Gnomemeeting Closes the Source

daja77 writes "There is an announcement on Gnomemeeting stating that they are closing the source to be able to support tcpa and palladium. The gnomemeeting PRO version will be available for $50 tomorrow and GPL version will be discontinued."

Comments

For fuck's sake

[chrisseaton]

Give it a rest, Taco!

Re:For fuck's sake

[Anonymous Coward]

I second that. This is just fucking stupid at this point. If the stories were at least plausible, that would help, but they are just stupid. And the new TCP/IP RFC repeated 3 times was another stupid fucking move that only demonstrates the lack of creativity they have in screwing with people.

Re:For fuck's sake

[Anonymous Coward]

"TCP/IP RFC repeated 3 times"

4 times now

Re:For fuck's sake

[Ponty]

Come on, it's funny.

Re:For fuck's sake

[xanadu-xtroot.com]

Come on, it's funny.

It WAS funny.

Re:For fuck's sake

[dangerweasel]

How much shit have you assholes thrown at him recently about dupes stories? Guess he is getting his revenge. HA HA! Now get the fuck over it!

Re:For fuck's sake

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Give it a rest, Taco!"

How long have you been around? This happens every year on April 1st. If it bothers you, then mark April 1st on your calendar next year to take a day off from Slashdot.

Re:For fuck's sake

[NanoGator]

"And the new TCP/IP RFC repeated 3 times was another stupid fucking move that only demonstrates the lack of creativity they have in screwing with people."

Actually, it demonstrates that he listens to everybody's whining about the infrequent story dupes. He's not making fun of himself, he's winding up the overly sensitive ppl out there whose lives depend on Slashdot providing fresh content 20 times a day.

Re:For fuck's sake

[eht]

the problem is though, that there is some real news posted on some april 1st's, and it's sometimes a bitch to sort it out

Re:For fuck's sake

[Enrico Pulatzo]

Do you realize you're asking a man who goes by "Taco" to listen to reason?

Re:For fuck's sake

[Yarn]

I think that's the point.

To be honest, if you rely on slashdot for news then you probably deserve it.

Re:For fuck's sake

[Anonymous Coward]

No really, this joke sucks monkey dick. Much like
the asshoop who was in the pub tonight, but slightly more so.

Re:For fuck's sake

[meme_police]

Infrequent? If readers easily pick out dupes, why can't someone who's in charge of the place?

For real

[secolactico]

The sad part is, this is not an April Fools.

Re:For real

[bazmonkey]

Yes it is. 1) Can't happen. GPL guarantees stuff like this couldn't.

2) It's April fool's day. Trust us.

3) Oh, by the way, did you hear about that IPv4 header bit???

Re:For real

[aoteoroa]

Two clues this is another joke; quoted from the article:

1. We are proud to announce today (emphasis mine) the upcoming release of GnomeMeeting PRO.
2. We decided to close the source code of GnomeMeeting because we think it is a good way to produce more secure software.

Re:For real

[Gorny]

Yeah, the IPv4 header bit story rocked! :)

Re:For real

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong.

If everyone who coded the app agrees to commercialize it, then they can take thier own code and commercialize it. The previous GPL version is still GPL, and anyone can pick it up and keep coding. This goes for _every_ GPL app out there. The creators can choose whatever license they want at any stage of the game, they just can't retroactively relicense previous versions.

Re:For real

[deragon]

Mmm... regarding point 1, are you sure they could not close it?

I thought that as the copyright owner, you can change the license whenever you want. What has been released as GPL remains GPL, but if you do any new developpement, it falls under your new license, which can be closed.

The one thing I do not understand, what happens if other people contributed to the project while it was under the GPL? Do you have to remove their part of the code to relicense it?

mysql is good example of twin licences for the same code. But what are the implications and restrictions to go on like so?

Re:For real

[King of the World]

If the authors genuinely agree then they can release it under the GPL. If the authors can genuinely agree they can stop releasing under the GPL and release under another licence (that is 'closed').

Re:For real

[0x0d0a]

1) Can't happen. GPL guarantees stuff like this couldn't.

Wrong. Existing sourcecode cannot be taken away, but as long as the original and patch (if any) authors want to do so, they can close the source of any future releases.

This is exactly what happened to Tux Racer.

Re:For real

[div_2n]

Yes, future code could be closed but already GPL'ed versions would remain GPL'ed. So would any derivative works of a GPL licensee.

Since the orignating licensor doesn't have to have a license with themselves, it is their right to change the licensing scheme as they see fit. Licensing changes in this fashion cannot be retroactive since that would violate the original GPL license.

No, I am not a lawyer. That is just simple contract law that I have picked up here and there from the 4 people in my family that ARE lawyers.

