Just so everyone knows, both sites run Drupal, an open source content management system (CMS) that is written in PHP and runs on *NIX flavors, Windows, PostrgreSQL and MySQL.
Just like you do not care what software your bank runs, whether it is open or closed source, whether it is a mainframe OS, UNIX based or Windows, I do not care what my tax service runs on.
Therefore, I go to Quick Tax Web (Canadian version), and use FireFox, and it works like a charm.
At 19.99$ plus taxes, it is cheaper than the 39.99$ that you pay for Quick Tax for Windows. Early bird offers make it 14.99$.
So cheaper, and O.S. agnostic. What more could I ask for?
Them being Wahhabi has nothing to do with the quest for independance, or using terror tactics. Last time I checked, the IRA and ETA were not Wahhabi either. Both being Catholic does not mean that Catholicism is inherently violent.
Also, what does "obscurantist" have to do with anything? Do you think Saudis do not use cell phones, computers or the internet?
Attacking software companies and call center is not attacking technology because presumably Wahhabis are anti-technology, it is simply attacking one of India's visible economic strengths, so as to hurt the economy in an area that Western countries import (i.e. outsource). Hence they will get media coverage and scare future investors from India.
Many words have lost their original meaning in contemporary discourse, no thanks to the media, such as "terrorist", "insurgent", "Wahhabi", "Islamist", "Patriot", "Homeland Security",...etc. They are overused to oblivion.
Let us forget the streotypes and media ignorance/bias for a bit and seek more rational and logical explanations.
There is no question that some of the open source software that is out there -- such as the Linux kernel itself -- has got patent violations in there. That is acknowledged.
This looks to me like the FUD we have been hearing for a while now. This kind of repetitive rhetoric (argumentum ad nauseum) serves one purpose: to instill in the minds of decision makes in the IT industry (those who hold the strings of the pruse, or those who recommend purchases to them) that they are at risk if they chose Linux.
If there are violations let us see them! Show us!
The worse that can happen is those portions will be recoded to be patent free in days or weeks.
Many above have mentioned that Shared Source is a one way system. It only benefits the owner (Microsoft), by having lots of eyes (and brains) on their code.
Ingres source was also opened recently. It did not do them much good. Hope that Microsoft learns the lesson there.
This is mainly a PR ploy: they want to say that they are "open" too, and they are putting out the source like others do, so they are like Linux et. al.
I am not sure how the movie was delivered to the movie, but I vividly remember that I was close to the screen (crowded theatre), and seeing the pixels on some scenes, like on a low res monitor. Another guy told me that he too saw the pixels.
Perhaps for the UK, it makes sense to truck the movie on hard disk, since distances are not that great. For US and Canada, this may not be practical.
Regarding "they bought free code", I think it is not what this is about. My guess would be that they bought a brand, marketshare, geographical penetration, and minshare.
Being a Mandrake user for several years, I am happy to see that they overcame their financial difficulties and are in a position to expand.
Apart from the botched 9.2 upgrade debacle, they have a distro that I can use for a Linux home network without spending too much time on it. I have four machines running Linux at home, and don't want to spend a lot of time on each configuring it.
They are also familiar and friendly enough for my kids to use it as their only desktop. They get to play their MP3, use FireFox or Konqueror, use Open Office for homework,...etc.
Moreover, it is also perfectly good as a server for LAMP, Samba,...etc.
Say what? I don't know what this tagline is supposed to mean. Does it refer to ICANN or the UN? If this was directed at the UN, they are many things, but arrogant is not one of them. I know the average US citizen has been turned against them by the media portrayal, but this is a bit too much.
Anyways, the idea that an international body handle internation communication is not new, as pointed to by the the ITU already in place.
In Europe and other areas, the local calls are not free, and this is how the ISP/Telecom makes money.
In Egypt, the internet is free for everyone who has a phone line. No ISP fees, no subscription (and no POP mail either, everyone uses Hotmail).
The trick is revenue sharing between the ISP and the telecom provider (either a government run monopoly or a private state-sanctioned monopoly). The per minute charge comes on the phone bill, and the fees are split by the ISP and telecom.
In the USA and Canada this would never work, since local calls are free, and no revenue to share.
Granted, most of it will be outside (wind, temperature, rain collection,...etc.)
