Safe computing with Free and Open Source software for Windows Platform

Get most of the software equivalents you use on Windows platform for free. Simply download the CD - and install the applications therein from the Website:
http://www.valo-cd.net/

 

VALO-CD contains all the best of the Open Source and Free Windows programs on a single CD, so that installing them is as easy as possible.All the software is FOSS (VALO)

 

, so using them does not require paying licences. With the help of this CD you can avoid buying proprietary software like Microsoft Office and instead get the FOSS equivalent LibreOffice. With this disc you can save hundreds of Rupees! 

Check out the programs you get on this CD here: http://www.valo-cd.net/programs

 

You also avoid virus and malware/trojans that come with pirated copies of Windows software!!!

Happy safe computing.

Search Profiles - Protect your privacy

Will try to be brief - though this may seem a bit techy, thought would be useful for my friends.

An article today in the newspaper set me thinking. It was an article on 'tracking' search results ( the word tracked was 'sex') to profile regions, people etc. ('The Economic Times, 12 Jan 2012, Page 24 - Last page). Check the e-papers here.

The article brought out which areas (states, cities etc) were searching for particular words etc, and based on this 'Google' threw up the analysis of who is searching for what (Check out Google Trends and detailed analysis from Google  Insights for Search  on the horrors of what all you can find out from searches) !! That is fair enough! But what set me thinking was - not only issues about privacy, but what all other information that these search engines can gather and analyse??

What about profiling what interests a community has - say like a 'government' colony (bureaucrats, defense, railways etc) who have shared/captive Internet access - and maybe build up some kind of scenarios etc?? It can also single out a particular IP Address for search tracking - just to know say what the CEO (of heads of Government Organisation!!) of a company is interested in (just track his home PC IP Internet searches when the defenses are down!!) !!! The possibilities seems endless. Just left to your imagination!!!

To cut a long story sort - my thought was are there search engines that liberates us from these 'search history' or 'profiling'?? Can I do something to stop this sort of profiling possibilities??? Well, of course resorted to 'Google' (maybe for the last time!!) and did a bit of my own search (being on leave does give one some time :) and came up with a solution that neatly fits into my requirement - that is 'no tracking my searches!!!!' - thus 'me-excluded-from-profiling'

The solution is : http://duckduckgo.com

(You can add it to Firefox search option, or bookmark the site - check your search results on http://www.duckduckgo.com

to believe the great search results. Also check out the simple-easy-to-understand settings etc. )

and read all about privacy issues here: http://duckduckgo.com/privacy.html

To get an illustrated idea of the issue, visit: http://dontbubble.us/

And watch this TED Talk video to know more about the concerns: http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html

Why this funny 'duckduckgo' ?? Well, for one, this website explains it all: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/duckduckgo.html

Can we trust it? Well, I use Open Source Software exclusively, and use 'Linux Mint' at Home and Office - and 'Linux Mint 12' now has offered 'duckduckgo' as a default search engine!! That seals my trust! But am sure there are many world wide experts who agree with it too! Lots of great things have been written about 'duckduckgo' (just go duckduck it!!)

Let me end it here - by saying, take steps to minimise risks to your privacy, and use 'duckduckgo

' to read up more on the issue.

And noooo, am not paid by 'duckduckgo' :-) - just my interest to have a safer Internet experience for my friends!
Pass it on to your friends if you find this useful!!

Happy searching - duck-duck or quack-quack whatever !!!

Open Document Format Support by Microsoft

Hi All - those hesitating to move to OpenOffice/LibreOffice - here is some heartening news!! Microsoft seems to have had a change of heart and is supporting the 'Open Document Format" ODF which is the heart of OpenOffice/LibreOffice. Thats is documents made in OpenOffice/LibreOffice or any other Open Source Office Suite will seamlessly work on MS Office. Microsoft is infact sponsoring the next ODF-Fest in Apr 2012!! Check out this site http://www.odfplugfest.org/2012-brussels/

"Join us in Brussels The ODF plugfests are an ongoing series of vendor-neutral events, bringing together implementers and stakeholders of the standard. The goal is to achieve maximum interoperability by running scenario-based tests in a hands-on manner and discuss new and proposed features of the ODF specification.
The eighth ODF plugfest will take place in Brussel (Belgium) on April 26th/27th 2012 hosted by Microsoft Office and organised by OpenDoc Society. So mark your calendar!"

So guys - instead of using pirated MS-Office suites in your home/office PC - go ahead and buy the MS-Office suite or download your free office suite from http://www.libreoffice.org/download - which runs equally well on your Windows Machines as well as Linux.