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First of all, the argument against GPL is primarily a moral argument. GPL is a product of socialist thinking that completely misunderstands how the FLOSS marketplace works, and tries to use "intellectual property" laws (thereby legitimizing them) to hurt "evil corporations". GPL is a gun, and one that is becoming more and more dangerous with every version. It is hypocrisy to call restrictively-licensed software "free".

Secondly, you are wrong on the pragmatic side as well.

Read a bit of UNIX history, will ya? BSD was entangled in legal FUD at just the very time when Linux was taking off (1991 to mid-1994). By the time BSD became BSD-licensed, Linux was the buzzword of the year. This avalanche of attention was great enough to allow it to overcome its licensing handicap.

If your premise was correct, then we'd be seeing a trend of other permissively licensed (copyfree) projects being leapfrogged by restrictively licensed (copyleft) ones, but in reality it's the other way around. The smartest new projects tend to use permissive licenses instead!

The Apache license hasn't stopped Apache httpd from dominating all potential GPLed alternatives over the years, and now it has been supplanted by the even more permissively-licensed Nginx. We've seen popular scripting languages go from copyleft (Lisp, Perl, SpiderMonkey) to almost-copyfree (PHP, Python) to fully-copyfree (V8 / Node.JS, relicensed Ruby, Lua, Go, alternative PHP and Python implementations, etc). Mozilla has been leapfrogged by Chrome. MySQL is slowly beginning to lose market share to PostgreSQL, SQLite, and the various copyfree NoSQL alternatives.

GPL still dominates only among the software projects that were "grandfathered in" in the 1990s, when most people uncritically accepted GPL as "THE open source license". This includes the Linux kernel, mplayer, the popular widget toolkits, and things based on top of them. (The BSD people were geekier than the Linux people, and thus didn't rush to create things like GTK+.) The popularization of HTML5 with copyfree media codecs (and eventually HTML6+, with NaCl, etc) will help the copyfree world leapfrog in the latter two categories.

--libman

http://robert.accettura.com/blog/2008/09/03/aboutinternets/

This is a common suggestion, but I don't think it would work for https. If you want to create a new protocol called "httpe" that doesn't claim to provide authentication, it might be ok, but would still have the "false sense of security" problem.

Not true. I got the impression it was more of pragmatic decision: FF is the application that is making the big impact on the web. With its ~15% and growing market share, it is causing web designers to write standards-compliant sites. This in turn makes life easier for Opera, Safari/KHTML, and any other standards-compliant browser without the market share to get designers to care if their sites are compatible with it. The success of Firefox allows Mozilla to effectively push for new web standards and so enable the next generation of web applications (like the new <video> tag). Remember that MS only restarted work on IE because it started losing market share, largely to FF. It only makes sense for an organization to focus its resources on where they make the most difference.

FF has generated lots of excitement from users and developers, resulting in lots of extensions and web apps being written for it; the same hasn't happened with Thunderbird (TB). It could be that TB, as it exists now, isn't the right solution for managing email. The new TB org is talking about creating a unified framework for all communication, managing IM with email with social networking sites together. That might be a better approach.

Also, the work on TB was largely orthogonal to work on FF, upon which the Mozilla Corp. had come to focus on, so it made sense spin it off into a separate organization; this gives TB more independence and control over itself. I don't know why this wasn't mentioned more, but Mozilla gave the new TB organization $3 million in seed money--more than the Mozilla Foundation itself started out with--and says it may give more later if the organization can't find alternative revenue sources.

See this FAQ for more info on the split. For more information on what is actually going on in the new mail organization, read this blog post. Basically, they are now trying to hire developers and figure out the best plan to move ahead.

A while ago, people also got angry at Mozilla for no longer supporting the App Suite. Well, Suite supporters continued work on it through their own community project called SeaMonkey (with the Mozilla Corp. still hosting the project). They've since completed significant code rewrites that many thought would be impossible, and are getting ready for an ambitious v2.0 release. The Suite is being better taken care of than before, and that's without any funding.

Google had no say in the matter. See this blog post for a debunking of a CNET article similar to the one mentioned by the poster. If Google were to stop supporting FF, I imagine Mozilla could just as easily make a similar deal with another search engine. Even if Mozilla lost all revenue sources, its reserves of $70 million (at the end of 2006) means it could operate as is for a while; that gives it independence. With the millions likely to keep coming in for some time to come, I wonder if they might set up some kind of endowment.