However, some of it will be inside, and you have to plan where to put the sensors (think no sunlight for thermometers, barometers,...etc.).
If you want it linked to your computing platform, then see how you would run the cables (if it is wired that is).
Another thing you may want to consider is Home Automation (there are several products available, commercial and freeware, on various platforms). Check what features you want, and plan for the cabling/sensors
My first reaction when reading this headline is: If you did read the article Inside Al Qaeda's Hard Disk (bummer! requires subscription now), you will see that this very sort of journalism gives those people ideas to pursue.
The sensationalism that the media puts on some things can make these attacks a self fullfulling prophecy in a way.
Owned by an Arab oil family who's son died in the car crash with Princess Diana
Minor correction: The owner is Mohamed Al-Fayed, and he is a self made Egyptian gazillionaire, not a Gulf Arab. He has nothing to do with oil. He is the only member of the 'family' of El Fayed, now that his son Dody is dead.
I know that most people confuse "Arab" and "Oil" and these things, but it was worth pointing out anyway.
Two projects I worked on had to deal with 'inappropriate comments':
The first was when a reference to Black Sabbath (a music band) was in some comments. Normally, source is not given to customers, but in this case, it was a shell script, so it did go to customers.
Those who asked for that change were from the useability group. The guy who had to fix it was the archtypical anti-social nerd, but had a strange sense of humor. He entered an issue in the bug/change tracking system saying something like 'change Black Sabbath comment as per customer request'. The irony is, source had the CVS $Log$ tag, which caused all the fix comments of CVS to be in the source [no matter that I thought it was a bad idea, and that 'cvs log....' would get you the same info, a manager said "this is the standard here"], so the issue description got into the log comments, and Black Sabbath was there again! Ha!
In another case, we had a product that relied on an open source but commerical product. That product was developed by nerds who used programmers' humor all over the help pages,...etc. The customer was upset by the use of 'conversational English' in the documentation. We had to get someone from the technical writing team to rewrite those pages! Nevermind that the product was geared towards sysadmins and techies! Sigh.
Other vendors had their databases recently converted from closed model to open source. For example Computer Associates and Ingres, also IBM with Cloudscape (or whatever its name is now).
Sybase has offered their database (which was MS SQL Server way back when) for free too, though not open source.
So, why add one more thing to a saturated field?
As someone else said, why not take PostrgreSQL and pool resources around it?
This is where Bill Gates should step in and buy these things, thus preserving them for posterity.
It would be a shame if this collection is to be fragmented (although it is not by one author or decade) and sold to different people, and perhaps different countries.
Who else would be in the computer industry and have the money to buy all this. Unless it is Larry Ellison tried to one up Gates that is...
I am not a tinfoil guy at all, but could not help thinking about Microsoft 's deal influencing/directing/shaping Sun's decision to have its own sub-world of Open Source that would not allow innovations outside this sub-universe.
Now, the question is, did Microsoft influence it/order it? I hope it is not the case. Why Sun? Why?
Sun is an example of a fall from grace: from being the darling of the open source community (Java,...etc.) to sleeping with the enemy. IBM is the contrary, it has redeemed itself from being a monopolistic, arrogant behemoth to a major player in open source now.
P.S. I am under no illusion of simplistic "IBM is bad" and "Sun/Redhat are bad". These assessments change and morph over time, and companies, like people, and nations have their ups and downs.
Slashdot Mirror
Just so everyone knows, both sites run Drupal, an open source content management system (CMS) that is written in PHP and runs on *NIX flavors, Windows, PostrgreSQL and MySQL.
Just like you do not care what software your bank runs, whether it is open or closed source, whether it is a mainframe OS, UNIX based or Windows, I do not care what my tax service runs on.
Therefore, I go to Quick Tax Web (Canadian version), and use FireFox, and it works like a charm.
At 19.99$ plus taxes, it is cheaper than the 39.99$ that you pay for Quick Tax for Windows. Early bird offers make it 14.99$.
So cheaper, and O.S. agnostic. What more could I ask for?
How is this insightful?
...etc. They are overused to oblivion.
Them being Wahhabi has nothing to do with the quest for independance, or using terror tactics. Last time I checked, the IRA and ETA were not Wahhabi either. Both being Catholic does not mean that Catholicism is inherently violent.
