Free and Open Source Software

TL;DR: Mozilla is now enforcing data collection as a pre-requisite to access new features in Firefox Labs. This is backed by the Terms of Use that Mozilla introduced a few months ago.

Free software plays a critical role in science, both in research and in disseminating it. Aspects of software freedom are directly relevant to simulation, analysis, document preparation and preservation, security, reproducibility, and usability. Free software brings practical and specific advantages, beyond just its ideological roots, to science, while proprietary software comes with equally specific risks. As a practicing scientist, I would like to help others—scientists or not—see the benefits from free software in science.

One sad but common situation is that of a graduate student who becomes accustomed to a piece of expensive commercial analytical software (such as a symbolic-mathematics program), enjoying it either through a generous student discount or because it's paid for by the department. Then the freshly-minted PhD discovers the real price of the software, and can't afford it on their postdoc salary. They have to learn new ways of doing things, and have probably lost access to their past work, which is locked up in proprietary binary files.

Video Title: Open Source People are Fighting to Kill Open Source Projects

I know for sure that I'm looking for libre video chat software that has these features for the other person, not necessarily for me:

• no need to create an account
• mobile-friendly web app

I'm still deciding whether to do video chats on:

• iPhone
• Fedora GNU + Linux (GNOME)

Use case: I'm considering switching from text to video chat as my preferred method for initial conversations with people on dating sites/communities. There's not always a sacrifice of convenience by avoiding non-libre software for it, because whatever app is already being used typically only integrates messaging, not video chat.

"Tech Independence is something I learned from Derek Sivers, and basically means that you do not depend on any particular company or software."

Hi guys! I'm using a lot of NativeAlpha. It's a very complete app, but I think I'm having an issue with the instagram usage. Can it be that instagram is taking it in a weird way. I mean, since I began to using it, I'm having several signs of automatic usage and suspicious activities. Changed the password and keep going the same, with Meta warning me that my account can be suspended or deleted

Without paywall:

https://web.archive.org/web/20250604141117/https://www.404media.co/directfile-open-source-irs-tax-filing-software-turbotax-is-trying-to-kil/

Backend Server in C++

Client in Java

Content scripting in LUA

Website in PHP

Mozilla announced Pocket is retiring on July 8th, 2025.

This Week in F-Droid lists multiples Pocket alternatives that have FOSS Android apps available in F-Droid.

Do you use any Pocket alternative on Android?

I haven't found one yet that check all my boxes, and would welcome recommandation. My ideal app is:

• FOSS
• Able to read aloud articles (text to speech integration)
• Local first (no/optional server), or support a standard server protocol (eg webdav)

Wallabag seems to be FOSS and able to read aloud. But it require a server and doesn't support a standard storage protocol (eg Webdav). I'd like to keep my data private without having to maintain yet another server software installation.

My city has a budget shortfall of $400,000 and they're looking at cutting firefighter positions, arts funding, and parks funding to make up the shortfall. They also, incidentally, spent over $400,000 on just Microsoft office licenses last year, which doubled in cost from the previous year. My goal is to fix the budget shortfall, or at least take a big bite out of it, by switching all users who can't specify what advanced (see: VBA) features they use from MS Office onto LibreOffice, since it provides all the same basic functionality and interoperable file formats. As a stretch goal, I'd love to persuade them to get on Linux, but that might be a bridge too far for most folks at the city.

Does anyone have any advice to help me persuade the city to cut bullshit MS office licenses instead of firefighters? The city does have an IT dept that I've considered reaching out to, but I'm worried that they may fight that proposal because:

A. I hear that MS lobbies city IT relentlessly

B. They may not have the capacity to do the switch.

As for Linux, I'd love to get the machines that are W10 dependent switched to Linux, but that feels like a big reach. People tend to have a "NERD!" reaction to Linux, like mentioning tabletop gaming.

Sci-Hub alternative websites for accessing academic papers for free:

Unpaywall (https://unpaywall.org/) Browser extension for Chrome.

Allows legal, free access to research papers directly on journal websites.

Open Access Button (OAB) (https://openaccessbutton.org/)

Copy and paste a paper’s link or DOI into the OAB website.

