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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.'"
Slashdot is to the Internet, what Tabloids are to Journalism.
You must be new here ;)
who can't RTFAs even when they post them!!!
A few mere minutes and seems like every post is about how that quote was made up. Apparently, the typical Slashdotter will do anything in exchange for free karma.
I was very irritated to see people bitching about an editorial oversight within a couple of minutes of it being posted...claiming that the editors "must not care." What a load of BS. The error was corrected in seven minutes. If that's not good enough for you, too d*mn bad.
Jens Wessling
Linus has lost it. Time to move someone else up as the head kernel hacker.
It is time for him to retire.
People watch Foxnews because they want the straight facts without all of the fluff and bias found on the competing networks. People also enjoy both sides of the issue -- which they consistently see on Foxnews. Unfortunately, this can't be said for the other networks.
It's easy to classify Foxnews viewers as a bunch of foolish mush brains, if you aren't smart enough to explain why they are beating the pants of the traditional liberal outlets that you lefties have come to love. It's simple. People are tired of the same old guilt-peddling hate-America bunch that have monopolized the main-stream media for the past half a century. Thanks to Foxnews and others, times are changing for the better.
I challenge anyone who is not accustomed to Foxnews to take some time out and give this network a chance. Regardless of your political leanings, I have found that Foxnews is much more informative than the other networks. Mostly because of their balance in reporting the news. It's not just a slogan . . . see for yourself.
Man, you've been pimp-slapped. Maybe you should go back to circle-jerking on Free Republic...