open source software

Apr 27 2009

Undercover with GnuPG

Now, I know open-source software can be a bit intimidating. GnuPG may look mean, but it is a breeze to install. Just give me 15 minutes.

First off you need to download the software. GnuPG runs in the terminal, and has no GUI, but don’t worry. You won’t be accessing this much. Just download the package and run through the installer. You can set GnuPG from the Terminal, but let’s hold off and download some goodies first.

You’ll need this one for 10.1, this one for Jaguar (GnuPG is available for OS 9, but its setup won’t be covered here).

Now, time for the toys. First off, rather than mess with the Terminal to configure things, lets download GPGPreferences, a preference pane that allows you to tweak settings. As you use GPG, you will have reason to come here and change things.

To get started, you will need to generate a key for yourself. GPGKeys will help you here. This app manages your keys. Hit “Keys” and “Generate…” and the app will fire up the Terminal and walk you through the setup process. As soon as you have a key, you can encrypt, sign and send secure messages to people with keys.

Now, goodies for your mail client. Grab either EntourageGPG or GPGMail (10.1 and 10.2 versions available), download and install it. This addition will allow you to send and receive secure messages from Entourage or Mail. These behave differently, but both verify that your recipient has a GPG key and make sending and receiving encrypted messages easy.

Note: Eudora and Mailsmith scripts are available too, but not covered here, because I don’t know anyone who uses them.

For those of you that use an online service like Yahoo, there is still a way to encrypt and decrypt messages. You can use GPGDropThing to encode and sign text to paste into your email message. GPGDropThing also decrypts and verifies.

If you’d like to encrypt files, then you’ll want to try out GPGFileTool. This app provides a GUI for file encryption using your GPG key.

GPG takes a little getting used to, but becomes very natural to use. If you’d like to practice on someone that won’t make fun of you, send me some encrypted feedback on today’s episode.

As always, remember that these powerful security tools and intended for the forces of good!

Tune in next week for more free tools!

Brian

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Apr 27 2009

The Best of 2003

Once again, the year in freeware!

Best on the Web: Safari

This year saw Apple return to the browser. Better than IE was a given, but Apple showed its attentiveness to user feedback in adding tabs to the beta. Responsiveness and features took the prize from last years winner, Chimera (now Camino).

Freeware Classic: OpenOffice.org

A free, stable alternative to Microsoft Office. It requires X11 support, but Apple’s on top of that. Sun orphaned Sun Office for classic Mac OS years ago, but thanks to the project and OS X’s X11 support, free office is back. OpenOffice.org is where OS X’s Unix core meets all that is right with the world of open source software.

System Extension: Unsanity’s Menu Extra Enabler

With Unsanity you’re never stuck missing features Apple thought you could do without. This app is no exception. While it made its debut in late 2002, I thought it deserved some props for its Panther compatibility.

Menu Item: ImageWell

This menu item is a lean, practical image editor. The ability to nab images from the clipboard, crop, annotate and frame them and then export a jpeg, upload to a server or .Mac account puts this head-and shoulders above many free graphics apps, let alone menu items.

Best Plug-in: httpmail plugin

Another open-source success story. This Mail.app plug-in takes one of Entourage’s last unique features: Hotmail support. From the early days of receive-only to today’s polished product, this plug-in has evolved into a must-have.

Best PC App: iTunes

Probably the most anticipated new program from Apple this year, built for the PC. This is the easy winner of our new PC category. Perfect feature parity and
a seamless cross-platform transition make iTunes for PC my pick.

Best New: JunkBroom

In another new category, I thought it fitting to honor this new free app. For Entourage users, this is about the smartest spam filter out there, and it’s free. The one thing I love more than free software – free software that takes a nuisance out of your life. Bravo, JunkBroom!

That’s it, the year’s best freeware. Stay tuned for another exciting year of the best in free with me,

Brian.

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Apr 27 2009

A Brief History of Free Software (Part 2)

Two weeks ago we took a look at the roots of free software. Taking another break from downloads (last one), we’ll look at friends and foes of Open Source.

Companies that Understand Free Software

Apple – We’ve already noted that OS X’s evolving core is Open Source. Along with Darwin, Apple has made contributions that include Rendezvous.

IBM – Big Blue’s engineers are proponents open standard projects like XML’s FOAF. The company uses and promotes Open Source software, and has been a legal champion of the GPL.

HP – HP has been flakey on Open Source (the company has firm ties to Microsoft) but at a recent Linux tradeshow unveiled a Linux laptop.

Novell – Freshly burned my Microsoft’s monopolistic power, Novell purchased SUSE Linux and funds the development of Ximian (makers of Evolution and Ximian Desktop). The company joins Red Hat as a for-profit distributor of Linux.

Companies that Don’t

Microsoft – Redmond’s anti-Open Source efforts are the stuff of legend to hard core GNU’s. What is reality is the companies strategy of suing Open Source out of business over patent infringement. Microsoft claims hundreds of these exist in Linux. Companies like IBM have established legal funds to protect Open Source programmers.

SCO – This former distributor of Linux claims to own code present in the Linux core and is after licensing fees from Linux users world-wide. The problem with their claim is that the code in question was released by them under the GPL, which the group seeks to discredit. (here’s the latest on the SCO case)

Making Money of Free software

Microsoft has a right to be scared, don’t they? How are they supposed to make money on free software? Well, this would require innovative business thought (rather than Redmond bully tactics). Millions if not billions are made with free software, and here’s how:

  • Distributions – Under the GPL the software must be free, but companies can charge for distribution on CD
  • Consulting – Open Source software is powerful, but can be quirky. Custom installations bring in big bucks from corporate customers
  • Support – OS software comes with no support. Many companies who sell Linux distrobutions offer support
  • Supplementory Documentation – Manuals and tutorials are another source of revenue for software companies

For companies that use Open Source, there are great advantages. The nature of Open Source invites innovation and feedback from thousands of programmers not on the company payroll. Many have attributed the lack of OS X’s viruses to its open core. Since the source is public, more programmers and developers are available to find and plug security holes.

Open Source software isn’t going away. It is changing the shape of the industry, so it is worth taking time to understand the implications. For the Freeloader, Open Source means unprecedented, legal access to software for everyone (Free as in Freedom). For software companies it means closing a side. Now that you know the players, so you can spend your money in sopport of companies that get Open Source.

That concludes my brief history of free software. I’ll be back next week with more great Mac freeware.

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