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Following Bill Gates' Linux Attack Money
UnderScan writes "After researching this material for about three years, Tom Adelstein tracks Microsoft's anti-Linux lobbying money: "Microsoft has unparalleled influence throughout the Federal government. On the cover of a recent edition of VarBusiness Magazine dated June 26, 2005 the editors presented a large headline which read: 'It's A Microsoft World. Five years after running afoul of the Feds, Microsoft is as powerful as ever. Pushing a platform instead of products could make it stronger still. Why nothing seems to stop it.'""
I tried switching the family over to Linux machines over the summer
vacation and the objections from the other family members was more
than enough to send all 7 machines right back to Windows ME, Windows
2000 and Windows XP.
So why all the troubles?
Afterall Linux users in COLA love to tell stories of how Linux is so
much better than Windows and they would never go back and so forth.
My conclusion after seeing real people in a real average Jane setting
revolt against Linux is that the Linux advocates are just plain lying
because Linux is really a step backwards for people used to using
Windows.
To make this short and simple, virtually NOTHING worked properly under
Linux.
Video cards could not get maximum resolution.
Capture programs, for my ATI All In WOnder and Video camera did not
work. In fact my ATI cards advanced features (remote control amongst
other things) didn't work at all.
My printer (Brother all in one fax/copier/printer) did not work.
My DSL connection did not work and when I called support they said
that Linux was not supported.
My mp3 and mpeg video and music files played but they skipped
horribly.
I couldn't log into my router via konqueror to change/view settings.
MANY, MANY, MANY web pages did not display correctly.
And it goes on and on for pages,but the bottom line is that Linux
lasted about 3 days in my house before I ditched it and went back to
the Windows versions I was using.
Thank goodness for Ghost which mad it easy to do.
Conclusion is that Linux is a birds nest of confusion. Linux seems
like it might be good until you actually try and use it and then it
shows it's ugliness, slowness and instability.
Why on earth ANYONE would use Linux for a home system is a mystery.
Stephanie
Tom Adelstein discovers VarBusiness Magazine owned by Microsoft.
Nothing seems to stop it because people act like sheep when it comes to technology. Try selling OSS solutions to a non-profit group when companies are in thier ear about how OSS is evil.
Give the local company gives them a free copy of Office and they are sold that OSS is the devil.
"Microsoft has unparalleled influence throughout the Federal government."
Whether this influence is actually good for Microsoft remains to be seen.
Money buys everything. World is korupt.
Nothing will stop it ... short of a taleban takeower. Almost make you wanna support BinL
It's a shame that the pro Windoze + Micro$oft reports get aired across the web with reeding figures in the hundreds of thousands, while this well reserched quality article of pure uncomfortable truth sits here preaching to the choir.
Times like this make me wish I owned a newspaper.
Whoever has the gold makes the rules.
It's only a matter of time before MicrSoft seceeds from the Union, forming a technocracy that will rule the internet and unleash Clippy v2.0, the Terminator edition. Unstoppable, blob-like, indefatigable, only Mr. Peabody and the Way Back machine can stop it now. May the Gods have mercy on our souls.
"I drank WHAT?!"--Socrates
who else read as 'attack monkey' ?
Don't tell me you actually believed that the "GNU/Linux revolution" would somehow change the rules of the game and that future business would be conducted on the basis of competence/performance alone instead of politics and money?
The fact is that competence and performance can never compete with politics, lock-in and big money. IBM, Sun and a few other corporations like Red Hat are adapting Free/Open Software in the way that actually matters. Cash in on that success, stop whining about the "Microsoft World", play the backstab/lobbying-game to the end and you just might win.
"Microsoft is as powerful than ever" what?
Soon they'll announce linux has ties to terrorist!
VarBusiness Magazine?
Never heard of it... and judging by the typo errors in their headlines, I'm betting I don't ever hear of them again.
The sheer amounts of cash microsoft has at its disposal distorts all things including politics. The recent Gattes world health initiatives and other gestures of good will insure M$ remains a dandy in the eye of the general public. Now their enemies are another story...
We could probably get Tova Torvalds an advisory position with IndyMedia...do you think it would help?
Where would we be if Wheel had hid her round rock in a cave instead of showing everyone how it rolls?
Here in .br, while the whole world sees us as a big case for FLOSS / Linux, the results of this so greatly announced program are yet to be seen. I've been involved in a government project or three, and I've seen things like they throwing away perfectly working Linux-based applications and changing them to Microsoft just to realize that it won't work.
In the end, more money goes to hire dozens of different software houses just to duct'tape the system to hell so that it half-assed works.
And I'm not even talking about the USA, where the market holds potentially more money for MS than here.
I know this was not exactly on-topic, and I've RTFA, but I had to say it.
They've worked hard. I mean, look at Politicians, Oil companies...it's obviously on their merit...right??
Ever see the Sci-Fi series Tech Wars?
maybe it's time to play for real.
Microsoft has unparalleled influence throughout the Federal government.
If by unparalleled they mean, 'a lot, but not so much as oil and pharmaceuticals', then I might agree.
Anyway...
Did anyone else read "Following Gates' Linux Attack Monkey"???
At first I thought this was a biography of Ballmer...
perl -e "eval pack(q{H*},join q{},qw{70 72696e74207061636b28717b482a7d2c717b343 637323635363534323533343430617d293b})"
I'm glad that this info becomes public. I just hope it makes it to yahoo! news or something *actually* popular.
At first I thought that said, "Linux Attack Monkey," and hey, that actually sounds pretty neat.
Not as much substance as I hoped as the article 'follows the money'. More conspiracy theories than anything else.
It certainly shows Microsoft repenting of its earlier mistake for not paying off politicians like all the other major corporations did so they didn't get investigated for violating laws. I'm sure all these wonderful contributions will keep it safe from further litigation and give it more power to manage the law making process as time goes on.
I think I read it here somewhere awhile back and I totally agree, America IS a corperate Oligarchy
The system is indeed for sale
*DrugCheese rants*
Microsoft has unparalleled influence throughout the Federal government.
Oh puh-lease. There are plenty of companies with that kind of clout; there are plenty with a hell of a lot more. Compared to Halliburton or McDonnell-Douglas or Boeing, Microsoft is strictly amateur hour.
"Microsoft is as powerful than ever"
:-)
Someone wanna check this guys grammar?
Let Google use its Microsoft attack money. Microsoft has serious competition now. Google has more power and influence than Microsoft and Google is already politically connected.
