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Texas Bill Would Require Open Source Consideration

Skapare writes "The Texas Legislature now has before it a bill ( ASCII text here, PDF here), submitted by State Senator John Carona, to require the state to consider open source and open standards as part of the acquisition of software. Texas, like many other states, has a budget crisis going on. If this passes, I believe it could help the state save a lot of money. Texans need to make sure their state representatives and senators know they want this to pass."

10 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Open Source? More like Openly Racist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The Open Source movement, otherwise known as 'Free Software', has been a topic of considerable debate on the Internet's most controversial site. The majority of this debate has centered around the technical merits of the software, with the esteemed editors argueing against adopting Linux by employing the full depth of their considerable intellects, and the other side hurling death threats and similar invective. This has allowed many who would not otherwise receive quality information about Open Source software to be made aware of many of its ramifications, but one issue has been left alone: The overt racism that is deeply embedded in the movement.

    Allow me to explain.

    Alan Cox; Richard Stallman; Bruce Perens; Wichert Akkerman; Miguel DeIcaza.

    What do you see in this list of names? Are there any African-Americans on it? Absolutely not, none of those names sound like one a self-respecting black person would have! No Maurice, no Luther, no Lil' Kim. There are many other lists such as this, you can see one here. Flip through each page, do you see anything other than white faces? Of course you don't, because Open Source and its adherents are ardent racists and they absolutely forbid access to the sacred 'kernel' by any person of color.

    Lets look at another list, this time a compendium of the companies using Linux. Are there any black owned companies on that list? Nooooooo. How about these companies? They all have something to do with Open Source software, any of them owned by an African-American? No again. Here is an extensive collection of photographs from a LUG (Linux User Gathering) meeting, more can be viewed at that link. What is odd about these pictures, and every other photograph I have ever seen of a LUG meeting, is that there is not one single black person to be seen, and probably none for miles.

    More racist overtones can be found by examining the language of Open Source. They often refer to 'white hat' hackers. These 'white hats' scurry about the Internet doing good, but illegal, acts for their fellow man. In stark contrast we find the 'black hat' hackers. They destroy the good works of others by breaking into systems, stealing data, and generally causing havoc. These two terms reflect the mindset of most Linux developers. White means good, black means bad. Anywhere there is black, there is uncontrollable destruction and lawlessness. Looking further we see black lists that inform other users of 'bad' hardware, Samba, an obvious play on the much hated Little Black Sambo book, Mandrake, which I won't explain except to say that the French are notorious racists. This type is linguistic discrimination is widespread throughout the Open Source culture, lampooned by many of its more popular sites.

    It is also a fact that all Unix 'distros' contain a plethora of racist commands with not so hidden symbolism.

    It can hardly be coincidence that the prime operating system of choice of the 'open source supremacists' - Linux, features commands which are poorly disguised racist acronyms. For example: 'awk' (All White Klan) , 'sed' (shoot nEgroes dead), 'ln' (lynch negroes), 'rpm' (raical purity mandatory), 'bash' (bring a slave home), 'ps' (persecute sambo), 'mount' (murder or unseat nubians today), 'fsck' (favored supreme Christian klan). I could go on and on about the latent racist symbolism in Linux, but I fear it would take weeks to enumerate every incidence.

    Is there a single unix command out there that does not have some hidden racist connotation ? Suffice it to say that the racism pervades Linux like a particularly bad smell. Can you imagine the effect of running such a racist operating system on the impressionable mind ? I don't have to remind you that transmitting subliminal messages is banned in the USA, and yet here we have an operating system that appears to be one enormous submliminal ad for the Klan!

    One of the few selling points of Open Source software is that it is available in many different languages. Browsing through the list I see

  2. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    9 out of 10 Americans are impotent.

    1. Re:In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      That's great. But just think - there are 9 other Americans out there right now who are unable to spank their monkey. Or use the metric system.

    2. Re:In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Here and here.

    3. Re:In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      i think this was the one that 'finished' with...enjoy

  3. Beat you by a minute by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Now bend over and take in in the ass.

  4. Well.. by Jethro+On+Deathrow · · Score: -1, Troll

    I can honestly saw that they are not too concerned about that cost.... unfortunately....

    help! Insist that Texas only use the most costly software!

    I know, lets suggest that Texas should develope thier own OS... yeah! We'll call it TexOS. Maybe that will buy me a little more time.

  5. Re:Please also mention HB1899 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    just be glad the bitch isnt hitting you up for child support!

  6. Of course you don't get it, you're a republican. by BoomerSooner · · Score: -1, Troll

    Here's the republican party in a nutshell.

    We say we're Christian/Moral party.

    Christianity preaches turning the other cheek, we attack other countries preemptively.
    Christianity preaches helping those in need, we cancel social programs for tax cuts for the rich and corporations.

    Sounds christian to me. Fucking hypocrites.

  7. I'll tell a senator to support it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    My dad's a member of the Texas State Senate, and I'll be sure to tell him that I think this is a good thing.