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CBC News Interprets GPL - Poorly

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-a-new-one dept.

frankShook writes "The Canadian news service CBC has up an article entitled 'Linux distributors scorn Microsoft partnership'. Primarily, it looks to describe the ongoing licensing saga between Microsoft and Linux distributors. It also includes a highly unique interpretation of the GPL: 'Open-source software such as Linux, on the other hand, encourages individuals to add to or modify software without fear of legal repercussions, so long as they abide by the conditions of the general public license, which stipulates that the program must remain open and sharable.'"

21 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm not too sure I follow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    No wonder you Linux-loving dweebs are so found of the GPL: apparently designed to obfuscate by overdone verbosity, it encourages misinterpretation. Christ almighty. Intelligence is GPL-incompatible; talent, as always, migrates to the BSD license.

  2. breaking news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    frankShook and Zonk Interpret CBC News Piece - Poorly

  3. Re:I'm not too sure I follow... by fm6 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ah, the old debate: is Zonk stupid or clever? Does he write lame headlines because he doesn't know any better or because it attracts attention? Is he Zippy the Pinhead or Bill O'Reilly?

    Personally, I happen to think that Bill O'Reilly is Zippy the Pinhead, so it's a moot point.

  4. speaking of poor interpretations... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
    Now, I'm not one to get a stiffy over a file system, but damn ZFS is making me hard. Consider: you have the ability to take a snapshot of a directory and rollback at any time. You can take a snapshot of a volume and rollback or peek into the past.

    # zfs create -V 10g tank/ufs
    # newfs /dev/zvol/tank/ufs
    # mount /dev/zvol/tank/ufs /ufs

    # zfs snapshot tank/ufs@20070406
    # mount -r /dev/zvol/tank/ufs@20070406 /ufs20070406

    # zfs clone tank/ufs@20070406 tank/ufsok
    # fsck_ffs -p /dev/zvol/tank/ufsok
    # mount /dev/zvol/tank/ufsok /ufsok

    ZFS is the future, and linux will become irrelevant if they can't quit pulling their pud.

  5. Re:Well, it may be inaccurate... by mqduck · · Score: 5, Funny

    They say no publicity is bad publicity.

    I think that only goes for show business. "Saturday June 24, Linux Users Eat More Babies" just ain't good for Linux no matter how you interpret the meaning of the title.
    --
    Property is theft.
  6. Re:I'm not too sure I follow... by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ah, the old debate: is Zonk stupid or clever? Does he write lame headlines because he doesn't know any better or because it attracts attention? Is he Zippy the Pinhead or Bill O'Reilly?

    Personally, I happen to think that Bill O'Reilly is Zippy the Pinhead, so it's a moot point.
    So you're saying "Zonk" is Bill O'Reilly's online pseudonym?

    That explains so much.
  7. CBC News = Repeat Offender by fonik · · Score: 2, Funny

    Aww, not again. This is the same genius news source that posted the "SPEED OF LIGHT FINALLY EXCEEDED LOL" article a few months back. Old Slashdot Article.

    They still don't seem very worried about their articles being accurate.

  8. Slashdot Article Criticises CBC - Poorly by cygonik · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Internet news service Slashdot has up an article entitled 'CBC News Interprets GPL - Poorly'. Primarily, it looks to describe the ongoing lack of capacity for Slashdot writers and editors to think outside of the IT world. It also includes a highly unique interpretation of summarization, and with great authority and sarcasm, classifies relatively succinct and accurate generalization as 'Unique'. ..which it seems to be, for the Slashdot crowd. :-p'

    --
    I am not an atomic playboy.
  9. Re:Huh? by fonik · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, it doesn't differentiate between different kinds of open-source. It makes it sound like all open-source licenses must conform to the GPL. Also, any license can be used without fear of legal repercussions related to the license as long as the abide by the license. It also doesn't mention that the software must be left open and shareable by placing it under the GPL. Has anyone mentioned that they called it the General Public License instead of the GNU Public License?

    It may be obvious to anyone who reads slashdot, but people who have never heard of the GPL could get some very incorrect assumptions from that one sentence.

  10. Re:I'm not too sure I follow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    That is, someone reading that part could believe that "Linux software" encourages users to freely distribute/modify proprietary software.

    Yes, I agree. I see it from this angle as well. I should also point out that I am retarded.

  11. Re:Well, it may be inaccurate... by grcumb · · Score: 5, Funny

    They say no publicity is bad publicity.

    I think that only goes for show business. "Saturday June 24, Linux Users Eat More Babies" just ain't good for Linux no matter how you interpret the meaning of the title.

    Yeah, but if you do a follow-up on June 25 explaining that they're terrorist babies, it's okay again.

    --
    Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
  12. Re:I'm not too sure I follow... by grcumb · · Score: 5, Funny

    So Zonk's real name is Maurice?

    Some people call him Maurice.

    Some people call him the gangster of Love....

    --
    Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
  13. Oblig. Dr. Who quote by jd · · Score: 2, Funny

    Leela: "They say the Evil One eats babies!"

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    1. Re:Oblig. Dr. Who quote by Mercano · · Score: 2, Funny

      As opposed to Futurama's Leela, who eats the babies of the people of Omicron Persei VIII (who's parents aren't what you would call friendly).

      --
      #include <signature.h>
  14. Re:Inaccurate? Maybe if you misread it badly... by Mistlefoot · · Score: 2, Funny

    If only there was a way to mod Zonks "article" -1 troll or - 1 flamebait...

  15. I propose an article for CBC News: by zaydana · · Score: 4, Funny

    Slashdot summary interprets CBC - Poorly

  16. Re:Second Post! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I PAPER, you LOSER!

  17. Re:Inaccurate? Maybe if you misread it badly... by jj421 · · Score: 2, Funny

    If only there was a way to mod Zonks "article" -1 troll or - 1 flamebait... Ah ... That would be Digg.
  18. Re:Well, it may be inaccurate... by ende_der_bescheidenh · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Saturday June 24, Linux Users Eat More Babies" just ain't good for Linux no matter how you interpret the meaning of the title. How could linux users manage to eat babies on Saturday June 24 when Saturday actually was 23rd? So there must be some kind of witchcraft or sorcery about linux, something wicked, and what's worse, it's even distributed open source. Sounds like bad news to me.
  19. Re:I'm not too sure I follow... by pairo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Secretly? His show is on Fox, that's not really 'secret'...

  20. Re:Well, it may be inaccurate... by alder · · Score: 5, Funny

    How could linux users manage to eat babies on Saturday June 24 when Saturday actually was 23rd?
    Well, you need to remember that news on Slashdot are often late, and sometimes they are really late (like several years). This is just another case - Saturday, June 24 was in 2006...