Re:For real

[GiMP]

You can release code of your copyright under another license.

Many projects, especially those run by companies, have a contribution clause which says that if you add your code to their tree the copyright is transfered to them. This allows them to relicense the software.

If they do not own the copyright to contributed parts, then they must remove the contributed parts or have approval by the copyright holders.

Re:For real

[Anonymous Coward]

The one thing I do not understand, what happens if other people contributed to the project while it was under the GPL? Do you have to remove their part of the code to relicense it?

What I've seen some projects do is this. If your patch is short, it's probably not copyrightable, so they just take it. If it's long, you must assign the copyright to them. If the copyright is not assign, then yes, they would have to remove/rewrite it to change the license (or get permission from the author).

Re:For real

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they just switched businessmodel?

From:

1: Write free software.
2: ?
3: Eat a banana.
4: Profit!

To:

1: Write free software.
2: ?
3: Sell it.
4: Profit!

Re:For real

[ScoLgo]

Just in case you still have some doubts...

Re:For real

[Anonymous Coward]

Your family should be taken out and shot.

Re:For real

[axxackall]

If already GPLed code stays GPL, then everyone can clone it (still under GPL). Therefore the problem is not in the code, but in existing Gnomemeeting developers who won't work on GPLed code anymore.

So, let's just find new developers for GNU/Gnomemeeting then :)

Re:For real

[plugger]

"We decided to close the source code of GnomeMeeting because we think it is a good way to produce more secure software."

Hehe, very droll.

Re:For real

[Andy Dodd]

" Yes, future code could be closed but already GPL'ed versions would remain GPL'ed. So would any derivative works of a GPL licensee."
Note that future code can only be closed IF the authors have been assigned copyright rights to all portions of the code or all contributors have agreed to the closing.

i.e. if there's one line of code that hasn't had its copyright assigned and the contributor hasn't given permission, then the code can't go GPL (Until that line is removed, a la BSD and the AT&T copyrights.)

I've been involved with a project that did this - We originally released under GPL, and for various reasons it was decided to create a closed fork. Fortunately, we only had 2 contributions from outside of our research lab, and the authors of both of those agreed to going commercial. (In fact, I think one is getting money out of the deal.)

FYI, the project is at http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/cu30/

I love you Taco!

[Saint]

What a refreshing bit of news!

Re:I love you Taco!

[madfgurtbn]

I disagree. It is generally a Bad Thing when previously GPL code is turned into proprietary software. Unless you are trying to make money, of course.

Re:I love you Taco!

[sharph]

I know its terrible when they discontinue the GPLed code.

Unless its on the first of April.

enough

[minaguib]

is enough. There's something magical every april 1st that turns /. into a garbage can

Re:enough

[WD]

Is is really that much better the rest of the year??

Re:enough

[jagripino]

Dude... It's supposed to be funny! Enjoy it!

Really, it may not be you kind of humour, but I'm having fun with the discussions on /. today.

Re:enough

[RollingThunder]

Since you know it happens - why not just take a day off of Slashdot?

Re:enough

[Anonymous Coward]

GET

OVER

IT.

Re:enough

[YahoKa]

I'm addicted. Typing http://www.slashdot.org in my URL bar is instinct when i open my browser. Ack :S

Re:enough

[Anonymous Coward]

And just as magically it goes back to a recycling bin the other 355 days.

Re:enough

[dschuetz]

Since you know it happens - why not just take a day off of Slashdot?

Because they continue to post some real stories, too.

The novelty of April Fool's jokes (a fun RFC, an explanation of pigeon-ranking technology, etc.) wears really thin when there are a dozen of them in a row. Especially so when you have to figure out which stories are real in the middle of the other junk.

Slashdot is in a strange position with regards to these hoaxes. It's not, generally, a creator of jokes, but instead publicizes others' jokes for fun and comments. So, by definition, we see a whole lot more of them here simply because /. is an aggregator of other stories, by definition.

What was suggested last year was that there be one or two April Fools' "quickies" with links to a bunch of funny jokes, rather than trying to pass each and every stupid hoax off as a real story. Obviously, that's not happening this time.

On the other hand, I have to admit grudging satisfaction with the IP RFC evil-bit bit, since the joke is no longer the RFC story, but the fact that it keeps coming up.

I also think the slew of really off-the-wall Ask Slashdot stories is pretty good. They're crazy enough that you can recognize them right off as April Fool's jokes, but reasonable enough that they're actually generating some fun discussion.

But, really, the "post a different hoax every hour" model was broken last year, and it's just as broken this year.

Re:enough

[urmensch]

you should think about using that homepage thingy

Re:enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Especially so when you have to figure out which stories are real in the middle of the other junk.

