rereading GGL
I'm going over GGL after being away from it for a bit. More ACCâ„¢ (a thing's Candid Criticism):
In fact, the GNU/Linux system is a core component, which is branched off into many different products. They are called distributions.
Not many distros are products. A better word would be "projects", "software collections", or "packages".
http://www.getgnulinux.org/windows/ should explain breifly what source code is.
http://www.getgnulinux.org/switch_to_linux/from_windows_to_linux/ still has a space before a question mark.
Since you have source code, you can control everything in GNU/Linux, although most of the time you don't need to touch the source because it wasn't designed to restrict you.
The coypright symbol is incorrect for "Clippit the paperclip©". I don't even think it's a trademark either.
(in fact you can browse the web with the exact same program, Firefox)
Change that to "(in fact you can browse the Web with the same program if you already use Firefox)".
— the time volunteers need to reverse-engineer Windows® drivers, .
Change that to "— time is needed for volunteers to reverse-engineer Windows® drivers, ."
[yes, even if you purchased your media entirely legally]
That should be surrounded by parentheses.
, but you are well informed when you do so
That should be omiteded.
It is precisely this difference and variety that participate in making Linux so special and interesting.
"that participate in" should also be omitted (and "making" changed to "makes").
When "internet" isn't capitalized, it can refer to any internet. To refer to the global Internet, capitalize it.
Once version 7 is released, change "Fedora Core" to just "Fedora".
The live cd absolutely rocks.
Capitalize "CD".
Don't hyphenate riskless.
or your own: strictly no installation means
"Strictly" should be omitted.
no one can buy Windows® or Microsoft Office: instead users purchase a permission to use them.
"No" should be capitalized.
Link the quote to the cited interview.
Yet, from the user's perspective, proprietary software is very different because of the restrictive license –such restrictions would be unthinkable on a car or bicycle, for example.
Get rid of the "from the user's perspective".
They used to work on a standalone basis, but have been intrinsically linked with Windows® - so they come in with every PC and no one can get rid of them.
Replace that hyphen with a dash.
Microsoft remains the sole organisation to understand how their products work.
Change "to" to "that" and "understand" to "understands".
Which would you rather trust? The package you are forbidden to study? Or the package with the ingredients?
Replace "ingredients" with "recipe".
There is much more to software than being trustworthy (being "Open-Source")
Don't even bring open source into the discussion of freedom.
Link to the citation in "Not a crazy concept".
they purchase music through iTunes®, and then cannot play their music on a different music player
Chagne "different music player" to "music player other than iTunes® or an iPod®".
If you expand DRM to Digital Restrictions Management, expand TC to Treacherous Computing.
DRM shouldn't be in an <acronym> element in the TC section and in the conclusion. It's redundant.
Most of today's work documents are written and encoded with secret algorithms, in proprietary software.
Get rid of the comma.
Wheh, that took a while.
Benjamin,
A little late on this, but browsing through the site something popped
out to me on this page below which has the heading "Try to Install".
http://www.getgnulinux.org/switch_to_linux/
Paraphrasing Yoda, "do or do not, there is no try". I may just be a
pessimist but "try" suggests failure. Using neutral "Installing Linux"
or "Setting up your computer" makes it sound like it'll be easier -
and makes it more likely people will try!
Other than that very nice, keep up the good work.
Martin
Just so people know, Andrew is quoting a post to the Ubuntu-Uk mailing list. The discussion contiued after that post, and someone else suggested that Try or Install may be better in context.
(BTW, it is actually Try and Install, but to certain English speakers, this is equivalent to Try to Install)
I am wondering if we could set up a mailgroup - fora module..
libervisco is there such a mod for drupal?
What would be its purpose? To post emails from a mailing list on the forum?
So far I found Mailing List Manager which is from what I understand a front-end to mailing lists allowing people to subscribe, unsubscribe and even post to them. It only has a version for Drupal 5 though.
To be honest, IMHO, mailing lists are clunky and unpractical. I don't really like them, but that's me I guess.
I'm pretty frustrated with email after my ISP blocking port 25. I'd rather we just stick with the easy-to-use forums.
I'd agree, the forums seem to serve there purpose fine. Theres no real need for a mailing list. Or is there?
