EC Dumps Open Source Conference

jaruz writes "MERIT is no longer organising the conference on the topic of Open Standards and Libre Software in Government at UNESCO Paris, November 24-26, 2003. Until now, MERIT was responsible for the logistics and through the FLOSSPOLS project, EC funding for the conference. This is now wholly withdrawn. They 'have taken this decision in consultation with the European Commission, whose support for this conference was earlier being provided through the proposed FLOSSPOLS project at MERIT.'"

Comments

Michael == faggot

[Anonymous Coward]

hmmm or is it: michael eq faggot

Re:Michael == faggot

[fussman]

The amazing Web Tre script is running here. Ask it anything.

It's good to see

[Anonymous Coward]

That Europe is still being vigilant against the scourge of Communism.

I FLOSS MY ANUS WITH OPEN SOURCE

[Anonymous Coward]

AND I'VE GOT STINKY ON MY HANGDOWN.

tant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent

tant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be senttant Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account. Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent

Sounds like...

[Black Art]

MERIT still has their subscription to Forbes.

Re:Sounds like...

[fussman]

The amazing Web Tre script is running here. Ask it anything.

agerggregaeg

Re:Sounds like...

[passthecrackpipe]

Or maybe MERIT has simply discovered a serious discrepancy between their diverse interests, and are now going after the money. Don't forget that the patent-loving side of the EU seriously despises the "open source posse". Also remember that the whole premise of Open Source in Government is a serious nightmare for companies throughout Europe. Barring a good and plausible explanation, I figure they were simply bought out.....

Re:Sounds like...

[redhog]

Not all companies... I for one work for a company that would love to see free software in all public organizations - especially if the configuration and support was done by us :]

And we're not alone - from what I know, there are plenty of FS-companies in germany and some in the other EU countries too (hm, in my town in Sweden, I thenk there are 5 or so FS-based buissnesses).

The only ones NOT wanting this are US companies like M$...

wtf?!?!?!

[Anonymous Coward]

why did they do that? aren't communists for open source?

I did it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Post this biatch!

What is thier reason?

[incom]

Why are they pulling support? If it's because they don't have the extra money, you can't really blame them. Same goes with lack of interest. But if this is some sort of anti OSS stance they are taking, then it's something to be concerned about.

Re:What is thier reason?

[Anonymous Coward]

The amazing Web Tre script is running here. Ask it anything.

hgkjhgkjhgkjhgkjhgkjh

Normally....

[Anonymous Coward]

...I would blame Canada.

But today, IT IS FRANCE's FAULT!

Stupid French! I spit out your wine!

Huh?

[tsa]

Maybe it's good to check the links first before putting a story on /.. I could not find anything about the EC dumping this when I followed the link. I would expect it to be on the MERIT website! Therefore as far as I'm concerned this is an unconfirmed rumour and thus no news.

Re:Huh?

[Gerv]

The reason there's no links is because the quoted text was an email (which everyone who signed up for the conference received.)

Gerv

Microsoft must be behind it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on, isn't it obvious?!?!?! They're behind everything! Don't forget to re-run lilo and adjust your tin foil hat!

Re:Microsoft must be behind it!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've already rerun lilo and my foil hat is on just right. The question is, have you patched your system, reapplied your service packs, and rebooted the system? Good. That buys you a few more weeks worth of peace of mind. Isn't Microsoft grand?

Re:Microsoft must be behind it!

[ScrewMaster]

Actually, tinfoil is a suboptimal solution for preventing brainwave interference from orbiting government mind-control satellites and alien spacecraft. You see, it doesn't allow for proper ventilation, and if worn on very hot days is very uncomfortable and can contribute to heat stroke. I use screen wire bought at the local hardware store. It makes a great Faraday cage which, according to my FCC-mandated RF testing is just as effective at the standard mind-control frequencies as tinfoil, with the added bonus of free movement of fresh air around my head.

Re:Microsoft must be behind it!

[Mr. Jaggers]

Hmm... sounds like TEMPEST research to me! Too bad you can't find out for sure (the specs are classified, of course). Well, ignorance is no defense; send in the black helicopters!!
(don't forget to grab his wire hat before you flip him to the Grays... ;)

Re:Microsoft must be behind it!

[Anonymous Coward]

MS isn't perfect, but you look like ass in your tinfoil hat.

It's all greek to me...

[DataPath]

The FLOSSPULLERS recently withdrew their BRIKNIT from this year's HoseCon. The resulting void has opened a gaping rip in the Plesk market.

Re:It's all greek to me...

[JohnLi]

I'm with you. I usualy get all of the posts to some degree, but I'd have to spend too much time at dictionary.com to figure this one out.

from MERIT's front page

[Anonymous Coward]

"Our research and teaching focus on the economics of technological change and innovation."

yeah.... and now your research and teaching focus on how to change your focus according to lobby groups and political climates. Weak bastards, if you're going to do something, do it. Don't pull out at the last moment because you are scared or whatever. OSS is the hottest stuff re: "technological change and innovation" and open standards are more so. They have backed away from their research interests, and I wonder why.

I certainly won't be holding them in any esteem - their theory is based in economics so this is not surprising. Economics departments are not exactly intelligent when it comes to theory or recognising the role and position of the university in public life and a capitalist system.

In fact, I will take this opportunity to dis economics in general as a discipline. You cannot be critical, in any sense of the word, when you are still tied to capital. Intellectuals in the humanities have moved light-years ahead of their economics counterparts in theory of society. Economics is one aspect, ignore all others to the detriment of your own theory.

