Now in English: VALO-CD Open Source Software Collection 41
spuguli writes "VALO-CD is an open source software collection similar to The Open CD. Version 8 is now available in English. The open source collection has been available in Finnish for several years, but now it has been translated into English and is available internationally as well. The collection contains pretty much everything a typical end user would need: LibreOffice, Inkscape, Firefox, Audacity and many other programs. The main goal is to increase knowledge about open source software. The programs are for Windows since most Linux distributions already contain most of the programs, and Linux users obviously are already aware of open source. The CD is developed collaboratively in a wiki. It is freely available as a torrent download."
Re:Do we need another one? (Score:4, Informative)
These aren't Linux distros. They're collections of Windows versions of opensource applications.
True, it's not a distro, but... (Score:3)
How is this better than what's already out there with Open CD, for example?
Maybe "better" isn't the correct word. What does this offer that another open source compilation doesn't already offer? More up-to-date programs?
Re:True, it's not a distro, but... (Score:5, Informative)
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For one, it have manuals. I don't know if they are useful but they are there on the disc.
And isn't Open CD dead as a dodo anyway? VALO-cd is obviously more up-to-date and going to get new releases in the future.
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if you had you would not have just came out the gate a tad early
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What kind of open source software other than perhaps LibreOffice or gimp would most people be unacquainted with already?
All of it. I would say that about half of computer users barely know what programmes they're using. They just recognise the icons they need to double-click to do what they want (e.g. "need to open the internet" => double-click the blue "e")
It's one thing spreading the word, and quite another posting about something like this on a site like Slashdot.
A fair point. I imagine the point in this is that people will be able to get the less computer-savvy to install such programmes, without getting them to just download and install it. A lot of people would still associate quality software with installation from a disc.
This reminds me (Score:2)
Re:The Open CD is no longer maintained (Score:4, Informative)
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Yes, it's exactly what I was writing about. The OpenDisc includes Firefox 6.0.1 [theopendisc.com]. Sorry, probably I should've added a quote for context, but I did not imagine my post would end up with more upvotes than the parent.
Re:The Open CD is no longer maintained (Score:4, Funny)
But, given the current Firefox release schedule, that's probably only a few days old.
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I was gonna say, doesn't that make it current as of about last week?
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6.01 is pretty new. And if they wanted a stable release they should have stuck with version 3.6.
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Open source programs, whether through malice or incompetence, might display rectangular dialogs with incorrectly rounded corners.
I'm sure we all agree that would be a catastrophe. Apple are 100% correct in applying the principle of "better safe rather than sorry."
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Open source software is written to get a job done. Actually most proprietary software is the same way. I see quite a lot of proprietary programs that are pretty ugly while getting the job done and making a lot of money at it.
What Windows users really need... (Score:5, Interesting)
... is a repository system of free software.
A CDROM image does not really cut it. Sure, a handful of packages give a taste of what's available, but there's a lot out there that cannot be fit on a CD. And there is no way to keep up with updates except manually.
One of the greatest advantages of many Linux distros is that they have repositories of software that are kept up to date, with just about everything you could ask for in F/OSS.
Windows users are stuck crawling the likes of Tucows and Download.com and the venerable Simtel archive is not even a shadow of its former self (really, have you seen it lately?). Windows users just don't even know how nice it is to open up a software management window and get free/open source software without hassle. Signed packages in a vetted searchable mirrored database really is the way to go.
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BMO
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I said that one year ago:
A wish a day 7: make emerge a generic package manager for Windows [elpauer.org]
A wish a day 6: AppStore-like installer for KDE on Windows [elpauer.org]
Intel AppUp [appup.com] includes open source software but it's not *only* open source.
It's sad how open source and Linux distributions failed to capitalize on this appstore-frenzy.
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There are package managers for Windows, taking the idea from linux package managers. They all suck ... probably because it is difficult to create complex software for Windows that also looks good and is easy to use, then make it easy to install.
Another trouble is that windows software doesn't come in compressed archives that you can copy somewhere -- MSI is more complicated. And don't get me started on uninstalling.
.msi vs. .deb (Score:2)
Another trouble is that windows software doesn't come in compressed archives that you can copy somewhere -- MSI is more complicated.
I was under the impression that .deb and .rpm were also more complicated than a tarball. How is MSI more complicated than .deb?
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I think in MSI the installation procedure is in the executable, while rpm/deb are tarballs, but you can (optionally) configure a hook to have a script called when copying is done.
In other words, on windows, the MSI package is in control, while on linux, the package manager is in control.
Re:What Windows users really need... (Score:4, Informative)
Microsoft are planning this, more or less.. mostly less, of course, because they're Microsoft.
That said, one site that I've seen suggested before is:
http://ninite.com/ [ninite.com]
It's not just open source software, and it's not even 100% free-as-in-mythical-free-beer (trial version of MS Office, for example), but it does have a great many open source applications listed and makes installing them and keeping them updated pretty simple.
It's not a complete set, but it is probably 'enough' for the casual user - and the concept could easily grow to accommodate more applications without losing sight of the fact that having 100 applications that all do the same thing is more confusing than helpful.
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>you'd think they would offer a repo with signed freeware software for their customers.
They don't even have to provide the actual server space. All they have to do is provide the infrastructure in the OS and it will happen. You'll see mirrors of free Windows software pop up on servers everywhere. It's how the community works.
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BMO
Trinidad & Tobago Computer Society CD / DVD (Score:2)
Does this ISO even work? (Score:2)