In these videos, Robin Good interviews Richard Stallman about free software and the open source movement. Stallman created the GPL and the Free Software Foundation to protect the GNU operating system from becoming proprietary.

In the sequence embedded below, filmed, the founding father of open source software answers a series of questions. This interview was originally posted at MasterNewMedia.org in 2006 and features commentary and links from Robin Good.

Q: What is free software?

Q: What are the negative consequences of using proprietary software instead of free software?

Q: What free software do you recommend using?

Q: Can individuals and organizations use GNU/Linux in their daily operations?

Learn how to install Ubuntu on a PC that already has Windows installed. After installation, when the PC boots-up, a boot menu allows a user to choose which operating system to run. This is made possible by GNU GRUB (or just GRUB), a boot loader package that supports multiple operating systems on a computer.

This screencast is from Ubuntu.com and was created by Alan Pope.

Are you hip to Really Simple Syndication? If you’re still behind on the adoption curve, May 1st is RSS Awareness Day.

Daniel Socco of DailyBlogTips offers a detailed explanation of where the idea for RSS Awareness Day came from and what it was intended to accomplish. Check out RSSDay.org for more information.

In honor of the occasion, we’ve made RSS our Word of the Day to help get out the word, so to speak.

For more information, check out:

• Dan Bricklin’s article, What is RSS?
• our RSS glossary
• our podcast explaining what you can do with RSS
• our definition for RSS reader
• Google Reader
• WhatIs.com’s RSS feeds, including the Word of the Day, the feed for this blog, the enterprise IT tips feed and the enterprise IT newsfeed
• The video embedded below from Common Cause, RSS in plain English

UPDATE: Dave Winer wished everyone Happy RSS Awareness Day. I’m glad I tweeted him about it, as he hadn’t heard the news.

UPDATE II: Marshall Kirkpatrick blogged up a storm over at ReadWriteWeb, writing an epic Ode to RSS to honor the day and the technology itself. It’s the best blog post on the subject that I’ve read and will, I suspect, a canonical post about RSS for some time to come. As Marshall points out, blogging and podcasting as we know it simply wouldn’t be possible without RSS.

A hearty thanks to the pioneers and early adopters whose dedication, hard work and dogged advocacy have brought the technology to its present state!

This video from GoCosmos.org demonstrates how to install the Cosmos User Kit.

Cosmos is an open source microkernel .Net-based operating system written entirely in C#. The folks over at SharpOS.org, who have also created a microkernel OS written in C#, have reasonably objected to claims that Cosmos is the first OS of this type. Both operating systems can be installed and run from a USB jump drive, which only adds to their geeky cred.

You can get updates to the Cosmos project at the official blog. A Cosmos FAQ is also available at the site.

You might remember this fellow — he invented the Web, after all. Sir Tim Berners-Lee offers some thoughts on the issue of Net neutrality in this video.

You can read Lee’s post on Net neutrality, which largely mirrors his statements on camera, over at his blog. You’ll note that the post and video date back to 2006, when the issue first entered a wider conversation online. These days, the U.S. presidential candidates have taken stances on it (Clinton and Obama are both for Net neutrality, McCain opposes it). Accusations of traffic shaping and the uglier-sounding “bandwidth throttling” are flying at ISPs like Comcast, sometimes justified and other times based upon mistaken conclusions.

We’ve asked you before — have you opinions changed? Private networks and corporations have good reason to restrict bandwidth to memory hogs like like IPTV. On-demand streaming of this year’s NCAA basketball tournament caused massive traffic spikes, for instance, resulted in massive traffic spikes. The security risks and bandwidth challenges presented by employee use of P2P networks like Bittorrent are an issue as well.

Once Internet use leaves the office, however, the question remains: Should ISPs be able to institute a two-tiered Internet for private citizens?

Let us know what you think in the comments or by writing in to editor@whatis.com.

In this video, the instructor goes through the process of downloading, installing and configuring Snort as a sniffer and an intrusion detection system on a Windows XP machine.

For more information about Snort, see the following tips and articles:

• How can I learn more about Snort?
  Learn where to find the online resources to help you get the most out of the application.
• Network session data analysis with Snort and Argus
  Learn how flow/session data can complement the alert data supplied by the Snort intrusion detection system for network session data analysis.
  
  
• How to use shared object rules in Snort
  A Sourcefire security advisory has made using shared object rules in Snort easier for service providers.
• What does the future hold for Snort?
  Discover how the new features of Snort 3.0 promise to deliver greater functionality to Snort users and their clients than ever before.

Finally, make sure to view this expert screencast on Snort from SearchSecurity.com contributor Tom Bowers. In a step-by-step demonstration, Tom Bowers offers a brief introduction and history of Snort, and explains what it can do for information security pros and how to use it for the first time.

There are certainly programmers, mathematicians and assorted savants out there who can write and translate directly to and from binary code.

I am not one of them.

If you, too, need to occasionally convert binary to ASCII text or, alternately, amuse yourself by converting especially colorful jokes into safe-for-works form… well, you too might just find this binary to text translation tool useful.

Now you, too, can tell ask your friends to
01110011011101000110111101110000001000
00011100110110010101101110011001000110
10010110111001100111001000000110110101
10010100100000011100110110100101101100
01101100011110010010000001000110011000
010110001101100101011000100110111101101
111011010110010000001110001011101010110
10010111101001111010011001010111001100101110.