Also, what does "obscurantist" have to do with anything? Do you think Saudis do not use cell phones, computers or the internet?
Attacking software companies and call center is not attacking technology because presumably Wahhabis are anti-technology, it is simply attacking one of India's visible economic strengths, so as to hurt the economy in an area that Western countries import (i.e. outsource). Hence they will get media coverage and scare future investors from India.
Many words have lost their original meaning in contemporary discourse, no thanks to the media, such as "terrorist", "insurgent", "Wahhabi", "Islamist", "Patriot", "Homeland Security",
Let us forget the streotypes and media ignorance/bias for a bit and seek more rational and logical explanations.
On the Canadian coupon, it says "This offer is only valid for the first 210 coupons presented for redemption at each participating store".
Why 210? I don't know. Even currency conversion does not make that add up.
There is no question that some of the open source software that is out there -- such as the Linux kernel itself -- has got patent violations in there. That is acknowledged.
This looks to me like the FUD we have been hearing for a while now. This kind of repetitive rhetoric (argumentum ad nauseum) serves one purpose: to instill in the minds of decision makes in the IT industry (those who hold the strings of the pruse, or those who recommend purchases to them) that they are at risk if they chose Linux.
If there are violations let us see them! Show us!
The worse that can happen is those portions will be recoded to be patent free in days or weeks.
Many above have mentioned that Shared Source is a one way system. It only benefits the owner (Microsoft), by having lots of eyes (and brains) on their code.
Ingres source was also opened recently. It did not do them much good. Hope that Microsoft learns the lesson there.
This is mainly a PR ploy: they want to say that they are "open" too, and they are putting out the source like others do, so they are like Linux et. al.
How else do you think we handle weekly deliveries and pick-ups? Air-drop?
I was thinking more along the line of electronically receiving them over the internet.
But, I agree, sometimes low tech is the most elegant and cost effective solution, not just technology for the sake of technology.
Perhaps this is news for the UK, but I recall seeing Star Wars: Attack of the clones more than two years ago, in a South Western Ontario theatre (Galaxy cinema at Conestoga Mall for the locals) that has DLP digital technology.
I am not sure how the movie was delivered to the movie, but I vividly remember that I was close to the screen (crowded theatre), and seeing the pixels on some scenes, like on a low res monitor. Another guy told me that he too saw the pixels.
Perhaps for the UK, it makes sense to truck the movie on hard disk, since distances are not that great. For US and Canada, this may not be practical.
I am not an investor, just a happy user.
Regarding "they bought free code", I think it is not what this is about. My guess would be that they bought a brand, marketshare, geographical penetration, and minshare.
Being a Mandrake user for several years, I am happy to see that they overcame their financial difficulties and are in a position to expand.
Apart from the botched 9.2 upgrade debacle, they have a distro that I can use for a Linux home network without spending too much time on it. I have four machines running Linux at home, and don't want to spend a lot of time on each configuring it.
They are also familiar and friendly enough for my kids to use it as their only desktop. They get to play their MP3, use FireFox or Konqueror, use Open Office for homework, ...etc.
Moreover, it is also perfectly good as a server for LAMP, Samba, ...etc.
Go Mandrake!
Well said!
Add to the list WHO, UNICEF, UNESCO.
from the gold-medal-in-arrogance dept.
Say what? I don't know what this tagline is supposed to mean. Does it refer to ICANN or the UN? If this was directed at the UN, they are many things, but arrogant is not one of them. I know the average US citizen has been turned against them by the media portrayal, but this is a bit too much.
Anyways, the idea that an international body handle internation communication is not new, as pointed to by the the ITU already in place.
In Europe and other areas, the local calls are not free, and this is how the ISP/Telecom makes money.
In Egypt, the internet is free for everyone who has a phone line. No ISP fees, no subscription (and no POP mail either, everyone uses Hotmail).
The trick is revenue sharing between the ISP and the telecom provider (either a government run monopoly or a private state-sanctioned monopoly). The per minute charge comes on the phone bill, and the fees are split by the ISP and telecom.
In the USA and Canada this would never work, since local calls are free, and no revenue to share.
Granted, most of it will be outside (wind, temperature, rain collection, ...etc.)
However, some of it will be inside, and you have to plan where to put the sensors (think no sunlight for thermometers, barometers, ...etc.).