Thunderbird is not dead, and David and Scott are leaving Mozilla, but retaining their roles as module owners of Thunderbird.

http://robert.accettura.com/archives/2007/10/08/thunderbird-in-crisis-no

http://standblog.org/blog/post/2007/10/08/The-future-of-Thunderbird

http://robert.accettura.com/archives/2005/12/19/fi refox-myths/

I'd mod this flamebait if I already didn't post a reply elsewhere on this thread. Here's a very thorough reply from a Firefox dev/contributor: http://robert.accettura.com/archives/2005/12/19/fi refox-myths/

One of the Mozilla related blogs I read suggested filling search logs with useless data if everyone does this in the same query then both the search engines and the government will know we don't find this acceptable.

George Bush Rapes America Porn

I asked for it when I woke up. I asked for it later in the day... and I got it!

I'm thrilled. I just hope the people get some cash, and not just lawyers.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I just blogged earlier this morning that they should be compensating users financially for the trouble they have caused. And/or face some criminal liability.

Seems like the only way to rid yourself of their blunder is to wipe and reinstall windows. IMHO users should be compensated for that.

There's absolutely no way that Sony didn't realize the risks associated with using a rootkit. It's been covered here before (among many other places, typically regarding spyware). So we can safely say they knew what risk existed.

They were just hoping everyone was to dumb to realize what they were doing.

Am I bias or just looking to attack Sony? No, definately not. I didn't get this garbage, heck I'm not even a real music fan, so the whole thing is a null as far as I'm concerned. To be honest, I like Sony hardware. So I'm not a anti-sony jerk taking advantage.

I just know I hate reformatting my computer because windows got screwed up, and I know what I'm doing and can do it quickly. There's quite a few people out there with this garbage installed on their computer... and some don't even realize what's going on.

Come on Sony... open up your wallets and compensate them for your blunder. You knew what you were doing was wrong. You did it anyway. Now compensate. If it were up to me, your execs would be in jail for a year or two for hacking, since that's effectively what you did.

I really don't want Sony to get off free here. Just think about what the next one is going to try and get away with. Just wait until version 2.0 includes a keylogger to ensure you don't transcribe the lyrics.

Come on Feds... don't back down.

Well, I got a screenshot/mockup for anyone curious I think there's a fair chance this is accurate.

In places where electricity isn't cheap (such as cities)... it's cost effective to upgrade to LCD.

They have a higher up front cost, but when used 40hrs a week (and many employees leave computers on 24x7 with a screensaver)... the savings in electrical consumption make up for the cost (some say as little as a year, some say about 2 years).

When you have a larger company with 500-1000 computers, each with a display... if you can cut 1000 units down 50%... that's a considerable savings.

Some companies during the blackouts in CA pushed laptops. Not only did it encourage people to do a little work on weekends... but it cut down on power consumption in the office.

A display can last through several CPU's. The technology doesn't change that fast. Unless your a graphic artist it's irrelevent. A 7 year old 19" CRT is just as good as one bought today if it's taken care of. For most users the really subtle differences don't matter. By an LCD today, and your investing in the next several years. Get one with DVI/VGA input, and your in good shape for most users. Just swap out the CPU's every so often.

It's not just about space savings. It's cost savings.

The other thing to note is that CRT's contain a few pounds of Lead, mercury, and other hazardous materials. Several states have (or are proposing) disposal taxes for CRT's. So in the future throwing one out may cost you some cash. IT departments are well aware of this. Throwing out 1000 CRT's at $50 a pop.. that's $50,000 in additional costs.

I wrote a paper that discusses this a bit last year for an Environmental Biology course (incorporating my Business MIS studies). You can find that here. It discusses the environmental impacts of the CRT among other problems. LCD's aren't perfect, but they are much better.

I participated in some offers from Gratis Internet, and it did work.

I got my free iPod
I got my free mac mini

They lived up to their reputation. You can see my blog posts on getting a free iPod here. I did my best to cover every step... including the waiting.

What I found is you typically will wait about 3-5 weeks after you complete the requirements, until something ships.

But they do ship... and I have yet to pay a penny to complete an offer (there are typically 1 or 2 completely free ones).

I'm currently looking at getting a Sony PSP, so if you want to help make my bounty 3: Here's the link.

