Slashdot Mirror
Hall On Worldwide Open Source Movement
adamsmith_uk writes "There's an article up on ZDNet
summarizing an interesting speech from Jon "Maddog" Hall about non-US open-source, as well as protecting open-source from 'looters' - well worth a read: 'The open-source development community is an international treasure and should be protected as such, said veteran Linux advocate Jon "Maddog" Hall, in a talk in Birmingham, UK, that emphasized the role of open-source software outside the United States.'"
stfu
By its very nature, open source is available for anybody to use. Why would somebody using an open source code be called a 'looter' ?
to the "looting" of the Iraqi national museum (at last count, 33 pieces, not tens of thousands), I guess the open source community is pretty safe.
"And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman." "Hello." "Good boy."
Not trying to be a troll here, but it just seems to me that if you were to take open sourced software and released it closed source, unless you did it in the US, you would be fine, right? But how can all those VCD Dealers in Malaysia get busted by the Motion Picture Association of AMERICA?
I think the real legal threat to open source is the fact there isn't a huge legal padding fee behind them, hence the Open/Free (yes they are the same) software, no money exchanged.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
You release the code, you risk getting it stolen. Simple as that.
The open-source development community is an international treasure and should be protected as such
Exactly! And what do you do with international treasure? You bury it away in some dingy, windowless room where no one will ever find it, without an visitors.... to prevent it from getting stolen, y'know.
Hence all OSS developers really need to be locked away in.... uhh ehrmm... oh, NM.
Many IT decision-makers have a herd mentality (e.g. nobody was ever fired for buying Cisco routers). Open Source use passed a critical mass a while ago and enough of the herd is heading in that direction now that the obvious advantages outweigh the fear of the unknown. It's continued acceptance is a foregone conclusion at this point.
You euro wussies can keep pussing around with open source, surrendering to terrorists, and dragging the global economy down.
Don't worry, we here in the USA will bail you out and save your asses every time, whether using Microsoft products or our superior military force.
And get no gratitude from you in any case. You ungrateful lazy slobs... Stop biting the hand that feeds you, someday we might decide to stop saving you from yourselves....
outside the U.S.? does he mean Canada? or that other place to the south? Mex Co. something?
F/OSS advocates have to stick together. Divide and conquer still works, lo these many centuries later.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
The best protection open source can get is US legal precendents. The defeat of SCO would be a good start, then a decision upholding the GPL so that it gets taken seriously.
This would not only protect OSS, but allay the fears of fence-sitting businessfolk.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
Does anyone else find it amusing to see "Maddog" every single time his name is mentioned?
I've not been a Maddog for sometime, but a few years ago I said I was thinking of becoming a Maddog, and since then some people have called me "Maddog".
Maybe it's just me..
I wonder if the use of "looters" is intended to point towards the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged.
Casting the Free software movement in the mold of objectivist capitalism might be an interesting thought experiment.
If proprietary software vendors are the "looters" the intellectual efforts of those who can for the sake of those who cannot, it turns a lot of the corporate FUD on its head.
It's continued acceptance is a foregone conclusion at this point.
Dear Sir,
Your attempted use of the possessive pronoun "its" is incorrect. Literally, your sentence has the following meaning:
"It is continued acceptance is a forgone conclusion at this point."
Clearly, this does not make any sense. The correct usage is "its", and not "it's". Please remember this for future reference.
Sincerely,
Grammar Nazi
Because open-source software is in the public domain, support was provided by local engineers, creating Brazilian jobs, Hall said.
WTF?!? It's NOT public domain.
Hall seems to know what he's talking about, so I'm going to guess that the article author - Matthew Broersma - did a botch-job in paraphrasing him. Note that this comment isn't actually in quotes, unlike four other comments attributed to Hall.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
I'm sorry for posting this but I just have to express that Jon just has to be the cutest linux luminary out there. Is he single?
Speak truth to power.
