the F/OSS community at large was "OMG a teacher doesn't know what Linux is or what F/OSS is. You mean she has never heard of GPL?"

Folks as much as it pains mean to say this, I doubt many teachers do, those that do fall into one of two categories:

1.) They are Linux and F/OSS users themselves but they don't teach on them at school. Though they may show a interested student here or there.

2.) They are teachers whom teach technology and have formed opinions about F/OSS, some for, some against and some remain neutral.

Here's another fact we have to accept as well. Most people whom use computers don't know, and don't care, what F/OSS is. To them all the computer is, is a tool. As long as that tool does what they want, when they want and in the manner they expect it to then they are happy.

In the thousands of comments most were militant F/OSS advocates spewing hatred and contempt for Karen that was neither appropriate or warranted. There were also posts from Microsoft advocates adding even more fuel into an already out of control fire.

My issue with Karen was never her ignorance, it was her threatening Ken with legal action without researching the subject first. A mistake I can be reasonably assured of Karen will never make again.

Militaristic attitudes do not help F/OSS any more than a RTFM attitude does. We cannot advance the use of F/OSS by attacking those whom are ignorant about it.

There was, in the melee, a comment posted that should become the definition of how F/OSS advocates handle situations. "It is better to convert an enemy, than defeat him." What does this mean? It means we should inform and educate, not attack, even if they attack us first.

When SCO first brought about their lawsuit in 2003 against IBM and threatened Linux, Pamela Jones at Groklaw used this philosophy and created one of the most powerful and influential information resources to counter SCO. So powerful, in fact, that opposing lawyers began using information from her blog and links to counter SCO's arguments. It worked to.

Did she convert SCO, no but she definitly had an impact on many SCO supporters whom eventually converted. Ah yes and there we smell victory.


If we are ever going to bring F/OSS main stream to the general public we best learn our lesson about what ignorance is. It is not a crime or a sin, but rather, an opportunity to educate and open communication.

Because we all need a laugh

How fights start





When I got home last night, my wife demanded that I take
Her someplace expensive....so, I took her to a gas station...... And then
The fight started....

*********************************************************
I tried to talk my wife into buying a case of Millers
Light for $14.95. Instead, she bought a jar of cold cream for $7.95. I
Told her the beer would make her look better at night than the cold
Cream. And that's when the fight started.

************************************************************************

After retiring, I went to the Social Security office to
Apply for Social Security. The woman behind the counter asked me for my
Driver's' license to verify my age. I looked in my pockets and realized I
Had left my wallet at home. I told the woman that I was very sorry, but
I would have to go home and come back later.

The woman said, 'Unbutton your shirt'.
So I opened my shirt revealing my curly silver hair. She
Said, 'That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me' and she
Processed my Social Security application.

When I got home, I excitedly told my wife about my
Experience at the Social Security office.

She said, 'You should have dropped your pants. You might
Have gotten disability, too'

And then the fight started.....

***********************************************************************

My wife and I were sitting at a table at my high school
Reunion, and I kept staring at a drunken lady swigging her drink as she
Sat alone at a nearby table.

My wife asked, 'Do you know her?'

'Yes,' I sighed, 'She's my old girlfriend. I understand
She took to drinking right after we split up those many years ago, and I
Hear she hasn't been sober since.'

'My God!' says my wife, 'Who would think a person could
Go on celebrating that long?'

And then the fight started.....

************************************************************

I rear-ended a car this morning. So, there we were
Alongside the road and slowly the other driver got out of his car.

You know how sometimes you just get soooo stressed and
Little things just seem funny?

Yeah, well I couldn't believe it.... He was a DWARF!!!

He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted,
'I AM NOT HAPPY!!!'

So, I looked down at him and said, 'Well, then which one
Are you?'

And that's how the fight started.....

********************************************

I took my wife to a restaurant. The waiter, for some
Reason, took my order first.

'I'll have the strip steak, medium rare, please.'

He said, 'Aren't you worried about the mad cow?'

