Random Bits - Misc. Information and Opinions
Here is where I post information and opinions that are too simple, too small, or not important enough to warrant an entire article (such as screenshots of various new program features). This is also a way to archive my online comments and I often post here when a website requires me to register in order to post a comment.

Requiring people to register on your website, or a third-party website, in order to post a comment is restrictive, limits each person's freedom of speech, and is an ultimatum between voicing your opinion while handing over untold-control and subjecting to surveillance or not voicing your opinion at all. Using a comment system that requires visitors to register should be avoided.

However my opinions are taken, good or bad, and wherever I voice my opinions, I am the one behind them, and you have the right to know. It's very easy to be anonymous online; that is exactly the opposite of what I want.



New Firefox 4 "alert" and "confirm" pop-ups changed (permalink | top) - 12/15/2010


Prediction: Default Firefox 4 Interface on GNU/Linux (permalink | top) - 12/13/2010

This is what I think is planned for the default Firefox 4 interface design on GNU/Linux.

Alert Window

Also, I noticed that the URL now raises when you hover over a link:



I'm not sure if it's a bug -- it's a smooth animation so that doesn't seem likely -- but I like it.



Opinion Regarding: Men For Android, Women For iOS (permalink | top) - 12/06/2010
Why do statistics keep separating "Linux" from Android and WebOS? Combining Android, WebOS, and "Linux" that makes a market share of around 27.28%, with 37.88% among men choosing the "Linux" platform for their next purchase. Android and WebOS both run the Linux kernel, now unless the "Linux" number actually means a full GNU/Linux distribution (I'd believe there aren't many of those running on phones), than these statistics aren't accurate.


New "alert" and "confirm" in Firefox Beta 8 Pre (permalink | top) - 11/29/2010
Alert Window

Confirm Window

You'll notice that the "alert" and "confirm" pop-ups float above the page, that they no longer use the window manager, and that the page is blurred while the pop-up is present. Before now you couldn't interact with other tabs and other functions of Firefox without having to close the pop-up, with the new "alert" and "confirm" pop-ups you can, you may interact with other programs on the desktop as well and even move the Firefox window with the pop-up staying centered in the browser.

You may trigger the "alert" and "confirm" pop-ups by typing: "javascript:alert("This is a test.");" or "javascript:confirm("Going To Refresh Page...");", respectively, into the location bar and pressing enter.


Hide-able "Menu Bar" in Firefox 4.0 Beta 8 Pre (permalink | top) - 11/22/2010
Menu Bar Button

Menu Bar Button Clicked


Opinion Regarding: Is it time for Free software to move on? (permalink | top)
The timeline is wrong. The GNU Project had everything except the kernel complete (as in initiated and stable-ish) before Linus started developing the Linux kernel. The same utilities are still used in most (I would say 91% of all) GNU/Linux distributions. GIMP is developed by the GNU Project, GNOME is developed by the GNU Project, as is GCC, GTK+, glibc, coreutils, binutils, BASH, and many more. Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Mandriva, and more, all use these utilities. Even Android uses some of these utilities either directly in the system or in developing it.


Opinion Regarding: Is Android Open Source Or Not? (permalink | top)
"In short, Free Software Movement, as the one evangelized by FSF, is a subset of open source that tries to achieve freedom of software by restriction." This is incorrect. Open Source is a subset of Free Software (as Free Software predates Open Source), a subset that tries to improve Free Software through a pragmatic development model.

And the "restriction" you speak of is the same "restriction" that we have on our freedom here in the U.S., such as murder is illegal, theft is illegal, and the most similar "restriction" on freedom is that slavery is illegal; in other words it's illegal to take away from another person the same freedom your government granted you. Why should this be any different for software?