I thought that was the whole point of April Fools. If there are no real stories and no confusion, it would just be stupid joke day.

Re:enough

[mark_lybarger]

Because they continue to post some real stories, too.

which version of /. were you brought up on? must have been before the ipv4 changes; slightly after gentoo migrated to rpm...

Re:enough

[cel4145]

that personal toolbar thingy in mozilla works nice as well.

Re:enough

[slyxter]

Just a little nugget of info but I am pretty sure that traditionaly April fools day ends at noon on April 1st. At least in England, but I am Canadian, so maybe I don't really have a point. d'oh

Re:enough

[dschuetz]

Because they continue to post some real stories, too.

which version of /. were you brought up on? must have been before the ipv4 changes; slightly after gentoo migrated to rpm...

Assuming for the moment that you weren't being sarcastic (it's late in the day for me so my detector isn't operating at full capacity), some stories posted today that appear to be legit:

* Humor in Times of War
* Can You Trust Microsoft on Security?
* Apple 12" Powerbook Review
* Peter Jackson Remaking King Kong

Some of the off-the-wall Ask Slashdot entries are obviously posted as jokes, but make interesting discussion anyway:

* CD-R Scents (I've always wondered this myself)
* "Corporation" loophole to music sharing
* Negative Skeptics
* Eyes as Cameras
* Possessed Technology (who hasn't had some?)

The "hoaxes," themselves, are pretty poor this year. None of them, really, pass the first glance test, and half the fun of being taken in is getting halfway down an RFC or something before you realize you've been had. The stories today (BSD distros merging, Enlightenment 1.0, etc.) are so far off as to not even invite gullibility.

Re:enough

[ry4an]

Don't you get it? Slashdot isn't making up these jokes, they're reporting them. I don't read the gnomemeeting website. I wouldn't have seen this joke. Now I have and I'm happier for it. Don't think of it as slashdot trying to perpetrate 10 different jokes. Instead, think of them as a joke aggregator finding the best of today for you.

Re:enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this, but isn't April Fool's Day traditionally only supposed to last until noon? Shouldn't they stop posting these at noon, at least in Taco's timezone? Where exactly is Taco's timezone? Does he have his own timezone? If not, maybe he should.

Re:enough

[Anonymous Coward]

"post a different hoax every hour" model was broken last year, and it's just as broken this year.

And Slashdot is broken all year long!

Re:enough

[revery]

Did you get that the whitespace language is also legit? I was skeptical at first, but it actually works.

Re:enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Strange. April 1 is the only day of the year I consider /. worth my time.

Re:enough

[Palshife]

Um, take a joke or don't read Slashdot today. I promise, you'll live.

Re:enough

[sepluv]

Especially so when you have to figure out which stories are real in the middle of the other junk.

Uhh you don't go to /. much on a normal day do you?

Re:enough

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the new Slashdot calendar. Years have 356 days rather than 365.

Re:enough

[tomhudson]

nah, it's just your crabby old parents (when we were kids) and teachers who said it (April fools) stopped at noon.

Re:enough

[Decimal]

You know, there are Alternatives if you don't like Slashdot's posters.

Or hey, you know what? Stay away from the internet for the rest of the day. Take a walk! It's beautiful outside where I am! Think I'll do that now.

Re:enough

[geekoid]

well, when you create your own site for linking to news, you don't have to do it.
Please try to remember that some of us actually have lives, so we're not refreshing slashdot 10 time a day just to get the latest story. Which, more time then not, you could get quicker if you just went to the site that usually get linked to:
CNN, NY Times, etc...

Now, go get laid and don't come back for a week.

Re:enough

[TRACK-YOUR-POSITION]

The problem with this kind of comment is that as stupid as Slashdot's April's Fools, complaining about this kind of stupidity is generally regarded as stupid seven fold, and complaining about this complaining, as you have done, is stupid seventy and seven fold. Which makes me stupid seven hundred seventy and seven fold. Whoops.

Re:enough

[mark_lybarger]

yes, i was being sarcastic. that was certainly the day for it.

Not that funny

[kalidasa]

Comeon, this isn't anywhere near as good as the working whitespace language. You're slipping.

About time

[Gunnery Sgt. Hartman]

Its about time somebody closed the code. All the bugs kept getting out and running wild. Fifty dollars seems like a fair price not having to put up with any more loose bugs.

How much more?

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean really. Get more inventive.

I cringe, I wince....

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot on April 1st. Bunch of arse mate...

~today ze omlette ees sheet...

This must be a joke!

[TopShelf]

I won't believe this story until it's been posted by CmdrTaco 3 or 4 more times today...

Re:This must be a joke!

[Gorny]

Of course it's a joke. Never believe anything you hear on April Fools Day... even if it's your mother-in-law die-ing of syphillus :p

you know...