Anyway, I realize the speech was about something else and this quote was probably selected because of its topical nature (or the reporter's leanings), but the story has been well disproven as a falsehood seized upon by the media in their frenzy to discredit the US and the UK. I'm surprised to see the "thousands and thousands" version of the story, intended to swing public opinion against the Iraq war, still being referenced.
"These treasures were created over tens of thousands of years, and all of a sudden, because of the lack of foresight of a few greedy people, a lot of them were removed from the world," he said. "The world has to decide whether or not to send in troops to guard this free and open-source software, to protect it for the world's use."
Even The Guardian has backed off of the earlier story.
If you want a right-wing source instead of a left-wing source, try WorldNetDaily which was published more than a month before the Guardian one (it helps to use multiple sources).
And even if the original version of the story had been true, I could really care less about some museum pieces compared to the lives of the US and UK military, the Iraqi people, the Kurds, etc.
Linux International seems to have gone dead. It was amazing how LI was able to protect the Linux name from the insane US trademark system. But the LI web site seems to be complettely stagent. Instead of taking a stance on SCO's attack on Linux and Open Source, the LI web site continues to praise Caldera/SCO as a Corp. Sponsor.
When the source to the system you are employing is open to all, you have an advantage that cannot be matched by the closed-source vendors: The possibility of having someone local (and cheap) help support your system. It's standard, it's known, it was probably studied at school. Compare that to closed-source where you are dependent on the vendor or its designated partners for support.
Now as the article says, if you are a large corporation you might want to hire another large corporation for support. That's their right, and it's fine. But if you are a small company, or an entity with limited funds (such as a non-profit), it's nice to have the choice to get a local guy to help out instead at greatly reduced costs, and possibly even better quality if he or she is enthusiastic about the program in question.
Open as in free. Can't beat that advantage.
The open-source development community is an international treasure and should be protected as such
John can hide the entire open-source community in his beard to protect it and keep it warm.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
RMS has done alot of great service towards free software but he is a fanatic. Just read India's communist newspaper for more info . His comments on the SCO case show he does not care about the Linux kernel being fudded out of corporate America. He only cares about his precious gnu and views Linux as not part of it or just a kernel. This shows his radical side because he hates anything corporate.
I shudder whenever he opens his mouth. He really does make us in the free software community look bad.
Maddog however cares about Linux acceptance in corporate America and is in favor of other non gpl ( or non free according to RMS ) OSS like FreeBSD.
I wish people would look up to Maddog as the opensource leader instead of RMS.
http://saveie6.com/
A a aa aal aalii aam Aani aardvark aardwolf Aaron Aaronic Aaronical Aaronite Aaronitic Aaru Ab aba Ababdeh Ababua abac abaca abacate abacay abacinate abacination abaciscus abacist aback abactinal abactinally abaction abactor abaculus abacus Abadite abaff abaft abaisance abaiser abaissed abalienate abalienation abalone Abama abampere abandon abandonable abandoned abandonedly abandonee abandoner abandonment Abanic Abantes abaptiston Abarambo Abaris abarthrosis abarticular abarticulation abas abase abased abasedly abasedness abasement abaser Abasgi abash abashed abashedly abashedness abashless abashlessly abashment abasia abasic abask Abassin abastardize abatable abate abatement abater abatis abatised abaton abator abattoir Abatua abature abave abaxial abaxile abaze abb Abba abbacomes abbacy Abbadide abbas abbasi abbassi Abbasside abbatial abbatical abbess abbey abbeystede Abbie abbot abbotcy abbotnullius abbotship abbreviate abbreviately abbreviation abbreviator abbreviatory abbreviature Abby abcoulomb abdal abdat Abderian