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Audio Download: Linux Kernel to be on Radio

cyber_rigger writes: "The Linux Kernel is to have a (spoken) reading on Radio Free Linux and some other regular radio station throughout the world. http://radioqualia.va.com.au/freeradiolinux/ I guess this makes Linux offically 'free as in speech.' 'The Linux kernel contains 4,141,432 lines of code. Reading the entire kernel will take an estimated 14253.43 hours, or 593.89 days. Free Radio Linux begins transmission on February 3, 2002, the fourth anniversary of the term "Open Source."'" If only the mysterious numbers stations would open their source as well.

5 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. bahaha by Blymie · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Oh yeah, this is really useful :PPP

    Even art, if to be appreciated, has to be observed. If you can call this art.

    How lame ;P

  2. Why ??? by JohnHegarty · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Can anyone think of any reason for this?

    And does anyone plan to listen for more than 30 seconds?

  3. Only in the USA... by iangoldby · · Score: 1, Insightful

    (I know I'll get mod'ed down for this, but please don't just write this off as an anti-american troll before reading it. Some of my best friends are american.)

    Only in the United States of America could anyone think that this is a good idea. How is it that anyone can think that a symbolic action like this could change the reality of whether the kernal is actually 'Free Speech' or not?

    It strikes me as in some ways similar to those people who secretly walk along an overgrown and disused public right-of-way once every 20 years just to make sure it can't be closed down. It doesn't actually achieve anything - it's just fiddling about with legal technicalities.

    Why only the United States? Well, similar things might happen here in the UK, but we have not yet become quite such a litigation- and legally-obsessed nation as the USA. Also, the US preoccupation with 'free speech' is something most Brits just don't get.

    Ok, now watch all that hard-earned karma evaporate...

    1. Re:Only in the USA... by Howie · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As far is I know, speech isn't legally protected in the UK. The 'preoccupation' is that the constitution of the US is one of very few constitutions that works by restricting the government rather than the people, as I understand it (I'm neither an American or a political scientist) - this make it interesting, and worth following.

      Similar things do happen in the UK, and what happens is everyone grumbles about it for a while but not enough for things to change. Witness the handful of privacy/freedom restricting ("criminal justice/public order") laws of the last 10 years or so.

      --
      "don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
  4. What a waste of time... by weave · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This seems a horrible waste of resources. And what do they hope to gain or prove by this?

    I'd be more impressed if they steered the bot so it began reading out loud the DeCSS code and other forbidden code over and over. Then it really would be about free speech...