There is nothing critical about economics, they are given more prestige than they deserve (any prestige is too much). It is just a speculative, poorly theorized discipline that struggles to keep up with modern theory - it is no surprise they can't handle issues of technological change and innovation.

Re:from MERIT's front page

[Anonymous Coward]

Before someone calls me a raving liberal arts loonie who doesn't know what I'm talking about...

The economists make the same mistake the marxists did, i.e. reading society purely through capital. I am not saying capitalism isn't important, but it most certainly isn't the only thing which constitutes society - OSS is proof of that.

The post-marxist theorists (Antonio Gramsci and the Frankfurt school thinkers in particular, not Mao, Lenin, Che or any other "pop" icon your average protester adores who are in no sense of the word "intellectuals") realised marx had placed too heavy an emphasis on deterministic nature of the means and relations of production - he had only added "civil society" as an afterthough in his theory. When faced with trying to figure out why the revolutions predicted by Marx hadn't happened they started to think that maybe there were OTHER FACTORS. This is a fairly simple realisation, which economists have NOT MADE.

The discipline of "economics" is defunct, there is no such thing as economics "aside" from society. The study of society as-such (as capital) reinforces the notion that society is only made up of economic parts.

Sure, you *might* find token references to cultural studies, critical theory, political theory and postmodern philosophy in economics... but on the whole these things are ignored, which is a political act in and of itself.

I have no doubt economics departments will continue to be popular with middle and upper class students who see it as a pathway to a certain kind of lifestyle and society. This does not mean that their theory is good, it is stale and out of date. What I am trying to do here is steal their prestige, because for one reason or another people seem to respect these economic "think tanks" but in reality they are nothing more than quasi-intellectuals who train people with certain codes and practices (people who then go on to become politicians etc and make societies decisions based on the same logic... anyone see a loop? a political problem with their theory?).

Anyway, we all knew deep down economists are a bunch of scumbags, I am just filling out the details.

Re:from MERIT's front page

[leerpm]

Anyway, we all knew deep down economists are a bunch of scumbags, I am just filling out the details.

Looks like you are trolling, but I'll bite anyways. By the way, when you have to resort to insults, you know that your argument is weak. If you paid any attention to modern economic theory, you would realize economists do acknowledge there are many external factors. They just do not try to include them in their theory and models because they overly complicate trying to understand what is going on. Remember, economics is *theory* not some golden law like the Law of Gravity.

Re:from MERIT's front page

[Anonymous Coward]

No I am not trolling I truly hate economists and the respect they receive.

And yes I mentioned economists have token references to the world out-side their stupid theory, but on the whole they do not properly acknowledge it.

What I am basically saying is that they have no theory of "society" only of "money" in which case their reasons for pursuing such a thing come into play - ie. they are either trying to claim money is the be-all and end-all of society or they are just interesting in money for their own purposes. In other words they are poor theorists, or greedy ones.

You point at no theory of your own, you fail to engage my arguement at all you just say I am wrong. That makes you the troll.

Re:from MERIT's front page

[Mr. Jaggers]

I love how this guy directly addresses MERIT as if they are listening/care... and uses the word 'dis'; I got a chuckle out of that one!

More rambling, misguided standard /. fare. *sigh*

Way to change the world, buddy.

Where from?

[yanestra]

Where is this information from?

Gotta love the late night slashdot news...

[Anonymous Coward]

All the eurocentric news that's fit to print...just as well, it'll be at the bottom of the front page in the morning. And they have the nerve to complain about a "US-centric" baseball poll.

Re:Gotta love the late night slashdot news...

[Anonymous Coward]

All the eurocentric news that's fit to print...just as well, it'll be at the bottom of the front page in the morning. And they have the nerve to complain about a "US-centric" baseball poll.

Base ball is not US-specific. Many inferior countries play base ball. You simply need lack of culture, absence of democracy and extremely limited scientists, best focused to making money.

FLOSSPOLS???

[Anonymous Coward]

hehehe, reminds me of an old joke:

What does Michael use for dental floss?

Pubic Hair! (Michael uses Taco's because Taco has 'chunky' jism.)

Re:FLOSSPOLS???

[Anonymous Coward]

"Michael uses Taco's because Taco has 'chunky' jism."

You would know.

Slashdot admits that open source programmers stink

[Anonymous Coward]

OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMERS STINK

Slashot admits the truth here:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/25 /219251 &mode=thread

As we already know open source programmers stink, both at their jobs, and in general. Take RMS for instance. He can't get a job as a real programmer so he starts the FSF. He also hasn't taken a bath or shower in over 20 years making him stink in general. Living in a dark cave doesn't help either. I don't want to know what is crawling around in his hair.

I'm sure there are people at your office who are just like RMS if they can hold their jobs. You know they are close because you can smell them. You are spending hours of overtime fixing their code.

For anyone reading this post none of this is a suprise. However, slashdot is a bastion of open source programmers. That is why the code is so bad, and its the only website that you can smell over the internet because it reaks!!!!

What was suprising to me (and to you I'm sure) was that slashdot admitted in the above linked article that open source programmers stink.

I commend slashdot for admitting the brutal yet honest truth.

IN SOVIET RUSSIA...

[Anonymous Coward]

...poles floss YOU!

IMPORTANT WARNING: Avoid CmdrTaco's "special taco"

[Anonymous Coward]

This is an important warning to all slashdotters. CmdrTaco has been luring people (mainly underage males) into the slashdot compound to eat his "special taco".