[GI Jones]

You know, this one time, at band camp...

Re:you know...

[Anonymous Coward]

ROFL. Have a piece of pie for me.

Re:you know...

[Anonymous Coward]

I very much enjoy when alyson hannigan tells me where she put that flute. If only I went to that band camp...

Another one Bites the Dust!

[phalanx]

Damn, April 1st!!!!!

No really...

[Gortbusters.org]

I'd buy it! Heck, I'll throw a little money towards any quality linux project if it means good interoperability with other widely used apps.

Re:No really...

[SweetAndSourJesus]

put your money where your keyboard is :)

One Word

[Anonymous Coward]

Fork

Re:One Word

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe the word you're looking for is "fool"

Sure...

[big_groo]

We decided to close the source code of GnomeMeeting because we think it is a good way to produce more secure software.

Enough already.

It's bad enough I have to go to traffic court today.

Re:Sure...

[einhverfr]

Today is the first day of the year that you can get a ticket for driving with studded snow tires in the state of Washington... Whoever decided that a law should take effect every year on April 1 should be... well, it shoudln't be pretty.

"Sir, I have to issue you this $86 ticket"
"April fools, right?"
"No, sir, this is for real."

Re:Sure...

[Lxy]

Don't you guys get lake effect snow in Washington after April 1st?

Re:Sure...

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

I'm getting snow outside right now. Yes, I'm repeating myself, but Taco said it's ok, so don't mod me down.

Sigh...

[BrK]

These stopped being funny about 8 hours ago. Some were good, but now we seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

April 1st

[LordSah]

Is such a horrible, horrible day for viewing slashdot. I forgot until I just looked. See y'all tomorrow.

Re:April 1st

[ohchaos]

you think it's a bad day for viewing slashdot.... you should try moderating it..... *sigh*

Re:April 1st

[An Onerous Coward]

That's nothing. Moderators on April 1 can do no wrong. What about meta-moderation?

I clicked the "unwilling to moderate" checkbox last April 1, after being faced with the conundrum of metamoderating a "fr15t p0st" that had been modded +5, informative. I couldn't decide if the moderators were just being morons, staging a coup against the fake story overload, or just doing an April Fools joke of their own.

Yep, that was the moment when I realized, no matter how long I spent on /., I would never really get it.

LOL, good one!

[mahdi13]

We decided to close the source code of GnomeMeeting because we think it is a good way to produce more secure software.

Funny stuff! =)

Keygen?

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone have a valid serial for gnomemeeting pro?

Re:Keygen?

[insanecarbonbasedlif]

Yeah, I got one that works with the beta... I don't know if it'll work with the commercial release, but here ya go:

Username: Haxor4LiFE!
Serial: 1!NUX-VV4NT2-2B-FR33

Let me know if it works...

I didn't want it to come to this Taco...

[w1r3sp33d]

bad editor! -1 redundant, -1 overrated.

Jane!

[Dutchmaan]

..Get me off this crazy thing!

Please! I'll give you anything you want! No more April fools jokes.. I'M ONLY HUMAN! MERCY!

Look! There they go!

[Limburgher]

The monkeys! They aer flying out of my butt!

Seriously, tho, can't discontinue the GPL version of anything. That's like /.'ing Freenet.

Re:Look! There they go!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes you can, provided you are the orginal author, you can change the license of your code. It has happenned, actually.

Of course, nothing prohibits someone from forking from the last GPL release, but you can close the future releases.

ha ha, well now...

[xao gypsie]

you know....people were stoned back in the day for such blaspemy, and at least on guy got nailed to a cross for it. for shame, taco, for shame...he he.
good one, tho....
xao

Re:ha ha, well now...

[digifuzz]

well, if you ask me, it looks like some people are still being stoned..

right about now...

and then posting ridiculous crap..

i wish i was stoned. this stuff might be funnier.
although i have gotten a few laughs today.

follow-up april fools story

[frenetic3]

Linux Developer Gets Laid

Re:follow-up april fools story

[dissy]

hehe win-ho... Now that article was actually funny!

Re:follow-up april fools story

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but slashdot never posts any bbspot stories.

Lame

[nutbar]

This is the lamest April Fools joke so far.

The idea with April fools is that you're meant to *fool* someone. This is so far fetched they could have said that the president has been replaced by a babbling ape and more people would believe it.

No, wait...

Re:Lame

[ultramk]

This is so far fetched they could have said that the president has been replaced by a babbling ape and more people would believe it.

...so you're implying that hasn't already happened?

m-

Re:Lame

[idfrsr]

Actually current experts believe that he was replaced specifically by a chimpanzee.

Curious george... I just haven't figured out who the man in the yellow hat is....