People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
This just proves further that microsoft is incapable of making a good product and therefore have to drag another down to make themselves look good.
There is no hope for the american government, they are too inflewenced by lobbying and nothing can change that, let them buy microsoft products and keep fooling themselves, because in a few years they will be the only ones buying it.
I wonder how much they can inflewence the european union though, so far they dont seem to be taking much shit from microsoft but im sure they have taken a few bribes for software patents & the DMCA-style law.
At the end of the day it is common knowledge that linux is free and microsoft costs a fortune, and no amount of advertising, lobbying or spin-doctoring is going to change that.
I am not sure, but donating US $5000 is enough to swing the vote of a US Senator ? From the article that is what the Preston Gates firm contributed to the guy (perhaps the table is listing the amount in thousands, who knows). If that is the case, then the hard times are hitting even Congress.
Big money influence buying like this is a cancer on the body politic that will ruin the US or any other country if left unchecked.
It's time to investigate, prosecute, and start stuffing people in jail.
2) That same firm does some lobbying for the BSA and has some Microsoft connections.
Pretty thin stuff for three years work, I'd say, especially since if the Tom DeLay stuff hadn't just fallen out it would be even thinner. The biggest thing I can see here is a bit of nepotism on how the BSA chooses its lobbyists; maybe some of you will lose sleep over that.
Anyway, connection to Linux -- zero.
By the way: Why the coyness about referring to Ralph Nader ("a well-known consumer advocate") by name? This Adelstein guy seems like a bit of a nut, so I imagine the reason is nutty, but I can't quite guess what it might be.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Hey! I'm as powerful than ever too! YOu'd seriously think someone could proofread this stuff...
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Eventually this will come back to bite them. When that happens there will be a million geeks worldwide to laugh at them :)
Anyone have connections with the DOJ?
Parent post is not a troll. First reply is a troll. I am Linux only household and it all works for me (mostly). Does that make trolls out of people who tried Linux and couldn't make it work? Oh right- Slashdot, where the inmates run the asulym and wanna-be do-nothings are the loudest critics. Do the loudest geeks and nerds all have the mentality of 4th graders? Oopps...asking for some rational thought. Mod me an unfunny troll.
Are you using Windows every day? Did you set up a Windows computer for your parents, grandparents, or other friends because FreeBSD/Linux/NetBSD/MacOS is "too complicated"? Then you are the problem...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
all you /. readers blaming Bill for getting GWB elected, 9/11, and our Iraq vacation? On a side note, statistically speaking, you're safer as a contractor in Iraq than the average metro Atlanta resident is in going about his daily business!
Anyway, go beat on gatesco for 9/11, GWB's victory, and every other USA evil...
Keep funding open source, maybe fund some political organizing tools, use its blogging power and internet portal power to help the anti Microsoft forces launch a pro open source anti Microsoft assault. Let's not forget you also have IBM, Apple, Novell, I don't think Microsoft has as much political power as the Linux community. The open source world is the most politically connected group in the industry right now. Most of the political software used by both parties arent being developed by microsoft, and a lot of essential tools such as blogging technology are owned by Google. Why do we even need Microsoft anymore?
Well no sh** sherlock! I mean, I can think of 40 billion reasons right off the top of my head why this is the case...
They also control the black helicopters, Flying Saucers, and it seems that if you dig deep enough you find out that the Anal Probe(tm held by MS) was actually worked on in the late 70's by none other than Bill Gates himself. His new secret projects are being tested in a certain prison in Cuba as we speak. Anal Probe De-Virginater 2.0. or maybe you guys need to lighten up...
Is that you Mr. Culkin? Is Michael innocent?
People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
Case in point: ACLU
'nuff said.
I
"...Microsoft is as powerful than ever. ... Why nothing seems to stop it."
Not even the rules of grammar can stop Microsoft!
And Melinda gates is in the beard of directors of a newspaper?? Holy shit, and is she in the board of directors of all the other news media outlets in this country? Inquiring minds want to know! At the very least we now now that she's not in the board of directors of LXer, which is apparently read by 8,500 people a day!! Conspiracy, I say!!
And the article is rated 10/10!! It must be true!!
And it took this guy three years to scoop this out!? Film at 11!
IBM is the world's largest computer company, and it no doubt has lots of influence in the government. Has it been working to counter Microsoft's lobbying?
On first reading, I was sure that headline said "attack monkey". I bet that would be a lot more interesting story.
I'd guess that developers paid by msft try to splinter and hassle oss projects, if this is the case, and it could be proved, then msft could be in serious trouble. The judicial process on msft is a joke, i wonder how many ppl in power still hold msft stock?
Actually, I don't think it matters. Even if this is a troll it reflects many people's experience of Linux. I'm sceptical of the claim that konqueror couldn't display the router web page because I'm sure most routers use pretty basic HTML. And I'm sceptical about mp3s skipping unless this was a very old PC. But I've had plenty of problems with playing video (though mplayer is my player of choice even on MacOS X), printers, DSL configuration, and video cards. And to add one to the list, I still can't get any sound out of the SUSE box I use at work. (Yes, I'm sure it's a simple thing to fix, but the points is that with Windows and MacOS X I've never even had anything to fix.)
So I really don't think this should be modded troll.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Am I the only person that reads all comments before posting one myself? Geesh.
"...if people respected copyright more, like you guys do with the GPL so religiously, [the DMCA] wouldn't be necessary."
you had ABSOLUTELY ZERO LINUX experience and tried to switch YOUR WHOLE FAMILY to Linux?
:P
Well that decision was worthy of a.... Windows user (pun intended)
Parent post is not a troll.
I was wondering. But I'm now convinced it is actually a troll (and won't therefore answer him) : how would an AC have written so much in about two minutes ?
Either he had access to the news before, which implies a suscriber account, then posting as AC, or he just copy-pasted a pre-written text. In both cases, I can't see how it couldn't be a troll.
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
"Where men are men, women are women, and young 14y old girls are FBI agents"
...or something like that.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
I already knew that Microsoft has been up to no good to keep from losing their marketshare to Linux, above and beyond paying off our corrupt politicians and funding bogus "Windows is better" studies.
The question is, what to do about it?
The parents forget there is an even larger number of people who are fed up by viruses, spyware and other windows problems (yes windows has some shortcomings, did you know ?).
Microsoft is funded by terrorists who use their software to plot devilish crimes. (Windows 2K in fact.)
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Even though the above post is a completely madeup TROLL, it still illustrates a good point. Without proper preperation you WILL fail if you attempt to migrate to linux or any other OS.