Abderite abdest abdicable abdicant abdicate abdication abdicative abdicator Abdiel abditive abditory abdomen abdominal Abdominales abdominalian abdominally abdominoanterior abdominocardiac abdominocentesis abdominocystic abdominogenital abdominohysterectomy abdominohysterotomy abdominoposterior abdominoscope abdominoscopy abdominothoracic abdominous abdominovaginal abdominovesical abduce abducens abducent abduct abduction abductor Abe abeam abear abearance abecedarian abecedarium abecedary abed abeigh Abel abele Abelia Abelian Abelicea Abelite abelite Abelmoschus abelmosk Abelonian abeltree Abencerrages abenteric abepithymia Aberdeen aberdevine Aberdonian Aberia aberrance aberrancy aberrant aberrate aberration aberrational aberrator aberrometer aberroscope aberuncator abet abetment abettal abettor abevacuation abey abeyance abeyancy abeyant abfarad abhenry abhiseka abhominable abhor abhorrence abhorrency abhorrent abhorrently abhorrer abhorrible abhorring Abhorson abidal abidance abide abider abidi abiding abidingly abidingness Abie Abies abietate abietene abietic abietin Abietineae abietineous abietinic Abiezer Abigail abigail abigailship abigeat abigeus abilao ability abilla abilo abintestate abiogenesis abiogenesist abiogenetic abiogenetical abiogenetically abiogenist abiogenous abiogeny abiological abiologically abiology abiosis abiotic abiotrophic abiotrophy Abipon abir abirritant abirritate abirritation abirritative abiston Abitibi abiuret abject abjectedness abjection abjective abjectly abjectness abjoint abjudge abjudicate abjudication abjunction abjunctive abjuration abjuratory abjure abjurement abjurer abkar abkari Abkhas Abkhasian ablach ablactate ablactation ablare ablastemic ablastous ablate ablation ablatitious ablatival ablative ablator ablaut ablaze able ableeze ablegate ableness ablepharia ablepharon ablepharous Ablepharus ablepsia ableptical ableptically abler ablest ablewhackets ablins abloom ablow ablude abluent ablush ablution ablutionary abluvion ably abmho Abnaki abnegate abnegation abnegative abnegator Abner abnerval abnet abneural abnormal abnormalism abnormalist abnormality abnormalize abnormally abnormalness abnormity abnormous abnumerable Abo aboard Abobra abode abodement abody abohm aboil abolish abolisher abolishment abolition abolitionary abolitionism abolitionist abolitionize abolla aboma abomasum abomasus abominable abominableness abominably abominate abomination abominator abomine Abongo aboon aborad aboral aborally abord aboriginal aboriginality aboriginally aboriginary aborigine abort aborted aborticide abortient abortifacient abortin abortion abortional abortionist abortive abortively abortiveness abortus abouchement abound abounder abounding aboundingly about abouts above aboveboard abovedeck aboveground aboveproof abovestairs abox abracadabra abrachia abradant abrade abrader Abraham Abrahamic Abrahamidae Abrahamite Abrahamitic abraid Abram Abramis abranchial abranchialism abranchian Abranchiata abranchiate abranchious abrasax abrase abrash abrasiometer abras
The Brazilian Bank he cites is the bank I have an account. (http://www.banrisul.com.br) ;)
So don't slashdot it, please. They had Linux ATM's for about 2 or 3 years.
I did RTFA and, while Hall indicated that looting of open source is a potential problem, he did not seem to me to be proposing any solutions. IMHO, the most important "protections" are to closely circumscribe software IP:
* ban software patents;
* allow enforcement of software copyright only where irrefutable evidence of infringement exists;
* provide a cheap, fast track method of dealing with frivoulous claims;
* free legal aid for non profit open source providers, but making deliberate misappropriation of IP a criminal offence.
You know, LI and Caldera/Lineo were best buddies for a long time. The original Caldera founders (Bryan Sparks and his friends from Novell) were good honest-to-goodness people who wanted to make Linux and OSS happen. But things started to degrade when Ransome Love replaced Bryan, and now SCO has nothing of Caldera left in it. Caldera was a good company (good as in benefactor of the community), got the first successful commercial Linux distro out back in 1995 (if I remember correctly), then got shafted by RedHat over RPM, then pretty much missed all the opportunities that could have made them great, and now they're just plain aggressive idiots.