You may be wondering what CmdrTaco's "special taco" is. You will be wishing that you hadn't been wondering after you finish reading his post. To make his "special taco", CmdrTaco takes a taco shell and shits on it. He then adds lettuce, takes out his tiny withered dick (otherwise known as his "Commander"), puts his "special taco sauce" on it which means he jacks off on the taco, and adds a compound to make the person who eats the taco unconcious. Of course, the compound does not make the person unconcous until the taco is fully eaten. Thus CmdrTaco force feeds the taco to the unsuspecting victim. After all, who would knowingly eat shit and CmdrTaco's jizz.

After the victim is unconcous, he is held against his will and used for CmdrTaco's nefarious homosexual purposes. This includes shoving taco shells up the victim's ass, taco snotting, and getting JonKatz involved. Trust me, you do not want JonKatz anywhere near your unconcious body. Also, rumor has it CmdrTaco is looking for a new goatse.cx guy. Don't let it be you!!!!!

The last thing you may be wondering is how this goes along with "taco snotting", or what "taco snotting" is. George WIPO Bush and The WIPO Troll have been doing considerable work explaining what "taco snotting" is. Please see his FAQ on "taco snotting" which can be found as a -1 rated comment on most slashdot stories.

Please, if CmdrTaco offers you his "special taco", RUN LIKE HELL!!!!!!!!

STOP Racism in Open Source Software

[Anonymous Coward]

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 that absolut

Re:STOP Racism in Open Source Software

[lcsjk]

You sound like a guy I had work for me some few years ago. Fully capable of doing his job, but was afraid to make a decision. Always deferred to a fellow worker for decisions. However, if anyone disagreed with something he said or did, he was convinced that it was because of his race, and never accepted that fact that someone had an idea different from his. He, unwittingly, was the only racist in the group. Next time, keep your comment short enough so that if you really have something to say, people will take time to read it.

Re:STOP Racism in Open Source Software

[Anonymous Coward]

In the spirit of your post, I submit to you that the main reason you don't see people of color involved in Open Source is they're too damned smart to do any work unless they get paid for it.

These Open Source Supremecists, are driven by Utopian Socialist dreams(like the model racist, hitler), and through this bigoted delusion, work for free. They mask their 4th Reich goals behind facades of "labors of love".

This is at least partially correct

[dyfet]

Last night I received notification from the director of MERIT at Maastricht that they had withdrawn participation from the conference. Prof. Soete also indicated that this decision was taken in "consultation" with the European Commision. However, this neither indicates whether it was the EC choice to withdraw, or that MERIT for other reasons choose to no longer sponser or act as an intermediary. In the latter case, perhaps the EC would find a different conduit for funding.

Originally I had been asked to participate at this conference primarely to talk about recent work in developing free software solutions built around GNU Bayonne to enable e-government access for the blind. I knew they were having some type of difficulty with sponsorship and funding. I think it is unfortunate this happened, but I have seen no facts to indicate what precisely had gone wrong, although I am naturally curious.

David

Re:This is at least partially correct

[gaurab]

Yes.!! i too received the e-mail from MERIT. I feel that with the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), coming up in early december, the EU backed down from another high profile conference.

Too many acronoymns ...What the hell are you sayin

[zymano]

I can not understand all these damn groups with funny Cryptic damn names.

Can you story submitters please speak some damn english !

DAMN == Don't Argue Mookie News.

The Future of Open Source Software

[Anonymous Coward]

What is the future of Open Source and Free Software? I asked myself that very question because Open Source and Free Software is the most revolutionary movement today. It is changing everything.

To answer this question I went to slashdot.org, this website, since slashdot is known across the internet when it comes to Open Source and Free Software. I read the stories and the comments. I read the comments at the -1 threshold because I wanted to read real people's opinions and knowledge on Open Source and Free Software, not the sanitized version that gets modded up. What I found was very interesting.

So, what is the future of Open Source and Free Software? Wideness. That's right. Wideness. This concept of wideness is so powerful that it is invading domains beyond computer software. Take HDTV for instance. It is widescreen compared to normal tvs. TV is becoming wider.

The best examples of wideness are from slashdot of course. First, page widening posts. Slashdot pages weren't wide enough so they have to be widened manually. In the future slashdot pages will be wider.

I also found links to the goatse.cx website. Again, another example of wideness, namely a wide open anus. People who use Open Source and Free Software aren't boring heterosexuals. They are homosexuals, bisexuals, etc. As the goatse.cx website shows wideness is being added to the sexuality of Open Source and Free Software users.

Like me, you are probably excited about this wide future. The following email shows the future is closer than you think.

From: "Larry Augustin"
To: "Company - all"
Subject: Acquisition of latest OSDN holding

As you may be aware, our stock certificates are now unfit to even wipe our own asses in the restrooms. However, soon this will all change with our latest opensource acquisition. This is such a revolutionary paradigm shift that we have decided to coin a new term for it: "WideOpensource". The following letter was recently sent to the management of our prospect:

From: "Larry Augustin"
To: contrib@goatse.cx
Subject: Open source business opportunity

Dear Sir,

We at OSDN are continually looking to expand our growing network of opensource-related web real estate. Through intense analysis of comment traffic on our premier site, SlashDot.org, we have determined that your site holds considerable value to the community at large. As recent IDC surveys have shown, your site is one of the 10 most popular on the Internet. That, combined with its decidedly opensource bent, makes it a prime target for OSDN banner ads, our flagship product. We would like to acquire your site and employ you as a member of our OSDN team. Please consider this carefully, you aren't likely to see an opportunity like this every day!

