The Voice of Groklaw

Random BedHead Ed writes "LinuxPlanet has an interesting interview with Pamela Jones, the paralegal and blogger who created Groklaw. Groklaw has become an indespensible site for geeks who need even more SCO updates than even /. provides - and if the site's inclusion in the footnotes of one of IBM's court documents is any indication, it's been handy for people involved in the case as well. No wonder the site won Best News Site in O'Reilly's OSDir.com Editor's Choice Awards for 2003. It shows how useful and influental a well-run collaborative website can be."

Comments

I think you overrate this SCO thing.

[Samuel Duncan]

I worked nearly sixty years in industry with owning my own business for 45 years. I encountered such strange lawsuits every 3 years or so.
If I got agitated every time about this like you do then, well, I wouldn't posting this message. (Unless someone writes an astral interconnect module for Perl.)

Someone making ridiculous claims and wanting a huge heaps of money isn't actually news. Much more people do this for a living than you might guess.

Re:I think you overrate this SCO thing.

[Fortunato_NC]

Someone making ridiculous claims and wanting a huge heaps of money isn't actually news. Much more people do this for a living than you might guess.

Yes, they're called trial lawyers...and one of them wants to be your next president

Best thing to come out of the SCO case

[jhines]

Groklaw is the best thing, so far, to come out of the case.

There is an ever increasing need for common ground between the legal and geek communities, and Groklaw appears to be it. Neither techs or lawyers understand each other's worlds, this goes a long way, to bridging the gap.

A hearty "atta boy" to Pam, and a nomination for whatever annual award there is on the web.

Re:Best thing to come out of the SCO case

[Sesostris III]

I have to agree. To be frank, my view is that the impact of the Groklaw site will reverberate far beyond the bounds of the SCO case, Linux and the GNU GPL.

What PJ has done with Groklaw is what investigative journalists should be doing in the more *serious* papers. Unlike (say) Woodward or Bernstein (of Watergate fame), most modern journalists seem to be purely interested in controversy (which sells) rather than truth. Unfortunately, this focus on sensationalism can be exploited for ulterior motive, and can be more akin to news manipulation than news reporting.

I think with sites such as Groklaw there may be a shift back again to the reporting for detailed truth rather than for sensation. OK, PJ is not a reporter, but she is a researcher, and research is something reporters are meant to do (as well as paralegals!).

It also shows that it is possible for individuals to make the detailed truth of a matter available to all, even if the 5th Estate refuses to do its job! Hopefully others will be encouraged by PJ's example.

Re:Pfffffttttt

[Nurseman]

I know I shouldn't feed the trolls but :

I don't buy it. The author of Grok Law is a paralegal, not a real laywer.

Which is her strength, she does research for a living. Many of the people who post on Groklaw are people who have worked on Linux for years. They know where the bodies are buried. If there was a smoking gun we would have seen it long ago. She runs a professional, well thought out site. She will be arround for a long time after Darl and Co. bite the dust.

I for one...

[tuxette]

...would like to congratulate Pamela Jones for a job well done. It's especially refreshing to see a woman who doesn't have some kind of techie degree so active in and passionate about the open source movement!

Having a graduate degree in a funky fusion of computer science and law, I know all to well about the challenges involved in getting the geeks, lawyers, and everyone else, involved or not involved, to understand one another. It is a challenge to write and explain things in a way with a goal of getting as many people as possible to understand what is written and where the fewest people feel like they are being patronized, belittled, hearing "old news," etc. From what I can see (maybe others think differently), Jones does a good job in meeting that challenge.

I hope to see other cases on Groklaw, in addition to all the SCO stuff, both from the US and the rest of the world. I'll be more than willing to contribute stuff. Just keep the site going!

Re:I for one...

[ir0b0t]

Pamela Jones' story inspires me. I struggle with technical topics, and her description of how she escaped MS in the law office by using knoppix and Mandrake was helpful to me. I'm not always sure whether the opensource community realizes how much it has to offer other professions --- esp. the legal profession which can (on bad days) be so adversarial that the benefits of more community-centered approaches to problem-solving are missed. ***

The true power of Open Source work

[ksp]

If the legal department of IBM ever doubted Open Source and that model of cooperation, I expect Groklaw has convinced them of the success you can achieve by free discussion. If I were an IBM lawyer I would check Groklaw several times every day and keep notes. I really believe Pamela Jones has made a difference that will work in favor of Linux. Thanks, PJ!!

Re:The true power of Open Source work

[MuParadigm]

Given IBM's citation of sources on Groklaw in the SCO case, I'm sure at least some IBM lawyers are checking Groklaw regularly.

Re:Grokking McDonalds Coffee Lawsuit

[loucura!]

She was in the passenger seat. I'm pretty sure that people in the passenger seat aren't considered to be "driving" the car. The car was at a complete stop when the incident occured.

Makes her case look even worse

[Anonymous Coward]

She was in the passenger seat. I'm pretty sure that people in the passenger seat aren't considered to be "driving" the car

That makes her case look even worse. She was so incompetant that she was able to endeavor to dump hot coffee into her lap when there was no other motion in the environment. I wonder if this lady ever heard of an amazing invention....cup holders!

a question I wish had been asked

[scons]

In addition to asking, "What are the three things you like best about open source software?" and "What are the five things you dislike most about proprietary software?" I really really really wish the interviewer had asked, "What are the N things you like least about open source software?"

Jones is a savvy user, and her ideas for what needs improvement would be valuable, provided we listen and react to input such as hers. The props are nice, but don't help identify what we need to improve as much as good, honest feedback does.

On the whole, though, a pretty good interview...

Re:Grokking McDonalds Coffee Lawsuit

[wtansill]

Items above a certain temperature are dangerous. We learn this as children, and conduct our lives accordingly. That a grown woman was foolish enough to put cup of coffe between her legs (knowing that it was hot both from years of experience, and from having purchased McDonald's coffee many times over the years), that she was then foolish enough to squeeze the cup tightly enough to cause it's contents to spill over her thighs and genitals says absolutely nothing about the relative safety of McDonald's coffe. It highlights only her unfortunate foolishness in choosing to handle the product in an unsafe manner.