You can use this CD in several ways:
In this context, free means free as in freedom, not as in price.
Additionally, this CD suggests other possible uses for similar bootable CDs. For example,
You may also be able to convert your existing data and programs to GNU/Linux.
Why might that be desirable? One potential advantage is that you might avoid the continuing costs of staying abreast of the latest versions and bug-fixes of proprietary systems. (Windows 3.1, 95, NT, 2000, 98, Me, XP and many other Microsoft products have had security flaws. What next?)
From ordinary office PCs to industrial-strength servers, computing based on GNU programs and the Linux kernel is growing in popularity. As a practical matter, free software provides a secure, high-performance, reliable, and cost-effective alternative to products sold by companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, and Apple.
As a result, many large corporations--even IBM--, as well as small companies, universities, and governments around the world have begun using and developing free software.
The very best programs can be installed and used on many systems: new and old Windows, Macintosh, GNU/Linux, Palm, cell-phone; Intel, AMD; IBM, Sun; Internet Explorer, Mozilla; and so on. Free software developers have created tools and programming techniques that make platform-independent software a practical possibility.
You can hire Ansteth Research to help you with such matters, or to provide you with other GNU/Linux-related services. We hope to earn your business.
For assistance, please contact us:
For more information, contact Philip Ansteth (pansteth@yahoo.com), 575-776-2468; 918-747-0163. Or check our web site (www.ansteth.com/computer).
A distribution of GNU/Linux is a collection of programs that adapt it for a particular purpose or group of users. Red Hat is a well-known distribution that nowadays is marketed to corporate users. Debian (www.debian.org) is popular for its stability and security. Other distributions, such as Knoppix (www.knopper.net/knoppix), on which this CD is based, have other audiences. Knoppix specializes in bootable CDs.
When one hears the terms free and "open source," they are generally intended to constrast with proprietary, in particular as opposed to Microsoft products. While GNU programs and similar products are available on the Internet for free, the term free actually refers to freedom, as in freedom of the press, and not to price.
Free software is licensed and copyrighted in such a way as to prohibit secrecy, and to promote the advancement and distribution of knowledge about programming and computing. See the Free Software Foundation web site (www.gnu.org) for more information.
Free also means that individuals and companies are free to sell, or to give away, copies of free software, and to charge customers for installing, developing and maintaining such systems.
This is a relatively new legal and business model for information technology. Ansteth Research strongly advocates the free software philosophy.
More information about Knoppix is available here.