Love,
Larry

Lacking

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like the project lacks merit...

Spare us the acronyms

[Anonymous Coward]

... MERIT ... blah blah ... UNESCO ... blah blah ... FLOSSPOLS ... blah blah ... EC ...

I have only one thing to say:

WTF?

similar article

[Anonymous Coward]

There's another writeup of this story over at tubgirl tech archive

Libre software?

[marsu_k]

I'm European, albeit not French. According to the site, "free/open source software [is] commonly referred to as Libre Software in Europe" - WTF? This is the first time I've seen the term used. I do know that the French are very scared of English words being too commonplace in their language, but this is ridicilous. They already use "software" in the phrase, what's so bad in saying "free" like the rest of the (English speaking, the site is in English anyway) net?

Re:Libre software?

[Anonymous Coward]

Libre software has been used for a number of years now, and not just in Europe (and certainly not limited to France). Every year there is a FLOSDAM conferencem where the "L" is for Libre :). There is (in France...) the annual Libre Software Meeting (three years now).

"Free", in English, is confusing; does one mean free as in cost or free as in freedom? "Libre"/Livre (Spanish) has no such immediate ambiguity; although, since the Air France lavortories advertise themselves as "Libre" when available also, I wonder if there is different overloaded meanings in French for that word :). Perhaps I should find myself an available (?Libre?) girl next time I am in Paris?!

Re:Libre software?

[fmjrey]

I'm also European, and French, although I live in Belgium, lived in the UK and the US. This is not the first time I heard the term Free/Libre Software, and I also wondered why the word 'Libre'. I thought in the end that this wasn't such a bad thing: if the word 'Free' can be confusing in English, might as well find another word that removes the confusion, notably for those that do not understand English like native speakers.
'Libre' in French only means free as in freedom and not free as in free beer. It is also a Spanish word, but in that language I cannot confirm whether it only means free as in freedom. Any Spanish speaker around here?

Re:Libre software?

[fmjrey]

Well, our friend the Anonymous Coward was probably submitting his answer while I started to write mine. In the end we can conclude that 'Libre' does not bear the same confusion in French and Spanish as the word 'Free' in English.

Re:Libre software?

[TheMidget]

German is more fun. They also have two words: "frei" and "umsonst".

"Frei" usually means free, as in speech, whereas "umsonst" (or sometimes, "gratis") means free as in beer.

However there is one notable exception: Freibier!

Re:Libre software?

[roundand]

We could translate it as "liberated software", except that sounds like either it's been looted, or it's burned its bra.

But "libre software" is just clunky. How about "software libre", or even "software libre!" - preferably accompanied with a rum and coke?

Re:Libre software?

[TheMidget]

although, since the Air France lavortories advertise themselves as "Libre" when available also, I wonder if there is different overloaded meanings in French for that word

"libre" = free as in speech, but also available (as in seats, meeting rooms, restrooms, parking spaces, timeslots, and yes, girls ...)

"gratuit" = free as in beer

If you see "gratuit" on a restroom door, you'd be in Belgium. Indeed, in Belgium most public restrooms charge a small admission fee, and it's worth pointing out if one doesn't ;-)

Re:Libre software?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see the problem with the word "free" at all. Actually, his word kills two birds with one stone: "free" as having freedom, and "free" as being costless.

Re:Libre software?

[Anonymous Coward]

Right now libre sounds french, but in a few years, if used often, it'll become just as english as the word chaperone (which is even still spelt the french way, but is used in normal english conversation all the time). And when it does become that english it'll be expected to conform to english grammar rules, where libre software is preferable over software libre (just like you say free software instead of software free).

Re:Libre software?

[alext]

Freibier is gratis? Hah, interesting.

Why "umsonst" and not "kostenlos" though?

Re:Libre software?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see the problem with the word "free" at all. Actually, his word kills two birds with one stone: "free" as having freedom, and "free" as being costless.

You must have been living under a rock lately. Given the number of times people have to explain what they mean by "free" when they say "free software", there is a problem.

In any case, Libre Software is not French. In French, it's called Logiciels libres.

Re:Libre software?

[anno1602]

Why "umsonst" and not "kostenlos" though?

To me, at least, "kostenlos" (literally: without cost) implies really not having any cost at all. That is not true even of most free software: While you have to pay nothing to obtain the software, you still have to administer it, and that costs you. So kostenlos would be TCO==0.

Re:Libre software?

[Anonymous Coward]

...

More on this libre business...

The Libre Society

Re:Libre software?

[Anonymous Coward]

Open software is not necesseraly free. Obvious examples: OpenVMS, Helixcommunity. Less obvious examples: DJB's software, MIT. Even more less obvious example: GPL.

Free software can be freeware, too. Since it doesn't cost a thing. This is a problem in the English language, but also a problem lies in the common believe not having to spend is worth more than freedom.

''Vrij'' in Dutch mostly means ''free as in speech'' but also means ''free as in beer''. So Dutch has this problem too, but it's mostly used as the first meaning.

I'm not sure wether ''Libre'' has these 2 meanings. Perhaps that's the reason?

Another reason could be because it's held in Paris. Why not add a French word then? Big deal. Easy to whine about when you're anti-French which seems to be popular these days (which i'm not saying you are - btw).

Re:Libre software?

[PolR]

although, since the Air France lavortories advertise themselves as "Libre" when available also, I wonder if there is different overloaded meanings in French for that word :). Perhaps I should find myself an available (?Libre?) girl next time I am in Paris?!

