2011-11-24

Mobile Vikings

Today is my 42nd day as a Mobile Viking. Call, sms and internet work perfectly and it is at least 50 percent cheaper than Belgacom Proximus! (No this is not an ad, I'm just happy for making a good decision.)

2011-11-17

Vrije software

Dinsdagavond gaf ik op cvo tsm een inleiding van een uurtje over vrije software. Het event is gefilmd en zal binnenkort online komen. De slides kan u hier(pdf) al bekijken.

Achteraf lag ik er wakker van omdat:
- mijn verhaal er absoluut niet uit kwam zoals ik wou
- ik vergeten te melden ben bij de vier vrijheden dat je eigen interne aanpassingen *niet* moet vrijgeven onder de gpl.
- hoewel mensen op de achterste rijen mij perfect konden verstaan, had ik voor een aantal personen toch beter de micro gebruikt (er was 81 man)

De balans is gelukkig nog positief omdat:
- meer dan 40 van de 49 evaluaties toch wel extreem goed waren (allemaal 8/9 of 9/9 voor de vragen over de spreker)
- er maar twee evaluaties waren die mij niet willen terugzien als spreker
- ach ik heb weer iets bijgeleerd over spreken voor groepen
- er is een basis gelegd voor een goeie talk over vrije software

2011-11-08

iSCSI mini howto

Some things in life, like iSCSI, are simple!
iSCSI is a protocol that allows you to have SCSI over IP.

The iSCSI Target

The host containing the physical hardware is called the iSCSI target and is easy to setup on Linux using iscsitarget.
aptitude install iscsitarget
aptitude install iscsitarget-dkms (Debian 6)

After enabling it in /etc/default/iscsitarget you can use files, hd devices, partitions, lvm volumes or software raid mdadm devices as 'physical hardware disks'
root@debby6:/etc/iet# cat ietd.conf
Target iqn.2010-02.be.linux-training:storage.lun1
IncomingUser isuser hunter2
OutgoingUser
Lun 0 Path=/iscsi/lun1.img,Type=fileio
Alias LUN1

Where /iscsi/lun1.img is a zeroed file created with
dd if=/dev/zero of=/iscsi/lun1.img count= bs=

Add the device to the allowed list:
root@debby6:/etc/iet# cat initiators.allow
iqn.2010-02.be.linux-training:storage.lun1

and start the server. You should see this:
root@debby6:/etc/iet# cat /proc/net/iet/session
tid:1 name:iqn.2010-02.be.linux-training:storage.lun1
The iSCSI Initiator

The host that connects to this target server is called the Initiator. Most Linux distros have this available as open-iscsi.
aptitude install open-iscsi

A discovery will show available devices on the target:
root@ubu1104:/etc/iscsi# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p debby6
192.168.1.31:3260,1 iqn.2010-02.be.linux-training:storage.lun2

Configuration with chap user and password takes a couple of commands:
root@ubu1104:/etc/iscsi# iscsiadm -m node --targetname "iqn.2010-02.be.linux-training:storage.lun1" --portal "debby6:3260" --op=update --name node.session.auth.authmethod --value=CHAP
root@ubu1104:/etc/iscsi# iscsiadm -m node --targetname "iqn.2010-02.be.linux-training:storage.lun1" --portal "debby6:3260" --op=update --name node.session.auth.username --value=isuser
root@ubu1104:/etc/iscsi# iscsiadm -m node --targetname "iqn.2010-02.be.linux-training:storage.lun1" --portal "debby6:3260" --op=update --name node.session.auth.password --value=hunter2

That's it! Now (re)start the open-iscsi service and use fdisk to see your iSCSI device.

2011-10-21

November 2011 : No radio, no music!

In the news today: Taxi drivers will now have to pay a daily fee to play radio (or even music on CD for which they already paid). The fee goes to SABAM (think MPAA).

Radio used to be free, to promote music so people would go and buy music. But more and more everyone has to pay because people (could be) listening: first only concerts and parties, then work environments like shops, then waiting rooms, truck drivers, and now taxi drivers. How long will it take until there is a tax on our ears ?! No, I'm not kidding(*), the MAFIA(sorry I meant SABAM) will get there!

