July 2020 - Free-software-melb - lists.softwarefreedom.com.au

Mastodon
by Ben Sturmfels 13 Mar '22

13 Mar '22

Hi Folks, I'm getting into this Mastodon thing, but it'd be much more interesting if I could follow a few more people I know. Anyone care to reply with their Mastodon address? I'm @bensturmfels@mastodon.social. Cheers! Ben

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Update on browser standards
by Michael Verrenkamp 07 Sep '20

07 Sep '20

https://freesoftware.org.au/blog/update-on-browser-standards/ Update on browser standards An update on Googles browser standards About a year ago we warned about the issues of the Chromium/Blink web rendering engine and how Google is essentially dictating the direction of web technology to their advantage. https://freesoftware.org.au/blog/on-microsoft-edge-and-the-chromium-engine/ It now appears via multiple sources that this is becoming that case at least for their direct web services. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/google-now-bans-some-linux-web… The short take on the story is that a lot of free software browsers, some of which happen to have provided the technology base of Chrome, are now being denied access under the guise of 'security'. While these browsers combined usage makes up less than 0.1% of Internet traffic, that Google has gone out of the way to deny the users access is a dangerous precident. To make matters worse, if you make these browsers report to Google that they are 'Google Chrome' - Googles own proprietary browser, then these sites work as intended making the whole idea look more preposterous. While this warning has not been seen universally by users and it appears to be in the trail stage, this is a very worrying for the free and open internet and the software that we use on it. Essentially the software maker, being Google, is able to dictate what people can use online using their software platform and online websites. Google has now made a few actions that are determined to control how the internet is used for their own gain. Chrome is designed to dictate the technology base that people have to use, by having technology that can only be rendered properly by their browser, this sets the standards by which most web developers will aim to hit. This is to the detriment of anyone using non-google technology. It may be small user base browsers today, in future it might be things like Firefox and eventually all non-Chrome browsers - even ones that use the same 'open-source' code base. This is the situation we found the internet in at the end of the last decade with Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominating how internet technology would be shaped. It took the efforts of Mozilla and the Firefox project to finally break free from this situation. Google is also directly dictating to web content providers to use their systems such as AMP technology so that run websites on their servers, making them load faster than they typically would and this is enhanced when using their browsers so that any competition looks bad by comparison. Google uses many other techniques but these main ones are used to direct you into Googles profit machine at the expense of your choice of software and thus your privacy. Over the last few years it has become apparent that more web browser technology is being dictated down from Google and less about letting technology find its own place via dis-census. That is, it is being designed rather than evolving. Technology is being used to squeeze out competition and free software based browsers are clearly being targeted. Google has misused API's to make performance run slowly on other browsers, dictated how DRM should be implemented online so that others cannot support the same standards and in general just made a technology target that favors it over other agreed standards. The best solution to a problem is to prevent the problem in the first place. That means having to avoid using these controlling technologies and to support those that have your back covered. By supporting free software and open standards that is what you are doing. Every time you use a Free-software browser and a website doesn't work properly, let the sites admin know about it. If they don't want to fix it - don't use it. You are better off not being forced into a compromised position. In the coming decade this will only get worse. With the increasing profit needs of Google, increasing operations costs, decline in return on computer hardware improvements, ever increasing demand so of users and the apathy of those same users that makes them accept these changes with little questioning, we are slowly walking down a road that is very difficult to recover from. It took almost a decade to turn it around last time with Firefox and that was through the arrogance of Microsoft not keeping their eye on the ball and assuming that they could never fall. This time it may not be possible as it is a very deliberate and targeted attack on users choices. If we don't try to fight this then we have lost already. If we wait until it is unbearable, it will be near impossible to overcome in any meaningful way. Michael Verrenkamp -- Committee Member Free Software Australia/Melbourne Advocating for freedom in computer software. www.freesoftware.org.au

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FSM July Show and Tell
by PuZZleDucK 31 Jul '20

31 Jul '20

Hey folks, Great turnout to our first virtual "Free Software Show and Tell" evening this month. Thanks to everyone who stepped up and showed off a cool Free Software or Open Source project they liked. I've put together a list of links for the projects we discussed on the night so we can all check out the projects and maybe give them try: Big Blue Button - free software web conferencing system for GNU/Linux servers - https://bigbluebutton.org/ Session - Session is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that removes sensitive metadata collection - https://getsession.org/ PDFArranger - merge or split pdf documents - https://github.com/jeromerobert/pdfarranger Wireguard - simple and fast modern VPN - https://www.wireguard.com/ DBeaver - multi-platform database tool - https://github.com/dbeaver/dbeaver Xournal++ - notetaking, sketching, keeping a journal using a stylus - https://github.com/xournalpp/xournalpp youtube-dl - accessing video from iView and SBS OnDemand without DRM - https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl/ rsync - fast incremental file transfer - https://rsync.samba.org/ lucky backup - powerful, fast and reliable backup and sync tool - http://luckybackup.sourceforge.net/ flameshot - Powerful yet simple to use screenshot software - https://flameshot.js.org/#/ aseprite - create animated sprites - https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite sfxr - Quick 'n' easy game sound effects generator - http://sfxr.me/ simplescreenrecorder - record programs and games - https://www.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/ pdfpc - presenter console with multi-monitor support for PDF files - https://pdfpc.github.io/ restic - a program that does backups right - https://restic.net/ Syncthing - continuous file synchronization program - https://syncthing.net/ Workrave - assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury - https://workrave.org/ prism-break - encrypting your communications and ending your reliance on proprietary services - https://prism-break.org/ privacytools.io - provides services, tools and knowledge to protect your privacy against global mass surveillance - https://www.privacytools.io/ MrRescue - arcade styled 2d action game - https://tangramgames.dk/games/mrrescue/ Alternatives to: MS Project? - WeKan - Gnome Planner - Emacs Org-mode Alternatives to Photsohop? - Gimp - Krita - Inkscape Alternatives to MS Office for linux? - Libre Office I was a bit distracted by the new format and wasn't taking my usual notes during this one, so I apologise if I missed anyone's favorite pick. There was certainly a lot of interest in backups and backup systems. It's not something I've got much experience in, but if someone is interested in presenting a more in depth review and/or tutorial we'd love to hear from you. Thanks everyone for coming along and making FSM online work and we'll catch you next month at Free Software Melbourne. ~~ Ben

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FSM Jul 16 - Free and Open Source Software Show and Tell
by PuZZleDucK 11 Jul '20

11 Jul '20

Hi everyone, With the dramatic changes to how we go about our day-to-day business over the past months there have also been dramatic changes to the software we use and rely upon every day. So this month we are going to catch up for a 'Free Software Show and Tell' event where we all take a turn talking about our favourite Free or Open Source project at the moment and discuss your favourite features or why it’s so useful. >From your favourite audio player right up to your favourite new distros or even mobile software from F-Droid and friends, we want to know what Free Software is doing for you. There is always something new and exciting in Free and Open Source Software that can help us all to keep excited and optimistic for the future. We will talk about some of the great free software helping us through this pandemic and hope that you will join in and talk about what software has been helping you. This event is open to all and no technical expertise is required. Details: Thursday 16th July, 6:30-8:00pm BBB Room: https://freesoftwareau.bigbluemeeting.com/pau-9ti-iea Short video intro to BBB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYYnryIM0Uw Meeting Tips: Be sure to test your audio on the way in. Your mic will be muted when you join the room. Headsets are recommended to reduce any feedback.

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