Ok, I admitted to being a geek a long time ago, but here's what I'm thinking:

Take Apple's new MAC Mini, which is 2" in height (slightly over 1U). Put several of them on a metal tray. Why? Because it can become a makeshift blade server. Granted your limited to Firewire, USB, and 10/100 Ethernet. Regardless, for rather low cost, you can get some decent power. All with 2U of rack space. IMHO that's pretty cool. Looks like it's a pretty simple way to get a cluster. You could even use it for some decent web hosting. 1 as a DB server, 1 or 2 as an Apache server, and perhaps a squid proxy. Mail, DNS. Each could have their own redundancy. All in 2U of rack space.

That's amazingly low cost for having so many CPU's, and being able to spread out your load on several physical systems.

If I had the cash, I'd give it a go. :-D

I got this via email the other day, and decided to post it for others to see:

Tsunami Scam

Sounds like a nigerian letter, but with Tsunami mixed in there.

I took a stab at it, gave it a go, and a writeup.

I decided to blog rather than post it here, so I can edit/modify corrections as necessary.

Microsoft AntiSpyware, a first look

I'm personally disappointed. I see signs of bad policy more than bad software.

I seriously got mine from freeipods.com. I documented the entire thing (play by play) on my blog:

Free iPod Posts

That query will display just my free iPod posts. I posted as quick as I can, so the dates are very accurate to the actual events. Even a few photos posted at the end.

I did sign up for a freeflatscreen, though haven't completed the requirements for that one (if you want to see blog posts for free flat screens... help out :-D ).

All I can say is: I got mine. I have no idea about everyone else who participated, but mine came to my door. So for me, it worked.

Just my $0.02

What will they think of next?

Here's a mirror of the page.

Mirror

Payments go through: sspitzer (@) sspitzer.org just as the original page (he's collecting for them).

Well somethings here prove America has serious issues with freedom of speach.

May want to read why Harry Potter is being attacked in so many places.

Then read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/272 2077.st m

Even the Vatican approves of it!!!

I've went over a few of these on a blog post

this is ugly.

I wrote a paper about how some of this stuff is impacting the environment not to long ago. I thought I had an idea, ends up the actual numbers are WAY higher than I ever would have thought.

http://robert.accettura.com/archives/000380.shtml

for anyone interested.

It was an Environmental Bio paper, for my gen ed lab requirement. I'm a Business MIS/Comp Sci student, so like all students in the class, you orient the paper towards your field.

I read it, and agree that the web could be better, and they have some great ideas on how to do it...

But some things just drive me nuts, so I decided to sit down and blog it.

If the can't manage to do it, what makes them think the world will do it?

They have always been fans of backwards compatibility... but not in a very fundimental sense.

I'd rather a form control not appear properly to NN3, than a large chunk of the web be unable to view my content.

Just my $0.02

I wrote a paper on Environmental Impacts of Technology Waste for anyone interested. It's a general paper discussing the issues from an environmental point of view, rather than a pure geek or business point of view... though written by a geek.

It's a general read, no serious background needed, not to technical. Just a general FYI I did for a gen-ed biology class last semeseter.

I wrote this the other day, if anyone is interested:

It's time for an international standard on Instant Messaging

If it's a cobranded version of Windows themed to look like Aqua... I'll shoot myself in the face with my own d**k.

But seriously. I'm hoping for better performance (always a plus), gui enhancements, and perhaps making Safari use Gecko rather than KHTML?

yea, I'm a Mozilla geek.

But it's actually critical to consider the switch. As in the news, Microsoft is looking to really lock users into Windows. So Mozilla and GNOME are working together to create a free alternative to use Avalon, XAML.

So it may be critical for Apple to either forge a relationship with Mozilla, or get KDE cracking away.

Either way, I predict something along those lines. I've got to think about the options more, and perhaps blog later.

I decided to do a little research on this law today, and here's my conclusion.

IMHO were better off today with nothing, than this new bill.

IE is no longer being updated for Mac OS.

Dual 2.0 GHz machines, not just the procs.

I see nothing wrong with M$ keeping abreast of the market. It is the smart thing to do.

by updating your code. I updated http://media.accettura.com last night to use a JS method recommended. Seems to work in all browsers I tested at the the moment. No dialog from IE's new release... only difference is JS is now required to see the object. But I don't think many people have JS still disabled.

http://www.chaosmint.com/mac/vt-supercomputer-2/

"Project started back in February; secret with Dell because of the pricing issues; dealt with vendors individually because bidding wars do not drive the prices down in this case"

BLOW ME DELL!!!!!

HA HA HA HA HA. Jobs must really love reading that.

Just blogged it. It's a quality quote.