HAR HAR HAR!

[TheFrood]

Get it? They closed the source... to an open source project. That's what's so funny!

TheFrood

Gnome Eating

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anybody have a good recipe for gnome?

impossible

[kinsoa]

If the base is GPL, all futher developpements are GPL.

what they can do is :
- re-write Gnomemeeting from scratch, and it will not be Gnomemeeting anymore
- keep the main dev tree, but write some modules in closed source. But so the Gnomemeeting core will still GPL.

So the title of this article is wrong.

Re:impossible

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes you can, provider you're the author. You have all copyrights over your code if you claim it, so you can do with it wathever the fuck pleases. You. Including changing the license of future releases.

Re:impossible

[Anonymous Coward]

if the base is GPL, all futher developpements are GPL.

Not if you are the holder of the copyright, in this case you can do proprietary forks. It is only people who don't own the copyright that are limited by the license.

re-write Gnomemeeting from scratch, and it will not be Gnomemeeting anymore

This is only necessary when you donate your code to the FSF...

keep the main dev tree, but write some modules in closed source. But so the Gnomemeeting core will still GPL.

Well, once again, unless you own the copyright, the GPL prevents linking (aka Modules).

Support likeminded developers

[mdielmann]

I for one welcome our insect...I mean gnomish...overlords...

Profit?

[faaaz]

1. Release under GPL
2. ???
3. Close Source
4. PROFIT!

Then go hide from all the horrid posts today.

Re:In other news

[jeffasselin]

No. At least this way you KNOW it's all jokes. And who knows, they might slip an occasional real story in between, so keep watching!

Wake up America!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wake American US citizens. Our "democracy" is fault, "we're a free country" a propaganda campaign.

Iraq started selling oil in euros last year, coincidence? Our government bombs innocent people in iraq for the sake of cheaper oil. (Puts *at will* another government at its place and they think THAT's democracy?)

Therefore, our current governments are nothing more but puppets in the play of corporations.

Our big tv channels nothing but Public Relations propaganda.

Our precious countryside farmers nothing but put aside by synthetic food sellers.

Wake up america

It's really, up to us.

No it's really, up to us.

Re:Wake up America!

[TopShelf]

whooo!!! hahahahaha... that's the best April Fool's post I've seen today!

April 1st makes Slashdot even more useless

[blitzrage]

OK, a joke or two is fun, but when the entire website is useless for an entire day, it gets tiresome real quick. Why not at least make the story obviously a joke an hour after it's been posted.

sure am glad...

[rj-eleven]

...i didn't pay for a subscription to this hole. You subscribers should demand a refund for today.

GPL

[TheSHAD0W]

Well, all GnomeMeeting needs is a few good coders, and the free version can be forked. (And if you're interested, I suggest you grab 0.96.1 before it's withdrawn from the web site.)

Jesus Motherfucking Christ!

[Anonymous Coward]

Will all you whiny, pathetic little cum dumpsters quit fucking complaining about the stories today? Jesus Motherfucking Christ on a stick! It's a joke, people! Get the 2x4s taken out of your asses and LAUGH!

Seeing a pattern?

[tourettes]

So....BSDs merge and Gnomemeeting closes the source...so that should bring us right back to evil bits....any bets?

Not the day...

[Selfbain]

... to be believing anything you hear. Shut down your minds and tommorow erase all record of today.

You think /.'s april fools day is bad?

[PissingInTheWind]

Look at The Onion! They are also pulling a "all news are bogus" day. Man, where am I supposed to get informed today then?

I guess I'll have to rely on good old trusted news from fark or bbspot.

SHITTY PROPAGANDA

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you notice how low profile projects are abusing of this day with fake news to improve their popularity?

and do what?

[SweetAndSourJesus]

go outside?

now who's joking with who here?

Re:and do what?

[RollingThunder]

I wasn't talking crazy talk now... I just mean something like go spend the day on kuroshin or fark or something other than slashdot.

Outside? Gods, that's... that's just... inconceivable.

Re:and do what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you keep using that word? I do not think it means what you think it does.

Re:and do what?

[SuperQ]

On the U of MN campus, it's very nice outside today.. Might have to get my soccer ball out and kick it around after work.

Re:and do what?

[Eudial]

There is something outside? I always thought that from my doorstep and beyond there exists nothing but a void. You step into it and start falling... and falling... and falling... and falling... (you get the picture). How come nobody ever told me this before?

Re:and do what?

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

Heh. It's fucking snowing outside where I live. Yay Canada!

Please stop

[cyclist1200]

Man, this is worse than last year.

Hah!

[DarkKnightRadick]

Another reason why Linux s0x0rz!

Windows will rise up to crush the penguin!