Its obvious this person didn't do research into which hardware was supported. And thus they had a horrible experience. Getting hardward supported on linux that doesn't work 100% out of the box is a total F*cking PITA. That's why you make sure you stuff is supported before you even reach for the install CD.
As far as mp3's skipping something was really wrong there. I haven't heard widespread reports of that happening since the 90's.
And also I will say that if you wanted compatibilty why didn't you use Firefox or Opera?
You know, I've seen enough reports of the problems people have over the years with linux that I don't even suggest linux as a desktop anymore. I do respond to help help people but I don't ever tell people to switch from Windows. Its not worth my breath and not worth it unless you want to actually get elbow deep in computer technology and your OS. Most people don't want to learn anything more than "push this button to turn on your PC and push the big blue E to access the Internet".
But again I must say that this person set themselves up to fail. Who the hell switches SEVEN machines to linux in one shot and expects everthing to work perfectly? Have much linux admin experience? No? Then why did you do that? You should have done 1 PC at a time over a long period to make sure everyone was used to it and you could iron out things like printers not working.
You know what? I changed my mind. The above post is a total Troll. I'm just waiting for someone to point out that this is an old copy and paste from 3 years ago.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
hold that thought...
someone will be along to 'meta-moderate' your kneecaps in a minute or two...
The Goldman's law, the official revision of Godwins law. The first poster who cites Godwins law actually secretly supports Hitler.
People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
...buy MSFT? I mean, if they're THAT powerful then NOTHING can stop them, right?
I would agree the original post is not a troll. Not very well informed, certainly not insightful...but not a troll. They have all the right to report what their experience is, but I would be equally annoyed if they were modded positively. As they stated, Linux isn't as easy as Windows...especially if don't even give it a week. It's taken me more than a year to finally get used to the differences between Linux and my Windows upbringing.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
if i had the points youd get 'em
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Parent post is not a troll. First reply is a troll. I am Linux only household and it all works for me (mostly). Does that make trolls out of people who tried Linux and couldn't make it work? Oh right- Slashdot, where the inmates run the asulym and wanna-be do-nothings are the loudest critics. Do the loudest geeks and nerds all have the mentality of 4th graders? Oopps...asking for some rational thought. Mod me an unfunny troll.
Used Ubuntu Linux to switch my sister's notebook PC to Linux and it worked like a charm.
But why does she use Linux? Simple newbie like reason. It comes with more preinstanned simple little games then Windows. In XP she had the abilty to play, mine sweeper, pineball, and solitare...
Now she and my mother are constantly playing gnome same game, any of the multiple flavors of tetris, and majong. (oh god if I could spell)
Agreed....the insecurity of Windows alone brings it back down to equal with any UI or setup frustrations you would find with Linux. It's the fact that Linux is open source that really pushes it over the top.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
Information on Preston Gates scancal
Clears his throat (ahem)
then says "design it, build it, then deliver it, the rest is bullshit except if it is a valid argument in terms of economic resource management planet-wide in terms of human behaviour", hits refresh and waits for the flames.
Peter
Watch closely where Gates is putting his money. He is slowly and quietly liquidating his MSFT stock holdings and putting the money into Big Pharmaceutical stocks. Gates is one of the biggest Big Pharma stockholders in the world. And gee, what a surprise, his "charities" (and I use that term loosely) are solely dedicated to getting the 3rd World hooked on Big Pharma products.
It appears the only monopoly more profitable than Microsoft is Pharmaceuticals.
*SNIP* "IV. Impact Local unprivileged users may gain access to confidential information that is stored on affected systems. This may allow access to unrelated services such as web accounts, or further compromise of the affected system's host network. V. Workarounds None known. Mission-critical systems should be protected from logins by untrusted users, according to industry-standard best practices. VI. Vendor Response The Microsoft Security Response Center was notified by e-mail when this issue was originally discovered more than two years ago. MSRC was contacted again with updated information on the specific details of the flaw, in an attempt to assist a lab reproduction and a possible fix. MSRC chose to handle the incident as a "non-security issue", and directed the Windows product team to issue a Service Pack fix. Citing the supposed difficulty of producing the behavior documented in this advisory, MSRC concluded that a security update to address the issue was not "justified". Further, it was indicated to me that the MSRC would "not be driving" the release timeline for any fix. "
I didn't have the problems you speak of ... I never had any problem with Windows. It was stupid of me to try Linux. I thought it would be the same thing as going from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox, a revelation. It wasn't, it was a pain in the arse. I don't know what Linuxites keep bragging about, they always say "no spyware, no viruses" but if you have a firewall that argument is irrelevant.
Goldman's law: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a poster supporting Nazi ideology while hiding behind Godwins Law approaches one.
Its obvious MS can't just make better software to compete with OSS, or at least they don't believe they can. So, they lobby to make any serious competition look evil in some way, or make that competition illegal somehow. Either that, or they just fear what they don't understand. Remember, most OSS is produced without traditional management - its a different way of seeing things with respect to making software. That's why OSS often 'just works'.
I installed linux on a laptop, and the ethernet interface 'just worked'along with everything else with no additional intervention. With Win2k and WinXP, I had to hunt down the drivers, although that wasen't very hard. On another PC, reinstalling WinXP and applying SP2 redered the box unbootable from WinXP. It boots knoppix just fine, and I can browse the web, read my company email, including opening MS office attachments.
However, corrupting goverment officials - that's not news, that's shooting fish in a barrel. Not even a good spectator sport.
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
Apparently you missed the crux of my argument. The fact that Linux is open source is all the reason you should need to switch. To achieve freedom and security you must give up some convienence. I've been struggling with learning Linux for over a year now, but I'm still not giving up on it.
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
News at 11, a big corporation makes campaign contributions to insure they gain influence in Washington.
/. submission is thanks to all the Gates/Linux catch phrases maybe some number of geeks will be enlightened that their supposed representative Democracy was in fact sold to the highest bidder like a century or two ago.
Breaking news, a major scandal has been unearthed, a big corpooration pays lobbiests with connections to influence politicians.
Geez, EVERY big company does EXACTLY the same thing, look at all the companies on the list in the article that gave more money than Microsoft did, like AOL Time Warner. The only amazing thing about Microsoft is they didn't do it much until the antitrust suite and Congress became active in drafting legislation that directrly impacts their business.
The only plus I can see in their
This whole submission is a case of taking a somewhat interesting article on politics and business as usual(a.k.a sleezy) and bending it so its certain to make it to the Slashdot front page using certain to succeed hot button catch phrases.
