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The Software Politics Of 2004's Presidential Race

mjamil writes "The NYT(free registration required) has an article talking about the polarized use of OSS in the building of campaign Web sites. Specifically, it states that the sites for John Kerry (Democratic candidate for President) and the Democratic National Committee are built using OSS, while the site for President Bush's re-election campaign uses IIS. Linus and ESR are quoted. It's an interesting look at how even presidential politics are no longer immune to the free software war (free as in beer)." (David Brunton, pictured in the article, wrote to say "Now I'm going to go call my mom... won't she be proud? For all those girl geeks and gay geeks out there, I'm already taken, but it is an awful nice picture, isn't it?")

17 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Re:free as in beer by MikeDX · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. "Free as in beer" - The same as if you were given a beer to drink and you didnt pay for it.

    2. "Free as in speech" - This is when you pay for the beer, but its priceless to hear you talk when drunk :)

  2. Re:free as in beer by scorilo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Get a beer first, only THEN will you understand :)

    --
    "One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that ones work is terribly important." -BRussell
  3. Re:OR IT COULD BE COINCIDENCE. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
    Full Disclosure: I'm an independent/libertarian - most likely to vote for Bush (it's the war on terrosism stupid!), and wouldn't touch any software from M$ unless forced to do so to keep my job; which does happen almost daily.


    as a fellow libertarian/independent, i also must post anonymously to protect my identity from the terrorists.

  4. Re:one is /. and the other not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    omg so is the fbi.ggov

  5. Re:one is /. and the other not? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
  6. You say girl geeks by dysprosia · · Score: 4, Funny

    But not all girl geeks are straight, dammit!

    1. Re:You say girl geeks by Loonacy · · Score: 2, Funny

      There are so few geek girls as it is, we refuse to acknowledge the possibility that some are lesbian.

  7. Re:And this is the difference. by gefafwysp · · Score: 1, Funny

    I believe that Bush also fills up his American car with American fuel such as Exxon, instead of giving money to terrorists by buying that cheap, imported, oil-based stuff.

    Your written correspondence is currently broadcasting a postal address. With this, someone can begin attacking your house!

  8. Re:And this is the difference. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    He probably also eats American grown food, flies in an American buiolt plane and drives an American car

    Ahh and don't forget, he probably smokes american pot too.

  9. Re:even for linux fanboys and MS haters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
    Are you getting the pattern here? People who support OSS generally are against Big Business.


    Yeah, people like IBM, Apple, Sun, Walmart, no friends of big business there. And we all know about John Kerry's strong anti-corporate agenda. (for those who can't take a joke, i'm being sarcastic)

  10. Practical not Political by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 2, Funny

    I find it more likely that the Kerry organisation chose OSS simply to lower their running costs. The Bush camp has more cash to burn ($200m) and so can afford to go for a more user friendly OS(I'm not trolling,Windows IS more user friendly). I wouldn't have put it past MS to have 'donated' serveral hundred licences and server software to the current administartion.

    Though the situation in the Bush camp does seem to compliment their politics, I doubt Kerry and his followers give a danm about the OSS/CLSS debate. They just went with the cheapest option.

    Of course they will benefit from ability to handle higher email loads and site requests. If the bush site is an aspx, then .NET will probobly crumble at the first YRO slashdot headline.

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
  11. word to the l33t crowd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    Both the Bush and the Kerry Web sites have cross-site scripting errors (XSS). These errors can allow a prankster to create fake Web pages

    This election may become more entertaining than I thought.

  12. Oh no! by Dr.+q00p · · Score: 2, Funny

    So, after all these years....when I finally found a girl on /. she's not straight. Damn!

    Deap breath....k, just keep searching...

  13. Re:Free as in what? by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Indeed most beer is neither free as in beer nor free as in speech. However you more often find beer which is free as in beer than beer which is free as in speech.

    Now if you drink lots of free beer it may help you doing free speech, although then there's a danger that your speech is actually sense-free ...

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  14. OK Quick Question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Who do you turn to for the latest breaking news and issues of Campaign 2004?
    A.) Slashdot
    B.) MTV Rock the Vote
    C.) Whitehouse.com

  15. Oblig. by pjt33 · · Score: 1, Funny

    More confirmation that *BSD is dying?

  16. It's irrelevant and random... by poofmeisterp · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...but I like how the first line in the post's text with the headline including "software" and "politics" contains "registration required" simply to view the article.
    *giggle*