Checking my Larousse dictionnary, all connotations of the French "Libre" relate to freedom but the one you mention. This particular connotation applies to what is not busy or not held up by something/someone. This connotation could be translated by "available" in many cases. And yes, a girl without a boyfriend is sometimes said to be "libre".

Re:Libre software?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Libre"/Livre (Spanish)

Not quite. It is written Libre in both French and Spanish, though Spaniards pronounce it with a bilabial fricative and make clear it has two syllables. Livre is French for Book (Libro in Spanish) or Pound weight or money (Libra in Spanish).

What Michael really meant by "EC DUMPS"

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.urinalpoop.org/

Yup

[Anonymous Coward]

Still don't care.

Slashdot is a bunch of ho's

[askien]

Corporate ho's. You sold your soul long time ago. Go away. You are irrelevant!

Sluts! CmdrTaco. You are the worst of them all. Slut! You might as well fuck for money! Better business than this shit. Stop influencing youngsters!

Re:Slashdot is a bunch of ho's

[Anonymous Coward]

McBride is that you???

Re:Slashdot is a bunch of ho's

[Homology]

Corporate ho's. You sold your soul long time ago. Go away. You are irrelevant! Sluts! CmdrTaco. You are the worst of them all. Slut! You might as well fuck for money! Better business than this shit. Stop influencing youngsters!

Hey kiddo, did your mummy pay for that low Slashdot ID when you bought it on eBay?

Re:Slashdot is a bunch of ho's

[askien]

Mummy died a month ago you fuck.

My initial post is a pretty good example of why not to post on Slashdot drunk. People with a life go out on Friday nights.

Still, it is interesting, because that's what I really think.
Makes me wonder why it's my second bookmark on Safari, right after Google.

Oh, and I'm 28. I started reading slashdot after mandrake (mandrake.net) mentioned it on his website.

As Taco's little fun website, it was pretty cool. As a business that targets an audience that uses Internet Explorer, it is really low quality. They can't even spell.

People are cool, corporate entities don't qualify. Nothing wrong with corporations, but you don't say that GE is a cute company, do you? Or that IBM has a sense of humor?

Cool people used to post here. I used to actually learn stuff from people who really knew their shit.

Well, no point in bitching about a site that I read. There is a very simple solution: no more hits from my IP.

Take care.

perl -e 'print rand for 1..1000'

[Anonymous Coward]

0.8943705922729390.3525289449348460.49353383974279 20.9025754859639580.4207741845285290.6408893256302 550.1978003130264730.7150442668181190.220569325136 6120.3572068308137660.4651825614435370.66274495235 61850.1379481458870830.0711087864708730.5175332772 34630.3213230102265850.1845587957366810.5376404380 649830.7023375819612280.4504674026548020.681374930 8438620.6805091023457380.2917008444561840.47043453 06201030.8249024277758710.2686297733437750.1087862 526547770.1806975848935860.1257301882504190.200630 0137439470.4200063251735710.7838414306617590.30008 03717919820.1124518517450210.03943981535008940.556 7271136415640.4607795364815570.3022449525861790.85 87186843332940.1966533531806010.4047138000587760.3 659801056491010.4755793132230050.8309090443304750. 5592310664966260.1138516249292390.3850931996959130 .4225298887815750.6881194093115860.214433165210863 0.410105354526490.2326578763542170.804855674795835 0.02918027097773290.9755587904130860.6506935069540 060.2610400785632440.4583362624447890.222241192052 6890.008091440018382910.6136938297872130.540322385 605990.2592503849722870.5214697470067260.396905441 7759740.5156300733594610.4744588937204630.72759518 49180230.1798001875798330.08405924509337130.364910 0101498240.2793109676579990.4607339476548620.41746 33750944850.8739686921790440.7607534498217560.7818 602857189380.9211961482760810.4918755951127840.886 0490166083470.5317957913285380.8140574575129730.10 69319138184250.5925063566403490.8981463558785840.8 821848428186030.7048217973105260.7921612439244190. 3254139151826830.5861317912027180.8756282000771130 .96005503355790.1946621090274230.4070431698078920. 7771124692963520.01012334556201470.664788088612003 0.5177320163391810.7471280464378760.62695193490373 70.1749591590832620.6835575223734480.3890696981199 790.1114615858563970.8054848889562760.627902879363 4320.3565919970020950.978977087843170.909990563572 0130.844980276536390.6251596614314360.777906010308 0080.3732442183861090.1815003069281430.09913814503 336130.5258151584652140.8024997723066640.126910914 990660.5080408569370110.5770853224917330.540010804 004030.1035383690647790.6912899023609320.823212292 345410.7828260876018940.6027761270194820.257615574 3478770.7044931614178080.3336069409265330.50681844 60251080.8863363130336770.2922057471618660.6816405 520399550.6183007302501980.06967079146201270.53599 45781725270.6532205506127050.3091894757501450.1875 074991151390.9051833974426490.7800089923034540.327 587822450610.4713899885200550.9689305731668510.645 8904392050650.4646397214196720.6186881390103270.73 29442540226480.698311760090650.796903134069950.729 9626874757020.6949176178210550.5884284531482290.16 15220610354410.4844621912148850.9025952032880370.8 529325236288980.9869851147276020.3657138353212840. 7437281470135350.3147260418510350.4515663634911960 .579602388877230.6030332337864550.6832612758018580 .5506788493527070.5526204631091470.865177071121899 0.5301505496577510.164934078082638

FLOSSPOLS Project?