Its mildly interesting that there may be a link between Microsoft, Preston Gates and Abramoff but I assure you there are a LOT of politicians and firms that are going to have sleeze splattered on them thanks to Abramoff now that he's been publicly tagged as a sleeze and a crook, something most insiders have known for a long time.
Its interesting Melinda Gates is on the board of the Washington post but ALL boards are incestuous dens of influence peddaling between the rich and powerful.
But really, nothing to see here....move along.
@de_machina
This is why we must give up all our privacy and security to rid the world of terrorism. We need cameras on every street, we need to give more power to the CIA, the FBI, and do our best to combine all the powers in government and put it in control of just one or two men. When one man makes all the decisions, even if the decisions are wrong most of they time, they will be made swiftly.
People don't exist to serve systems, systems exist to serve people.
I found it funny that you mentioned that, because the same force that is going to kill Microsoft (in less than 3 years) is the same one that is also going to cause the dollar to collapse and force the US back onto the gold standard.
That force is the information age. Both monitary policy and Microsoft are about controlling and manipulating information that people are allowed to have or apply.
Monitory policy manipulates information by lying to people about the value of their money, Microsoft controlls information thru copyright and licensing schemes that forbid people from copying office and windows. They call this right controll and manipulate what other people copy a "property right" but it's really about controlling how people use information. The *AA are even worse.
But the problem is, that in the information age, information, by definition can not be controlled. It is sorta like the plantation system that tried to controll the labor force in the industrial revolution. The scheme simply blew up in their face and all hell broke loose.
In sum, people would be very wise to buy every dam bit of gold or silver they can get their hands on. And break their neck doing everything immaginitively possible to bet their future career on Linux and ween themselves of windows.
But you know, MS was apolitical until they were blind sided by the Antitrust suit, mainly be the Democrat Party, in power at that time. Now they are all over politics.
"Better yet, you idealists should all just die now. The world has no room for people who strive to make it a better place."
No thanks. At the end of my life, I'd like to not be remembered as a back-stabbing cheat, but as someone who strove to make the world better. And today you're in luck: I can take your ridicule. My heart is full of love.
They bought up a bunch of politicians. It was a matter of survival. But now they have all this political clout they can apply in other ways. I don't see any benefit to all that lawyering worth remaking Microsoft into a political force.
I'm not saying they never did anything illegal. The problem is the government was trying to put them out of business. DOJ should have slapped them with a large fine for exclusionary business deals and called it a day. Microsoft simply couldn't tolerate a situation where a judge has to sign off on every new feature they want to add to Windows.
*SNIP*
"IV. Impact
Local unprivileged users may gain access to confidential information
that is stored on affected systems. This may allow access to unrelated
services such as web accounts, or further compromise of the affected
system's host network.
V. Workarounds
None known. Mission-critical systems should be protected from logins by
untrusted users, according to industry-standard best practices.
VI. Vendor Response
The Microsoft Security Response Center was notified by e-mail when this
issue was originally discovered more than two years ago. MSRC was
contacted again with updated information on the specific details of the
flaw, in an attempt to assist a lab reproduction and a possible fix.
MSRC chose to handle the incident as a "non-security issue", and
directed the Windows product team to issue a Service Pack fix.
Citing the supposed difficulty of producing the behavior documented in
this advisory, MSRC concluded that a security update to address the
issue was not "justified". Further, it was indicated to me that the
MSRC would "not be driving" the release timeline for any fix. "
A CONVICTED monopolist would never use his money to lobby his government to restrict or deny markets to his only real competition. NEVER!
zosxavius photography
Don't tell me you actually believed that the "GNU/Linux revolution" would somehow change the rules of the game and that future business would be conducted on the basis of competence/performance alone instead of politics and money?
Of course not.
But where do you think all that money Microsoft has comes from? It comes from companies, from consumers.
And when companies wake up and realize they can take they money they have been giving Microsoft, and keep more of it themselves... that is the revolution, based entirey on the same rules of politics and money.
The rules that say if you keep stealing long enough from someone someday they will notice.
The rules that say if your competition has a lower operating cost they are probably going to eat you up. So it only takes a few companies going with open source solutions along with significant savings and therefore reduced pricing to tilt the whole industry that way.
In the end even a very rich company like Microsoft cannot propel itself on money alone as they simply have to take more in then they spend out.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Superb explanation.
Big Bad Software Corp?
/. community and those working on F/OSS software have a chance to absolutely topple Long(wait)horn and should be doing it... ?
I really don't believe that it would take that much incentive, perhaps a few $100,000 in a swiss bank waiting for someone to topple Longhorn and install corporate spyware inside Microsoft to publish their details to the world... Not that I have the bankroll for it, but there are a LOT of people in the world that have lots of free time and nothing particularly demanding to do with their skills....
I think it would be nice to see Longhorn just fail miserably. It would remove any grasp that the Redmond company could hope to keep hold of in the software market... If it takes 5 more years for the release of all the wonderful things promised, Linux and F/OSS will have already done it, done it better, and done it for very little money... why would anyone keep waiting for Longhorn?
Is anyone working on the Windows to Linux migration strategy? IBM? anyone?
I guess what I'm saying is that the
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Stop using Red Hat 6 and go to a more modern distribution, because Linux at the SAME level of difficulty as installing Microsoft Windows XP Pro.
Otherwise, you're just a troll trying to revive a long dead argument that died more than 2 years ago.
A few times in fact. And each and every accuser has had one thing in common: some connection to Microsoft. First it was by noted Microsoft evangelist Rob Erndale that Linux users were potential terrorists. Another one is the Micorosft sponsored group ADTI who have been publishing articles detailing how terrorists could use Linux to attack the USA and so it should be outlawed.
...the voter's find out and get really pissed... Then some things change briefly during the damage control PR campaign...
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
Is this another new monster from Kingdom of Loathing?
Microsoft defending itself against a competing platform? Sending attack money out? No, say it ain't so.
(insert your favorite eyes rolling emoticon here)
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
It's a shame, really, as "Following Bill Gates' Linux Attack Monkey" would have been a much more interesting story.
Saxamaphone!
I'm no Microsoft booster, but that's three sentences, marked by three weasels words, indicating the author isn't sure of anything, but has to throw these points in to support his conspiracy theory.
I stopped reading there.
Crow T. Trollbot
Whoever has the gold is evil
People with lots of money have lots of political clout, and they tend to use it!
