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Bryan Lunduke at Network World calls out what other mainstream media have been too timid, or bought out, to call out. He starts by pointing out that choosing Microsoft Windows for your organization should get you fired and that if you haven't already replaced Windows, across the board, you absolutely stink at your job.
There. Finally the topic is broached in mainstream media and a proper discussion can now start among decision makers who can arrange complete migrations to GNU/Linux, Chrome/Linux, one of the BSDs, or a combination of them.
As Microsoft security problems continue to escalate since even the pre-networked, MS-DOS days, managers and front-line grunts will find themselves increasingly culpable for selecting unviable software, such as Microsoft Windows. If they wish to pay big bucks for maintenance, there are plenty of companies around to participate in the money. Canonical, Red Hat, M:Tier are just a sampling.
[Ed. Note: I debated whether or not to run this story — in some respects it's just the Windows vs *nix argument all over again. Also, there are proprietary programs which are critical for certain industries which currently only run on Windows. On the other hand, gaining a mention like this in the more mainstream media, does that mean we are approaching an inflection point? Witness the increased displeasure with Windows 10's telemetry and the difficulty in completely blocking it. What programs do you use that are only available on Windows? What keeps you from moving to another OS? --martyb]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @01:27PM (7 children)
One program holding back some people I know is lack of a good citation management program. They're heavy users of EndNote and it's not available for GNU/Linux or the any of the BSDs. There are some web-based services, but those don't count. They lack the relative independence and better capabilities of standalong programs.
So, any suggestions about FOSS reference management software besides learning Qt and starting myself?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @01:45PM (5 children)
https://www.zotero.org/ [zotero.org]
It is a browser extension, you don't need to use the sync backend if you don't want to. I've been using it for years and it is great.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Friday June 30 2017, @02:13PM
It is a browser extension, has a stand-alone version, integrates seemlessly with word, libreoffice and is in general much superior to the commercial alternatives (web-scraping, document manangement, import/export, supported styles, new styles, ...). It can sync across devices using a webdav server which is configurable and limited free storage on amazon comes for free. Beat that endnote, referencemanager, whatever.
I am puzzled over and over again that serious scientists do not know about zotero (even if you use latex you should use zotero to manage your bibliography) it has been around for almost 10 years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @03:53PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Friday June 30 2017, @04:09PM (1 child)
I don't know how this software--or indeed this whole software niche--works; I make my citations by hand or with a web citation engine and mostly manage them by hand. But a couple observations...
- on the one hand, there seems to be some software called "zotero" that performs this function in the free world for free software users, but
- in true free world free software style, it's confusing enough that today I read that:
- Most people do not know it exists
- But it seems to exist
- It does NOT have a standalone version
- It simultaneously DOES have a standalone version
- Confusion reigns.
We (the free software world) might do very well to acknowledge this sort of confusion and to address, and as much as possible, eliminate it, for the good of all.
Even people who can't code but who want to help could write documentation or at least explanations of what's available and why and how someone would use it. I don't even mean at the project level; more at the free software evangelism level, simply explaining what exists and how it might be used to best effect. Proprietary softwares and software ecosystems have marketing departments that accomplish this with varying degrees of veracity; our own efforts should set the standards of truth and helpfulness.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @08:39AM
It doesn't matter. People are too lazy to reevaulate what they're doing to see if there's a better way to do it. Zotero is easily found if you do a search for citation software, but you have to make that search. When was the last time you looked for a way to improve how you handle references? Do you use receipt scanning software or do you track your purchases by hand? Do you automate all your bills through a check send from your bank, do you manually write and mail checks, or do you allow direct withdraws?
Zotero has both plug-in and stand along versions. It also integrates with many document editors and can re-populate the citations when you change their data in Zotero's database. It's an excellent tool to use if you need to do citations and don't want to read a style guide on all the bullshit formatting rules you need to exactly follow to not be accused of plagiarism.
(Score: 2) by zeigerpuppy on Saturday July 01 2017, @01:30AM
it does have a standalone version. Also you can sync with your own WebDAV server and share reference libraries. Zotero is far superior to endnote.
also there's jabref if you want another free alternative.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @01:48PM
bibtex, acutex, reftex, emacs, org-mode .. and hey.. search in synaptic, there is a lot of brilliant extensible functionality out there that makes it what you use if you're serious about the craft, competitive in a service industry or simply attempting to publish your research at the best speed you can.
you had to pick a domain where linux is an industry standard.
are you nostalgic for pagemaker and word ??