Category: Blog

  • Raspberry Pi sells 10 million units, Open Library Foundation established, and more open source news

    [ad_1] In this edition of our open source news roundup, we take a look at Raspberry Pi’s 10 million unit milestone, the launch of the Open Library Foundation, and more. Open source news roundup for September 4-17, 2016 Raspberry Pi ships 10 million units In just four years, 10 million Raspberry Pi computers have been…

  • Top 5: 4 reasons to create an open source program office, Linux for musicians, and more

    [ad_1] In this week’s Top 5, we highlight four reasons to create an open source program office, why using open document formats could create a domino effect, a musician’s My Linux Story, Jono Bacon on how gamification can help onboard new contributors, and three open source alternatives to PowerPoint. Top 5 articles of the week…

  • Good things come from projects that fail

    [ad_1] Without realizing it, I joined the open source movement in 1999 during the midst of the Kosovo refugee crisis. I was part of a team helping route aid supplies to local humanitarian organizations running transit camps across Albania. These are the camps that refugees often arrived at first before being moved to larger, more…

  • Got the writing bug? An introduction to bibisco

    [ad_1] A couple of years ago, when I started tinkering with long-form fiction writing, I attended some events for National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. Among the attendees there was a lot of talk of using Scrivener as a tool for organizing your writing, and as a place to keep your details. I looked into…

  • What is free software?

    [ad_1] The Digital Freedom Foundation defines free software as the freedom to use, study, distribute, modify, and access software. You can’t go wrong with this poll! In honor of Software Freedom Day, tomorrow on September 17, we wonder how you plan to contribute to the global event tomorrow? Leave us your message in the comments. And if you haven’t planned…

  • 3 open source alternatives to PowerPoint

    [ad_1] PowerPoint is one of those programs whose use has become so ingrained in the corporate world that it is probably running the risk of becoming completely genericized, in the same way that some people use Kleenex to refer to all tissues, or BAND-AIDs to refer to all bandages. But presenting a slideshow doesn’t have…

  • Global group communication and culture tips

    [ad_1] If open source needed a new slogan it whould be: Think Globally, Act Globally. Probably with a semicolon instead of a comma, but what slogan uses a semicolon? A semicolon is slogan poison. Just like thinking locally is open source poison. The thing is, when you create a tool you need and decide to throw a Creative Commons…

  • Automating repetitive tasks for digital artists with Python

    [ad_1] Artists and designers should know how to code. There, I said it. Now, I could go into a good in-depth exposition on how the artist mindset and the developer/engineer mindset aren’t all that different, or how the image of the “non-technical artist” is a relatively recent phenomenon. Those are topics for another article. For…

  • Gratipay makes 'love' their most important core value

    [ad_1] Openness is not an end in itself. Ellen Marie Dash firmly established this point back in 2014, writing: While I like the ideals and goals of Open Companies, I find that the approach tends to position openness as an end in and of itself, instead of as a means to reach higher goals and values.…

  • How to help developers help themselves

    [ad_1] Developers need help. It comes with the territory for software companies employing thousands of developers, many who live and work in remote locations all over the world. At Red Hat, Rafael Benevides doles out lots of help. He teaches developers about tools and practices so they can be more productive, and he’ll be taking the show on the road for the tech conference All Things…