Get a grip, dude. This is everyday politics in just about every organized collection of humans on earth. Has been for, oh, I dunno, a hundred and twenty thousand years or more?
(Of course, the whining about the aforementioned state of affairs has been going on for, oh, a hundred and nineteen thousand years...)
Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
This isn't news. This isn't the big shock. The big shock is that this apparently is news to a lot of Microsoft apologists. Or, at least the ones who were denying that Microsoft bought their way out of the antitrust case.
Please yourself.
It's not "clout" it's ability to break the law and get away with it through bribes and fast talking. Oil and defense companies may have their influence but they have not been flaunting anti-trust law and getting away with it after conviction. That other corruption may exist is no reason to look the other way, especially with something as important as software is to your rights to free speech, privacy and financial security. Murder may be more "important" than rape, but rapists should be put away.
There are also important differences in industry to consider economies of scale and product. It takes a single computer and one person to make high quality software. Developing a new battle tank and finding the fuel to drive are at least five orders of magnitude more expensive. Also, I'm not aware of a free fuel or free arms movement who have the ability to make infinite coppies of their vastly superior product but can't find a vendor.
That M$ continues to push it's crap onto hardware makers, vendors and the general public is inexcusable. The end result will be a world without privacy and continued news/entertainment monopolies of the 1920s. The US government had it's chance to stop it.
Now it's up to each of us to put a stop to the idiocy. Don't buy or use or recommend M$. It's that easy. Not for your wife, neighbor or relatives. Free software is easier and better. M$ can't live forever without customers and their platform merits few of those.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
I gave up. I have been trying to use Linux as my main computer. Damn...even for a very little thing, I have to struggle a lot. My USB wireless card still doesn't work. It's not pain in the arse..it's pain in whole body. I wanted to edit a few VB Script files and I couldn't sucessfully setup vbs file association to a gedit program...it's ****ing 3rd day I was stuggling. Then, I thought why do I have to punish myself with Linux while Windows works perfectly for my job. I dont' have spyware or any malware and didn't hit my windows pcs. I am happy with Windows, eventhough I knew other options available.
The problem is the government was trying to put them out of business.
Don't be silly. Monopoly is a horribly inefficient way for a business to operate. Breaking up a monopoly usually ends up with the resulting companies, after the shake-out, being worth more in total than the original company did. That's been the case all the way back to US Steel.
In the case of Microsoft, they have for years been deliberately crippling their own products to make them serve the purpose of promoting the Windows monopoly (which has now topped out, they've got nowhere left to grow in the US... all they can do is try and convince people to buy Windows over again with Longhorn) instead of making them as effective as they can be in their own right. They're still acting like a start-up with one product, instead of spreading out and taking on new markets using whatever tools Microsoft Research can come up with, they're trying to figure out how to tweak a competent if mediocre desktop OS into doing the job.
Microsoft, split up, wouldn't be worrying about the challenge from Linux, they'd be USING Linux to take on IBM, or Walmart...
Microsoft has unparalleled influence throughout the Federal government.
Aside from the Navy and Marines (who run almost entirely on Microsoft products), the Army, Pentagon, FBI, and CIA (just to name a few) all run with a unix core and a Windows enterprise application suite. (In short, the machine is unix but you work with Windows.)
Of course Microsoft is going to try as hard as they can to get their products into everything they can. This is business. MS has the money, the power, and the consumer grip, to lug themselves into just about anything on command. What company out there is going to NOT try to get their product in before their competitor? This isn't brain surgery, folks. So MS is trying to bash Linux so it can gain a bigger peice of the pie...This honestly shouldn't be shocking or freaking-out anyone.
.. it's Redhat's little experiment to see if the community can sustain development of a distribution whose parts or whose sum may become useful in their enterprise editions later. it has no primary project of maintaining an easy to use desktop platform. their own site makes this quite clear.
and so i wasn't suprised that all my encounters with Fedora prove it's far more suited to very interested enthusiasts than new users. this seems due to the Redhat association; as though being tagged with such a name brand it has proven itself to be ready for widest distribution.
Fedora needs alot of work to be a sensible productivity platform for Jane Sixpack. Ubuntu or Mepis are far more suitable for new users, out-of-the-box. given the choice of all three, nearly all of my students dropped Fedora for the Debian-based Mepis and Ubuntu distributions.
administrators shouldn't be so easily swayed either. Fedora is difficult to maintain and install compared to that of Mepis or Ubuntu. it took 2 of us 4.5 hours to install Mepis on 30 dell workstations, all just worked with absolutely *no* after-the-fact configuration. Fedora Core 4 took 3 people 2 full days to get to that state on the same number of machines.
Fedora, as a would-be flagship of Desktop Linux for so many, gives a bad first impression. Fedora users promoting the project should read the distribution home page before reccommending it to uncle Keith.
then again, it seems uncle Keith has already decided.
When will Microsoft be parterning with the entertainment industry, and try to take over everything on the planet?
At that point they will have the funds and political power to pretty much dictate the rules we all live by.. And not be bound by any constitution.
Its all Gary Kildall's fault. ( thats a joke.. laugh )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
> I don't mean to discourage the notion that our leaders sell out cheaply,
> they certainly do.
Look, I'm as cynical as the next guy, but lets be honest about the relationship between lobbists and congresscritters. At most they can influence a congresscritter on issues they are ambvalent on. If they are strongly invested in one side of an issue they usually won't budge. Where lobbists exercise their influnece is more effective, and when disclosed, perfectly honest. They influence WHO gets elected and who stays elected.
Think about it. Would the average socialist congresscritter start supporting the war in Iraq if Halliburton dumped the biggest shitload of money any reelection fund has ever seen on their desk? No. Would the average conservative switch to being for abortion if NARAL dumped a similar shitload on their desk? No.
What the money buys is a hearing, where you get to make your case, and on a case like Microsoft most congressmen aren't politically invested either way so it counts big. They get to wail about how unfair it all is, how it is going to cost American jobs and competitiveness, etc. And since the counter side isn't yet organized enough to put the other side of the argument to the congresscritter.... Plus they can dump large sums to those who ARE politically predisposed to support their opposition to anti-trust laws in general, etc. And equally as important, support the opponents of their more vocal foes.
Democrat delenda est
These days I ask corporate people if they would accept a single provider for a critical part in a product they were manufacturing. When they give the by-the-book answer of, "Of course not." I then ask them why they have allowed their critical corporate IT infrastructure to be tied to a sole source provider and what would be the impact on the corporate bottomline if MicroSoft decided to raised their fees in a significant manner. If we can just change their mindset...
