“Oil and the dollar were the real reasons for the attack on Iraq, with weapons of mass destruction as the public reason now exposed as woefully inadequate.” A disturbingly coherent explanation put forward by John Chapman.
www.guardian.co.uk
Eleven tips for moving to OpenOffice.org
“Replacing a complicated piece of software like an office suite can be a major undertaking. But, if you apply a few simple rules to make sure your needs are met, you’ll be ready to be productive on the new software right away.”
www.linuxjournal.com
10 truths about trade
“Is globalisation sending the best American jobs overseas? If you get your news from CNN’s Lou Dobbs, the answer is ‘of course’.” Brink Lindsey puts some commonly made assumptions about the US American economy to the test. Useful reading even if, like me, you do not live in North America.
www.reason.com
Slackware 10: first impressions
“Above all, I am impressed by Slackware’s stability, clean layout, easy customisation, and excellent package management system.” Michael Hall gives his opinion on Slackware.
www.osnews.com
A cloud over civilisation
“Wars are a major threat to civilised existence, and a corporate commitment to weapons procurement nurtures this threat.” Economist John Kenneth Galbraith argues that companies control the state.
www.guardian.co.uk
Compact cranks and gearing
“Human power output is a bit like a modern high performance engine, but with tiny amounts of power.” Simon Butterworth discusses the pros and cons of different types of cranks and gearing ratios.
www.slowtwitch.com
Microsoft’s sacred cash cow
“Recently, I’ve had a crisis of faith. Perhaps I’ve rebooted Windows one too many times.” Former Microsoft employee Jeff Reifman tells on why addiction to Windows revenue, mediocre products, and missed opportunities could spell doom for the software giant.
www.seattleweekly.com
Browser innovation, Gecko and the Mozilla Project
“The more people who use browsers based on open, standards-compliant technologies, the better the chances we will all enjoy viable choices in the way we conduct digital transactions.” Mitchell Baker puts Mozilla, Gecko, Safari and other emerging browser technologies into context.
www-archive.mozilla.org
Monitoring hard disks with SMART
“Many users and system administrators don’t know that SMART systems are built into most modern ATA and SCSI hard disks.” Bruce Allen explains how to use Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) to monitor the health of your hard disks and preempt catastrophic failures.
www.linuxjournal.com
Spam bots – and how to avoid them
“Once your email address is in the hands of spammers, regaining control of your inbox is a very, very difficult job indeed.” Nobody likes to receive spam, but what can you do to avoid it? Essential reading for anyone keen to ‘throw a spammer’ in the works.
www.bestprac.org