Digit Book

Open source,closed minds

The RSS Feed

1

Digit | August 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com

Robert Sovereign-Smith, Editor

A

s you’ve probably figured out,we’re celebrating open source thismonth, and no, we’re not talking(just) about software. You’veknown us encourage the use of open source in the past, but thistime we wanted to highlight all the other aspectsof the open source philosophy. It’s not just about software, or Linux distros, but more about away of life. Open source has extended to cars,gadgets, hardware, cooking, music, movies andmuch more. Although we’re covering all of theabove in this issue, to help you understand howbasically anything you can think of can be “opensource” and community driven, including ourown

Digit Open Source Project

(details on page38), there’s still some confusion about how open,open source really is. What started in 1985 as a paper titled theGNU Manifesto, by Richard Stallman, has grownexponentially, under the GNU license and theFree Software Foundation, into the biggest community initiative of all time. Now Stallmanis (in)famous for being absolutely against allsoftware with closed source, including freeware.His view has always been that unless the source isshared, software just isn’t truly free.In very public arguments, Stallman hasbeen criticised by other “evangelists” for beingtoo rigid with his thoughts. To be honest, I’minclined to agree with these criticisms. There’s nodoubting the accomplishments of Stallman, andwe probably wouldn’t have open source of anykind if it wasn’t for radical thinkers like him, but with the rate the world and its requirements arechanging, can we continue to stick to ideals likean ancient religion’s diktats? This is why I hatethe term “evangelist” — it’s basically a word usedto describe someone who tries to convert you totheir “religion”.Over the years, I’ve avidly read views fromboth sides, as both have argued over thedefinition of common everyday words such as“free”, “freedom” and drawn distinctions between“free as in beer” and “free as in speech”. However,all this makes absolutely no difference to youand I, the everyday computer users. A lot of ususe IrfanView, but it isn’t free for commercialuse, or open source, so should you stop usingit? Of course not — use what ever you feel like,and pay for things if you feel they will help youget your work done. That’s because, unlike theevangelists, we live in the real world, where wenever get free beer, and rarely speak our minds —either for fear of insulting someone’s sentiments,or getting beaten up.Free software is good, and open sourcesoftware even better, but some of thepontifications of the evangelists are just plain silly.Somewhere along the way, everyone’s forgottenthat in 1985, the computing world was madeup of mostly developers and other computingspecialists, and it is just the opposite today. If we’re ever going to get the open source andcollaborative philosophy to spread, and applyit to all the other facets of our lives that aren’t displayed on a monitor, we should first be allowedto think openly. Instead of bickering about whether a particular Creative Commons licence istruly open or not, or trying to classify an authorbased on the way he wants to share his works,why can’t we just applaud the desire to share?Isn’t some sharing better than none at all? As open source moves away from software, the“rules” seem less realistic. It’s why the CreativeCommons licences make more sense. Besides, assome people have put it, shouldn’t the proponentsof “free as in speech” allow those who choose tokeep their source closed to co-exist with opensource? The Indian pharmaceutical industryseems to be the only ones to have it right — thelaws were altered to distinguish between methodsand end results. Basically, if X cures a certaindisease, you can patent the way in which X isdelivered to the body, or the way in which youmanufacture X, but you cannot patent X itself.The government did this to make medicines moreaccessible to everyone, and save lives.Personally, as a long time admirer of Stallman,I think he’s created something that’s outgrowneverything else, including himself, and is now toobig to control, much like the internet. Like the net,free and open source needs to be freed of shacklesand allowed to ascend — with good, bad, andsometimes ugly results, if need be. Let’s rememberthat the basic principle behind open source, theFSF and GNU are pretty much all the same — let’sall work together and make life a lot easier forourselves and everyone around us.