'Nah, she can order for herself.'

And that's how the fight started.....

Ubuntu on National TV?

I was watching "Fringe" at hulu.com when towards the end of the show this image of "Olivia's" computer was shown.



I cannot be certain but it sure looks like Ubuntu to me. Though laid out very simply, no real clutter to speak of. No top Gnome Panel present and I couldn't be sure because of the focus, but the Ubuntu logo may be in the left side of the panel.



You be the judge, I know this much. that isn't Windows and they prominently display the Dell Logo throughout the show. My guess obviously leans towards it being the Gnome desktop, modified obviously, but still Gnome and the color scheme smacks of "Human"

How To Configure A Ubuntu PPTP VPN Client

As a Linux user and an telecommuting employee one of my biggest challenges was configuring the VPN Client to connecct to my employer's VPN server so I had access to the Knowledge Base as well as all other Internet services:

Linux, unlike Windows, requires additional routing configurations. Fortunately this is an easy step once you understand what it is Linux is looking for.

This how to uses KVPNC as the VPN manager. The Network-Manager in both KDE and Gnome has a known issue with VPN and therefore is unusable. Ideally it would be best to use it instead of adding another network managemet tool into the mix. However, KVPNC works well in both KDE and Gnome and I assume other GUI interfaces as well.

I am using Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) in this example.

Start by getting the needed packages:

sudo apt-get install kvpnc pptp

NOTE: pptp-linux which is another pptp client program did not work for my VPN. This may only be a Ubuntu flavored issue. It is recommended to use pptp only.

Once you have installed KVPNC in Ubuntu it can be found in the Internet section of the menu.

Start KVPNC and run the wizard. Plug in your base information. You will not to be able input all information but at this point all we are interested in is getting the profile created. We will use the configuration editor in KVPNC to properly setup Linux to connect to the VPN.




This is the General options window. Gnome users should uncheck “Use KWallet” KDE users will most likely want to leave it checked. Leave “Do not quit by clicking close button” checked. Otherwise KVPNC will not minimize to the system tray.

You may select “Hide on startup” If you choose.

Click “Apply”

Now select General under the Profiles section.



The Profile name should be the one you gave it when you ran the Wizard.

The description is optional.

The connection type should be PPTP

The Gateway address should be the actual IP address of the VPN gateway on the Internet.

Click “Apply” if you made any changes.

Now go to Routes under the Network section



Okay here is where we have to set things up so that everything works like its supposed to. Linux unlike Windows does not automatically setup PPTP routing. This is where we run into issues. It is important you setup the VPN routing exactly as I show you otherwise your access to the Internet can be severely hampered if not outright broken. Linux's default settings will set the VPN tunnel as your only access route to and from the Internet. Most VPN servers are not designed to handle this. So we have to set a route that sends only traffic that is targeted for the VPN to go there while all other traffic uses the default system route.

First thing is tell KVPNC to “Keep default route” otherwise it will use the VPN tunnel for all traffic. The default is “Replace default route” Simply click the drop down arrow and change to “Keep default route” to get the desired behavior.

Next we need to set the VPN route for all traffic associated to the VPN. I will use 192.168.1.0 as the example. To do this click the “Add route” button. This will bring up the settings dialog box.



Set the remote network to 192.168.1.0 with a netmask (matrix) of 24 (default) leave “Use gateway” unchecked and check “Use interface” and then from the drop down select ppp0 for the device.

Click “OK” then click “Apply” in the Network Routing Window.

Now go to PPTP under Connection specific.



Okay this is the final step to get Linux to communicate with our VPN. Make sure that “Require MPPE” is unchecked if you do not use encryption. MPPE is the encryption method for PPTP so this must be off or you will not connect if your VPN doesn't use it. Ensure the “Authorization Method” is set to chap (in most cases) and not pap.

Once you have made these settings click the “Apply” button and close the settings dialog.

Click the “Connect” button and Linux should make the connection to your VPN. You should now be able to access your VPN services and the Internet without restrictions.