If you want it linked to your computing platform, then see how you would run the cables (if it is wired that is).
Another thing you may want to consider is Home Automation (there are several products available, commercial and freeware, on various platforms). Check what features you want, and plan for the cabling/sensors
My first reaction when reading this headline is: If you did read the article Inside Al Qaeda's Hard Disk (bummer! requires subscription now), you will see that this very sort of journalism gives those people ideas to pursue.
The sensationalism that the media puts on some things can make these attacks a self fullfulling prophecy in a way.
No problems.
Owned by an Arab oil family who's son died in the car crash with Princess Diana
Minor correction: The owner is Mohamed Al-Fayed, and he is a self made Egyptian gazillionaire, not a Gulf Arab. He has nothing to do with oil. He is the only member of the 'family' of El Fayed, now that his son Dody is dead.
I know that most people confuse "Arab" and "Oil" and these things, but it was worth pointing out anyway.
There is another example of Open Source ERP: SQL-Ledger.
It is open source, and uses PostgreSQL as the database, not Oracle.
My brother uses it to run his business for years now.
He contributed the Arabic internationalization part of it. He was interviewed by the Egyptian LUG on that some time back.
Considering that it is the same company that did the Mars Rover software, this is a big thing.
For a company with such a high profile product to adopt Linux is only a good thing.
Two projects I worked on had to deal with 'inappropriate comments':
The first was when a reference to Black Sabbath (a music band) was in some comments. Normally, source is not given to customers, but in this case, it was a shell script, so it did go to customers.
Those who asked for that change were from the useability group. The guy who had to fix it was the archtypical anti-social nerd, but had a strange sense of humor. He entered an issue in the bug/change tracking system saying something like 'change Black Sabbath comment as per customer request'. The irony is, source had the CVS $Log$ tag, which caused all the fix comments of CVS to be in the source [no matter that I thought it was a bad idea, and that 'cvs log ....' would get you the same info, a manager said "this is the standard here"], so the issue description got into the log comments, and Black Sabbath was there again! Ha!
In another case, we had a product that relied on an open source but commerical product. That product was developed by nerds who used programmers' humor all over the help pages, ...etc. The customer was upset by the use of 'conversational English' in the documentation. We had to get someone from the technical writing team to rewrite those pages! Nevermind that the product was geared towards sysadmins and techies! Sigh.
I wonder how much simulation and testing you need before we feel safe about affecting an entire planet.
Yeah that too. But my initial reaction was: how much gas is needed to affect an entire planet in that way?
Sun would not really add much value here.
Other vendors had their databases recently converted from closed model to open source. For example Computer Associates and Ingres, also IBM with Cloudscape (or whatever its name is now).
Sybase has offered their database (which was MS SQL Server way back when) for free too, though not open source.
So, why add one more thing to a saturated field?
As someone else said, why not take PostrgreSQL and pool resources around it?
I agree with you that a public institution is far better than a private collection.
However, do they have the money? Do they have a chance to win the auction?
Bill G (or Larry E) is not my first choice, but rather a last resort, because he has the money.
This is where Bill Gates should step in and buy these things, thus preserving them for posterity.
It would be a shame if this collection is to be fragmented (although it is not by one author or decade) and sold to different people, and perhaps different countries.
Who else would be in the computer industry and have the money to buy all this. Unless it is Larry Ellison tried to one up Gates that is...
Just yesterday, I was thinking about what Sun has in mind with this OpenSolaris thing and CDDL.
I remembered the Microsoft/Sun settlement deal, and the stream of Sun's conflicting messages on open source, Java, ...etc.
I am not a tinfoil guy at all, but could not help thinking about Microsoft 's deal influencing/directing/shaping Sun's decision to have its own sub-world of Open Source that would not allow innovations outside this sub-universe.
Bruce Perens has confirmed with Sun that this is the case.
Now, the question is, did Microsoft influence it/order it? I hope it is not the case. Why Sun? Why?
Sun is an example of a fall from grace: from being the darling of the open source community (Java, ...etc.) to sleeping with the enemy. IBM is the contrary, it has redeemed itself from being a monopolistic, arrogant behemoth to a major player in open source now.
P.S. I am under no illusion of simplistic "IBM is bad" and "Sun/Redhat are bad". These assessments change and morph over time, and companies, like people, and nations have their ups and downs.