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Maddog on the State of Linux
Amy Kucharik writes "Long-time Linux user and pioneer Jon "maddog" Hall spoke recently with SearchEnterpriseLinux.com about what he knows best: Linux. Hall discusses where the penguin is going and where it's been in this exclusive interview."
And be careful, because if 'Linus' isn't a girlieman name then I don't know what is.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
Say what? Who is having problems fitting Firefox into their Microsoft "suite" (whatever that is)? What the hell is he talking about?
This guy is funny, perhaps because he's being honest.
Hall joined Linux International as a volunteer in 1991 and has been using Linux since 1994.
So now we know that it takes 3 years of knowing about linux before one is willing to use. Now that Linux has been hyped (at least here) 2003-04, we might expect larger numbers in mmm...06-07?
Recently, I was in a shower in Korea, and the shower knobs were smooth and covered with soapy water. I could not turn on the cold water, and I was almost scalded. I suggested that the management go to the hardware store and buy new handles for the faucets, ones with rougher knobs. This would be possible due to the standards in the plumbing industry that set the size of pipes, screw pitch, etc., and allow you to put several different styles of knobs on the end of the pipes. If Microsoft had built the hotel, they would have to rip out the entire piping system, all the way back to the water supply on the street and replace the entire thing, just to allow me to use a different manufacturer's knobs.
HAHAHA, that's one of the funniest things i've ever seen said about microsoft.
Spiral out. Keep going...
I would have liked to hear more details in this interview on how the LSB project is going and the other activities going on at the Free Standards organization since Jon is on their Board of Directors.
It's no wonder that people think of Linux users as totally clueless, because if one of the pioneers have no clue at all, then what about the rest?
;)
If there is anything like bad press then Bruce Perens, maddog, ESR and RMS are the pioneers of it.
You fellows should be glad that Linus is such a lovely chap, he can sometimes make up for it.
Seriously, if Linux was a company and had all the same incompetent spokespersons it would be in the gutter.
Maybe Linus can gag them for attampt on ruining his reputation.
Seriously, couldn't Linus assign official spokespersons so that us non Linux users can hear something other than uninformed opinions?
That would be great, because; even though I will never use Linux; I'm still interested in what is _really_ going on.
I understand his point about Sendmail and developing countries adopting F/OSS, but the question was pretty pointed;
"any communications and e-mail F/OSS apps running on Linux that might make a dent in Outlook/Exchange?"
He could have shared the fact that......
IDL Technology Group in CA-US claims : Those are the kind of facts Senor Maddog needs to be dropping. Also, here's a online demo for SLOX 4.1
(BTW: I don't work for SUSE/Novell, RICIS, IDL)
"Server software maker goes open source" : This article from May '04 on Connector and YAST talks about Novell's strategy with releasing source code with.
from the interview
Recently, I was in a shower in Korea, and the shower knobs were smooth and covered with soapy water. I could not turn on the cold water, and I was almost scalded. I suggested that the management go to the hardware store and buy new handles for the faucets, ones with rougher knobs. This would be possible due to the standards in the plumbing industry that set the size of pipes, screw pitch, etc., and allow you to put several different styles of knobs on the end of the pipes. If Microsoft had built the hotel, they would have to rip out the entire piping system, all the way back to the water supply on the street and replace the entire thing, just to allow me to use a different manufacturer's knobs.
Freud would have a field day on this chappy!
OK it was immature. and fun! (it worked if you saw the subtext)
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
And might say more about me than him! argh, erm, Rugby... hunting... shooting things, cars... yes, golf... no too lady like.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
GNU is born to defeat proprietary software.
Nope. GNU and proprietary software can peacefully coexist and not bother each other. Microsoft will tell you otherwise, but there is nothing about the GNU GPL and other proprietary liscences that means that they can't coexist in the world together. That being said, I will grant that the liscences are incompatible (meaning you can't insert GPL code into a closed project, and you can't steal someone's code without a liscence to put into a GPL project), but being incompatible does not mean that the two paradigms are adversarial. GNU was created because people wanted something, not because they hated and wanted to destroy something. People who don't like the GNU GPL are free to not participate as they please, and that means you, too.
developers want to be *free* to publish *their own* software under the license they prefer, not be *forced* to use the GPL because some guy wants to be "free" to read SOMEONE ELSE's code...
Okay. Here's an easy question. Can I force you to release your software under the GPL? If you think that as a GNU developer I can force you to release your project under the GPL, how would I go about doing so? Is there a legal proceeding involved? Do I have to make you sign a contract you don't agree to? Nobody is holding you at gunpoint and commandeering your *freedom* to do anything.
But here's the key. You don't have to do anything, but you don't get something for nothing. For example, if you want to use a module written by Microsoft in one of your projects, you have to do something called liscencing it. A liscence is a contract that you enter into with Microsoft in order to use their code. In exchange for the ability to use their code legally, you would probably have to:
1.) pay them a royalty for every copy you sell
2.) sign a non-disclosure agreement (a contract that says you won't even talk to anyone else about what the source code is)
3.) agree to not redistribute the source code to anyone else and
4.) agree to not alter the code in any way.
These are all terms of the liscence contract you enter into when you decide to use Microsoft's code. The GNU GPL is a contract just like Microsoft's contracts, but the only difference is that terms of the agreement are different.
The point is that it's a contract. You don't have to agree to it if you don't like the terms. If you don't like the GNU GPL, then you don't have to agree to it. But not agreeing to and not complying with the GPL means that you can not use any GPL'd code in your project. Why is this okay? It's okay because you couldn't use the code before anyway. You aren't automatically entitled to any code I write. I hold the copyright to it which means that I get to decide the terms of redistribution. If you don't like the terms of my contract, you can write the source code yourself, and you are more than welcome to.
The same goes for Microsoft. If you don't like Microsoft's liscencing agreements then you don't have to use their code. You seem to be saying that just because a piece of source code is out there you should have to use it, whether or not you like the terms. People write different source code all the time to do the same things over and over again. And you can, too. But you can't use my code without agreeing to my terms.
Light is filtering down from above. Would you like to use DIVE?