In short : John Hall must feel like he's walking on eggs here. SCO isn't at all the Caldera he was talking to back in the good days. I wonder what ties remain between LI and SCO, and if they could be severed for good at last.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
The analogy to Iraqi stolen treasures may be misplaced. While initially there were reports that thousands, or, as Maddog says, "a lot of them were removed from the world," later reports in the NY Times and Wall Street Journal put the number of verified pieces missing at 25 in one piece I read and 33 in another.
It turns out that the museum staff stored hundreds and thousands of pieces in their homes, and more valuable pieces had been stored in bank vaults since the first Gulf War. I don't have the Times/WSJ links, but a quick google search turned up this article and this article confirming those basic findings. The later article does mention larger numbers for "minor" pieces, whatever that means.
(On second thought, maybe the analogy holds: lots of sound and fury about stolen IP, followed by findings that very little was taken...)
--LP
Nationalism.
I think this is the greatest strength of the OSS movement. When a government or country is going to invest millions of dollars into IT, doesn't it make sense for that money to be kept local? Munich signed SuSE, a Germany company. It only makes sense.
The great thing is that this fragmentization is a strength of OSM. A lot of small companies all working on OSS independantly, but all of them providing benefit to each other. It is a system where competition makes everyone stronger.
-Eyston
The city of Munich, for example, recently bought an installation of several thousand Linux desktops from German Linux vendor SuSE.
No mention of the cost. Any estimates?
Why not download a totally free distro and burn it to CD assuming you have the in-house resources? A donation could be made in return.
"ALL the way up in your little sister," Momma insisted. Momma had
caught the two of us "making out." We weren't really fucking or anything
like that, just feeling each other up, and kissing, and stuff like that.
Momma caught us. Boy was she mad! After yelling and screaming, calling Lori
a slut, and me even more unmentionable names, Momma finally calmed down. Or
at least, she seemed to. What she did next, I still find hard to believe.
At first, I figured that Momma had cracked. You know, gone over the edge.
Loony-bin. That stuff. Well, I guess Momma cracked all right. Cracked right
out of her shell. Inside, Momma is a very kinky lady, and I guess she had
been holding it back for years. Anyway, once she realized what we were
doing, Momma decided (probably correctly) that no matter how much she
screamed and hollered, we probably wouldn't stop sneaking around and
playing with each other. So, she decided that if we were going to play
around, we might as well do it right. In fact, that's what she told us.
"Huh?" I said. Lori's mouth was gaping too. "I said, if you're going to
fuck around with your little sister, you might as well REALLY fuck her, and
do it right." I still couldn't believe what I was hearing. My staid, prim,
old-fashioned mother, actually TELLING me to fuck my own sister? No way!
Momma had just started, however. "You're not on the pill, are you?" she
asked Lori. "Momma!" You could tell by the tone, that my little sister had
never even thought of such a thing. I mean, you don't go on the pill,
unless you PLAN on being fucked. Lori was still a virgin. Momma semi-
apologized, "Well, you never know. Some kids get them from school, or
the free-clinic. They aren't allowed to notify parents any more, unless the
kids tell them to." Momma looked at Lori even closer. "How long ago was
your last period?" she asked. Lori thought a bit, then responded, "I dunno,
about two or three weeks ago. Somewhere in there." "Good," said Momma. "Now
why don't you two get undressed, and do this properly." "Steve," she said,
turning to me, "if you're going to fuck your little sister, you'll both be
more comfortable on the bed." Momma WANTED me to fuck my sister? I looked
at Momma in astonishment. Momma's face clouded up again. "NOW!" she said,
making us both jump. "I'd better see nothing but two naked bodies in your
bedroom Lori," she said emphatically, "in two minutes, or you're both going
to be sorry!" If there's one thing about Momma (Or Daddy, for that matter.)
she doesn't threaten lightly. Lori and I were moving before Momma finished
her threat, shedding clothes as we went. By the time Momma made her slower
way into my little sister's bedroom, we were both naked as jaybirds, and
sitting on the bed waiting. Momma STILL looked annoyed.