Provides legal access to the paper on the subsequent page. PaperPanda (https://paperpanda.app/)

Chrome extension similar to Unpaywall. Enables one-click access to millions of research papers. DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) (https://doaj.org/)

Offers free access to millions of scientific papers globally. Focuses on open-access journals. OA.mg (https://oa.mg/)

Search engine designed specifically for academic papers. Provides access to over 250 million papers. Core (https://core.ac.uk/)

World’s largest database of research papers. Contains over 298 million papers available for free. arXiv (https://arxiv.org/)

Specializes in natural sciences and economics. Offers free access to 2.4 million academic papers.

Tip: Remove any spaces in the URLs if there are issues accessing the websites.

Over the past few months, I embarked on a rewarding digital journey to move away from US big tech and towards more European [EU], open source [FOSS], privacy-oriented [P], and decentralized [D] alternatives.

I'm sharing my experience here in case it can be useful to others, as well as to gather any additional thoughts or suggestions:

• Desktop OS: Microsoft Windows 11 --> OpenSUSE Tumbleweed + KDE [EU][FOSS]
• Web browser: Google Chrome --> Brave --> Vivaldi --> Mozilla Firefox + Strict privacy settings, uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, Conset-O-Matic [FOSS][P]
• Email: Gmail --> Infomaniak Mail [EU][FOSS]
• Calendar: Google Calendar --> Infomaniak Calendar [EU][FOSS] + OneCalendar [EU]
• Files: Dropbox --> Infomaniak kDrive [EU][FOSS]
• Photos: Google Photos --> Infomaniak kDrive [EU][FOSS]
• Notes: Google Keep --> Notesnook [FOSS][P]
• Social Media:
  • Facebook --> Nothing
  • Twitter/X --> Mastodon (mas.to) [EU][FOSS][D]
  • Reddit --> Lemmy (lemm.ee) [EU][FOSS][D]
• AI Chatbot: OpenAI ChatGPT --> Mistral AI Le Chat [EU]
• Videos: Youtube --> Unwatched [EU][FOSS][P]
• Podcasts: Apple Podcasts --> Spotify --> Pocket Casts [FOSS]
• Translate: Google Translate --> DeepL [EU]
• Maps: Google Maps --> Organic Maps [EU][FOSS][P]
• Weather: Apple Weather --> YR [EU]
• Online payments: PayPal --> Revolut [EU]
• Password manager: LastPass --> Mozilla Firefox --> Bitwarden [FOSS][P]
• Online shopping: Amazon --> Cdiscount [EU]
• Travel booking: Booking.com --> Direct booking

And here's the list of things I couldn't let go of:

• Mobile OS: iOS | I have a business iPhone which is also my personal phone
• Messaging: WhatsApp | The network effect is too big here: family, friends, local businesses, etc
• Streaming services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ | These come basically for free with my ISP and are too convenient for the moment (esp. w/ kids)

Generate SVG images for handy useful glyphs, org/markdown badges and more, from Lisp (Guile Scheme)

https://codeberg.org/jjba23/ggg

Be proud and appreciate technologies and techniques you use, distinguish clearly supported versions of things, etc. With flexible support for badges between one and three parts.

Through SVG generation from Lisp (Guile Scheme) we leverage a beautiful DSL and apply some mathematical knowledge to build pixel perfect badges. These SVG can then be easily converted without quality loss to any desired format.

With GGG, you have the power to create your own badges and images with a consistent and clean aesthetic.

Like SearchXNG but for chatbots.

Acts as a trusted inbetween that takes the hit on all the tracking for you and you need no account.

There would be a self-hosted server with a webinterface, where you can choose which of the popular chatbots or hosted open source models you want to ask.

The not free Accounts could be payed with donations maybe?

Basically like duck.ai but without a big company involved.

TL;DR: If you want to customize Firefox using Enterprise Polices, you can create customized policies via the handy Enterprise Policy Generator. You can also browse a collection of policies I created, available for download.

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/30407811

Website

It’s almost like the good ol’ days of install fests and the like! ‘End of 10’ is an organization that’s making it easy for Windows 10 users with computers that can’t upgrade to Windows 11, to install Linux instead of sending good hardware to the landfill.

When Mozilla announced their Terms of Use a few months ago, they told us that they would be asking us to acknowledge it at a later date. That day is here, and I took a quick look at it.