The creator of the C++ programming language brings us a new textbook in programming principles that could well become a classic tome.

What’s in a look? Before Apple started making immensely slick, sexy hardware, the main issues were always “specs”, “graphic cards”, “memory”. Then, the game changed. People started buying Apple computers because they looked good — inside and out. Their computers (and gadgets) are immensely appealing. Their operating system, OS X, is a pleasure to look at. When the iPhone was announced, I knew it was going to be the equivalent of Naomi Campbell in the cell phone world. And I was right.

Are iPhones just too sexy to compete against them?

Microsoft has recently announced that its beloved encyclopaedia, Microsoft Encarta, will soon be discontinued. After October 31, 2009 its contents will no longer be available. Both the online version and the CD ROM version will be discontinued.

My first reaction was “what a pity”. My job is to gather and publish good contents. I know how much work goes into creating and publishing material. This news must have been quite hard to digest for people who have been working on Encarta for a while. The two main questions that come to mind, however, are: “Why?”, and more importantly, “What about the contents?”

Ubuntu Server Edition, built on Debian GNU/Linux, has established itself as one of the most popular and well documented GNU/Linux server distributions. The Long Term Support (LTS) version of Ubuntu Server is provided with security updates for five years from the release date. This long term commitment ensures a stable base for deployment. Beginning Ubuntu LTS Server Administration From Novice to Professional aims to teach all you need to know to begin administering Ubuntu Server.

When the GNU/Linux revolution started reaching the masses, around 2000, I predicted that by 2010 there would be full vendor support for the free operating system. Well, it’s 2009, and I have to admit it — I am feeling nervous. This article will outline my odyssey, the causes that triggered it, and — for a change - a number of possible solutions.

Need to connect to a Windows server from a computer running GNU/Linux? pyNeighborhood gives you an easy and graphical way to do just that.

Introduction

Over the last several years, I’ve been trying to persuade my wife to make the jump to GNU/Linux. While I’ve been making a little headway (mainly due to the problems my wife has encountered with Windows and Windows applications), one area in which she’s stonewalled me is installing GNU/Linux on our home server — which runs Windows XP. Whenever I broach the subject…

I am a great fan of the Gutenberg project, a noteworthy and honorable effort to digitize copyright-free texts. This project has released into the public domain over 20,000 classic books.

This article will explain how to integrate this huge body of material with the Ubuntu desktop.

Everybody needs diagrams. Most users need to create one more often than they think: that flowchart for a presentation, that sketch of the bird feeder to build this weekend, or a time line. Getting more technical, there are always circuits and blueprints and the like. Stop wasting time with an office app, the GIMP, or a paint program: use Dia, an easy yet powerful made-for-diagrams editor.

Getting Dia

Choosing to release a piece of software under the terms of a free software license is an important step through which many programmers and writers first approach the free software community. However, the myriad of licenses available can sometimes confuse and disorient the user, sometimes making this first step much harder than it should be. Let’s try and make things clearer.

In the near future, the semantic web data will be precisely tagged and thus a whole lot easier to find. This will further spur the trend of the web and global society becoming tight networks that are increasingly interdependent and transparent. Do we have to sacrifice anonymity on the web in order to retain trust for collaboration? Or could we see a web emerge that functions as a kind of operating system with different users and permissions to run this global machine which we call the internet?

You have in your virtual hands the last issue of Free Software Magazine. But, this doesn’t mean that FSM is closing down — in fact, quite the opposite. However, things are changing.

Let me explain.

Once upon a time, in 2004, we started a new paper publication called “Free Software Magazine”. We printed three issues, before realising that printing costs would have killed the magazine — quickly. We still created “issues” (as a collection of articles) — we just stopped killing trees in the process.

The book “Using Moodle Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management”, by Jason Cole, Helen Foster, is a much needed reference book for Moodle.

Moodle is an open source Course Management System that allows you to organize and deliver information online in a structured and controlled format. Moodle also supports the creation of forums, chats, quizzes, assignments and the recording of grades.

The authors have the experience required to cover both the technology and the educational aspects of this unique tool. Jason Cole has been involved with universities moving to Moodle and has worked directly with teachers in the classrooms. He knows what works and what doesn’t. Helen Foster is the Moodle documentation steward and facilitates the “Using Moodle” course on Moodle.org. She has also spent time teaching in a classroom and has implemented Moodle in various schools.

SQL is the de facto method of accessing relational data within databases. Databases have been around for many years, and consequentially many many books have been written about them. However, SQL Hacks: Tips & Tools for Digging into Your Data by Andrew Cumming and Gordon Russell sets itself apart through format, easy-going style, and ability to cover lots of tips, tricks, and hacks with Structured Query Language. The O’Reilly Press Hacks Series book covers SQL for MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft Access. It covers 100 hacks which will definitely add to your SQL toolkit, and it will help give you ideas of how to solve related issues in writing queries.

Hello readers, and welcome once again to Free Software Magazine ‘s fortnightly newsletter, keeping you up to date with all things free software… AND the top 10 FSDaily announcements for this week! Enjoy!

Hello readers, and welcome once again to Free Software Magazine ‘s fortnightly newsletter, keeping you up to date with all things free software… AND the top 10 FSDaily announcements for this week! Enjoy!

General announcements

Top ten Free Software Daily stories this week

1.

Hello readers, and welcome once again to Free Software Magazine ‘s fortnightly newsletter, keeping you up to date with all things free software… AND the top 10 FSDaily announcements for this week! Enjoy!

General announcements

Top ten Free Software Daily stories this week

1. Quebec sued for ignoring Free Software —“MONTREAL, Aug.

Hello readers, and welcome once again to Free Software Magazine ‘s fortnightly newsletter, keeping you up to date with all things free software… AND the top 10 FSDaily announcements for this week! Enjoy!

General announcements

Top ten Free Software Daily stories this week

Hello readers, and welcome once again to Free Software Magazine ‘s fortnightly newsletter, keeping you up to date with all things free software… AND the top 10 FSDaily announcements for this week! Enjoy!

General announcements

Top ten Free Software Daily stories this week

1. The Bizarre Cathedral - 12 —Latest from the Bizarre Cathedral by Tony Mobily and Ryan Cartwright. Read more…

Are you still using a web browser to access your favourite online applications? Why not do things the easy way, and make those applications part of your desktop with Prism.

My first exposure to Unix was ULTRIX from the Digital Equipment Corporation, a former employer. ULTRIX was Digital’s version of the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD, Unix) that ran on VAX computers. FreeBSD, also descended from BSD, is a robust operating system for x86 and other architectures. What Bryan J. Hong attempts to do in Building a Server with FreeBSD 7 is to create a guide to installing FreeBSD, its applications and services—in short order and without fuss. Hong does this successfully and in great detail.