[blair1q]

Wasn't that the followup to the BUTTCHEZ Program?

Well, Flek.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is going to really FUBAR the EFTs for this year's RBITRON. Can we get an ETA on the OMSCO for this LPT? Otherwise, everything is just going to be FEWYT.

EC cleanup?

[broeman]

This could be about the corruption they have in the commission? They blamed it on the workers, but surely the commissioner should take the blame on himself, like ministers does it in our governments (well, mostly). Maybe they are affraid of using any money at the moment, because of this event lately.

BTW, typically the EU never tell what particular institution that pays for a project ... this is a first for me (could be wrong, though)

Re:EC cleanup?

[Anonymous Coward]

The European Commission is horrendously corrupt, because it is largely unaccountable.

It typically promotes Software patents, or anything else which rewards parasitic MBAs instead of people who do actual work, so this pulling of funding could be an example of its corruption.

See what Fritz Bolkestein has to say about software patents.

See, he's a complete asshat. Fortunately, he's a complete asshat outside the software patents issue too, so the fact he's for software patents has made a lot of people against them.

Good thing

[heironymouscoward]

EU involvement in Open Source is like your mother-in-law taking a keen interest in your pornography collection.

The European institutions are about throwing large amounts of money at people who's only real skill is to be good candidates for large subsidies. I once spent a day in Luxembourg getting information on various EU projects for IT research and development. _Never_ _again_.

Large sums of money, or even the remote promises of large sums of money, do not produce good software nor do they promote good practice.

Re:Good thing

[JaredOfEuropa]

The European institutions are about throwing large amounts of money at people who's only real skill is to be good candidates for large subsidies.

Wrong! The candidates for subsidies don't even need that skill. An acquaintance of mine works for a consulting firm, which has the sole purpose of leeching as much subsidies as possible out of the EU and Holland for their clients. Apparently it's good business: these people work in posh offices and drive in very nice cars.

But you're right, certain people have come to believe that it's their god-given right to live on public largesse. Others take a more cynical approach and commit blatant fraud to get these subsidies. It's not hard: set up a firm to research, well, cold fusion for instance, and get the inevitable subsidy. Spend lavish amounts of cash on equipment and consultants' fees, which of course you purchase through your other firm (or a friends', if you're careful). When people start expecting results from your research, declare the whole thing a failure and file for bankruptcy. Then start all over again. It's easy and low-risk.

The heart of the problem is lack of oversight of all these EU committies and bureaus, which leads to a tendency for these bodies to bloat and increase their span of control. One way of doing that is, yes, increasing your budget and extending the range of causes you spend it on. The USA has the same problems, though to a lesser extend. Read P.J. O'Rourke if you don't believe me.

Re:Good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm - tried to create an account to post this,
but the spam defeat image wouldn't display. Oh well...

Anyway, it is rather ill-informed to suggest that
EU money is targeted at people with no real skills. In the technical area, especially Grid
and Bioinformatics, there is a real attempt to
ensure that the recipients are skilled in the
areas and that the money is well-targeted. Requirements for some of the funding include
collaboration between academia and industry, cross
EU membership of consortia, and inclusion of states to join the EU (e.g. Poland). Innovation
is also required, and demonstration of bringing
areas of research together to unlock some of
the money.

The quantities of money, per project, do not
tend to be particularly large.

I'll admit, though, that it isn't purely based
on technical merit, but also the stamina to go
through the protracted process of putting in
proposals, which takes around 3 months of hard
work. If they were just throwing money around
willy-nilly I don't think the procedure would
be quite so long-winded.

Re:Good thing

[heironymouscoward]

The EU certainly does not throw money around willy-nilly, they leave this to private enterprise. It is exactly the long and complex procedure required to extract funds that turn organizations which use those funds into specialists at extracting funds. And that leaves little energy for the real thing.

Re:Good thing

[Anonymous Coward]

US involvement in Open Source is like your step-father fucking you up the ass when your mother isn't watching.

The American institutions are about throwing large amounts of money at corporations who's only real skill is to lobby government for large subsidies. I once spent a day in Washington getting information on various US projects for IT research and development. _Never_ _again_.

Large sums of money, or even the remote promises of large sums of money, do not produce good software nor do they promote good practice.

Re: Good Thing

[Simon Kongshoj]

Large sums of money, or even the remote promises of large sums of money, do not produce good software nor do they promote good practice.

Wow. Those are probably the most insightful words I have yet to read on this site. Thumbs up.

Re:Slashdot admits that open source programmers st

[Anonymous Coward]

I for one am sick and tired of my RedHat Linux box never coming down with viruses, never crashing unexpectedly, and coming fully loaded with a wide range of development tools for the low low price of free.

After reading your post, I've decided I'm going right out and spending several thousand dollars on security hole ridden proprietary Microsoft products that still won't match the robustness of my open source operating system. I'll show those inferior open source programmers!

Inside information

[Karem Lore]

This is typical of about 60% of current project funded ventures...This has nothing to do with being good or bad. This has got to do with the current situation facing Eurostat, the Commission's statistic department. Turns out that some rather high paid officials have been pocketing funds, I think in the region of a million Euro or so. However, it goes deeper. Apparently there are companies being paid to do work that is never done (which happened to be owned or linked to said important officials).

