A disturbing story about Digg.com. It is no longer (if ever it was) democratic or fair.

Digg.coms Autobury Secret Blacklist…Are you still being banned by automatic burying?

I’m not sure that I would ever want this site to be dugg to the front page, though there is a digg button on the bottom of every post! It seems like it’s become some group’s little fiefdom. But that’s ok! On the internet, you’re only one click away from another website! So, let digg.com digg itself into a shallow grave!

Do you care for Digg.com? Ever been dugg? What happened? Ever been auto-buried? I’d like to hear your story, too!

There is so much opensource software available these days that you can pretty much find an equivalent product to something from Microsoft or another major software company. The problem is that it is difficult to find the software. Some of the databases and websites list hundreds, even thousands of projects. So how do you find opensource software without wading through those listings. Well, there are two websites that are quite useful in helping filter the software to the ‘best of..’ category.

The first is called TheOpenCD. This website lists half a dozen projects in major categories that you might find of value. In fact, that’s how I found Scribus (an alternate to MSPublisher) and Audacity (an alternate for Nero Editor). The other great website that lists popular options is perversely, PortableApps, but with the increasing interest in running applications on a USB device, this helps sort the wheat from the chaff for the uninitiated in opensource software. Both of these websites have complimentary but interesting suggestions.

Naturally, I’m increasingly suspicious of MS’s motives with online activation, increasing copyright protection, and rising prices! They are seeking to control much more of what we can do with their applications, and, ergo, MY data. I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all. I’m not against paying for software, indeed I have spent $1000’s over the years to amass a useless collection of CD roms and 5-inch disks; but MS is going way beyond what I feel comfortable with. So, I’m now using OpenOffice, Firefox, Thundbird, NVU,  BlogDesk, etc. wherever I can to avoid using MS software as much as possible. One day, I’ll throw out the OS, too. But babysteps!

I found this rather interesting alternative to Gallery and Coppermine! I’m going to try it out! Naturally, my fondness for things with cream cheese drew my attention immediately to this PhotoBlog software, called Cheesecake Photoblog Software.

I had a look at the Demo of the software and was attracted by its simplicity. It really puts the photography up front, and nearly eliminates all the wordage that goes along with photography based websites! I liked that emphasis. I know that other softwares can do this too, but there is something elegant about this appearance.

Let me test it, and you all take a look. Requirements are modest, most Linux based servers should already use the LAMP (Linux Apache Mysql Php) , so installation shouldn’t be difficult. If you’re using MS products, try another PhotoBlog App. This one’s not for you. I’ll be giving it a try… Will report back.