Who do we pay ?! The 200 people working for SABAM ? Talk to any *real* artist and ask them how much they get from SABAM, because it is supposed to be all for the 'poor' artists. We already pay the rich and powerful for the music we buy, we pay a second time for the storage media where we keep the music (cd/usb/harddisk,...), so starting today we will pay three times when taking a taxi while listening to our own music. We could soon be paying a fourth time via our monthly internet connection payments. And I am probably forgetting a couple...

Why do people accept this ? What's the benefit of hauling money to SABAM for society ? What do we get in return ? It seems to me that this is a classical story of the rich getting richer... for doing absolutely nothing.

We should all refuse to buy any kind of music, turn off the radio and not play any audio for a whole month! Yes, make November 2011 the month of protest against the storm on SABAM taxes.


(*) It reminds of an old story. Put a frog in boiling water, and it will jump out immediately. Put a frog in cold water and slowly heat it up... the frog will stay put and die. Slow increments are easier to accept than sudden changes, but the end result is the same.

2011-06-26

Bluetooth and NXT setup

A reminder for myself on how to configure bluetooth for NXT devices.

Turn on all devices and activate bluetooth on the Linux, then:
$ hcitool scan
Scanning ...
00:16:53:08:XX:XX Julie
00:16:53:0B:XX:XX Mercedes

Then configure /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf like this:
$ cat /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf
rfcomm0 {
bind yes;
device 00:16:53:0B:XX:XX;
channel 1;
comment "Mercedes";
}

rfcomm1 {
bind yes;
device 00:16:53:08:XX:XX;
channel 1;
comment "Julie";
}

Then check the binding (as root):
# rfcomm release all && rfcomm bind all && rfcomm
rfcomm0: 00:16:53:0B:XX:XX channel 1 clean
rfcomm1: 00:16:53:08:XX:XX channel 2 clean

Then create an nxt.dat file in ~ :
$ cat /home/paul/nxt.dat
BTH::JULIE=BTH::JULIE::00:16:53:08:XX:XX::5
BTH::MERCEDES=BTH::MERCEDES::00:16:53:0B:XX:XX::5

Then compile and download to the NXT:
nbc foo.nbc -O=bar.rxe
nbc -b -d -S=BTH::Julie bar.rxe

2011-06-17

post-ubuntu install

Packages installed after default ubuntu install (personal bookmark).
root@mac:~# history | grep 'aptitude install'
11 aptitude install nvidia-settings nvidia-bl-dkms \
pommed vim nfs-common wicd
45 aptitude install azureus wesnoth chromium-browser
104 aptitude install virtualbox-4.0
139 aptitude install wireshark wireshark-gnome
152 aptitude install gimp
173 aptitude install openssh-server
180 aptitude install pdfedit
201 aptitude install ttf-bitstream-vera
206 aptitude install unrar
219 aptitude install imagemagick
220 history | grep 'aptitude install'

2011-06-07

World ipv6 day!

8th of June is tomorrow already!
My humble contribution is to teach networking students tonight about ipv6. It will be mostly theory since the school doesn't support ipv6 on the network. Luckily I have some screenshots and wireshark sniffs from this morning of a working ipv6 connection to the internet.

One of the ipv6 test websites.


A tcp handshake and http connection over ipv6 (using 6to4).


And a PTR record in ip6.net with 32 child domains (okay you don't need ipv6 for this, but it is related).

2011-04-23

another Microsoft virus...

Selecting an image on Google Image Search regularly minimizes the browser and pops up this annoying dialog.


Running Linux you know this is fake, but it is still annoying because (besides the minimizing of your browser) also opens a tab that refuses the back-button, and you don't get to see the actual image.


The first time this is funny (there is no C: drive nor a "My Documents" directory on "My computer").

Searching Google Images for something simple as "Axis Allies board 1984" and clicking on an image is enough to provoke it.

If you want to see the fun on Linux, use this link. Use at your own risk ;-)

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i.ehow.co.uk/images/a05/74/g6/axis-allies-board-game-rules-800X800.jpg&imgrefurl=http://madpeasant.com/cultivo-hasboro-axis-and-allies-board-game-download/&usg=__33uvjrDPcS0KU-Ifngk1w1ooYKI=&h=292&w=500&sz=146&hl=en&start=5&sig2=Uzaxsm4iXRrpvVidDNdnMw&zoom=1&tbnid=yFktGyapNI72ZM:&tbnh=76&tbnw=130&ei=MKeyTfGWCIaCOrHZ5IcJ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Daxis%2Ballies%2Bboard%2B1984%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dubuntu%26hs%3DpRv%26sa%3DX%26channel%3Dfs%26biw%3D1912%26bih%3D1055%26tbas%3D0%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1

(the url might not work since I reported it )

Click OK on this last dialog to close the tab.