Anyway, point being is that no new contracts are currently being sign, 60%+ of contracts are being terminated, and people like the company I consult for are sitting like ducks on a 2 month extension until end of November hoping that by then they will sign (something they told us was going to happen in June). My boss just got fired, as did a colleague and 2 developers. Until we get the contract (and therefore money) we are having to cut back big time.

Eurostat's in a mess currently, fraud everywhere. Oh, and not to mention that there may be a mole in the Agriculture DG. Apparently being bribed (easily) for leaking information regarding crop values/quantities (not quite sure what, but it means some people can make lots of money with that info).

Anyway, they may get their funding back, but not yet!

From someone living in Brussels...Karem Lore

there's no stopping the good gnus

[Anonymous Coward]

considering that freedom, & open/honest communications/commerce are standard components of the creator's newclear power plan

we sure as heck wouldn't want to be won of those georgewellian fuddite, southern baptist freemason, payper liesense softwar gangster, stock markup fraud execrable, when the big flash occurs.

unprecedented evile et AL, has no chance vs. the planet/population rescue initiative (formerly unknown as the oil for babies program).

the daze of of the corepirate nazi hostage ransom scams is WANing into coolapps/the abyss, at the speed of right. no transfusions of fauxking felonious billyonerrors ill gotten gains (fud monIE), will prevent the planet/population transformation.

for each of the creator's innocents harmed, there is a badtoll that must/will be repaid by you/US, as the felonous perpetrators of the patentdead life0cide against humankind, will not be available to make reparations.

consult with/trust in yOUR creator.... that's the spirit, moving you.

Get bent

[Anonymous Coward]

you only fear what you do not understand

name calling changes nothing

Re:Get bent

[ctishman]

Not even sarcasm?

EC?

[adrianbaugh]

It hasn't been the EC for some time, it's the EU (European Union) now. Before that it was the EC, further back the EEC and probably something else even further back.

Re:EC?

[DanBrusca]

Indeed, before the EEC it was the ECSC ;)

Re:EC?

[Malc]

It had me confused for a while. It's been years since it was called the EC. I was looking around the web sites for a while trying to figure out what EC stood for before it finally dawned on me. People shouldn't be so lazy - names should typed out in full before introducing an abbreviation. Oh well, this is /. and writing quality is low on the list of priorities.

Re:EC?

[Anonymous Coward]

EC = European Commission, part legislative body and part executive body in the EU

EU = European Union

Re:EC?

[Anonymous Coward]

In the contract MERIT would've had for subsidising the cooperation to this kind of gathering, most likely EU would've used CEC as an abbreviation for naming itself. At least one "C" in this abbreviation stands for "Commission". So CEC can be read as "Commission of the European Community" but maybe also "Commission Europeenne - European Commission" (maybe this last is just a fantasy of mine). Anyway EC is still a valid abbreviation too, but than rather to denote the 'governement' of the European Union than the whole Union itself.

New agenda: patent policy

[Elektroschock]

MERIT now organizes a conference for the patent lobby (patent lawyer interest groups)!!

[ EPIP 2 ] Copyright and database protection, patents and research tools, and other challenges to the intellectual property system

Maastricht, November 24-25

On November 24 and 25 of this year a conference will be held at MERIT in Maastricht on the topic "Copyright and database protection, patents andresearch tools, and other challenges to the intellectual property system". This is the second meeting of the EPIP (European Policy for Intellectual Property) network, funded by the European Commission and lead by Dominique Foray and Jacques Mairesse. The partners of EPIP are IMRI from Universite Paris-Dauphine in France, MERIT from University Maastricht in the Netherlands, INNO-tec from the Munich School of Management in Germany, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Italy, Roskilde University in Denmark, and the Santiago de Compostella University in Spain. For more information of the network, please visit the website at:
http://www.dauphine.fr/imri/EPIP/welcome.html .

The first EPIP meeting took place in Munich on the magnificent premises of the European Patent Office with over hundred participants, lawyers and economists, academics as well as practitioners (from the business world and the patent offices) from Europe and the United States. The papers presented at this conference touched upon many themes and challenges of the intellectual property rights system. The program of the Munich conference is also available on the website.

The next conference, while open to other themes, will essentially focus on research tools and databases. Both research tools and databases are major inputs of science and technology. In the view of fostering their impact on the economy through commercialization, governments have allowed IP to be taken on certain inventions, in the form of patents (on research tools) and sui generic rights (data bases). Whereas the US pioneered the former, Europe is leading the latter. The central issue is to strike the balance right between the conditions needed for commercialization (which often requires some exclusivity) with the conditions associated with scientific progress (open access). Should Europe reform its database directive along the lines of the United States? What should be the legal environment for the commercialization and diffusion of public databases? Should research tools be exempted from patent protection or other intellectual property protection mechanisms for the sake of scientific and technological development?

These are some of the questions that we would like to see discussed at the conference.

We aim at assembling leading scholars and thinkers on the contentious issue of ways and merits of protecting research tools and databases.

Some of the confirmed speakers and participants:

Dominique Foray, Univ. Paris-Dauphine
Jacques Mairesse, CREST/INSEE
Dominique Guellec, OECD
Jean-Michel Dalle, IMRI
Bronwyn Hall, Univ. of California at Berkeley
Paul Uhlir, National Academy of Sciences
Stephen Mark Maurer, Univ. of California at Berkeley
John Walsh, University of Tokyo
Peter Schroeder, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Netherlands
Dietmar Harhoff, Munich School of Management
Stephan Wagner, Munich School of Management
Paul David, Stanford University
Anselm Kamperman Sanders, Univ. Maastricht
Robin Cowan, MERIT
Luc Soete, MERIT
Pierre Mohnen, MERIT
Elad Harison, MERIT
Brian Kahin, Univerity of Michigan
Pierre Jean Benghozi, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris
Paul Wouters, The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Wilfred Dolfsma, Erasmus University
Tettu Luukonen, ETLA, Finland
Rene Vleugels, Univ. Maastricht

More information on the program of the conference and of ways to get to Maastricht will be made available shortly.