"Well, what are you two waiting for?" she asked. "I told you Steve, fuck
your sister. What's the matter, do I have to put it in for you?" she asked
sarcastically. "But Momma," wailed Lori, "we don't have any condoms! That's
why we were just feeling around." Momma looked as if she were going to blow
her top. "Not in MY house, you don't," she exploded. "As I said before, if
you're gong to fuck, you're going to do it right. Now get started, or get
out!" Momma looked as if she meant it. Well, at 15, I sure wasn't ready to
leave home, and if I wasn't, my little 10 year old sister wasn't either. We
looked at each other and shrugged. Well, if that was what Momma wanted,
that's what she would get. If my little sister had a baby, well Momma asked
for it. Somehow I knew that Momma would be overjoyed, if Lori showed up
with a big belly. Lori lay on her back; and I put my cock inside her. Yeah,
just like that. No foreplay, no sucking cock, no twiddling her twat. Just
up and stick it in. After all, that was what Momma wanted, wasn't it?
Besides, we had gotten hot and slippery enough, before Momma caught us.
That, and the thought of actually fucking my littl
> non-US open-source, as well as protecting open-source from 'looters'
What an illusionist. Open Source == freedom for looters!. It doesn't matter what own visions Maddog has what matters is the license you put your stuff under. If you release your software under the freeticket of GNU/GPL (which many people blindly do) then you can't do anything against it from not being looted by other people. And what can you do about it? To say the truth, you can do a shit about that. As soon as you release your intellectual work as open source, as soon someone else is able to take your work, derivate it, code around it, release it as source again. And how can you be sure your code, routines, ideas are not being used in close source as well? Can you find out?, can you prove it?, can you do something against it? nothing.
I think that Maddog (with respect to him) only want's to create a similar heroic position for himself such as RMS did years back. Like 'Hey listen, I have said something'.
Declaring yourself to be an international treasure has to match just about any feat of ego from any celebrity. Naturally, such a declaration will suck in support from hordes of wanna-bes that have their identity tied up in some software, so it will be quite popular. But it's still pretty laughable.
If you think about it for a bit... about a tenth of a second should be sufficient in most cases... no.
Copyright violation is not stealing. Let's all say it together: copyright violation is not stealing. It's just copyright violation.
What SCO is doing, however, is attempted theft (although not in the conventional sense). They're trying to take the IP for themselves, so no one else can have it (at least without paying SCO). This is taking from someone. Not just making a copy for themselves without permission. This is theft, not copyright violation.
His use of the term is almost ironically correct.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
the gay purple dragon clicks his red high heels together and waves his happy magic wand and grins a toothy grin.
ask yourself this question: have you ever went underground to visit the vile world of rotting feces steeped in urine and the roaches and other sick bugs that dwell in this strange underground world? This could make a great place for vacations. Imagine receiving postcards with pictures of festering crap in the background. Wish you were here! I think if everyone visited the depths of the sewer systems in groups, we could safely come back to the top and breathe easier knowing there's so many little creatures dining on precious feces.
SCO claims their IP and even their source code was stolen and placed in Linux. Now this guy claims SCO is a bunch of looters. Give me a break. Also, in his analogy, he criticizes the US for not anticipating the looting of Iraq's museum, but doesn't bother to criticize the looters themselves, many of whom worked for the museum. Given that he can't even identify the real villians in his Iraq example, it's no surprise he can't idenitfy the real viliians in the SCO vs. IBM case. You can now commence modding me down.
Vote for Pedro
And soon he will be arranging suicide bombings until everyone calls it GNU/Linux and not Linux.
The open source movement is finally allowing the computer industry to build a shared pool of intelectual property which can be used to build new and innovate solutions. This has happened in the past in other industries for example the Chemical industry were the trade secrets of yesterday are the textbook examples of today. I think a law that allowed software to be declared "public domain" and forever protected from lawsuits/patents etc etc would be a good thing sort of like a reverse patent. It would allow the computer industry to finally join the rest of the world industries based on a shared core set of technologies.