2011-04-16

loadays talk

Some people convinced me to do a talk^Wtutorial tomorrow at loadays. It will be about bash!

Maybe I will use some slides from this downloadable pdf (50KB).

Content will come from the linux-training.be project (but that website stalled since February due to a redesign of our build-system). People that go to loadays can download the newest (1MB) pdf here.

LOAD, the Linux system administrator days

2011-03-29

clear zfs properties

Default zfs properties can be read with zfs get.
root@sol11aa ~# zfs get -r quota rpool/mita
NAME PROPERTY VALUE SOURCE
rpool/mita quota none default
rpool/mita/jenna quota none default
rpool/mita/josep quota none default

These properties can be changed with zfs set.
root@sol11aa ~# zfs set quota=2gb rpool/mita/jenna
root@sol11aa ~# zfs get -r quota rpool/mita
NAME PROPERTY VALUE SOURCE
rpool/mita quota none default
rpool/mita/jenna quota 2G local
rpool/mita/josep quota none default

And they can be cleared by setting the property to none, but the source is now set to local instead of default.
root@sol11aa ~# zfs set quota=none rpool/mita/jenna
root@sol11aa ~# zfs get -r quota rpool/mita
NAME PROPERTY VALUE SOURCE
rpool/mita quota none default
rpool/mita/jenna quota none local
rpool/mita/josep quota none default

This local can be restored to default using zfs inherit.
root@sol11aa ~# zfs inherit -Sr quota rpool/mita/jenna
root@sol11aa ~# zfs get -r quota rpool/mita
NAME PROPERTY VALUE SOURCE
rpool/mita quota none default
rpool/mita/jenna quota none default
rpool/mita/josep quota none default

2011-03-23

nine provinces in Flanders ?

Radio 1 this morning discussed a proposal to split Flanders into nine provinces. Disregarding the fact that I oppose the eight layered governance of a random street(*) in my city, I would like to redraw the current map of Flanders.



One of the main issues that prevents this country from having a government resolves around (imho ridiculous) language problems in and around Brussels (the brown area). Brussels is surrounded by (officially) Dutch speaking communities, but is itself mainly French-speaking.
Bad governance between 1970 and 2010 resulted in discrepancies (for instance: French-speaking people in Dutch-speaking territory BHV can vote for French-speaking politicians, but Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the French-speaking part of Belgium cannot vote for Dutch-speaking politicians).

Also, Brussels is structurally way too small to make decisions that it should be capable of making (about its airport/highways/public transport/industry/...), since those are mainly in Dutch speaking parts outside Brussels (falling under another government).

The new map:


This new map enlarges Brussels so that it can manage the areas that currently surround Brussels but that economically and structurally belong to Brussels. Another advantage is that adding more Dutch-speaking people to Brussels makes it more balanced linguistically.
The red part is the new province of Leuven. Some municipalities from the former province of Vlaams Brabant migrated to neighboring provinces.

(*) Depending on what happens in a random Antwerp street, one or more of the following eight 'governments' is responsible:
- district (part of the city)
- gemeente (the city council)
- kanton (district, smaller than a province)
- provincie (province)
- gemeenschap (the Flemish Community)
- gewest (the Flemish Region)
- land (Belgium)
- Europese Unie (European Union)
What happened to the KISS strategy ?!

2011-02-20

orca magnifier ?!

Yesterday I tried setting up orca magnifier on a freshly installed (fully updated) Ubuntu 10.10. The moment you check the magnifier checkbox the screen becomes garbled (all window borders disappear, about one quarter of the screen is magnified, the rest is garbled). The 'apply' and 'cancel' buttons are invisible (yet they work if you can guess their position).

Switching from the default to nvidia drivers makes no difference.

First we tried on an Acer Aspire 17-inch laptop, next we tried a 15-inch Apple Macbook Pro. The results are identical!! (yes i tried removing the orca config, creating a new user, reboot, ...)

Is there an alternative for orca magnifier ? (Because the Ubuntu/Orca forums don't help much.)