Junis?

[stratjakt]

Do you remember him? Remember his harrowed tale of the afghani technology void? Remember how the editors looked like a bunch of absolute morons?

THATs what a hoax is about, making the victims of said hoax look like fools. Thats what april fools day is about.

Not telling stupid unfunny jokes.

Face it. The trolls run this joint. You can't compete with them on their level. I mean, if "gnome is closed source!" and "evil bit!" are the best you got, well then just give it up and go back to your anti-america flamebaiting.

ROTFLMAO,SMP!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

(Hint...the MP stands for "my pants").

keep feeding the system troll -np

[Anonymous Coward]

12313123

Re:not funny

[swordgeek]

Just a point here. While it's true that /. posted a link to an April Fools joke, the joke itself is GnomeMeeting's. The *BSD merger is the same thing.

So in its own way, /. isn't actually playing ANY April Fool's jokes--they're just going about their business as usual, and the rest of the world is providing the material.

another one bit the dust ;)

[Anonymous Coward]

if only they implement that 'evil' bit

fork christ sake!

i know... pun intended. today is slashdot day

Oh yeah

[bartash]

Oh yeah, and anti-social mobile phone users could be punished with an electric shock if prototypes from a design company go into production

Lame

[haplo21112]

Lame---Lame----Lame.....

Where is the lameness filter when we need it....

If this wasn't April Fools...

[MoeMoe]

If this ever became real... I could just imagine:

Borg Gates: Resistance is futile, close your source, you will be assimilated

BSD Deamon: Never! I'll use my pitchfork of power, and my feather pen of code to destroy you Bill!

Borg Gates: There's cash involved, lots of cash... Join the collective, resistance is futile

BSD Daemon: Hmmm green backs, or red devil source code... Oh hell with it! Las Vegas, here I come!



Luckily this could never happen since devils (and daemons) don't really have souls to begin with :)

More entertaining news

[teamhasnoi]

here

In Other News...

[SlipJig]

The Onion is posting *real* news today...

you know what would be a good joke?

[Ender Ryan]

... if next year Slashdot didn't post ANY April Fools news jokes...

Only 1 joke by slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

stop complaining about all the april fool jokes. There isn't much serious news today anyway (no company would do a press release today) and besides that, all the newsitem jokes are NOT made up by slashdot but they're just linked stories. The only april fools joke by slashdot is the evil bit one.

I know it's a joke, but...

[fudgefactor7]

Fine by me, I don't like Gnome anyways...

these guys come crazy

[Anonymous Coward]

I dont know why these guys turn to non gpl :( bad news for voip

Taco

[Bendebecker]

Newsflash dude: None of these stories are funny. They are stupid. So stupid in fact that the word stupid can't possibly encompass them. Moronic perhaps or just plain idiotic don't do them justice either. If these stories were posts they would be modded down as flamebait, redundent, and your user account would probably get canned. If there is any descent fragments left in your sadistic montor-tanned mind, you will cease to posts these w`orthless pieces of crap that you call funny stories to slashdot.

Re:Taco

[mark_lybarger]

Newsflash dude: All Your Whines Are Belong to Us.

Duh!

[awgriff279]

April fools jokes really shouldn't be so fucking obvious.

Saddam surrenders

[Anonymous Coward]

Die yankee warmongers, oh wait i see you already have made a start

hahah enjoy the bodybags along with your tax cuts !!

Whats your April Fools Story?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.beyondgeek.com/viewthread.php/110.html

I'm sick of april fools jokes! if us slashdot readers wanted to see the fake news, we'd be at the onion!!

What day is it?

[DarkRecluse]

I'll believe this one when Microsoft opens up its source code to the Chinese Government!

>:|

Do you sense that the scales of sarcasm and irony have forever been trampled?

This site has a pretty good April Fool's history...

http://www.resexcellence.com

Re:What day is it?

[rusty0101]

Do you mean that you will believe it when Microsoft releases "OpenWindows (TM)" and reports that all the doors have been secured?

-Rusty

merge?

[drgroove]

wait! I heard gnome & kde were merging? oh wait, that was *bsd...

still amusing, tho... at least /. can have funny articles on 4/1... google didn't run anything today, neither did yahoo, etc ('cause of the war in iraq); at least /. is a place where you can find a laugh today, since its somewhat immune content wise from politics, etc

what next, tho? maybe "RedHat Linux purchased by Microsoft" or "Sun opens source code to Solaris" ... how 'bout "Cowboy Neal finds a job" :)

Don't forget IPv6

[TheViffer]

We have not seen a slashdot article about this future enhancements in store for it!