And Germany is huge supporter of TERRORISM!
There is at least one secretive, DoD centric, left-nameless US government agency that strongly dislikes open source because they don't trust it. Then, if it was developed by someone in a foreign country, that's even worse. Getting the package accredited could take months. (Sorry Guido)
And this organization knows who they are. Just say the words "Please approve Samba" and they all clam up and start fighting amongst themselves. Forget getting that package approved.
Say the words "Please approve Windows Office [current year]" the same week it comes out and you'll get an answer back the same day saying approved. Say "Please approve [name of US vendor] [name of commercial product]" and you'll probably get an approval the same week.
Never mind the gaping holes every one knows exist in Internet Exploder and Outlook. They are approved without concern. Ask for anything OSS and it will take some video footage of you jumping on your grandmother's grave to convice them you'll lock it down because it's your production system.
They obviously don't read anything Bruce Schneier has to say in his Cryptograms. Lots of companies sell snake oil or never put a patch out when the exploits are alive in the field. It's just that the OSS one's are a little more visible.
Long live paperwork!
This approach can have massive benefits outside the United States--the country where most proprietary software originates--allowing greater price flexibility and a focus on specialized needs, Hall argued.
ZDNet generally sucks. It's doubtfull a free software advocate would really say that. Free software has the same massive benifits inside the US as it does outside the US. The Free Software Foundation is headquartered in the US, Richard Stallman, Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens are US citezens. Chances are that Hall mentioned that some software makers in the US might not be happy if free and open software supplanted their eXPensive wares and ZDNet inflated it to that. Software developers, like other profesionals, have long transended national boundaries. Only a maddog would think that US citezens and businesses have something less to gain from free software than someone in the UK.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Quote: "The open-source development community is an international treasure and should be protected as such..."
I strongly agree with that statement.
When you take work someone else did, claim it's "derivative" and then keep them from using it, you are indeed a theif. SCO would essentially be destroying the original copy for the author as well as violating the author's intent for the software to be free.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,974193 ,00.html
You can go on with your screaming about evil companies.
Yes indeed, that occurred to me also. *nix is a code_whore and very, very generous.
The current OSS climate in Australia is interesting. At the same time as one state (South Australia) is proposing legislation to use OSS "wherever practicable", another state (Victoria) is giving Microsoft $80000 to promote .NET use.
Net-enabled society goes too fast for old-school rules to keep up.
All throughout history, the name of the game has always been to keep the young punks down and hoard the fertile females in an "old boy accomodation" system that works out to the satisfaction of the meanest sonofabitch. Until it becomes their time (after the old farts start to lose it, the young progenies push their luck), the great thunder and lightning are threatened.
Anthropology 101.
"Today, people cannot get a workaround or a bug fix for the software they have paid for. This is a sad comment on the way we think about software," he said. nothing to do with open source or paid support or anything else. it's called configuration management. you can't have that fix because it depends on these other fixes, and those need to be installed xxxx way, and that other software is not ready to go, etc. it's the most difficult problem in software development and it has not and can not ever be completely "solved".
Now I have an excuse to put my commas outside the quotes when it makes more sense. As an American, that's always bothered me.
I would simply note that in addition to bug fixes, there are workarounds.
When I was first using Word98, which is as buggy as anything [as are subsequent versions], there were major bugs that *I later on found out did have workarounds*, but Microsoft was busy trying not to acknowledge them.
There was a huge cost to that.
Usually, for Linux bugs, such as on CUPS, if you have a bug, you post it. Someone else posts a workaround same or next day, and you go on your way.
...for OSS.
I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at a gov/mil meteorlogical database conference in San Diego a couple years ago, back when I was still wet behind the ears w/r/t Linux, and he had a very positive impact on me. Interestingly enough, throughout the conference there were several individuals who kept inquiring about a timeline for when the DoD was going to approve various Linux platforms for installing various "segments".
The article in Znet did seem a little too processed to properly convey Hall's stance, but the one thing I focused on was what he said about being smaller international firms being able to capitalize on local technical knowledge.
