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gNewSense, a great free alternative
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Let me start by defining what I mean by Free. Free software is not simply a program that your able to download and run without paying a fee, but rather a program that comes with source code and grants the user 4 basic rights.
- Right to run the program any way you please
- Right to modify the program to better fit your needs
- Right to redistribute the program
- Right to extend or improve the program and release copies to the public
The above definition of "Free" was set by the Free Software Foundation which was founded by the legendary activist,
Richard Stallman. Freeware programs which do not provide source code or do not grant these basic rights to their users are considered proprietary software regardless of fee.
While most popular GNU/Linux distributions are considered Free, they are only mostly free. Debian, and Ubuntu distributions try to maintain as strict as possible adherance to the GNU philosophy without sacrificing proprietary drivers for hardware that is not yet supported by free software.
gNewSense is a completely Free operating system based on Ubuntu, and one of the very few endorsed by GNU.org. Installation is a breeze, just like Ubuntu, but all the programs that come preinstalled as well as those found in their repositories are completely free. If you still can't get that device to work, you have the option to add ubuntu's repositories to your sources file in order to get those proprietary drivers or restricted codecs. Debian and Debian based distos, such as Ubuntu have long been my favorite desktop environment, so the news of gNewSense was well received.
To learn more about Free software checkout:
And some good videos available online:
- Revolution OS (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7707585592627775409)
- Dangers of Software Patents (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6390784544771380326)
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