*waits in anticapation*

Re:Don't forget IPv6

[Coz]

Duh! You obviously haven't read the entire RFC - there's a 128-bit field in there to denote whether the packet is evil for each segment of the network (like DDoS) or evil end-to-end, and to indicate relative strength.

-1, Offtopic.

Re:Don't forget IPv6

[TheViffer]

Umm .. ... VRRRRROOOOOOMMMMM ...

Thats the sound of the joke flying way over your head ...

test

[Anonymous Coward]

test

Re:test

[MasterRa]

You're radio's working..

What is Wrong With You People?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have never seen such a bunch of humorless, callous scabs. Even for one day you can't drop the whiney, elitist, socialist dogma and have a laugh. I can't believe some of you are actually seriously criticizing Taco over the duplicate post joke. It was a little self-deprecating humor. It was cute. Laugh, you self-absorbed, soulless, pedantic nerd-bots. You people are probably the kind of irritating dweebs who fidget constantly and correct people's English as they speak. Your idea of a joke is to torture and maim those who cause you to only slightly deviate from your daily routine, and those who deviate in any way from your New World Design.

Loosen up, you pinko-fascist dorks. The bullies who picked on you in high school are long gone, or have forgotten about you. You don't have to exact your revenge on the world any longer. And don't try to hide your inner psychological torment over Taco's marriage. You are all frustrated, for there is no Kathleen Fent in your empty, meaningless lives. You are jealous because she has taken Taco's full attention away from you. Admit it, your plans for molding CmdrTaco into your socialist-programmed agent of evil (with the proper TCP bit set) are in shambles.

Give it up and join the human race. And drive an SUV to get there, we don't have the time to wait while putter along in your hybrid vegetable oil/fish flatulent green-mobile.

DUKE NUKEM FOREVER GOES GOLD!!!!

[wickedj]

Here's the link

EGADS!

[jav1231]

Wow! That should piss off, what, 10-20 people?! >

Re:EGADS!

[Anonymous Coward]

I read that there were 300 downloads/day. The fact that not everybody wants to do videoconferencing/VOIP, doesn't mean that nobody is using the software. It has a large userbase, and we are several in my uni to use it daily. Sorry dude, but you suck, go back to Winblows, it is your place.

Mod Points on April Fool's Day...

[plnrtrvlr]

I guess the jokes on me isn't it?

Gee, thanks for the slashdot-effect

[Sebby]

you don't even need to have any news in order to get slashdotted anymore...

Ohh my god

[wulffi]

I can't believe it, at long last the hardcore open source people see the light and begin charging for their hard work..

........ hey wait a tick......

2003-04-01...................

ROFL

Why

[Anonymous Coward]

How come no one posted anything about the new security RFC,3514?

Oh Lord!!

[trailerparkcassanova]

That's the best April Fools joke ever. That 'Taco is such a cutup. He's gone over-the-top on this one!!! What next? Microsoft to aquire Sun Microsystems? Har, har.

Boring

[Anonymous Coward]

Are there going to be any "real" stories posted today?

keep it up, Taco!

[sharph]

I don't know what problem these people have, other than that people get angry easily when you get them good.

- Sharp

I am speechless

[Kwelstr]

I am without speech! Get out!!!!

(Seinfield impression)

Re:I am speechless

[Anonymous Coward]

Sienfeld went on far too long as well. People need to learn when to just fucking stop!

Re:I am speechless

[Anonymous Coward]

Its 'Seinfeld' you fucking train wreck.

Re:I am speechless

[GnarlyNome]

OH! so your the mime.Lets get the biomass and get wasted (you bring the pizza)

The scariest part...

[jjn1056]

I believed it for a few seconds.

Having just returned from a focus group where a bunch of VP level types thought that Paladium was something they'd be willing to pay $500 bucks a box for.

Damn, I keep forgetting...

[Edward Teach]

that today is April 01. Fuck, I need my blood pressure medicine.

Mommy! Mommy! Make it stop!

[n9hmg]

I mean - come on! I love April Fools as much as anybody.

I'm Outraged!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is un-frikkin-believable! I'm stunned, shocked, outraged, livid, and whatever else I can think to say to sum up how utterly disgusted I am at their inconceivable ignorance! This just proves once again that Microsoft are a corporate dictatorship not only trying to, but in fact succeeding in eliminating any and all attempts at innovation, not to mention stifling any chances of actual secure code ever being released into .... huh? April what day? Shut up, can't you see I'm ranting here. This is far more important an issue than some silly holiday ..... oooooh, I see.

Um, please disregard the above post.

MOD PARENT UP!!!!!!!

[Picass0]

tsia

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

your .sig

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it's supposed to be "cold and bitter".

But maybe that's just me.

fooled me

[g4dget]

I actually thought this was the April's Fool story on the GnomeMeeting home page :-)

Another good example of KDE/GNOME collaboration and interaction

This just in...

