Posts published in “Humor”

I No Longer Hate Microsoft

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on October 26, 2017 |

microsoft windows blue screen of death bsod

Why should you let Microsoft ruin an otherwise perfect day?

Roblimo’s Hideaway

When I was younger, I got together with friends now and then for an evening of drinking beer and discussing the perfidy of Microsoft and just how bad Windows was technically, especially considering the endless amount of R&D money poured into it.

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

Robin “Roblimo” Miller is a freelance writer and former editor-in-chief at Open Source Technology Group, the company that owned SourceForge, freshmeat, Linux.com, NewsForge, ThinkGeek and Slashdot, and until recently served as a video editor at Slashdot. Now he’s mostly retired, but still works part-time as an editorial consultant for Grid Dynamics, and (obviously) writes for FOSS Force.

SUSE Vs Funny People Wearing Red Hats

By Christine Hall on August 29, 2017 |

Business, Humor and Video

Watching this video from SUSE, you might be excused for thinking you’re watching a trailer for a new Netflix original which looks suspiciously like “Game of Thrones.” To paraphrase an old Dodge commercial: “You can tell they’re bad guys because they all wear Red Hats.”

SUSE SUSE

Okay, it’s a funny little five minute parody of House of Thrones. But it looks to me as if SUSE has thrown down the gauntlet and is challenging Red Hat…or a bunch of medieval guys wearing red hats…to who knows what. Are the gals and guys in Germany growing a little tired of being the perennial second fiddle — or now third fiddle now that Ubuntu is in server rooms everywhere, especially in Amazon’s cloud.

Christine Hall

Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux

FOSSForce.com

Finding an Ergonomic Computer Chair an Ubuntu User Can Afford

Finding an Ergonomic Computer Chair an Ubuntu User Can Afford

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on August 3, 2017 |

Humor

Are you looking for a chair that’s guaranteed to work with any and all Linux distros and at a price you can afford? Ask Roblimo, he’ll steer you in the right direction.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

I loved seeing an article by our friend Bruce Byfield about buying an ergonomic office chair. Bruce is a smart guy, a Linux user to the max, and author of the excellent book, Designing with LibreOffice. But what’s all this about choosing a Herman Miller chair? Those things are priced for SuperMac UltraPro users!

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

The Many Loves of Richard M. Stallman

The Many Loves of Richard M. Stallman

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on July 13, 2017 |

Community and Humor

Here’s a blast from the past. A tale about RMS from back in the days when Roblimo was young — younger than he is now at least — and Stallman was…well, Stallman.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

This is a true story about something that happened at a Department of Commerce treaty hearing in Washington D.C., the kind of event that gets (nearly) zero press even though it’s important. In fact, I was the only reporter there, covering it for Linux.com because some of the proposed treaty language had to do with software patents and licensing — and also because two people I knew were testifying, namely Jamie Love and Richard M. Stallman.

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

An Ode to the Coming of the 4K Board

An Ode to the Coming of the 4K Board

By Phil Shapiro on July 4, 2017 |

Hardware, Humor and Video

Our irrepressible Phil Shapiro thought you might like to hear something on the Fourth that isn’t a national anthem or the 1812 Overture. And who knew he could sing or play an instrument? We’re considering renaming his column, The Penguinista Minstrel.

The Screening Room

Every jump in computer resolution technology brings with it a cornucopia of new creative and business opportunities. When I noticed recently that an affordable 4K hobby computer board was being launched on Kickstarter, I felt moved to compose this song — Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the 4K Board.

Phil Shapiro

For the past 10 years, Phil has been working at a public library in the Washington D.C.-area, helping youth and adults use the 28 public Linux stations the library offers seven days a week. He also writes for MAKE magazine, Opensource.com and TechSoup Libraries. Suggest videos by contacting Phil on Twitter or at pshapiro@his.com.

Heed the Prophet Stallman, oh Software Sinners!

Heed the Prophet Stallman, oh Software Sinners!

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on May 11, 2017 |

Humor and Opinion

We’re reasonably certain this wasn’t written by the hand of any god. Then again, we haven’t personally met any gods, so how would we know? All we know for sure is that as some good book almost said, “The truth shall make you chuckle.”

Roblimo’s Hideaway

“REPENT!”

It’s easy to imagine Richard M. Stallman yelling “Repent, ye software sinners!” as he stands on a mountaintop, wearing flowing robes and raising a hand-carved wooden staff toward the sky — with lightning and thunderheads swirling around him, of course. Meanwhile, the Israelites — I mean computer users — cower in the valley below, worried that The Lord shall smite them for the sin of using proprietary software.

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

It’s Windows Time in Linux Land Again

It’s Windows Time in Linux Land Again

By Christine Hall on April 17, 2017 |

Humor and Operating Systems

Using Windows. What a horrible thing to ask a Linux user to do.

Every year at this time I have to scramble to boot into a Windows partition to do my taxes. I could do them online, safe and secure in my Linux comfort zone, but I do taxes for three people and all the online services want to charge extra for each and every return. If I download and install the software onto my own machine, there’s no extra charge. Trouble is, none of the big three tax programs supports Linux. Tax Act, the cheapo bottom of the barrel one that I use, doesn’t even support Mac.This means that every April I get a reminder of what a pain Windows can be.

