If you always wanted to learn how to include new apps into the F-Droid Free Software app repository for Android, then the first F-Droid Workshop is for you. There the F-Droid developers themselves will show you how to do it. When? Saturday the 3rd of August, 2PM – 5PM Where? IN-Berlin (OSM) Who? Daniel MartÃ… Continue reading First F-Droid Workshop to Happen Soon in Berlin
Tag: Free Software
Software is everywhere today. It is in your laptop, phone, watch, pacemaker and soon in your fridge as well. Those who have power over the software have increasingly more power over you and over how society functions. Therefore it is important that nobody has total control over our software. Free Software respects our freedom by allowing us to use, study, share and improve it. This way no single entity can claim the power over it.
The following articles touch the subject of Free Software and are hopefully interesting to you.
Android SDK is now proprietary, Replicant to the rescue
I just noticed that the Android SDK is now non-free software. If you go to https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html#download and click on one of the files, you are presented with lengthy “Terms and Conditions” which for example say: In order to use the SDK, you must first agree to this License Agreement. You may not use the SDK… Continue reading Android SDK is now proprietary, Replicant to the rescue
Paying for Free Software
I would like to be able to pay for more Free Software. Usually people think the great thing about Free Software is that it is free as in free beer. They often neglect the fact that it is free as in free speech. This is probably because they rarely or never make use of this… Continue reading Paying for Free Software
Today is I love Free Software Day
Today is I love Free Software Day, so we don’t complain about bugs and missing features, but say thanks to all those developers who made all those awesome Free Software! Thanks to all of you!
UnRAR in Freedom
The FSF maintains a list of high priority projects. Thanks to The Unarchiver initiative, we are now able to extract recent rar files in freedom and the FSF could remove this item from their list. There used to be a free implementation of unrar, but it is outdated and could only extract very old rar… Continue reading UnRAR in Freedom
German Pirate Party Adds Free Software to Agenda
Last weekend, the German Pirate Party had their federal party convent and managed to add two amendments out of hundreds of proposals to their agenda. My text about a free democratically controlled technological infrastructure which includes Free Software, Open Standards, no Software Patents, nor DRM was one of the two accepted. More information can be… Continue reading German Pirate Party Adds Free Software to Agenda
Google and Open Video Standards
As some of you might have heard, Google released an experimental player for Youtube that works without Adobe Flash, last Wednesday. While they are “very excited about HTML5 as an open standard” (from the announcement), they surprisingly chose not to offer the content as such and instead serve videos in a patent-encumbered format. As Google… Continue reading Google and Open Video Standards
Brave New Skyping World Revisited
A vigilant reader of my blog challenged my earlier criticism of Skype thoroughly and even though I felt his remarks could have been tempered a bit, here is my thoughtful response. I am very thankful for all of the comments I receive and encourage more people to express their opinions here. It is only when… Continue reading Brave New Skyping World Revisited
Ten Reasons Why You Should Boycott Skype
If you want to understand what Skype actually is, it might help to picture an almighty telephone and mail company. This company can not only spy on your private conversations and has total control over them, but it also forces you to use it. It owns the telephone lines and all mail transportation and does… Continue reading Ten Reasons Why You Should Boycott Skype
Facebook’s outragous Terms of Use
Many of us knew already that Facebook’s Terms of Use are unacceptable and that nobody should ever use Facebook, but work on a free (as in free speech) alternative to Facebook. A couple of weeks ago, Facebook changed their Terms of Use again without notifying its users. It basically grants itself an “irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive,… Continue reading Facebook’s outragous Terms of Use