[Prof.Phreak]

In an unprecedented generosity, Microsoft has licensed Windows source code under the GPL, and has subsequently created a source-code download link on their website. A new non-profit organization, windows.org has been established to work on the project.

Who would have thought...

[Alternity]

that at one point the most serious part of /. would become the poll!

Thank you.

[Anonymous Coward]

Needed to be said.

Boy do I feel dumb

[dracocat]

I actually believed it untill I started readed the messages...

I know it's a joke, but...

[Maxwell'sSilverLART]

I think it raises an interesting question. What would happen if the source were to be closed? The simple answer would be to fork the code at the last open version, but how well would that work? Presumably the maintainers of the closed code (as the ownwers) would maintain ownership of the name; they would also have the reputation. What would be the ramifications for the open fork, and what would the legal implications be? How would it affect perception of OSS in general? It's an important question to consider, I think.

Was this supposed to be funny?

[Anonymous Coward]

It isn't.

TROLL!

[Anonymous Coward]

;) Just kidding.

Re:TROLL!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I was, but I got modded to informative +1. Slashdot is so weird...

bottomquark.com

[Anonymous Coward]

Correction, bottomquark.com.

jesus!

[gdav]

Let it be April 2nd, now!

Man, you almost got me a heart stroke...

[adilsonoliveira]

I just sent an email with a business proposal about ltsp servers and communications over a lan and one of the itens was...yep, gnomeeting. Now I know what cold sweat is :) Adilson.

Heh...

[fok]

You got me with the enlightenment stuff, but this is just too absurd...

sorry my english

TCPA != Palladium

[blenderfish]

TCPA isn't evil.

Thank you;
You may now continue April foolin'.

for fucks sake .....

[trouser]

1. You can't close source a GPL program. It's a violation of the license. Surely this applies to the original author as much as anybody else. Besides, all previous releases of the code are still available under the GPL so all it would take is for keen developers to hijack the project and it breathe new life into it. Give it up for the GPL.

2. I hate April 1st. I hate Slashdot on April 1st. I hate that where I live it is 10am April 2nd but I'm still reading these stupid April Fool's Day stories. The Slashdot editors seem to live in this little USA bubble immune from awareness of the outside world. I'm sick of polls that are not only stupid but also irrelevent to me because there is no answer suitable for a person who doesn't live in America. And most of all, every time I type './' at a shell prompt I ask myself, 'Where did those bozos get slashdot from anyway, it's clearly dotslash ?' I propose that right thinking people the world over unite in opposition to Slashdot, that we rewrite slash code in Python (I really don't like Perl. I've used it. It's ok. There's better ways of getting the same thing done. It reads like line noise. I think Larry Wall is high on goof balls. I'm not trying to start some kind of Python v. Perl flame war. ), register dotslash.org and run a fairly moderated open minded news site with no Microsoft advertisements, an acceptance of the exitence of the world outside America, no repeats of the previous day's stories, fewer stories about miniscule updates to the Linux kernel, less Apple brown nosing, even more Microsoft bashing and, most important of all, it will be 'News for Geeks'. I find the term Nerd highly pejorative.

Sorry. I really needed to get that off my chest.

Buh-bye!!

[pair-a-noyd]

Eat shit Gnome! Never liked you anyway.
KDE 3.1.1 gives me a stiffy anyhow...

GPL?

[craesh]

Good joke! Hey, but think about it: as I have understood the GPL, a GLPed program can never become closed-source.

Hell no!

[Anonymous Coward]

The april fools jokes might not be that good, but there is no way in hell I am going to kill my IQ and sanity by reading the inane drivel from fuckups and k5tupid.

Last Post!

[alpg]

Meantime, in the slums below Ronnie's Ranch, Cynthia feels as if some one
has made voodoo boxen of her and her favorite backplanes. On this fine
moonlit night, some horrible persona has been jabbing away at, dragging
magnets over, and surging these voodoo boxen. Fortunately, they seem to
have gotten a bit bored and fallen asleep, for it looks like Cynthia may
get to go home. However, she has made note to quickly put together a totem
of sweaty, sordid static straps, random bits of wire, flecks of once meaniful
oxide, bus grant cards, gummy worms, and some bits of old pdp backplane to
hang above the machine room. This totem must be blessed by the old and wise
venerable god of unibus at once, before the idolatization of vme, q and pc
bus drive him to bitter revenge. Alas, if this fails, and the voodoo boxen
aren't destroyed, there may be more than worms in the apple. Next, the
arrival of voodoo optico transmitigational magneto killer paramecium, capable
of teleporting from cable to cable, screen to screen, ear to ear and hoof
to mouth...

- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...