Will it work in Debian or Fedora ? (I would have to burn the cd and drive 100km to test this...)

Do you know people that actually use orca magnifier on Ubuntu ?

2010-12-27

Uchronie(s): New Byzance, New Harlem, New York

A friend gave me an excellent French series of comic books called Uchronie(s). Or is it three series ?

Each series is about a different city: New Byzance, New Harlem and New York. Or is it each time the same city in an alternate reality ?

In New Byzance people dream fragments of the story in New Harlem. In New York they see the future, or is the past ? The idea is to read the first comic of each series, before reading any of the part 2's.

All in all this is an interesting entanglement of stories, philosophy, history and cultures (to be concluded in 2011).

2010-11-07

svg with inkscape

Inkscape is an easy (and free) tool to create scalable vector graphics. It is much fun using it, it is even more fun sharing the results.

Two routers connect two LAN's


DNS lookup behind adsl-router


TCP handshake example
More of them can be found here : http://www.linux-training.be/svg/

2010-10-20

funny directory on Solaris

bell21# cd /usr/share/man/
bash: cd: /usr/share/man/: No such file or directory
bell21# cd /usr/share/
bell21# file man
man: directory
bell21# chmod 755 man
chmod: WARNING: can't change man
bell21# cd man
bash: cd: man: No such file or directory
bell21# ls ma*
man: No such file or directory
bell21# echo ma*
man
bell21# ls -l /usr/share | grep man
dr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 1 Oct 20 08:52 man
bell21#
Answer below...

One of my students put
/usr/share/man bell21:/usr/share/man
in the /etc/auto_direct file ;-)

2010-08-25

simple zfs snapshot demo

create a zfs file system on four disks
root@sol10u8 /# zpool create zzz c2t0d0 c2t1d0 c3t0d0 c3t1d0
root@sol10u8 /# zfs create zzz/data42


populate it with 2MB of data
root@sol10u8 /# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/zzz/data42/file2MB count=2048 bs=1024
2048+0 records in
2048+0 records out


verify the used disk space is 2MB
root@sol10u8 /# zfs list -o space
NAME AVAIL USED USEDSNAP USEDDS USEDREFRESERV USEDCHILD
zzz 7.81G 2.11M 0 23K 0 2.09M
zzz/data42 7.81G 2.02M 0 2.02M 0 0


add 3MB
root@sol10u8 /# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/zzz/data42/file3MB count=3072 bs=1024
3072+0 records in
3072+0 records out


wait a couple of seconds, then verify usage of diskspace
2MB + 3MB = 5MB
root@sol10u8 /# zfs list -o space
NAME AVAIL USED USEDSNAP USEDDS USEDREFRESERV USEDCHILD
zzz 7.81G 5.12M 0 23K 0 5.10M
zzz/data42 7.81G 5.03M 0 5.03M 0 0


create a snapshot to preserve this 5MB forever
root@sol10u8 /# zfs snapshot zzz/data42@Wednesday


snapshot = read only copy
snapshot = takes almost zero diskspace when created
snapshot = consumes diskspace as data changes
snapshot = because it keeps the original data

verify diskspace used by snapshot
root@sol10u8 /# zfs list -o space
NAME AVAIL USED USEDSNAP USEDDS USEDREFRESERV USEDCHILD
zzz 7.81G 5.12M 0 23K 0 5.10M
zzz/data42 7.81G 5.03M 0 5.03M 0 0
zzz/data42@Wednesday - 0 - - - -


force 3MB of data changes on the original file system
root@sol10u8 /# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/zzz/data42/file3MB count=3072 bs=1024
3072+0 records in
3072+0 records out


this new 3MB of data was written over 3MB of existing data

wait a couple of seconds!!
then verify disk usage of file system and snapshot
root@sol10u8 /# zfs list -o space
NAME AVAIL USED USEDSNAP USEDDS USEDREFRESERV USEDCHILD
zzz 7.81G 8.15M 0 23K 0 8.13M
zzz/data42 7.81G 8.05M 3.02M 5.03M 0 0
zzz/data42@Wednesday - 3.02M - - - -


notice that the snapshot uses 3MB --> it's keeping the original 3MB forever!
notice that the zpool consumes 8MB : 5MB of current data + 3MB snapshot data

copying the snapshot to another file system would total to 5MB
the same 5MB that existed at the time we took the snapshot
3MB inside the snapshot + 2MB of original data still on zzz/data42

