Posts

Posted on

Public Domain vs Open Source License, which to choose ?

*Note that I’m not a legal expert or an attorney, this is just based on my personal experience and internet search*

There are people who asked me about why bother to release a piece of software or code under Open Source License instead of putting it in Public Domain.

First of all it is a matter of personal choice if write the code or the said work on your own, . But if you release your work under open license (open source or creative commons), you can still retains the copyright (ownership) of the materials that you’ve released. Technically, people who used your work has to adhere to the copyright license terms of your choosing, including freeing you from liabilities if the software is broken or causes harm. Licensing your work will acknowledge you as the owner and those who used your application, and you retain legal rights for your work.

On the other hand — once you have put your work on Public Domain, you will lose your rights on the work, as the work would have no copyright-owner and isn’t protected by copyright law. So people are free to use the materials without any restrictions at all, including to incorporate the material into their work and make it proprietary and subsequently copyrighted it without legal repercussion. You will lose the legal right on your work.

Public domain isn’t a license, it is merely a statement that the software was given to the public and to make things more complicated, some countries disallow public domain material, meaning that the writer will not be protected by the copyright law if the software causes harm to others (the ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY and LIMITED WARRANTY, or AS IS clause).

Remember: Public Domain is not recognized internationally and is not stipulated under Berne Convention and in some countries, the author can’t disclaim moral rights.

Therefore, it is more wise to release the the software under a permissive license (copyright), rather than releasing it under public domain right away.

References
1. Creative Commons vs Public Domain
2. Is Public Domain software Open-Source ?
3. Why the Public Domain isn’t a License?
4. Why public domain release is a bad idea

Posted on

Does anyone here still uses Java Applets?

When I was studying in the university (more than 10 years ago), I learn how to build and embed Java Applets on web pages using Java 1.0 (after that Java 1.2), the functionality is quite limited since there’s no default 3D support in Java yet. Compared to Flash (then Flash 3.0 during that time), Java Applet is more suitable for math and scientific application, generating graphs and kaleidoscope base on mathematical formula, and everything.

duke java logo

Heck, Netscape Navigator still rules the day during that time. But what about now? With the technology explosion, does anyone here still use Java Applets?

Posted on

PPSPPA (Sisa Pepejal) goverment agency uses Ubuntu in its office branches

PPSPPA or Perbandanan Pengurusan Sisa Pepejal dan Pembersihan Awam is a government agency in Malaysia that uses Ubuntu in its offices. PPSPPA has branches in every state in the Peninsular, including the HQ and training center in Putrajaya, all of it runs Ubuntu 10.04 LTS operating system.

PPSPPA Logo Sisa Pepejal

As such, PPSPPA only uses hardware which runs in Ubuntu, including printers, scanners and drawing tablets. Which is a good sign for vendors to start releasing their hardware drivers for open source operating systems.

Hopefully other government agency would follow suit and use free and open source operating system instead the one that requires millions RM of site license. It is not the license that concerns us, but it is the grip of monopoly of a single corporation has over governments and economy that is most concerning.

Posted on

I’m Getting The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation Book by Jono Bacon

Art of Community

I’m getting “The Art of Community: Building the New Age of Participation“, a book written by Jono Bacon, Ubuntu Community Manager (UCM).

In this book, Jono offers a collection of experiences and observations from his involvement in building and managing communities, including his current position as Ubuntu Community Manager, arguably the largest community in open source software.

The content of the book, will help you to:

  • Develop a strategy, with specific objectives and goals, for building your community
  • Build simple, non-bureaucratic processes to help your community perform tasks, work together, and share successes
  • Provide tools and infrastructure that let contributors work quickly
  • Create buzz around your community to get more people involved
  • Track the community’s work so it can be optimized and simplified
  • Explore a capable, representative governance strategy for your community
  • Identify and manage conflict, including dealing with divisive personalities

This book is useful to those who are in a position that manages and responsible towards online communities, including day-to-day management, governance, managing conflics and how to promotes the community effectively.

An online preview is this book is available from Amazon Bookstore
“, a book written by Jono Bacon, Ubuntu Community Manager (UCM). website.

Posted on

Where all the Blog XML RPC ping sites have gone…?

I found out something interesting when I’ve gone through my WordPress setting, it seems that the once famous XML-RPC ping sites are either out-of-service or have been taken down.

The one standing up until today is Ping-o-Matic and venerable Weblogs (the first blog XML-RPC ping service).

I once tried to run one of such services to in order to study spam blogs behavior, but it ends up eating too much server resources with too much noise coming from all the submission, I ended the experiment just over one-year.

Probably this is what happening around the world, ping sites gotten shut-down because of being overwhelmed. The remaining option of promoting blog posts is through social status updating site such as Facebook, Twitter and Buzz (also identi.ca!).