I hate the term“evangelist” — it’sbasically a word usedto describe someonewho tries to convertyou to their “religion”

editor@thinkdigit.com

Printed and Published by

Kanak Ghosh,

for Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. Ltd. C/o KPT House, Plot41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station), Navi Mumbai 400 703Editor:

Sujay Nair,

C/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30, Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station),Navi Mumbai 400 703Printed at Printed at Silverpoint Press Pvt. Ltd, Plot No. A, 403, MIDC, TTC Industrial Area,Mahape, Navi Mumbai 400709

To advertise

South

Sanjay Bhan

Email: sanjay.bhan@9dot9.inMobile: +91-93418 29285Phone: +91-80-2554 6370/73Fax: +91-80-4151 8330Phone: +91-44-2823 5186/88Fax: +91-44-2823 0731Phone: +91-40-2789 4167+91-40-5522 1051Fax: +91-40-2772 0205

West

Ganesh Lakshmanan

Email: ganesh.lakshmanan@9dot9.inMobile: +91-98196 18498Phone: +91-22-2437 2214/19Fax: +91-22-2448 2059/1123

East

Jayanta Bhattacharyya

Email: jayanta.bhattacharyya@9dot9.inPhone: +91-93318 29284+91-33-2231 7344/46

North

Pranav Saran

Email: pranav.saran@9dot9.inPhone: +91-93126 85289,+91-11-4160 8655/56/57/58

International

Navin Chand Singh

Email: nc.singh@9dot9.inMobile: +91-99013 00772

August 2009 • Volume 9 • Issue 8

Tell us what you feel about Digit

Each month,

Digit

walks through the technology maze to bring you the most relevant, and the most researchedstories. If you have an opinion about anything publishedin

Digit

, or about technology in general, please write to

editor@thinkdigit.com

Product testing

Want your product reviewed by

Digit

?Contact our Test Center at

testcenter@thinkdigit.com

Software on DVD

To submit and suggest software forinclusion in

Digit

DVDs, write to

cdcontent@thinkdigit.com

Help!

For subscription or copy-related issues,send an e-mail to

help@thinkdigit.com

Endorsements / reprints

Interested in ordering article reprints,or using our logos? Contact

reprint@thinkdigit.com

Business enquiries

For any business-related enquiries, contact

business@thinkdigit.com

News and new product launches

To announce new product launches, and press releases,email us at

pressrelease@thinkdigit.com

Disclaimer:

For every

Digit

contest, there will be only one winner, unlessspecified otherwise. In the event of a dispute, the Editor’s decision shall be final.

Flash drive and memorycard test......................63

AVG Internet Security 8.5Apacer AH522 8GBApacer SD 2GBCorsair Flash Voyager 8GBKingston CF 2GB FEKingston Data Traveler 15032GBKingston Data Traveler HyperX8 GBKingston Data Traveler VaultPrivacy 8GBKingston Elite Pro 113X 32GBKingston SDHC 32GBKingston SDHC 4GBKingston Ultimate 266X 4GBKingston Ultimate 266X 8GBOCZ USB ATV 32GBSanDisk 16GB Memory StickPro DuoSanDisk 8GB Memory StickPro DuoSanDisk Extreme 3 30MBpsEdition 8GBSanDisk Extreme 3 CompactFlash 16GBSanDisk Extreme 3 CompactFlash 32GBSanDisk Extreme 4 CompactFlash 16GBSanDisk Micro SDHC 16GBSanDisk Micro SDHC 8GBSanDisk Ultra Backup 16GBSanDisk Ultra Cruzer Titanium8GBTranscend JetFlash JF V3016GBVerbatim CF 4GBVerbatim Micro SD 2GBVerbatim SD 1GB

Graphics card test.........70

AMD ATI Radeon HD4350AMD ATI HD4550AMD ATI HD4770ASUS EAH 4550ASUS EAH4650ASUS EAH4670ASUS EN8400GS SILENTASUS EN9400GTGalaxy GeForce 9500GTGalaxy GeForce 9500GTGalaxy GeForce 8400GSGalaxy GeForce 9400GTGalaxy GeForce 9800GTGigabyte HD4650Gigabyte HD4770MSI GeForce 9500GTMSI HD4650MSI HD4670MSI N9400GTMSI NX8600GTPalit GeForce 9400GT Super+1GBPalit Geforce 9500GT ZoneEditionPalit GeForce 9600GTPalit GeForce 9800GTPalit GTS 250PowerColor HD 4650PowerColor HD 4350PowerColor HD 4670PowerColor HD 4850Sparkle GeForce 8400GSSparkle GeForce 9400gtSparkle GeForce 9500GTTAG GeForce 8400GSXFX GeForce 8400GSXFX GeForce 9500GTXFX GeForce 9600GSOXFX GeForce 9600GTXFX HD 4350XFX Radeon HD 4650XFX Radeon HD 4830Zotac GeForce 9600GT ECOZotac GeForce 8400GSZotac GeForce 9400GTZotac GeForce 9400GT ZoneEditionZotac GeForce 9500GTZotac GeForce 9500GT zoneZotac GeForce 9800GT ECO