add another 4MB of data to the file system
root@sol10u8 /# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/zzz/data42/file4MB count=4096 bs=1024
4096+0 records in
4096+0 records out


wait a couple of seconds
verify that data42 now consumes 9MB
snapshot stays at 3MB
total for the pool is now 12 MB
12MB = 3MB snapshot + 2MB original data + 3MB new data + 4MB new data
root@sol10u8 /# zfs list -o space
NAME AVAIL USED USEDSNAP USEDDS USEDREFRESERV USEDCHILD
zzz 7.80G 12.2M 0 23K 0 12.1M
zzz/data42 7.80G 12.1M 3.02M 9.03M 0 0
zzz/data42@Wednesday - 3.02M - - - -


this new 4MB data is in a new file, so it does not influence the snapshot

take a look at the file system
root@sol10u8 /# ls -l /zzz/data42/
total 18457
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2097152 Aug 25 21:45 file2MB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3145728 Aug 25 21:49 file3MB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4194304 Aug 25 21:51 file4MB


take a look at the snapshot
root@sol10u8 /# ls -l /zzz/data42/.zfs/snapshot/Wednesday/
total 10256
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2097152 Aug 25 21:45 file2MB
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3145728 Aug 25 21:46 file3MB


notice the difference in the time stamp on the 3MB file!!

use zfs send/receive to copy the snapshot
zfs send zzz/data42@Wednesday | ssh server "zfs receive yyy/data42"


or use cp, tar, cpio, rsync... to backup a snapshot
www.linux-training.be explains these commands

destroy the snapshot
zfs destroy zzz/data42@Wednesday

2010-08-22

Impressions on Oracle

There are enough blogposts mourning OpenSolaris (or hoping for Illumos). What follows are some real world experiences in dealing with Oracle since it took over the Sun Solaris trainings in Belgium.

1. Remote labs are free!
Solaris teachers and students can now connect to remote labs with nice hardware for free. This is a great addition to the simple Intel machines in the classroom.

2. Support is excellent!
In the weeks prior to the first Oracle Solaris training several people from Oracle called and/or emailed me to make sure everything was okay. These are real people that don't mind sharing their real email address and their real phone number. Cool! And they were very friendly and helpful!

3. Support is excellent!
When sending an email on Sunday to report a problem, there is an almost immediate response from one of these real people. On a Sunday?! Super cool!

2010-07-18

tide bestek

Mensen houden zich soms bezig met nutteloze dingen. Zo verzamel ik (niet echt actief, maar toch) een besteksoort (heet dat wel zo) die vroeger bij Tide waspoeder zat. Ik vind het wel leuk als je mensen uitnodigt, dat je iedereen hetzelfde bestek kan geven.

UPDATE 2021: http://cobbaut.blogspot.com/2021/05/tide-bestek-deel-2.html

Als je nog ergens een groot of klein mes hebt, of zoals hieronder getoond een brede lepel/schep of een suikertang, dan kan je me altijd gelukkig maken. In ruil kook ik wel voor je.

2010-07-03

Over vrije software, softwarepatenten en open standaarden

Wat is open source ?

Omdat Nederlands soms makkelijker is dan Engels, bespreken we eerst de Nederlandstalige termen vrije software, softwarepatenten en open standaarden.


Vrije Software

Vrije Software is letterlijk software die vrij is. Vrij te gebruiken, vrij te bestuderen, vrij te verspreiden en vrij aan te passen!

Vrij te gebruiken wil zeggen dat er geen beperkingen mogen zijn op het gebruik van de software. Iedereen is vrij om te kiezen waarvoor hij de software wil gebruiken. Als er beperkingen zijn op het gebruik van de software, dan is deze niet vrij.

Vrij te bestuderen wil zeggen dat iedereen de vrijheid moet hebben om naar de broncode te kijken om te begrijpen hoe de software werkt. Iedereen moet vrij kunnen spreken over de werking van de software. Als je software niet kan of mag bestuderen, dan is deze niet vrij.

Vrij te verspreiden wil zeggen dat je deze software mag doorgeven aan je buren en je vrienden. Als je software niet mag doorgeven aan anderen, dan is deze niet vrij. Als je verplicht bent een licentie te betalen, dan is de software niet vrij.

