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Linus Defends Proprietary File Formats [Updated]
Simon (S2) writes "Torvalds launched a blast against OpenOffice.org, and defended Microsoft's right to keep its binary Office formats proprietary. 'I'm happy with somebody writing a free replacement for Microsoft Office. But I'm not fine with them writing a free replacement just by reverse engineering the proprietary formats,' said the Linux founder. 'Microsoft has its own reasons for keeping them proprietary, and I can't argue with that.'
At the heart of Torvalds' decision to refrain from using Bitmover's BitKeeper source code management tool last week, a day after BitKeeper decided to drop its limited functionality free client, is a dispute between BitKeeper developer Larry McVoy and Samba developer Andrew 'Tridge' Tridgell. It has subsequently emerged that Tridgell was working on a clean room reverse engineered implementation of McVoy's proprietary software, and Torvalds has come down on the side of his friend McVoy." Update: 04/13 17:24 GMT by T : As reader Daniel Callahan points out, this is a goof. "The Register article made up the Torvalds quote. The article offers the quote
and then continues: 'Actually he didn't - we just made that quote up. But what Torvalds really
did say this weekend is only slightly less bizarre.'"
Saving throw of "Tempest in a Teapot" ... failed.
"This isn't a study in computer science, its a study in human behavior"
But dodgy summaries like this one are what makes life on slashdot exciting!
Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
lol... i predict RTFA to be written at least 200 times.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
"Look, even Linux Torvalds supports our right to innovate!"
Torvalds launched a blast against OpenOffice.org, and defended Microsoft's right to keep its binary Office formats proprietary. "I'm happy with somebody writing a free replacement for Microsoft Office. But I'm not fine with them writing a free replacement just by reverse engineering the proprietary formats," said the Unix founder. "Microsoft has its own reasons for keeping them proprietary, and I can't argue with that."
Actually, we didn't make that, up, that's totally what he said, really. We was there when he said it, though I don't think anyone else heard it.
You know Linux is a clone of Minix because Linus couldn't run Windows on his 486 machine. He wasn't pleased that he couldn't do something and he worked around it. Why can't someone be pleased with other proprietary systems and create workarounds for them?
I'm preaching to the pulpit here but reverse engineering is NOT a Good Thing for all communities. There is a reason that we should support working around what others have obfusticated to make money for themselves.
Windows wouldn't have nearly the same capacity in the Unix world we live in if it wasn't for NFS. Yeah, there is Samba for Sun and various other warez sharing protocols that could have been used but NFS makes it easy for anyone to fit their Dos clone right into their pre-existing Unix network without much trouble.
The free client was costing SCO $1,500,000 a year, explains McBride. "At that point we started looking at what it would be like to discontinue the free BK.
Plenty of companies out there have been doing it just fine by basing their business model on Windows. Why can't McBride find the same happy existence?
C'mon, /. .. I rely on you people!
"There is a reason Linux is free"
~me~
Poor McVoy. Being oppressed by an evil open-sourcer trying to reverse engineer his product. Really, my heart just goes out to this downtrodden coder.
Perhaps he should look into employment with Microsoft. Seems to me he'd fit right in.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
This story should be yanked now.
Censorship! Think of the comments! Who will think of the comments!
Register Ed #1: Hey, watch this, we'll post a fake anti-opensource, pro-microsoft quote from Linus and those Slashdotters will have a hissy fit!
Register Ed #2: But if the quote is fake, we can't post it!
Register Ed #1: We'll just state that it's a fake quote, right after the quote. Do you think Slashdot readers or editors actually read _complete_ articles!
Both: MUAHAHAHAAAH FOOOLS!!!
Man, why don't they just quote the Onion next time? Or why even bother doing that? Just make up articles altogether including then quotes and then simply attribute them to some other source.
Slashdot's new slogan: "News for the Naive. Stuff that's made up." (attributed to slashdot editors as reported on slashdot)
The article actually is about Linus Torvalds defending proprietary file formats. It's just that he's talking about a different format from the almost-made-up quote.
I say "almost made up" because it's got a grain of truth. The original quote is:
"Larry is perfectly fine with somebody writing a free replacement...What Larry is not fine with, is somebody writing a free replacement by just reverse-engineering what he did."
The made-up quote has the same gist, even if it's critically wrong in (a) the file format, and (b) the fact that Linus is talking about somebody else's beliefs, not his own. This gist, however, is clear that Linus believes roughly the same thing:
"It says: 'Get off my coat-tails, you free-loader'. And I can't really argue against that."
So I'd say the score is:
Headline: 1 point (for being accurate)
Summary: -2 points (for repeating a false quote without the retraction)
Submitter's final score: STFU
Slashdot: -2 point (for not verifying the quote)
Slashdot: +1 point (for the retraction on the front page)
Slashdot: +.5 point (for posting an article that's kind of interesting with an accurate headline despite a bad summary and bad editing)
Slashdot's final score: try to do better next time
Register: -2 points (for making up the quote)
Register: -1 point (for putting the retraction after the advertisement)
Register's final score: Really stupid, but they're usually reliable, so I'll let them off with a warning.
That's nothing! I'm 0 for 25 baby!
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
Slashdot. Made-up news for Microsoft haters. Stuff that feeds trolls.
Don't you just hate it when you start going out with some girl, and your friends are all like, "She's a tramp, don't go out with her, she's just using you to get popular. She's gonna dump you and break your heart, just you watch." Then you say, "No way! She loves me. Besides, she does things the other girls won't do. It's true love, just YOU watch!"
And then it turns out they were totally right, and not only does she leave you, she ends up giving you VD.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
And we have our Wookie on SCOXE's CC Day
--fatboy
it's misleading stories like this that make me want to switch my homepage from /. to Foxnews. At least there I KNOW every article is a slanted half-truth.
It's called /. because the / is slanted, just like the news. If you want straight news without a pro-commons slant, go to Pipedot.
And backslashdot would have Pro-Microsoft articles.
Hell, *I* won't even bother to register.
Says the user whose userid is only 5191 less.
well, that was meant to sound like a joke, but it didn't come out that way. sorry.