Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Finalizes Its Desktop Search Software
Smelly Toejam writes "After a five month testing phase, Microsoft has released a final version of its much hyped desktop-search software. Major updates cited include the ability to pick and choose which files to index, and how often." From the article: "Microsoft is vying for new credibility in the multibillion-dollar Web search market dominated by Google and Yahoo--and central to its campaign is the desktop. With its Longhorn launch slated for next year, Microsoft is developing enhanced search software that combines navigation for Web and desktop files straight from the operating system. The toolbar is a step toward that goal."
hhahahahhaha!
I get the distinct impression that Richard Stallman is once again poking his nose in where it does not belong. He's lucky the folks at google are so willing to work with him; had that been my project I would have politely told Stallman and the FSF that if they didn't like my use of Java then they didn't have to use my code. Simple as that.
:-)
Stallman believes that if you like proprietary software then you're an idiot who does not deserve to use a computer. He also believes that all software should be "free" (but only per his definition of "free" - remember, to him BSD is not free, but to us BSD folks the GPL is not free, so it's a stalemate) and that all non-GPL software should be released under the GPL. He even goes so far as to clone some software and release it under the GPL, and to fork other open projects that he feels are not "free" enough (i.e., that don't use the GPL). Talk about a waste of effort! Don't add new features to a program, rather re-write it from scratch because you like the code but not the license. He's a jerk who should be ignored, not a saint who should be followed without question. What has Stallman done that's original thought (the GPL doesn't count, I'm talking working code)? What hasn't he simply cloned for religious purposes? He didn't like the emacs license, so he cloned it. He didn't like the UNIX license, so he tried to clone it and failed, then tried to hijack the only UNIX clone with a license he liked (tell me, does HURD work yet? I don't hear much about it in the press) He's got a Java clone going, but it won't work with google's Java code so he blames google rather than blaming his faulty Java clone.
I must thank him, though, because his stupid insistance that every Linux distribution is "GNU/Linux" so turned me off that I started looking at the various BSDs as an alternative, and I found them so much better than Linux that I no longer have any Linux in my house, just *BSD and Windows.
Now, here in Slashdot I can filter things so I don't have to read my foes posts, but somehow I can't seem to filter it to block all stories about Stallman and/or the FSF. Oh, well, can't have everything. Maybe I'll write a little Java program to do that, and release it under the BSD license
I noticed in the article that this new search software is being offered for free. That's quite a dangerous precedent to set seeing how people react to "free" things. For instance, think about the free iPod and free Mac Mini and free PSP offers that have been flooding the internet. You know how there are all those people who are more than willing to add links to their SIGs on various online forums just to get something "free"? Putting aside all the possible connotations of the word "free" (as in beer vs. speech), think about the power of that word. With the free iPod and other offers, spammers managed to "zombie" a bunch of humans into service.
Microsoft even did this in the past with IE when Netscape was king of the intarweb. Netscape charged for their browser and MS put theirs out at no charge (ie. free!). It's worked for them before and they know the power that using the word free can give them. Really think about this... If, otherwise normally intelligent people, can be turned into web spam zombies by being offered the possibility of free Mac Minis and iPods... And businesses can be taken down by offering a free alternative that is already included with a computer by default... Then the offer of a free personal search tool that is also included with a computer by default is likely to make people do crazy things.
Don't even get started on the free software movement. Think about the insanity that pervades that world. People are actually willing to work for FREE because they are abel to get software for FREE!!! It's totally insane. Then people like Stallman take hold of the power of FREE and they use it to further their cause! Can you believe it? If this whole "free" thing had never been invented/discovered, our world would be safer today. We wouldn't have to worry about people who "hate our freedoms" because there wouldn't be any such concept (free, that is). Let's stop this cancer of "free" this and "free" that and call it out for what it really is. Dangerous.
BTW, has anyone noticed how heavily the editors have been trolling the Slashdot readers lately? I mean, seriously... Microsoft buying Redhat? That's like saying that the Republican party is going to allow Kerry a position in the Senate! Who ever heard of such a thing!
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
Shut the fuck up, you stupid cunt.