For every problem there is a solution that is simple, obvious and wrong.
You are all still missing the point. My Mom, with no previous computer experience, is now able to surf the web, edit short movies and manage her digital photographs without ever having to join a Windows forum.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Why keep whining about Microsoft. If you can do better, then in this capitalist society then do so. Make better products and give them some competition because nobody else is.
They are in the position they are in because the competition was weaker and MS made great stuff.
Can you make a cheaper better Excel or Outlook, then do so because no one else has come close.
or is it:
No, wait!
Yes, 10,000,000 people will read this so it's important that I get it right!
Microsoft is playing the same game in Washington that every other big business does. This doesn't surprise anybody except naive /. article contributors. On the bright side, maybe this will open up some eyes and get people less fanatically obsessed with moronic "Linux > Microsoft" dogma and more involved in addressing problems that actually make a difference in people's lives.
I switched from Windows to Linux at home two years ago and sure, it was a bit of a learning curve, but I'm much happier now.
Call me a ricer, but my Gentoo box is ten times more stable and faster than that bloated crapware Windows EVER was.
Also, most software available through the Gentoo catalog (emerge system) is higher quality than virtually everything Microsoft provides "for free".
The only problem I've had is that my TV tuner card is not supported; I wish I had known about Linux before I bought it.
So, who are you going to believe? Some anonymous coward who mudslings and runs away or someone who is telling the true story of what they experienced?
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
Right, that's why I bought a Mac mini. Plugged it in and well, dammit, it just worked. No complaints.
And, in the end, when the bad guys stand triumphant, will you be satisfied when you look in the mirror and say to yourself, "Well, at least I went about it 'the right way'"?
Would you rather stand triumphant over the bloodied corpses of your enemies, and those of all the bystanders who stood in your way, look your corrupted bad-guy self in the mirror and say, "Well, at least I won"?
Being good and failing is no good.
Being evil and winning is no good either.
Thankfully the two are not mutually exclusive, and it is possible to be good and win. In the end, it's inevitable that, if anybody wins, it will be the good guys. Any victory for evil must be short-lived, as evil thrives by exploiting the good. Once good has lost completely, evil's fall can't be far behind.
I like to think of it as a swimming analogy. We're all trying to stay afloat. The good guys are the ones who can tread water and keep themselves up. Maybe some really strong good people can keep others up too. The evil ones are those who can only stay afloat by pushing down on others. So long as there are good folks around, the evil ones can put weight on them to keep themselves afloat - and if the good are strong enough, they can tolerate that and we have no problem.
But if too many or too heavy evil people drag all the good people down, and all you've got left are the evil ones, then pretty soon everybody's going to drown. Nobody's swimming anymore; they all just thrash about, trying to be the last person with their head above water before everybody dies.
Sure, we'll all get tired and be unable to swim anymore after a while. But maybe we can teach someone else to swim before then, and they can teach someone else, and so long as there are new people, someone will always stay afloat; and if enough people are good swimmers, the tired and evil of the pool will hardly make a difference. But if nobody swims anymore, and everyone just relies on being able to put their weight on some good swimming... well, now there are none, and we're all done for.
In the end, being good is the only winning option. Isn't that kind of the definition of "good"?
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
Did you ever know that you're my hero,
and everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
for you are the wind beneath my wings.
I dule boot with SuSE and windows, but im stuck in windows simpley becasue ATI are no help for supplieying 9800 Drivers, thus no 3D, thus i carnt play any OpeGL games in SuSE. I do use it some times for opensource software that hasnt yet been built for windows. Which is the main reason i dont use it as offten as i would like to. I do how ever have a FreeBSD server which i have got quite atuned to, again with FreeBSD, no radeon 9800 drivers so no games. Althow Linux, FreeBSD and other Unix varients make excelent servers, there not so good as a desktop OS even though they look far better then windows.
Did anybody else read the headline as Bill's Attack Monkeys?
You have to make the whole installation process able to be accomplished by your grandmother (or your dad, who doesn't know the right end of a remote control). Microsoft can do this because they are at the center of the computer universe and everyone comes to them and they set the new standards etc.(that't why the make crap and charge $$$ for it etc.).
Remember, the masses that buy computers are stupid and really don't care whats in the box or whats loaded into the box, but that box had better boot up and work most of the time. like your telephone, radio, tv and car, its that simple. (like the old engineering proverb from world war 2: KISS (keep it simple stupid). Simple install, simple operation, not everyone wants to be, or is a nerd and could care less about tech stuff.
Don't blame the victim. The whole anti-trust case was that M$ made it insanely hard to compete much less be free. Freedom seems to be overcoming M$, but we should not blame the victims of constant advertising barages, lack of choice at the vendor level and coercive force at the manufacturing level.
Are you using Windows every day?
No, but I might if that's what my job required. I don't have an OS choice on hardware I don't own and other people sometimes make stupid/lazy choices.
Did you set up a Windows computer for your parents, grandparents, or other friends because FreeBSD/Linux/NetBSD/MacOS is "too complicated"?
Hell no. I show them free software and let them bear the full cost of ignoring my advice. I'm not part of the problem, but I know better than to blame my mom for using M$ because AOL has no Linux access client and refuses to use normal.
Microsoft is the problem, period, end of story. The reason things are so complicated is largely a matter of M$ being able to force NDAs based on their market position. If you owned a video card company, would you dare release specs if you knew that M$ would turn around and break your Windoze drivers with their next "update"? I might, because a free world is better than the one that exists now, but I know that it would cost me market share. Microsoft also uses stupid file formats, DRM, and every other kind of incompatibility to make being free a difficult thing. The result is that their product does not work, but even that they use to their advantage by arguing for ISP restrictions and other stupid crap that again makes it hard to be free.
The world will be a much better place when M$ goes away.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
A group of persons engaged in trying to influence legislators or other public officials in favor of a specific cause.
In the Great Republic, government is driven by the lobby. It is a mistake to believe that elected officials implement the will of the public. Most affect comes from the lobby groups.
Those persons elected get wined, dined, and otherwise gladhanded to by the lobbyists and in turn "lend an ear" and possibly promote their position.
So why is this news? The NRA, Tobacco companies, farmers/producers of xyz, oil companies, ad nauseum have been pressing issues since inception of the Great Republic. Why should Microsoft's lobby be considered any different from any other?