Vrij aan te passen wil zeggen dat de broncode beschikbaar moet zijn zodat je deze kan aanpassen, en wil ook zeggen dat je de software mag verspreiden met jou aanpassingen. Als je software niet kan of mag aanpassen, dan is deze niet vrij.

Voorbeelden van vrije software : Linux, Apache (de meest gebruikte webserver), Firefox, OpenOffice.org, Azureus, Battle for Wesnoth (een leuk spel!), en meer.

Bedrijven zoals Google en Facebook gebruiken bijna uitsluitend vrije software!

Opgepast: Je hebt niet zomaar het recht om een logo (Firefox bijvoorbeeld) of een trademark over te nemen en te verspreiden!
Opgepast: Heel wat vrije software eist dat je de naam van de auteurs (programmeurs) blijft vermelden! En GPL software eist dat aanpassingen die je wenst te verspreiden onder dezelfde GPL licentie vallen.




Softwarepatenten

Softwarepatenten zijn een heel gevoelig onderwerp. De strijd tegen softwarepatenten mag je vooral niet verwarren met een algemene strijd tegen patenten.

In Europa is er geen wettelijk kader voor softwarepatenten (softwarepatenten.be), maar dit weerhoudt grote bedrijven (IBM, Oracle, HP, Microsoft, ...) er niet van om massaal softwarepatenten te registreren. Sommige van deze patenten zijn verrassend triviaal; zowat elke website gebruikt tientallen softwarepatenten. Bijna alle software die er bestaat gebruikt wel enkele van de tienduizenden geregistreerde softwarepatenten.

Een van de grote nadelen van softwarepatenten is dat ze innovatie serieus tegenhouden. Je kan je als KMO immers niet verdedigen tegen een massa advokaten van de grote bedrijven die staan te zwaaien met softwarepatenten (met als gevolg dat je failliet gaat of wordt opgekocht).

Vroeger waren er geen softwarepatenten, en gelukkig maar! Stel je voor dat AT&T in 1970 in staat was geweest om software te patenteren, dan hadden we nu maar 1 besturingsysteem (Unix), en maar 1 officeapplicatie (vi) en 1 zoekmachine (find). Bedrijven als Google, Facebook of Microsoft zouden nooit kunnen bestaan hebben.

Vrije software valt niet te verzoenen met softwarepatenten (in de vorm dat ze vandaag bestaan in de USA).



Open Standaarden (en open formaten)

Open Standaarden zijn standaarden (noem het gerust talen, protocols of formaten) die voor iedereen beschikbaar zijn om te gebruiken. Een bekend voorbeeld hiervan is HTML. HTML is een standaard die er sinds 1993 voor zorgt dat we documenten op internet kunnen raadplegen. Iedereen mag een programma schrijven om HTML te lezen (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, ...). Een ander voorbeeld is PDF, een documentformaat dat ervoor zorgt dat het document er op elke computer hetzelfde uitziet (en identiek uit elke printer rolt). Ook al is PDF ontwikkeld door Adobe, de standaard is exact beschreven door Adobe en vrij te gebruiken.
Het grote voordeel van open standaarden is dat je onafhankelijk bent van een leverancier!

Het meest gekende tegenvoorbeeld van een open standaard is het formaat gebruikt door MS Office 95/98/2000/2003 (.doc .xls ...). Dit gesloten formaat is eigendom van Microsoft en enkel te openen met producten van Microsoft. Je kan als organisatie niet zelf een product schrijven dat deze documenten perfect kan gebruiken, want Microsoft wil niet vertellen hoe het .doc formaat in elkaar steekt.

Het grote nadeel van gesloten standaarden is dat je geen keuze hebt van leverancier. Indien je bedrijfsinformatie aangemaakt hebt met MS Office 2000, dan ben je afhankelijk van Microsoft om toegang te krijgen tot jou eigen gegevens.


Open Source

Als we nu terug gaan naar de Engelse taal, dan komen we een probleem tegen. De Nederlandse woorden gratis en vrij zijn duidelijk verschillend, maar worden in het Engels beide vertaald naar 'free'. Dit zorgt voor heel wat verwarring rond 'free software', mensen interpreteren het als gratis software, of erger nog, verwarren het met freeware.
Daarom spreken heel wat mensen van open source software (of gewoon open source), terwijl ze eigenlijk vrije software bedoelen.