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Bryan is a writer and works as the Social Media Marketing Manager of SUSE. On this blog, he seeks to highlight the coolest things happening in the Linux world.

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My life is filled with conundrums.

One of those conundrums is the fact that I spend a huge amount of my time promoting and advocating free and open-source software. Yet in order to reach a large audience with that advocacy, I end up needing to use social networks (such as Twitter and Google Plus) which arenot free software.

If I'm going to be speaking at a conference about GNU, Linux and other free software-y topics, I announce it on Twitter. And, perhaps rightly so, my freedom-loving friends toss a little (usually good-natured) mockery my way for doing so.

Over the years, a few social networks have sprung up that are a bit more free software-basedor, at least, open source. Yet none of them has really captured the interest of the broader publicsomething necessary for what I do. Diaspora is a great example of one that showed great promise but never really took off. (It still exists, but without the audience numbers and/or growth that is needed.)

Then along comes Mastodon, which describes itself as the following:

"Mastodon is a free, open-source social network. A decentralized alternative to commercial platforms, it avoids the risks of a single company monopolizing your communication. Pick a server that you trustwhichever you choose, you can interact with everyone else. Anyone can run their own Mastodon instance and participate in the social network seamlessly."

Open source (and up on GitHubusing the AGPL license), check.

Decentralized, double check.

And the web UI is actually quite nice looking. Simple, peppy and column-based. In my short testing time thus far, I'm finding Mastodon rather enjoyable to use.

As of this writing, there may not be millions and millions of users, but the number appears to be growing quite rapidly. Articles on this little, up-start social network seem to be popping up on tech websites far and wide.

Getting started with Mastodon is fairly simple. Check out a page showing some of the various instances of Mastodon that are runningpick one that seems good to you, and sign up. Most instances can talk to each other seamlessly, though to my understanding, some can choose to talk only to people on your own instance server.

Then start looking around for some friends to follow. Feel free to take a look at who I currently follow in case any of these folks interest you as well. (Or just start by following meIm downright delightful.)

As far as mobile clients go, many folks seem to be using an Android app by the name of Tusky. I tried it out briefly (I have only one device that uses the Google Play Store), and it seems to work pretty well. However, it would be nice if such an app were available on F-Droid (or directly from the developer website) so I don't need to rely on the Play Store.

Will Mastodon take off and become the next Twitter? Will it fall short of that but still build a significant enough user base to keep itself useful and active? Who knows. But the design looks solid, the approach something I can support. So, I sure hope so.

And, at least for the time being, I'm going to be using it.

Bryan is a writer and works as the Social Media Marketing Manager of SUSE. On this here blog, he seeks to accomplish two goals: 1) To be the voice of reason and practicality in the Linux and Open Source world. 2) To highlight the coolest things happening throughout the world of Linux.

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MastodonThe free software, decentralized Twitter competitor - Network World

The previs software was developed as an internal tool by Artefact after the company couldnt find suitable off-the-shelf software that allowed them to iterate quickly during the production of vr projects. They say:

Storyboard VR works in a similar way to traditional storyboard techniques by creating static frames that roughly block in a scene. Designers and developers can easily import assets from existing drawing tools and position them while inside vr to quickly test and iterate. And, just like traditional storyboarding, users can create multiple scenes to test the flow of the experience. An incredibly lightweight app, Storyboard VR takes only a few minutes to get acquainted with.

Significant interest from the vr community has led them to release the software for free publicly, in the hope that it will promote experimentation across industries and organizations and inspire and accelerate the development of new experiences in this emerging medium.

While the software is available at no cost, Artefact warns it is an unsupported alpha application, so bugs and other issues may exist. Although we use Storyboard VR in our daily work at Artefact, the company further says, we have no immediate plans to continue to update and develop the software. The software is only supported on HTC Vive and requires Windows to run.

A demo of how to build a scene can be seen in the video below:

See the original post here:
Artefact Launches Storyboard VR, Free Software for Prototyping Interactive Animation Projects - Cartoon Brew

Shuttleworth said he became "disgusted with the hate on Mir", which has changed his opinion of the free software community.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu developer Canonical, has condemned some in the free software community who he believes hate everything that's mainstream.

Shuttleworth aired his grievances in a Google+ post in which he initially thanked contributors to Canonical's soon-to-be abandoned Unity desktop interface, but which he later used to criticize the "antisocial types who love to hate on whatever is mainstream".

The question that triggered Shuttleworth's rebuke asked whether Canonical will continue its work on Mir, its desktop display server and alternative to Wayland.

Canonical had hoped Unity would bring convergence to desktops, tablets and phones, but last week Shuttleworth said next year's release of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will revert to the RedHat-backed GNOME.

A Canonical spokesperson told Ars Technica that going forward with GNOME and abandoning mobile would necessitate quitting Mir and replacing it with Wayland.

Shuttleworth acknowledged in the original GNOME announcement that the community took Canonical's work on Unity as "fragmentation not innovation", while manufacturers didn't take up the implementation.

"I respect that markets, and community, ultimately decide which products grow and which disappear," he said.

But Shuttleworth's reply to the question about Mir's future suggests he's deeply disillusioned with how some members of the community went about that process, given the work that goes into making free software available.