Christine Hall

FOSSForce.com

Dealing With Real-Life, Everyday Security Threats

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on April 13, 2017 |

Humor and Security

No one has ever been shot by a hacker who was breaking into their computer through the Internet. Not so for thieves coming in through the back door.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

I wrote a piece titled No, Evil Hackers Aren’t After You, and promptly had 17 zillion readers (by actual count) get mad at me for not taking their security concerns seriously. I still think the idea of a giant robot eyeball on a flexible stalk growing out of your microwave oven is still a little silly, and I believe there are many simple, down-to-Earth security problems to worry about before you try to spot rogue CIA agents watching your house from a grassy knoll in Dallas.

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

Poverty Helps You Keep Technology Safe and Easy

Poverty Helps You Keep Technology Safe and Easy

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on February 9, 2017 |

Humor, Internet and Security

In the technology age, there might be some before unknown advantages to living on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. The question is, do they outweigh the disadvantages.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Earlier this week I saw a ZDNet story titled Vizio: The spy in your TV by my friend Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. Scary stuff. I had a vision of my wife and me and a few dozen of our closest friends having a secret orgy in our living room, except our smart TV’s unblinking eye was recording our every thrust and parry (you might say). Zut alors! In this day of Internet everywhere, we all know that what goes online, stays online. Suddenly our orgy wasn’t secret, and my hopes of becoming the next President were dashed.

Except… lucky me! I’m poor, so I have an oldie-but-goodie dumb TV that doesn’t have a camera. There’s no way my old Vizio can spy on us. As Mel Brooks didn’t quite say, “It’s good to be the poverty case.”

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

‘Open Source’ Is Now a Word?

‘Open Source’ Is Now a Word?

By Christine Hall on February 8, 2017 |

Humor and News

So far there’s been no news on Microsoft’s reaction to “open source” being officially recognized by the arbiters of the English language.

“Open source” is now officially a word according to Merriam-Webster, according to my good friends at Ars Technica. Actually, I don’t know anybody at Ars Technica, but whenever you’re stealing news from another news source, you’re traditionally allowed to refer to everyone who works there as “my good friends.” The theory is that if they think you’re a friend of theirs, they won’t sue you.

Christine Hall

FOSSForce.com

The Many, the Humble, the Ubuntu Users

The Many, the Humble, the Ubuntu Users

By Robin "Roblimo" Miller on January 19, 2017 |

Distros and Humor

The proverbial “better mousetrap” isn’t one that takes a certified biologist to use. Like Ubuntu, it just needs to do its job extremely well and with little fuss.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

I have never been much of a leading-edge computing person. In fact, I first got mildly famous online writing a weekly column titled “This Old PC” for Time/Life about making do with used gear — often by installing Linux on it — and after that an essentially identical column for Andover.net titled “Cheap Computing,” which was also about saving money in a world where most online computing columns seemed to be about getting you to spend until you had no money left to spend on food.

Robin "Roblimo" Miller

State of Open Con 23

SUSE NeuVector Container Security Rodeo

SCALE (Southern California Linux Expo)

LibrePlanet 2023

Open Source 101 2023

Posts published in “Humor”

I No Longer Hate Microsoft

Why should you let Microsoft ruin an otherwise perfect day?

Roblimo’s Hideaway

SUSE Vs Funny People Wearing Red Hats

Watching this video from SUSE, you might be excused for thinking you’re watching a trailer for a new Netflix original which looks suspiciously like “Game of Thrones.” To paraphrase an old Dodge commercial: “You can tell they’re bad guys because they all wear Red Hats.”

Finding an Ergonomic Computer Chair an Ubuntu User Can Afford

Are you looking for a chair that’s guaranteed to work with any and all Linux distros and at a price you can afford? Ask Roblimo, he’ll steer you in the right direction.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

The Many Loves of Richard M. Stallman

Here’s a blast from the past. A tale about RMS from back in the days when Roblimo was young — younger than he is now at least — and Stallman was…well, Stallman.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

An Ode to the Coming of the 4K Board

Our irrepressible Phil Shapiro thought you might like to hear something on the Fourth that isn’t a national anthem or the 1812 Overture. And who knew he could sing or play an instrument? We’re considering renaming his column, The Penguinista Minstrel.

The Screening Room

Heed the Prophet Stallman, oh Software Sinners!

We’re reasonably certain this wasn’t written by the hand of any god. Then again, we haven’t personally met any gods, so how would we know? All we know for sure is that as some good book almost said, “The truth shall make you chuckle.”

Roblimo’s Hideaway

It’s Windows Time in Linux Land Again

Using Windows. What a horrible thing to ask a Linux user to do.

Dealing With Real-Life, Everyday Security Threats

No one has ever been shot by a hacker who was breaking into their computer through the Internet. Not so for thieves coming in through the back door.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

Poverty Helps You Keep Technology Safe and Easy

In the technology age, there might be some before unknown advantages to living on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. The question is, do they outweigh the disadvantages.

Roblimo’s Hideaway

‘Open Source’ Is Now a Word?

So far there’s been no news on Microsoft’s reaction to “open source” being officially recognized by the arbiters of the English language.

The Many, the Humble, the Ubuntu Users

The proverbial “better mousetrap” isn’t one that takes a certified biologist to use. Like Ubuntu, it just needs to do its job extremely well and with little fuss.

Roblimo’s Hideaway