LCD test.............52

Acer P205HAOC 2036SAAOC 2230FmAOC 2236VwAOC 2434PwAOC 831SAOC F19AOC F22AOC V22ASUS VK222HASUS VK266HDell E228WFPDell ST2010HP LE2201wIntex 2202TVPIntex 2203WIntex IT-2002WLG M237WANEC 1990SXNEC AccuSync 24WMCXNEC MultiSync 1990FXpNEC MultiSync 2190UXpNEC MultiSync 2490WUXi^2NEC MultiSync 2690WUXiSamsung SyncMaster 2233RZSamsung SyncMaster D190SSamsung SyncMaster P2250ViewSonic VA1928WMViewSonic VX2233WM

Bazaar...........................80

Apacer AB611ASUS Xonar Essence STXEpson Stylus Photo TX700WHP Photosmart C8188MSI GX400Mybox HD NV300Nokia N97Panache T3300Razer CarchariasRazer MambaSony Ericsson C510Sony MDR NC7/WMWD My Book Studio EditionII 4TBZOTAC Ion ITX A Series

Products reviewed this month

Managing Director

Dr Pramath Raj Sinha

Printer and Publisher

Kanak Ghosh

Publishing Director

Asheesh GuptaEditorial

Editor-in-chief

Edward Henning

Editor

Robert Sovereign-Smith

Editor-at-large and Online Architect

Ahmed Shaikh

Head - Copy Desk

Nash David

Writers

Aditya Madanapalle,Siddharth Parwatay,Kshitij SobtiTest Centre

Manager - Test Development andSourcing

Michael Browne

Manager - Testing and Processes

Rossi Fernandes

Reviewer

Kumar JhuremalaniDesign

Creative Head

Kabir Malkani

Art Director

Rohit A Chandwaskar

Lead Designer

Vijay Padaya

Senior Designer

MV Sajeev

Illustrators

Shrikrishna Patkar,Ashwini Baviskar

Sr. Photographer

Jiten GandhiMultimedia

Project Head

Robert Sovereign-Smith

Content Head

Aditya MadanapalleSales and Marketing

VP Sales and Marketing

Naveen Chand Singh

Product Manager

Navneet Miglani

Assistant Brand Manager

Arpita Ganguli

Marketing Communication

Thomas Varghese

Co-ordinator, Scheduling,MIS and Ad-sales

Aatish MohiteProduction and Logistics

Senior GM - Operations

Shivshankar Hiremath

Production Executive

Vilas Mhatre

Logistics

M P Singh, Mohd. Ansari,Shashi Shekhar SinghCirculation and Subscription — Sales

GM Circulation

Milind Prabhughate

Co-ordinator

Vijay Mhatre

Customer Service

Prerana Panchal,Vrushali Londhe, Pushpa Mahar,Shabana ShariffCustomer Service:+91-22-4078 9612/13/14Head Office: Editorial, Marketingand Customer Service

Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt. LtdC/o KPT House, Plot 41/13, Sector 30,Vashi (Near Sanpada Railway Station),Navi Mumbai 400 703Phone: +91-22-4078 9666Fax: +91-22-4078 9540, +91-22-4078 9640Cover Design

Kabir Malkani

Cover Photograph

Jiten Gandhi

Client Page No

3Com 21Abacus 115Chip Tech 27Cooler Master 127Dell 9Ebay 42,43Fortune 117Kg Hosting 119,125Lg 20,73Microsoft 19,111Milestone 11Plustek 51Rashi 3Samsung Back CoverSeagate Inside Front CoverSeaSonic 49SpiceJet Inside Back CoverTopgun 55Transcend 29

Advertisers' index

2

Digit | August 2009 | www.thinkdigit.com