There was no control group to check how significant that number (13 out of 30) was[1]. This article is very misleading (but at least mentions that the study was not peer reviewed).
What about a thriving Free Software ecosystem where the code can be audited and modified, and where the best apps (i.e. the ones that follow what users generally accept to be a standard of "respect" to your machine and its user, as well as doing their job) bubble up to the top?
Using various Ubuntu-based distros and Free Software apps over the last 8 years, I have never felt like any program was overstepping the boundaries.
You are using a version that has reached its end of life months ago. If you are looking for stability, you should stick to LTS versions. 16.04 should be reliable enough by now, and you can stick to it for years.
The 2010 version you speak of should be 10.04. Or do you mean 14.04, which was released in 2014?
Soooo this article challenges the original article's validity with stuff like:
> There are far more male users on GitHub then one could argue that men are in fact far better at coding because far more are actually doing it and many women are missing in action. Perhaps the small number of women who get involved are marginally better on average, but they would still be vastly outnumbered by men who are equally or more capable
How is this more valid? They complain that the study is not scientifically peer-reviewed (which is fair enough, I don't challenge that) and then come up with this dodgy analysis? Gee they sound stupid.
Fascinating how the dude says he has no way to validate the science because he's not versed enough, and goes on to explain why climate models are not credible because of their complexity.
...?
Shame the author promotes the use of Spotify so much, for two reasons:
- the ridiculous amount of money going to artists (i.e. the ones who do want money for their music), although you could argue that you would generate revenue for every play the song gets, rather than a one-off amount when buying it (although, pretty sure it still doesn't compare);
- having Spotify means everyone will ask you to play your favourite song, and you'll have less of an excuse not to, which is a massive PITA.
Contrary to what the article says, Mixxx is cross-platform (GNU/Linux, Mac, Windows). I really recommend that amazing piece of Free Software. It is the only DJing software I use.
I recommend trying jitsi (meet.jit.si) for conferences with features.
Ring is a new one, that looks very promising for secure multiplatform p2p one-on-one communication. (ring.cx)
On my phone, I use CsipSimple with my trusty VOIP provider Diamondcard.us.
I find this post makes a lot of sense in how it explains why it always felt natural to define the projects I get involved in as "projects": they are meant to always evolve, more living entities than frozen products. I feel this applies to other online communities too, like open databases: Wikimedia projects, OpenStreetMap, MusicBrainz... each of them more or less tightly linked to software development anyway. It is relevant to the difficulty of explaining what a project is to newcomers, and the issue with trying to put two different things at the same level. Take Google Maps and OpenStreetMap (as opposed to "Google Maps VS OpenStreetMap"): because of their nature, they are two different things that can be compared but should not be seen as two competing "products". Promoting OSM as "an alternative to GM" is definitely not the way to go – in fact, it is quite a detrimental one.