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Tocqueville Blames U.S. IT Troubles On Free Software
twitter writes "The group that told us closed source was more secure than open source, now tells us that "Open source software, also described as free software, is the neutron bomb of IP" that will destroy 85% of the market value of US companies and drive companies who are currently outsourcing to "draconian measures even worse than outsourcing." So, there you have it, free software is responsible for bad laws, out sourcing and bad hair days." (Remember who funded the same group's report on open source security?)
And it will also recede your hairline by 10 years, eat your cat, set fire to your car and break all the windows in your house. But hey, it's cheap :)
--- I hate my sig.
...is clearly an asshat. And I don't use that word lightly friends. Here's two quotes that stood out for me:
..and
"However, the open source strategy is a triple-edge sword..."
If you're going to use an analogy how about one that at least sort of makes sense. For some reason I keep thinking about those triple bladed Gillette MACH 3 razors here.
"...most free software such as Linux, (the most popular because of its operating system capability)"
I could've shown you the many typos and bad sentence structure but this one statement shows how little this writer (or his 'writing capability') understands about Linux and/or Open Source.
They give people like this positions where they're stuff can be read by the public?! Amazing!
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
However, the open source strategy is a triple-edge sword. First, most free software such as Linux, (the most popular because of its operating system capability)...
You mean Linux has operating system capabilities, too?
Yeeesssss! And Open Source will crawl it's way down to those computers in some Pentagon basement due to government fund cutting for defense (which, as we well know, has happened but has been hidden by the OS controlled press), and them computers will gain conscience due to some OS devilish AI software found on Sourceforge and will start shooting nukes around, opening war on the entire Human Race. Then, the only hope left for humans is to send a MS robot back in time in hope that it wouldn't crash before destroying the entire OS comunity and...
...NO, I don't want to wear the reversed white shirt again! And no more pills!!
People all over the country are destroying the American way of live by entering into a Marxist arrangement called "Marriage" in which they agree to share resources.
This "Marriage" is destroying the market for prostitutes and other providers traditional pay-per-use facilities. While it is true that using the opensource style "Marriage" arrangements it is often more difficult to arrange to get sex, with cryptic error messages like "I've got a headache" with no friendly interface where you can uncheck headache box and get your end in, many people are still choosing this threat to society.
It must stop. Join with the good capitalists and put an end to these terrorists trying to take out country by stealth. Ban marriage!
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very funny Microsoft, but dont you know ventriloquist acts went out of style a long time ago.
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
Ha ha ha ha! That's funny. Now in the *real* world it would be:
The end story is that if I'm a CEO, I get to buy five jets this year instead of four.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
Now that I think of it, I think I've actually seen a triple-bladed sword. It was the day ATi released the 4.3 Catalyst update to my Radeon 8500. I installed it, rebooted, and proceeded to play Dark Age of Camelot.
:P
Hoo boy! I had lines going every which way, textures out of place, the works! But I remember that those who held flame or ice blades had three or four polygon planes of blade sticking out (instead of fire or ice effects)!
Uhhhh, no... That's probably not what the writer of this article was thinking.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
Hmmm
SELinux or Windows 2003 Server.
I wonder which is more secure and less of a national security risk?
Jedidiah
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
Tocqueville blames the rivers, oceans and rain for the devaluation of the 'liquid assets' of water bottling companies.
Many of the companies in the bottled water industry have invested heavily in, well, water. If the availability of free water is allowed to continue these assets are not worth as much as they could be.
Tocqueville now recommends that the oceans, rivers and lakes be drained in order to build a huge and thriving industry around limiting the availability of water. Combined with legal measures like outlawing other sources of water, and turning off tap water, as well as forbidding private wells this would create a massive amount of wealth in the US. The economic slump could be dealt with in one swift stroke.
Tocqueville would also like to call attention to their upcoming reports on the availability of free air, beer, speech and life, and how the economy could benefit from some other new measures.
"while foreign companies (using American ingenuity) may become their new employers." Frankly I wonder how us Non-Americans ever invented the wheel. It seems Tocqueville believes ingenuity is only created by Americans and stolen by the rest of the world!
So he seems to think that Linux allows foreign competitors to undercut costs of companies using closed source alternatives. But I thought the largest provider of closed source software had proven that Linux has a higher cost.
So which is it? Oh I get it - Linux costs more than Windows when you use it but less when someone else uses it?
And what the heck is a triple edged sword? Talk about bad metaphors.
160 more wasted bits
You gotta love articles like this one, where these pundits compare two industries as if one is standing still. As if, open source software becomes dominant in the marketplace, traditional companies won't adapt and find a way to profit and change their business model. Nope. Not according to these guys.
If Linux becomes the standard over Windows, I'm sure domestic commercial software companies will just sit there and scratch their heads. They won't, for example, start bundling services and building new products around open source. Naw, there's no indication that this would happen. These companies will simply stop in their tracks like deer frozen in headlights and die and the entire tech industry will implode and we'll all be speaking Hindi.
How does open source cause outsourcing? . . . Can someone explain their reasoning for me?
I was trying to figure that out as well. My take on it is that if companies can't get 80% profit margins selling proprietary software because of OSS, then they will outsource jobs to regain that profit margin. Sounds like a statement about managerial greed to me.
The part of the article I found most interesting was the conclusion: "Unless intellectual property assets are better protected, we will soon see information technology firms resorting to draconian measures even worse than outsourcing." What could be more draconian? Griding up the employees and making Soylent Green?
The difference is Microsoft Windows arrive from the factory pre-broken.