He clarified that Mir actually does have a future in IoT projects where it's being used as a compositor, but complained the "Mir hate-fest" was being steered by "muppets" with political objectives. Shuttleworth labelled opponents of Mir the Open Source Tea Party when it first released the software.

"The whole Mir hate-fest boggled my mind -- it's free software that does something invisible really well," he wrote.

"It became a political topic as irrational as climate change or gun control, where being on one side or the other was a sign of tribal allegiance. We have a problem in the community when people choose to hate free software instead of loving that someone cares enough to take their life's work and make it freely available," he continued.

Shuttleworth said he became "disgusted with the hate on Mir" and that this changed his opinion of the free software community.

"I used to think that it was a privilege to serve people who also loved the idea of service, but now I think many members of the free software community are just deeply antisocial types who love to hate on whatever is mainstream," he wrote.

"When Windows was mainstream they hated on it. Rationally, Windows does many things well and deserves respect for those. And when Canonical went mainstream, it became the focus of irrational hatred too.

"The very same muppets would write about how terrible it was that IOS/Android had no competition and then how terrible it was that Canonical was investing in (free software!) compositing and convergence. F*** that s***."

Read more:
Ubuntu's Shuttleworth: Free software zealots are antisocial muppets who love to hate - ZDNet

Fanshawe Colleges $28-million gift is about making people a lot more comfortable.

The donation to the school from Siemens Canada will boost its ergonomics study program, meaning students will help design products and measure workplaces, improving comfort and reducing injuries.

This investment from Siemens ensures our students are well prepared for relevant and rewarding careers upon graduation, Fanshawe President Peter Devlin said in a release.

We thank Siemens for its continued support of Fanshawe and helping us unlock the potential of our students.

Software donated by Siemens has a value of $28 million and will go to the colleges advanced ergonomic studies program in the school of public safety.

The software, called Jack, is a leading-edge human modelling and simulation program considered an industry standard. Students will design products and evaluate industrial tasks meant to improve user comfort and reduce musculoskeletal injuries.

Digitalization is rapidly changing every aspect of our lives, including how we work, said Robert Hardt, chief executive, Siemens Canada.

Were thrilled through this grant to be providing Fanshawe students in the advanced ergonomic studies program with sophisticated software tools to help develop safer, more efficient working environments for Canadians.

Mark Hunter, chair of Fanshawes school of public safety, said the technology will enable students to move directly into the workplace.

Students in our advanced ergonomic studies program will now have the opportunity to learn using leading-edge software, preparing them for careers as industry leaders upon graduation, said Hunter.

It is the second gift from Siemens in recent months. In January it donated software technology with a commercial value of $248million to the school of applied science and technology. That was for NX software used for computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering.

Having gained hands-on experience with the Jack modelling software has greatly contributed to our thorough, scientific understanding of human biomechanics when exposed to various working circumstances, as well as provided experience in applying ergonomic analysis tools for both proactive and reactive design purposes, said Anna Beenackers, an advanced ergonomic studies student.

The knowledge and experience gained from our exposure to Jack will minimize the learning curve and aid in the transition as we progress from students to working professionals in . . . ergonomics.

WHAT THEY SAID

This investment from Siemens ensures our students are well prepared for relevant and rewarding careers upon graduation.

Fanshawe President Peter Devlin

Were thrilled through this grant to be providing Fanshawe students .. . (with) tools to help develop safer, more efficient working environments for Canadians.

Robert Hardt, chief executive, Siemens Canada

The knowledge and experience gained from our exposure to Jack will minimize the learning curve and aid in the transition as we progress from students to working professionals in ... ergonomics.

Anna Beenackers, advanced ergonomic studies student

Read the original post:
Fanshawe gets 'Jacked' by $28M software gift - London Free Press

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has labelled some members of the free software community habitual, hateful and reflexive contrarians.

Shuttleworth added a comment to his own Google+ post thanking those who worked on Ubuntu's recently-abandoned Unity Project.

But as he read the comments on that post, his mood changed and he soon added a comment about past debate on the Mir windowing system.

The whole Mir hate-fest boggled my mind, he wrote, it's free software that does something invisible really well. It became a political topic as irrational as climate change or gun control, where being on one side or the other was a sign of tribal allegiance.

Shuttleworth thinks that was bad because We have a problem in the community when people choose to hate free software instead of loving that someone cares enough to take their life's work and make it freely available.

I came to be disgusted with the hate on Mir. Really, it changed my opinion of the free software community.

I used to think that it was a privilege to serve people who also loved the idea of service, but now I think many members of the free software community are just deeply anti-social types who love to hate on whatever is mainstream.

When Windows was mainstream they hated on it. Rationally, Windows does many things well and deserves respect for those. And when Canonical went mainstream, it became the focus of irrational hatred too. The very same muppets would write about how terrible it was that IOS/Android had no competition and then how terrible it was that Canonical was investing in (free software!) compositing and convergence.

The comment concludes with three words of profane and terse criticism: Fuck that shit.

Shuttleworth has form using strong words to describe Mir opponents: he once labelled opponents them the Open Source Tea Party.

The comment takes his ire to new levels and represents an unusually-blunt criticism of the free and/or open source software community from a senior figure in that community.

Grab some popcorn: this could get interesting.

Read more here:
Mark Shuttleworth says some free software folk are 'deeply anti ... - The Register