Much free software is now better than the best commercial software. Free software often works best under the linux operating system, but almost everything now works also under windows. For example,

Try one of many linux distributions---for example, knoppix (live CD; no installation necessary), or mandrake (friendly) or gentoo (daring, complex, but superb).
Try a free Mozilla web browser, such as Firefox.
Try a free Office suite, such as openoffice.
Try perl, a superb programming language.
Try R, a superb statistical programming and graphing language.
Try ctan and get pdflatex, which is a typesetting language that generates superb pdf.
Try Putty ssh, a small clean secure shell.
Try tight vnc, a remote control software package.
Try Web ssh written in Java.
Try emacs, still the best text-editor (not word processor!).
Try lame, the best mp3 encoder.

If you think this is all child's play, ask yourself why computer companies like google and yahoo are mostly running free software. In fairness, free software still falls short when it comes to media related files---windows media, apple aac, realplayer, dvd playing, etc. (free software does very well with mp3 files, though.) as to other drawbacks, linux is confusing when it comes to cut-and-paste across applications, and printing is still too finicky. Apple OS-X offers a much prettier interface. Windows offers more and often (but not always) better device support---and much better gaming support. IMHO, linux is for work, windows is for games and multimedia.

Here are some of my own computer program related notes, resources, LaTeX, Perl, etc..

Intellectual Property and Free Speech

Background:: I believe I own no stolen music or movies. I pay for the music and the DVDs I own. I spend a good deal of money every year on media, and I own reasonably high-end equipment, including HDTV sets. I believe that intellectual property rights are good if they discourage free copying. I believe that intellectual property rights are bad if they discourage likely reinvention.
Save the Movie Industry From Itself:: Who wants a movie format that [a] may work on one player/TV combination, but not another; [b] will never allow copying a movie to a user's media PC or ipod; [c] will allow its publishers to yank authorization at their discretion at any time in the future (and possibly disable the player, too!); [d] costs twice as much for a movie?
Welcome to Blu-ray or HD-DVD. Yes, these new movie formats provide better quality than ordinary DVD, although good upscaling DVD players, like the OPPO DV-980H, can get consumers halfway there. So here is my prediction: Ordinary consumers will prefer DVDs. MP3's have shown that consumers prefer convenience over quality.
(PS: Despite what the MPAA claims, these are primarily business model enablers, not piracy preventers. See, a good commercial pirate in China can set up a rig with a digital camera that photographs just about every pixel of a playing movie from an LCD screen in perfect accuracy. Fortunately, most consumers still prefer legal DVD's---and they still sell well, even though their copy protection has been completely broken.)
Copyright:: Few people realize how troubling the world is becoming. The Right To Read was written by Stallman in 1997, and seems visionary. But there is a big immediate problem already here. There are at least 60-100 million criminals in the United States today---everyone who has ever downloaded a file that was copyrighted. Each is exposed to enough liability to bankrupt them. The RIAA will now proceed to collect, one individual at a time. (Stop buying CDs!) Another problem to day is the DMCA, which prohibits reverse engineering of all kinds, including computer programs. Computer programs can only really compete if one can try to read the file formats of its earlier competitor. This is how Microsoft Word stole WordPerfect users, how Microsoft Excel stole Lotus 1-2-3 users, etc. Alas, the DMCA will prevent this in the future. Software and business model patents are truly awful. There are also many other related issues of importance. A brave new world is upon us. Please join the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and post a similar notice on your own website.
Copyright:: Oops. I had thought that my concern with copyright violations was academic, but it appears that I am rather exposed myself: "Infringement Nation: Copyright Reform and the Law/Norm Gap" shows pretty clearly that I am violating the law every day, too, although I have always been very conscientious not downloading copyrighted music or movies illegally. Yikes. We need sanity in this arena---laws that create reasonable fees for innocuous and small-scale violations, and reasonable penalties for obviously non-innocuous infringement.
PS: Personal Opinion: I am much less anti-copyright than filesharing networks, and perhaps even the EFF or GNU. I am in favor of appropriate "watermarking" of copyrighted materials to identify original purchasers, and of "phone-home computer code" embedded in copyrighted material. In exchange, I favor no use restrictions for those end users having purchased copyrighted material and if a "phone-home" identifies an illegal user, such a user should first receive the opportunity to pay an ordinary price for the content, before he/she becomes criminally liable (or civilly liable for multi-thousand dollar fees).
Free Speech?: Images of Mohammed offend Muslims. Therefore, should we restrain from all depictions of Mohammed? (What should we do with museum pieces of ancient Islamic art?) If we want to reduce free speech in order not to give offense, should we outlaw or take actions again the burning of the American flag? Could this offend many Americans, just as images of Mohammed offend many muslims? (And what about images of Jesus or God, the latter similarly prohibited for Jews.) Should we weigh one person being seriously offended worse than another person being seriously offended?

Painfully Obvious

A selection of blog-like opinions.

Negative Advertising

Awful vendors best avoided: United; Volkswagen, Ford; AT&T Wireless; Hewlett-Packard.

Ivo Welch Professor of Economics and Finance

Non Professional Items

Ivo Welch
Professor of Economics and Finance