Prerequisite: if you are not familiar with the context around the phrases “Free as in freedom,” “Free as in beer” or “Free as in speech”, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_versus_Libre

I took a look at the Free Software Foundation’s LGPL agreement and I discovered (via a link on the page) why open-source developers have taken sides against the FSF: free as in “free” is very different than free as in “only under our development philosophy” which is also very different than non-free as in “pay for it once and then distribute as you like for free.” As they very clearly state, FSF really is wanting a war against proprietary software (it’s worth skimming the whole thing, it’s quick):

http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html

I’ve been torn and I’m still torn, FSF does have an interesting premise: “Proprietary software developers have the advantage of money; free software developers need to make advantages for each other.”

After my favorite online video game - Counter-Strike - introduced in-game voice chatting a number of years ago, I looked for a low-cost headset and an easy way to hook it up. I was relatively happy with a Logitech headset for a few years, but when it broke, I needed a new setup (the best suspect in the breakage was one of our kitties, but evidence was circumstantial at best). About two years ago, I tried and returned a new Logitech headset (the sound just wasn’t right). After that, I asked a few coworkers for recommendations and one mentioned that he’d heard good things about the brand Plantronics.

When I returned my Logitech headset, I checked the shelf and saw a low-cost Plantronics headset. I’m hesitant with non-name-brand equipment, but I decided to give it a try. Since Jeannine was getting into Counter-Strike around the same time, I got her the same headset. Two years later, we are both quite happy with them. They strike a great balance between price and sound quality. I’m sure I could spent four or five times as much on a high-end headset which would sound a bit nicer, but I’m also sure that it would only be minor differences that I would notice, at best. I couldn’t find the exact headset on the manufacturer’s web site, but I found it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Plantronics-AUDIO-340-Behind-The-Head-Multimedia/dp/B000EVOPFQ

Additionally, I really (really!) wanted a low-cost switch which I could use to flip between my headphones and speakers without needing to mess with the input plugs on the back of the computer (which was the process for at least six months…yeah, I’m pretty cheap). Convinced that I could find a low-cost switch somewhere, I searched local stores and my favorite electronics web sites and found nothing in an acceptable price range.

However, I poked through various searches on Amazon (they have everything there, seriously) and found a low-cost switch. It also happened to be made by Plantronics. I got two of them, as well, one for me and one for Jeannine. Just like with our headsets, two years later, we are both very happy with the switches. I could not find them on the manufacturer’s web site, either, but here is where I found them on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Plantronics-PC-Headset-Speaker-Switch/dp/B000069E1V

The combination of one switch and one headset totals under $50 delivered. For good price, sound quality, comfort, and durability, I certainly recommend Plantronics equipment.

It’s never fun when your equipment starts behaving “weirdly.” For most people, when “weird” behavior gets bad enough, it will result in one of two things: (1) one or more frustrating, longer-than-necessary calls to technical support or (2) shelling out some cash to buy a replacement. As a software engineer, I know that “weird behavior” from software or hardware is never desirable, but at the same time, I have seen how easy it is for software engineers to only write code which works under “normal” conditions. From an end-user perspective, one of the biggest distinguishing factors between mediocre software and good software is that good software will elegantly handle unexpected, abnormal conditions and will provide useful feedback so that such conditions can be corrected. This, however, was not the case in my wife Jeannine’s RAZR phone.

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Wow…Canadian currency is worth more than U.S. currency…

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?from=CAD&to=USD&amt=1&t=3m

And, for effect, the five-year graph, where you can see how much it has changed recently…

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?from=CAD&to=USD&amt=1&t=5y

It has been a while since I read an article this quotable. While brief, the author presents some very good points.

Money buys access and influence. Money greases the process that will yield us a new president in 2008. When it comes to Iraq, money ensures that the concerns of big business, big oil, bellicose evangelicals and Middle East allies gain a hearing. By comparison, the lives of U.S. soldiers figure as an afterthought.

Memorial Day orators will say that a G.I.’s life is priceless. Don’t believe it. I know what value the U.S. government assigns to a soldier’s life: I’ve been handed the check. It’s roughly what the Yankees will pay Roger Clemens per inning once he starts pitching next month.

Money. . .negates democracy, rendering free speech little more than a means of recording dissent.

The entire article can be read by clicking here.

I really do not understand how big corporations can justify horrible customer service, but I am trying to do my part to make a difference. Below is a recent letter that I wrote with Jeannine regarding a recent call to DISH Network’s customer service for two simple requests.

Here is the letter I wrote about my experience…

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I have been happy overall with my RAZR, but I have been wondering if Motorola will ever bring out some new phones.  While still along the same general lines as before, Motorola announced some new phone models today which look like significant improvements over the existing ones that they will replace.  See more details at:

http://www.motorolalaunch.com/

Many people never understand how some people love cats so much because they have never seen or spent time with a truly curious and friendly cat. Our cat Charlie is incredibly friendly, very smart and very curious (the “curiosity killed the kitten” type of curious). Anyone who has met Charlie knows how happy he is to come and fall asleep on your lap or cuddled up against you, even with someone he has just met, and Jeannine and I know that Charlie’s favorite spot is cuddled right between us in bed. Here, though, I hope to capture Charlie’s curious side.
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I’ve had a few problems with Azureus under my Ubuntu linux installation, and one particularly annoying one where a pop-up message could not be closed and would stay displayed for the life of the application. I discovered, however, that getting a new version of a well-written Java application like Azureus is as easy as downloading the new executable and replacing the old one. I found instructions here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-219369.html

Instead of relying on my distribution’s package manager to [eventually] provide me a new version, I was able to download the latest beta version and copy the single file to my java applications folder (/usr/share/java). The whole process took under 5 minutes, from poking on Google to try to find help with the error to downloading the new file and putting it in place. Now, Azureus runs great again, and it has some cool new features!

I know that it’s not possible for all applications to be this self-contained, but it really is helpful when an application is, and this is another sign of what a well-thought-out and implemented application Azureus is.

Jeannine and I bought a puzzle this weekend and completed it two nights ago. Over the three days that we worked on it on-and-off, I found that as we progressed, I was more and more into working on it and trying to solve it. I can understand how a video game or a movie might have such a draw to it, but, a puzzle?

I began thinking about it and quickly realized, though, that puzzles actually have a nice reward system. Most people start a puzzle by filling in the border. This is tedious, sorting through for border pieces, but getting the shape in place provides some immediate reward when starting the puzzle and is enough to draw most people in. From there, filling in the puzzle is slow, with many pieces to sort through and many different parts of the puzzle. Over time, though, you start to become familiar with parts of the puzzle and what the pieces look like in certain areas, which starts to provide some reward as you start filling in various parts.

Now, the key, I believe, is in two reward factors. You simultaneously become familiar with what colors/patterns are where in the puzzle (ex. red flowers in the lower right corner), making it easier to insert pieces based on location, and also have fewer pieces to choose from, making it easier to look through the set of all unplaced pieces and locate pieces. After you’ve placed some of the pieces in the puzzle, you start putting pieces in place faster and faster and are rewarded both by virtue of finding pieces and also by viewing the completed portions of the puzzle. These reward factors peak and are especially apparent when down to the last 30 or so pieces, as you excitedly rush to put them all in place. Thus, by virtue of putting pieces in their locations, there are multiple reward factors which all build upon themselves. There’s no artificial “fun factor” there, the puzzle is naturally more and more rewarding just by doing it!

…and that is why, on Monday night, 20 minutes after Jeannine said she wanted to stop doing the puzzle for the evening, we were still sitting there, but with a freshly-completed puzzle in front of us.