Shifting to Linux

Some time ago I received a notification via Twitter about someone who installed XP on his notebook after reading my article about Linux I wrote some years ago. I think the tweet is ironical, but that doesn't matter.

The fact is I didn't remember I wrote that article, but actually I'm using Linux full time in my desktop computer. How can it be possible? How someone who ranted about Linux on the desktop ended using Linux full time?

Simple WGS 84 - ECEF conversion functions.

One of the most unexpectedly complicated things I have found during my research into determining the orbit of a meteor using Doppler measurements is the conversion between geographical coordinates and rectangular, or Cartesian coordinates, also called ECEF (Earth Centered Earth Fixed) coordinates:

At first sight it seems easy: The earth is a sphere, so it only need a few sines and cosines. But later, when you need more precision, you discover earth is not a sphere, it is an ellipsoid, so things start to become problematic.

Linux and the future of desktop

These days I have been reading articles and opinions in the net about the new Windows 8. Why? Because Windows 8 is the starting of the end of the desktop as we know it. Windows 8 is the first step in Microsoft roadmap to unify all the current platforms (Home computers, tablets and phones) into a single interface.

But using the same interface into so very different devices means you can only use the lowest common denominator of all of them, in this case, phones. And this also means you must use your desktop computer in the same way you use your phone.