Also, what he said about proprietary ("one-size-fits-all") vs open source (customizable) should be the ultimate argument in favor of open source. As much as I don't like ideologues poisoning the debate trough, a lot of this debate is clearly ideological. Pro-proprietary software supporters (I should say conformists) are just plain suspicious of the idea of something of great value being produced by individuals who collectively enjoy creating a quality piece of software. Most corporate types are still thinking hard-and-heavy machinery-type capitalism, where physical components are "assembly lined" and then fitted together. They just can't see the fluidity of software. It's freaking soft for the love of God!
THey were profiting from the Free Developer's
work, while contributing almost nothing. Now
they turn around and start suing the hands that
feed them for many years.
It is more like as if you after supporting financially
a stranger for many years, one day he decides
to sue you claiming that you stole from
him! Caldera/SCO are not just looters, they
are not just parasites, they represent the
worst of humanity. Our jails have kinder inhabitants
than the SCO group of thugs.
Ok, I'll agree that Caldera stood for something and deserved to be listed as a corp. sponsor at the time they where put on. But what does it take to get removed?! What is LI's 2003 goals/charater in regards to GNU/Linux and what is SCO/Caldera's 2003 goals in regards to GNU/Linux. To what extent are those goals in agreement and to what extent are they in disagreement. Is there any point in which the goals of a company disagree enough with the charater of LI that they can no longer be considered a member?!?!
This is a very strange comparison to make. OSS _is_ commodity software, by its very nature. You cannot get more commodity than perl, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Linux. Open standards are the only basis for true commodity software: TCP/IP, HTTP, etc.
Commercial software is not a commodity, it is the opposite, a corral in which users are captured and bled.
RMS' of course predicted the "Looting of OSS" (or rather was one of the first lootees) and this is why the GPL is so important. The looters become part of the movement.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Perhaps he doesn't know where Linus came from.
The U.S. IS THE problem. Look between your own feet
before talking about what you see around you.
Maddog indicates that legal shenanigans like the SCO suit are similar to the looting of the Iraqi museum because a few people bent on immediate profit are wrecking goods worth a lot more, in the long run, to the public at large.
Um, this happens all the time. Like it or not, it's part of our society. Capitalism does this. That's why we pass laws which act against immediate profiteers in favor of protecting, say, national parks.
Now, the first national park in the world (Yellowstone) was established by Congress in near-record time (for the day) back in the 1870s, when photos taken by William Henry Jackson of the territory that would become the park were printed up and sent to every member of Congress. And in the 1870s, the Wild West was in full swing. The Mining Act, which permits squatters to file mining claims on land they don't own, is also a product of that era, and a more Libertarian law (if that's not a contradiction in terms) would be hard to find.
But the only solution, in a capitalist society, to profit grabs which would result in great public harm is to pass great public laws against them. That's what the RIAA claims the new copyright laws do - keep the squatters off their land. The fact that a lot of people don't think it should be their land in the first place didn't pass muster in Congress.
So assuming Maddog's point is valid, what's to be done about it? Give every member of Congress a Linux system? I'd laugh a lot. Linux doesn't pass the "Mom" test or even come close. They'd scream for their Windoze boxes back.
Maybe Apple should send them all G5s...
Oh no! SCO and Microsoft have won!
I have no reason to live...goodbye, Slashdot!
[ ] I agree with that statement
[ ] I neither agree nor disagree with that statement
[ ] I disagree with that statement
[ ] I strongly disagree with that statement
[ ] I would like to kill whoever made that statement
[ ] This statement is not relative
This isn't a vote here - imagine if all the comments to this story were one of the above choice - it'd be pretty dull, wouldn't it.
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It's Fascist, not Nazi...
Ethics is what you say you do. Morals is what you actually do.
I hate myself for this, but:
[ ] Cowboy Neal is all the treasure I need
Do you like Japanese imports?
So what you are saying is that we need to change our herd mentality to a GNU/herd mentality?
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.