Opinion Regarding: 10 Reasons for Switching to Linux (permalink | top)
Point 8 is a bit misleading. Linus Torvalds did start Linux, but only the kernel, which is used on many systems, but is not what makes the operating system so stable, yes it would be less stable if Linux were unstable, but it's only one part of how the whole stability thing works. He didn't expect it "to be anything big like GNU" to paraphrase him, yes. GNU on the other hand wasn't started as a hobby, it was started as part of the Free Software Movement, a social movement to liberate computer users from proprietary software, successfully giving the users control over the technology they rightfully own.

And while Linux, the kernel, is under the GNU General Public License making it Free Software (but not automatically Open Source) Linus often takes a very pragmatic development approach, including proprietary binary blobs in the kernel and even using proprietary software to develop Linux at times.

Confusing Open Source with Free Software is never a good thing, and it's even worse to teach it that way. If you want someone to value the freedom Free Software grants them, you have to speak of Free Software, not Open Source. And to a lesser degree you should speak of GNU/Linux instead of just "Linux" when you're referring to the entire operating system.


Opinion Regarding: Haiku Operating System (permalink | top)
People running Haiku seem to always talk about its speed, but what they don't realize is that once they've added support for all the different kinds of hardware assuming they can get companies to release code for it (if the Free Software Foundation can't, no one can) and improve on the looks the operating system will slow down. Also, Haiku doesn't run any better then something like Damn Small Linux or Debian GNU/Linux with LXDE, and both D.S.L. and Debian have much more stability and support.

Another problem with Haiku is its X11 licensing, its development on a permissive platform can easily be the death of the operating system. Any company can learn from them, even directly take code, put it to use in their product and release the whole thing (well everything but the GNU Tools) as a new proprietary operating system. In other words, the main problem with Haiku is: even if they do develop something great, it may not remain Free Software forever, it may end up damaging itself in the long run.


Opinion Regarding: New GNOME Shell Mockups Look Like Unity (permalink | top)
To be fair Canonical obviously based their Ubuntu Unity on GNOME Shell, and they have always been pretty good at polishing things (if that's not all they're good at). Still, I think it looks good, but currently GNOME Shell doesn't run good, which is what I really need it to do. More work in both places and we'll it'll be good.


Opinion Regarding: Mark's business concept is flawed (permalink | top)
I largely agree with this. The change that sparked my rant -- yes it's a rant, and I try to avoid rants -- was the small change of window control button position, but this isn't the only reason I wrote about the subject. If it were only that, I would have let it go.

I wrote it because I see Ubuntu as the "noob" distribution that -- whether I like it or not -- represents GNU/Linux to new users. And if Canonical is not willing to listen to what their users want, than this makes the operating system as a whole look bad.

And the idea of "vote with your feet" is not easy for the new user. I think suggesting it is just ridiculous. New users do not (or cannot) "distro hop" easily.

I am a technical user (I use Debian GNU/Linux-libre), I don't use Ubuntu personally. And I hate seeing the distribution with the most mainstream potential losing it with every update.


Opinion Regarding: GNU's Pronunciation Joke (permalink | top)
If GNU is supposed to be pronounced "g-noo" or "guh-new" why does the GNU Project always choose names that work better with GNU pronounced as "Noo" or as in "New"? Example: the "GNU Operating System" would be the "New Operating System" which makes sense, "GNU Generation" would be "New Generation" which makes sense, "The GNUs" would obviously be "The News". And it's hard to imagine that it's not at least intentional.


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What Is This Place?
TildeHash is a website for Tech articles revolving around Free Software and Unix/Unix-like operating systems, written by Jacob Barkdull and various contributors, respectively. Meaning, Free Software (or Open Source); and GNU/Linux (or simply Linux), BSD, OpenSolaris, or Haiku; respectively. The main goal of TildeHash is to be different -- the name alone is a little different (explanation here) -- but to do it in a useful way.

TildeHash is about discussing Free Software topics that are beneficial to our community, topics that are largely not discussed nor shown. "Free Software" is also often called "Open Source Software". In practice the requirements are identical, although because the term "open" doesn't call to mind freedom, it misses the point.

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