That's all cool, but with forums I don't need to do special setups like this, nor do I need to have my email client open, in addition to the web browser, any longer than necessary to just quickly check normal email messages.
My opinion on mailing lists, therefore, stands unchanged.
Since I want to know about non-list mail more or less immediately, I always have a mail client open ;-)
Well to each his own. :-)
Neither forums nor mailing lists are gonna go away any time soon and we can both obviously live with both no matter which we prefer so.. not a big deal anyway.
That's the kind of opinion you get when you're not comfortable with your mail client. Well set-up mailing list archives and mail clients have no disadvantages over fora if you ask me.
My inbox isn't being flooded with mailing list posts although I get hundreds every day. They get neatly packed away in a folder I open when I want to read lists.
IMHO, no there's no need.
Forums are just much more flexible. You don't get stuff flooding your inbox of which you might not want to read everything at once. On forums you can decide when to go read the new stuff and when not, and you can more easily browse through discussions which are also categorized in various forums. Forums are better in so many ways, if you ask me. It's just that certain people like to be leet reading mailing lists and calling forumers "noobs" or something. And some are simply so used to mailing lists they can't get over it.
But it's just the opposite for me. Forums rule!
That's terrific! Thanks so much.
Some reserves/doubts on some points:
Not many distros are products. A better word would be "projects", "software collections", or "packages".
In the sense that the end-user gets a complete system on his computer, I think "product" (Wiktionary def.) suits fine, from the average user's point of view. My mom neither wants a package nor a project to run her computer.
http://www.getgnulinux.org/windows/ should explain breifly what source code is.
Would
"If you can't get a right to inspect source code (the inner workings of a program), you can't have someone correct flaws [...] "
be better? Source code is hard to explain in less than one line.
There is much more to software than being trustworthy (being "Open-Source")
Don't even bring open source into the discussion of freedom.
Here I precisely hoped to point out the value of freedom as something that's lacking in the "open-source" way of thinking. I mean people want to read "open-source" because that's how they remotely know "this linux thing". I thought that page was a good opportunity to say "yes, GNU/Linux is open-source, but what really matters is that it's free".
If you expand DRM to Digital Restrictions Management, expand TC to Treacherous Computing.
I'm not sure about this one; while I'm certain people have heard about "DRM" they might not make the link for TC – so that they could see "Trusted Computing" somewhere else and think "great! it's not Treacherous Computing". Does this sound sensible or am I thinking too much?
I suggest to make the term "Treacherous Computing" more obvious (using parentheses instead of just the [1]).
Any more opinions?
All the other points are corrected, this ACCâ„¢ rocks. I'm getting a lot more of OSC (Olivier's Shameful Corrections) in case you can have another go. Thanks a lot.
Olivier.
Yes thanks for pointing this out. It didn't strike me as non-English speaker but does sound horribly different once you read it the other way.
Unless someone objects I'll rename this page within 24hrs.
"If you can't get a right to inspect source code (the inner workings of a program), you can't have someone correct flaws [...] "
be better? Source code is hard to explain in less than one line.
get "human-readable" in there, as it's the main point that distinguishes source code from binary machine code.
I suggest to make the term "Treacherous Computing" more obvious (using parentheses instead of just the [1]).
+1
In the sense that the end-user gets a complete system on his computer, I think "product" (Wiktionary def.) suits fine, from the average user's point of view. My mom neither wants a package nor a project to run her computer.
I see what you're saying.
Here I precisely hoped to point out the value of freedom as something that's lacking in the "open-source" way of thinking. I mean people want to read "open-source" because that's how they remotely know "this linux thing". I thought that page was a good opportunity to say "yes, GNU/Linux is open-source, but what really matters is that it's free".
Okay, that works. Looking at it again, it is clear that the page isn't about open source.
I agree with free-zombie and Gustavo on the other points.
get "human-readable" in there, as it's the main point that distinguishes source code from binary machine code.
the trouble is that this makes a pretty long sentence:
If you can't get a right to inspect source code (the human-readable inner workings of a program), you can't have someone correct flaws or evaluate how your privacy is protected for you.
I put it up nevertheless, if someone thinks of a better phrasing, please tell me!
"Try and Install" page is now renamed to "Try or Install"
And the term "Treacherous Computing" is made more obvious.
Thanks a lot for all the constructive thoughts! I love to see this site keep improving.