No revelation that there is parity between "independant growers/farmers" in the US and the open source/free software communities. Both end up getting crushed by the well funded corporate entities... What is the different between giving away IE/Messenger/Player and keeping commodity prices artificially low? Not much IMHO. Mindshare and financial musle is what its about...
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
Five years after running afoul of the Feds, Microsoft is more powerful than ever. Pushing a platform instead of products could make it stronger still. The question is, where do you fit in?
Lisa: "Mr. Burns, your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?"
Microsoft is successful because they understand how to open their platform.
Seriously.
Every other platform developer is too proprietary -- they're so afraid of leaving money on the table that they try to control EVERYTHING. They can't see the larger picture. They don't know how to monetize open platforms, they capture some modest marketshare and charge everyone to death to do anything on them, but ultimately they never become a standard, and the developer spends resources targetting yet another platform instead of making their products better.
Deep down, despite all of their shortcomings, Microsoft's a lot better than the alternatives. Read technical literate back when Microsoft was starting out -- there was a clear division between those resisting standardization on a single platform (for entirely valid reasons, I'll admit) and those who were frustrated by the high costs of targetting multiple moving (open?) platforms, or locking themselves into a platform that was way too proprietary to ever let anyone gamble on risky applications.
They defined the software product industry by striking the sweet spot, a balance between overly restrictive and unsupportedly open. Maybe it's because they have techies at the top of the company? Whatever. No one understands how to do this better than them. You can target Microsoft's platform and have a customer base of, what, 500-750 million PCs?
Monopolies aren't so great, but we could be stuck with far worse. Imagine someone took a cut of every e-commerce transaction?
Microsoft Bob !!
new !
with avatars !!
yay !!
yes it is a troll. google the text
it was pasted from a post in google groups
Boo-fucking-hoo.
"Our interests are to see if we can't scale it up to something more exciting," he said.
The article actually states "more powerful than ever"
"Our interests are to see if we can't scale it up to something more exciting," he said.
Is this come kind of joke?
It must be:
32. Defendant slashdot.org is an far-right wing Internet news website [...]
The value of anything is merely what others are willing to give you for it. Money can be backed by gold because gold has a value to others. Money can be backed by the US government because the country has an intrinsic value to others.
That's the whole problem, economic truths are not about feelings and opinions. It's not that gold has high value (you can't eat it) it's that unlike paper currencies gold stores value for the trade and barter that is normal and healthy in free societies. Paper money does not store value and is easially manipulated against the holders best interest.
If you don't believe me now, just wait about till october thru december of this year. The housing market will collapse, the global economey with it, and the bankers of the world will all panic and print money like no tommorow to create "liquidity" causing hyperinflation.
If you are heavy in debt, you are screwed and even moreso if it is for real estate. (that will likely be confiscated) If you give value to your national governments paper money or bonds, you are even more screwed than that. Give it all the value you want, it won't help you.
Tired of morons that don't check their site layout in different video resolutions.
I refuse to read any site that demands I scroll back and forth to read it.
I wouldnt put it past microsoft to tell hardware and software vendors that if they support linux, there would be repercussions...
I get VARBusiness here at work. Free. I've no idea how I got on their subscription list, other than probably my work address appearing in a list somewhere. I've never paid for it, nor is there a price on it or even a UPC/ISBN.
This issue mentioned above, came plastic wrapped with an add in "True Stories Of Adventure And Success" (sic) a Microsoft|Partner Program leaflet.
I trust them as far as I can comfortably spit a dead mouse.
The poster clearly expected linux to be no more than a free windows. Also programs that didn't work would have been windows programs. The poster plainly doesn't know the difference between hardware and software, much less what an OS is. My gosh, they expected tech support at an ISP to help with Linux.
I once had a tech support conversation of substantially the following gist:
TS: We don't support linux.
Me: Darn. BTW, what do you servers run?
TS: Linux.
Me: ????
Me: O--K, but anyway, I just need the DNS and default gateway addresses.
TS: Why do you want those?
Me: So I can set up my system?
TS: Oh.
Tech support is almost pointless these days anyway. Basically, they talk you through screen a decent manual could explain. Especially in Windows you need competent tech support because user like that probably own their own network.
I would also think that the author probably somehow installed an enormous amount of software from the cds the complaints about confusion. Windows doesn't do this to you since you have to reinstall each proprietary program from its own cds.
------ The only greater hazard to your liberty than n politicians is n+1 politicians.
You've never seen what an ATI-All-in-wonder card can do on a Windows system have you?
I'm watching a re-run Daily News with John Stewart on Comedy Central in overlay mode while typing this and acknowledging my grammar and punctuation errrors but just not really caring one whit what you think.
Basically, linux turns this card into a simple low resolution video card like your nVidia.
With my Phillips Thunderbird sound card I've managed to totally destroy four THX certified, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound systems from Klipsh and Logitech. Thank god I bought that really extended Best Buy warranty.
Linux doesn't support this card either.
Yeah linux boots, I've probably more linux boot cd's than you'll ever have, but it still sucks.
lettuce c, linux, thee derivative of Unix, which is the OS that the world's Phone Network was built on, and then the InterNet, is NOT > than m$??
There, does that make you feel better!!
I will gladly loose all of life's battles.. in order to win the war..
M$ cannot physically defend itself against a platform that is NOT competing against it (remember, gnu is free). Your reasoning is not only an oxymoron, it is plain moronic.
Sending attack money out simply shows how scarred and desperete they are, that when all-is-said-and-done, there is going to be VERY harsh (jail, etc) Justice meaded out to all the conspirators of fraud in m$.
Your right, there are alot of eyes rolling out there, wondering about your comment and why your not in a nut house. :)
I will gladly loose all of life's battles.. in order to win the war..
Apple, IBM, and Oracle are also members of BSA. So BSA is not just a Microsoft proxy like that foundation that put out pro-M$ white papers during the antitrust hearings.
The biggest problem for OSS on the hill is that there is not a lot of money to pay for people to travel to the hill and take folks to lunch. Forget Abramoff and the like. It still costs something to get to DC and meet people. It costs money and takes time to do research and write something useful for a hill staffer. There are plenty of lobbying excesses, but information is still not a cost free good. Why should we expect it to be free just because it relates to stuff we care about?
Finally, It's nice to see a lot of this stuff pulled together, but it would be even nicer if the writer had gotten more facts straight. Just one example: Leahy is now the ranking minority member, not the chairman of the Judiciary committee.