[Image source: ThinkGeek]

Linking to ITKnowledgeExchange.com could be music to your ears.

Over the course of April, our sister site will be running a promotion whereby anyone that links to them or adds them to a blogroll will be eligible to win an iPod Shuffle.

All you have to do is add ITKE and then send Brent Sheets an email to let him know about it.

Good luck!

In the video below, Tmuster demonstrates how to create thousands of false SSIDs by using FakeAP, an open source app releases by BlackAlchemy under the GPL.

You can either improve security by hiding your real wifi network in a gazillion fake WAPs or simply amuse yourself by, as he says, “annoying the hell of your neighbors.”

Wifi freeloaders, beware. I’m reminded again of the largest (unofficial) ISP in the USA: linksys.

This Google Tech Talk addresses each of the new features in the upcoming standard for C++. You can read more about them in depth at the Wikipedia entry for the new standard, C++0x.

In this Google TechTalk, Ted Nelson discusses implementing the original hypertext concept and how transclusion should be used now to fulfill its original potential.

While Nelson is credited with coining the term “hypertext, Vannevar Bush is responsible for inventing the concept, which he described as “instant cross referencing.”

As usual, we tread in the path of giants.

One of our newest definitions explains OpenID:

“OpenID is a decentralized single sign-on authentication system for the Internet. The goal of the OpenID initiative is to allow users to log in at websites around the Internet with one ID instead of having to create multiple unique accounts. OpenID was developed using the open source software model to be an interoperable protocol independent from any single organization. (Continued…)”

Activating and using an OpenID is quite easy — I was able to sign up for TravelWiki, for instance, using one from Yahoo!. Activation and setup took about a minute. I’ve embedded three videos below that explain more about how OpenID works and how to use it. Enjoy!

The video below explains more about how to use an OpenID to login, in this case to votay.com:

Here’s another one that explains how to use OpenID with WordPress:

Dave provides a short, clear explanation of OpenID using a whiteboard here:

And finally, in a Google TechTalk, Simon Willison  (co-creator of the Django Web framework) discusses the implications of OpenID and explores the best practices required to take advantage of the new technology while avoiding the potential security pitfalls. This one’s a bit long but excellent. 

Many people derisively refer to Valentine’s Day as a “Hallmark” holiday, invented and popularized by commercialized interests in the greeting card, floral and chocolate industries.

Not so!

Valentine’s Day was named after two Christian martyrs named (wait for it) “Valentine.” According to Wikipedia, Valentine’s Day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the Middle Ages. Lovers have been expressing their love for one another on that day ever since.

Geeks can have special challenges, of course. Bonding with your laptop or server cluster can be a little lonely. Your iTouch is sexy… just not in that way. What to do? If you’re feeling lonely, stressed out over expressing your love or have an unrequited geeky crush, fear not! The interwebs are your friend! [Tetris Heart from Mitch at 4colorrebellion.com]

If the target of your affections has a sense of humor, fill out this “Declaration of Romantic Intent.”

If you have a crush on a fellow photographer, follow this helpful howto from Wired and turn your flickr crush into real romance.

The Road to Know Where has a ton of templates you can use to put together an electronic Valentine Day card, including a Silverlight “Share the Love” ecard builder.

Your Mom’s Basement gets pretty specific about how to meet a girl and navigate the pitfalls of romance. If you’re spending time in your mom’s basement, can we assume you need the advice?

If you’re trying to decide what to get a geek for Valentine’s Day, there’s a Slashdot thread to help you with a last-minute purchase, along with a gazillion other shopping guides.

Finally, if you just need a laugh, Josh Frolinger put together a hilarious list of geek Valentine’s Day videos. My favorites?

Computer Camp Love:

Internet Love Song:

Finite Simple Group (of Order Two)

(This last betrays my own geeky love for collegiate acappella, bringing me back to the glory days of singing under the arches and then networking some PCs together to play Marathon. Nothing says loving like a good fragging. )

Hey Sweetie! I got you a little something for Valentine’s Day:

Yes, February 14th has rolled around again and if you’ve got (or want) a sweetie, you’d be well advised to show you care. And I found the perfect thing: Ironicsans.com has a lovely selection of valentines featuring our real heart-throbs: Scientists! In addition to the dreamy Carl Sagan *sigh!* there’s Darwin: “I select you, naturally!” Lots more on the blog as well as some excellent reader suggestions in the comments (e.g. Charles Richter: “I’m all shook up over you!”)

Ironic Sans began life as an idea for a font name. Until that dream is realized, photographer David Friedman is using it as the name for his blog.

Oooooh… New ones include Pavlov and Stephen Hawking. Decisions, decisions…

~ Ivy Wigmore

Thank to its ubiquitous advertising spots on BoingBoingTV, I’ve discovered the IT Room. Clearly, I’m part of the target audience of this new take on tech support humor, ’cause I found the trailers and initial 4:22 minute webisode (embedded below) hilarious.

Download link

If you like it, you can watch it online or subscribe with iTunes or RSS – or even via email. Folks, we’ve left the old ways of watching TV in our living rooms at a set time far, far behind.

The IT Room has ambitions to be more than just a series of webisodes created by Motiv Studios, written by a group of writers in a snark-laden conference room. The producers w