Local organisor: Pierre Mohnen
31-43-388 3869
E-mail: p.mohnen@merit.unimaas.nl

Re:New agenda: patent policy

[3seas]

Hmmm, interesting..

Considering what is found here and here? and also here.

Re:New agenda: patent policy

[Anonymous Coward]

The RueBot is back! Go troll comp.sys.amiga, asshole.

Re:New agenda: patent policy

[3seas]

And I also wionder if there is some sort of connection with EU approves software patents??? as it relates to the changes of interests this thread is about.

----
Hey look, one of my pet troll is back...

$omebody $poke to the UN about it...

[leonbrooks]

...per$ua$ively.

Switch suppliers!

[leonbrooks]

This one's cutting your stuff with something *s*c*a*r*y*.

I used to feel indecisive too...

[leonbrooks]

...but now I wouldn't be so sure.

coincidentally Euros folded on Iraq this week

[Recbo]

Euros are finally getting on the bus with Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush.

This happened the same week that France and Germany voted in the UN Security Council to approve of US rule in Iraq.

Now Freedom Fries can go back to being called "pommes (de terre) frites" and French Fries.

No more anthrax in Le Gare du Nord, they hope!

official notice from MERIT

[Anonymous Coward]

dear jaruz, michael,

we didn't make a public announcement, so we didn't put it up on the MERIT website so that it could be confirmed. as questions have been raised regarding the authenticity of the announcement and MERIT's commitment to free software, please note that the following letter will be posted to the FLOSS home page as soon as possible - by monday, at any rate - so that it can be "verified". i have added the last paragraph to respond to /. (incorrect) comments regarding the support of MERIT for free software.

given some comments that MERIT "supports the patent lobby" i would also like to clarify that several of the economists listed in the EPIP conference programme were signatories and/or authors of the Economists' Letter against Software Patents sent to the European Parliament.

Moreover, Luc Soete, Director of MERIT, and I both spoke at the Sep 17th conference in the European Parliament against software patents.

best wishes,
Rishab Ghosh
Project leader FLOSS/FLOSSPOLS
MERIT

----
As director of MERIT at the University of Maastricht, I would like to inform you
that we are no longer organising the conference on the topic of Open Standards
and Libre Software in Government at UNESCO Paris, November 24-26, 2003. Until
now, MERIT was responsible for the logistics and through the FLOSSPOLS project,
EC funding for the conference. This is now wholly withdrawn.

We have taken this decision in consultation with the European Commission, whose
support for this conference was earlier being provided through the proposed
FLOSSPOLS project at MERIT.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience this may cause you. For more information
please contact us by e-mail at nov2003@infonomics.nl

For MERIT Prof. Dr. Luc Soete
Director, MERIT
Universiteit Maastricht
PO Box 616, 6200MD
Maastricht, the Netherlands
Tel: +31 43 388 3875
----
MERIT remains fully committed to its research activities in the area of Free/Libre/Open Source
Software through the EC-funded FLOSS project, and the area of FLOSS and government through
the follow-up project FLOSSPOLS. The 2-year
FLOSSPOLS project, which includes research, studies, surveys and public events related to
government and free/libre/open source software will commence later this year.
More information on the project(s) can be found on the FLOSS home page, flossproject.org

It is true

[jaruz]

Participants of the conference have all received an e-mail with the announcement.

WHAT IS LIBRE SOFTWARE?

[Anonymous Coward]

...

What is LIBRE software?

Well look at this for an answer?

The Libre Society

I guess....

[sbwoodside]

the conference is wholly without MERIT

(ducks/)

Libre software? You betcha

[Quino]

I've come across this several times in English sites; there's nothing new here (I thought when I first saw it). The English language is full of foreign words that were absorbed into the language when there didn't exist a native equivalent.

Most Americans already know that the Spanish word "gratis" (no cost) would translate into English as free. Funny that became better known before "libre", the Spanish word (and probably other romance languages) for "free as in freedom" that would unfortunately also just translate as "free".

Or does it also bother you that you can find the French word entrepreneur in an English dictionary? Hopefully you'll eventually be able to find libre in there too -- it'll avoid a lot of confusion (besides, it's an important concept -- it probably does deserve its own word).

I don't know what you're accusing the French of besides, the use of Libre with GPL software in English is really not new (maybe not exactly commonplace either, but I have run into it enough times to think that it was time that "libre" became better known, especially since "gratis" is already understood by enough Americans to hear it in commercials or on TV. Afterall, "libre" is a much more important concept than "gratis").

No weird French conspiracy here, just another important concept (and foreign word) hopefully becoming part of the English language. That's what I see.

Confirm - received the same email.

[cheros]

I submitted the same story - with the remark that said announcement (made by email to subscribers) hadn't made it to their website yet. Strange way of ending such an event though..

Having said that, it could be a bizarrely accurate spam as I didn't trace the mail back ;-). =Ch=

EC dumps open source because

[Anonymous Coward]

They are sick of mediocrity, socialism and the hippies that open source fosters. You see Europe already has plenty of all that.