-John Van Voorhis
Granted, free-as-in-beer is the best case scenario. You sound like someone at my level of expertise, though, for whom it might be worthwhile to spend $60 every year for ALL your software needs on a copy of SuSE professional. I have no ties to this company, but the Yast admin tool made setting up a network and fileserver with samba sharing really pretty easy. No conf or config files.
-Mean Joe
is wow - what an article -
Why does our government continue to work for the corporations instead of for the people - I guess money is everything and maybe someday our big fat country will get off of it collective big fat arse and do something about it. Our digital rights are being stripped from us right in front of our own eyes and no one gives a crap except for the people that realize it is happening. It WILL come back to bite us someday and bite us bigtime.
Happy fourth of July everyone and happy birthday America!
The basic premise that economics is based on is that we all act self-interested and by doing so we are ALL better off and the world becomes a better place.
Ah, spoken like someone who knows Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" . I'd like to reread it. Another good book along those lines is Natural Capitalism .
Something else I've wondered..... If everyone dropped proprietary software and went to Open Source, what would all these developers do to pay the bills and put food on the table? If it weren't for commercial companies willing to pay developers a salary so they can pay their bills, they wouldn't be able to develop other stuff for free. Or will everyone live off of Open Source bounties and "Donate" buttons?
Are you saying FOSS programmer don't get paid unless someone donates? Though it's a drop in the bucket compared to MS RedHat reported $12.4 million in earnings this past quarter. I wouldn't exactly say they are starving. Novell wouldn't of bought SUSE if they didn't think they could make money.
Should there be a Law?
Per an article in Reason about this, Paypal will suspend your account if you link to those videos and they find out about it.
What issue of "Reason" did this appear in? Though I'm a pretty regular reader I don't recall reading anything of it.
FaclonShould there be a Law?
follow the Gates Foundation money.
Bill didn't give that Foundation twenty billion for "charity". Follow the investments of that Foundation and see where the influence follows.
It's about time somebody started researching just how big of an asshole Bill Gates really is behind the scenes. Let's not let the fact that he's an asshole up front distract us from the real assholery.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
True.. I haven't had time to look at it much but should have made mention. I don't know offhand how it compares to PostgresQL, though I've little doubt it is ahead of MySQL in most areas. :) Good luck learning it.
Thanks.
FalconShould there be a Law?
So we have a commodity metal, where the demand has vanished, the global supply is constantly expanding with ever cheaper installments. Which direction is the price going? Only down.
Are you for real? With comments like that, it's no wonder the economy is going to crash. You do realise that is *exactly* what they said in 1971 just after they unlinked the gold from the dollar and right before it went from $35 to $800 per ounce over the next 10 years.
Gold has still only been increasing in circulation by about 1% per year no matter how efficient the mining process is. The dollar has been increasing in circulation by 4-7 percent per year.
So we have a currency, where the demand has vanished, the global supply is constantly expanding with ever cheaper installments. Which direction is the price going? Only down.
You will look awfully foolish as gold goes to well well over $1200 per ounce during the next few years.
I don't argue that there are indirect ways a company can make money via Open Source software and can, therefore, pay some programmers. But you have to admit that the number of people getting paid to do Open Source software is a very small percentage of the total number of people writing Open Source software. That's where my point lies. I'm not convinced that you can have OSS without proprietary software companies giving the programmers day jobs so they can work on their pet projects at night. Someone else made the point that most software developers code for companies internally. That may be the answer. Are there enough companies out there with such specific requirements that OSS wouldn't work for them and therefore they could employ all of the programmers that don't work for companies like Red Hat? I don't know. I'm just throwing it all out there for discussion.
The way I look at it is that there's a place for both propietary software and for FOSS. Something I've read here and elsewhere is that working on a FOSS project can be helpful, especially for students or those trying to break into programming, where otherwise they couldn't get experience they could with FOSS. Some here have said what they do when they are looking to hire they will Google or otherwise look up a potential applicant to see what projects they've worked on. For someone like me, who's in school and doesn't have any experience this can be helpful in getting a job.
Falcon
Ooh, on CNN just now they're talking about Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She is resigning from the Supreme Court.
Should there be a Law?
I agree. It's tiring to hear the FOSS zealots go on and on about the elimination of proprietary software in favor of the much more moral OSS. Then love will flow throughout the world and we will all hold hands and sing "We are the world".
I like the OSS movement. I think it's great, and like you said, it provides for opportunities to work on projects when you're starting out or on things you wouldn't otherwise get a chance to do. I just don't get into this "We are good, you are bad" garbage.
PS, with Justice O'Connor retiring, the battle begins. All the distress this announcement is causing just goes to prove that the Supreme Court has usurped WAY too much power. I don't think the founders wanted the choosing of a justice of the court to overshadow just about anything else happening within governemtn.
www.joshferguson.org
Unforunately all too often "I'm good, you're bad" is so prevalant.
PS, with Justice O'Connor retiring, the battle begins.
The hard part I think will be if Bush is a uniter or a divider. No matter who he nominates he will get some grief. If he nominates someone too "conservative" then there will be a big outcrying from the "liberals" and filibusters galor, whereas if he chooses someone that leans the other way which I think is highly unlikely, then the right, er "conservatives" will be mad at him. This one though he can survive as he can't run again. The best he can do is nominate someone in the center, I'd like to see a strict constitutionalist who will keep the feds within their bounds.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Agreed. What's important isn't what their personal political beliefs are but how they interpret the constitution. They shouldn't invent things in there that aren't. It says what it says. Let legislators make law, not the courts.
While judges shouldn't "legislate" they should determine if a law is constitutional, ie the courts are the third leg of the stool making it stable.
FalconShould there be a Law?
Unix and Linux share no source, are implemented differently, and your trolls would be more effective if you could write a clear sentence. Alas...
Unix and Linux share no source,
WOW, YOU'RE SMART!! (L)inux (I)s (N)not (U)ni(X)!!
Your argument would be great, but you're arguing with yourself because I never said they were exactly *the same* (you dumbo)
are implemented differently,
Excuse me, there are more Linux servers than pure Unix (whatever that is-- since there isn't any more pure Unix).
and your trolls would be more effective if you could write a clear sentence.
u mustb preddy boared critikueing *innerNut* gramma!!
Alas...
yes, Mr. Coward, alas! amazing!!You are about the only one I ever heard of that thinks linux was not an offshoot of unix in any way shape or form!!
you are either dilutional or a kike, probably both!! LOL!!
I will gladly loose all of life's battles.. in order to win the war..