Chris Tyler's Blog

I can’t really see anyone commercializing this or putting into some sort of binary extension, so I don’t think the GPL would really benefit me.

But I think that part of the question should be: Which license will lead to the widest possible use of my work? Conditional cooperation theory, the overall vitality and productivity of the community, gains in personal reputation -- all of these support choosing a license that will make it easy to reuse what you've done, which means a license that is compatible with the widest range of projects that may be interested in your code.

The most popular Open Source license is GPL2, so using the GPL2 ensures compatibility with a huge codebase. Unfortunately, its successor, GPL3, isn't nearly as widely used, and was rejected outright (at least initially) by some projects. The LGPL and BSD License are permissive licenses that encourage reuse. Specific open source projects will have their own licenses.

Perhaps the best option, then, is to select the licenses that are used by the communities closest to your project, and consider dual- or triple-licensing (this works for content as well as code). You'll be in good company -- after all, some very successful projects use a tri-license.

A multiseat system is a computer set up for multiple simultaneous GUI users, using multiple graphics cards, keyboards, and mice. They're perfect for Internet cafes, library catalogs, kiosk systems, home offices, and even gaming. I've been running a 3- or 4-user multiseat system at my house for almost five years.

PulseAudio, the new GDM, recent X.org releases, ConsoleKit -- Fedora is now a better base for Multiseat than ever before, but it still requires an enormous amount of configuration to get a multiseat system running well.

If you use multiseat systems, or are interested in using them, let's get together during the FUDCon F10 hackathon and plan out a roadmap for making Fedora the best multiseat platform ever.

(Basic -- and old -- multiseat configuration information is on my blog).

Seneca has issued me a 17" MacBook Pro. I'm thankful that they've providing good technology: it's a great machine for cross-platform testing because it can run Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. It looks gorgeous.

But I'm not impressed with some of Apple's technology and design decisions. Sticking to a single-button mouse in 2008 is just silly, especially when doing so requires the use of modifiers when clicking. And why should an Apple computer shut down its USB bus when an Apple iPod -- and only an Apple iPod -- is attached to it (due to overcurrent)?

But what bothers me the most about Apple is the way they handle Open Source. It seems like Apple is using a number of Open Source tools -- such as GCC, bash, X11, and more -- but making minimal contributions back to Open Source communities.

Prove me wrong, Apple. Please.

Two examples of projects that failed to take searchability into account spring to mind (and there are many others): C# and KVM -- C# because it contained a character that many search engines of the day couldn't search on, and KVM because there were millions of web pages in existence discussing keyboard/video/mouse switches that cause search collisions (and many of those pages also contained "virtual" or "machine", while many kernel virtual machine pages didn't contain the word "kernel", "virtual", or "machine").

So please: when picking a name for a project, have Google and its colleagues look over your shortlist!

We have a new member in our family: Reddy. He's an iRobot Roomba Red. I've wanted a Roomba for several years, but didn't want to pay hundreds for one; now that the 500 series has been out for a while, the Roomba Reds have dropped to just over $100, so I picked one up.

When you combine gadgetry coolness with the elimination of a household chore, what's not to like? Best toy ever.

And it's hacker-friendly!...