I believe they did give a "good job, Iowa" in the story header. Personally, if I ever move down into the US, Iowa is currently at the top of my list for places to move to. Methinks that their high-tech industry will be experiencing quite a nice growth, especially if they also set up things to protect their citizens against the DMCA. Of course, Canada doesn't have either the DMCA or UCITA, which is attractive for tech companies, but the US courts have showed that they're willing to charge a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil for something that's ONLY a crime in the US.
As a note, IMHO, Bush is the lesser of two evils. If I remember right, not only has Gore taken bigger payoffs (for lack of a better term) from large corporate interests, there's rumors that the Chinese are also supporting him. And from some of the noises he's been making, I have every reason to believe he'll roll over at the sight of a green bill. Remember, the DMCA was rushed through when Clinton was president.
I personally read the GPL as soon as I started seriously advocating it for anything. It cleared up a lot of things I was confused about from reading summaries. One of the only really clear pieces of legal writing I've ever read.
I agree, especially about a book being easier to read than a monitor. I can spend hours reading books (even technical manuals, although not to the same degree). I enjoy it. However, reading documentation on the computer screen isn't nearly as fun. I find it harder to concentrate and/or read, and I have a tendency to skip major sections of text. Plus, its somewhat harder to find stuff. Especially if you're like me, and find things in books by knowing generally where they are.
Who knows, maybe they do? They're being awfully closed-mouth about it.;-) They should also try and get Dave Dietrich (not sure of spelling), creator of the web sites at Steelfalcon. He's got some very cool ideas.
Um.... About the GPL, I think you've not read it very carefully. First, a company CAN sell something that's lisenced under the GPL. However, they cannot prevent their customers from then redistributing it for free. They are also required to provide source code (AFAIK) through the same methods as they distribute it, for a "reasonable cost." So if they provide FTP downloads of binaries, they must also provide FTP downloads of source. If they provide binaries on CDs, they have to provide source on CDs (although they may charge the price of the CD+shipping for that). This is so that a company cannot steal a programmer's work, and then pull a Microsoft-style embrace-extend-exterminate.
Secondly, they can't get around the source-distribution by selling a service. The GPL (AFAIK) explicitly says "distribute" not "sell."
As a note, I would be willing to pay a reasonable amount of money (say $30-$40) for well-written software, and slightly more for well-written free software (because I get a bunch of extra rights!).
It sounds to me like Mr. Love is trying to find something to blame for his company's drop in value other than that they didn't really offer a good product. I tried Caldera once, and I seem to recall (although I may be mistaken) that they replaced a lot of standard free components with proprietary ones.
No. As Mr. Perens has said, he is fairly sure it was a mistake. This is by no means a "smear campaign." If you want one of those, look at practically any M$ press release about Linux and/or free software. This is someone doing something illegal and it being used as a reminder to others to be careful and make sure you know what the lisence says.
Yes, Free Software still needs a maintainer. Especially for official stuff. However, if the maintainer (say) gets in a bad accident and can't work for a month, someone else (or multiple people!) can easily adopt the project and keep going. There's the potential for code review, so if a million people use the software, and only a thousand of those (aside from the developers) actually read and examine it, that's still a thousand more than ANYTHING closed. And chances are that if there's something nasty in there, at least one in a thousand will probably find it and write a patch or start informing people.
You make some very good points. For the upgrading sources thing, I think Debian's apt-get system comes close. I haven't used it myself on a system, but have seen several people using it and seen very good things about it. Stick an apt-get upgrade all (I think) in as a cron job, and you'll update once however-often.
Excellent response! Pretty much exactly what I wanted to write. Slashdot hasn't (AFAIK) censored anything. Everything posted is still there for you to read. And your freedom of speech also gives me the freedom to ignore you completely. Trying to force me to listen is an infringement on my rights.
I know that the GPL explicitly says that there is no warrantee (sp?) on the software. So if you lisence under the GPL, you're safe there. Dunno about the BSD lisence, though.
-RickHunter
Re:You misunderstand. This is CmdrTaco's sandbox
on
Tech Stocks Tumble
·
· Score: 1
I wouldn't go as far to say that its CmdrTaco's sandbox. Surely Hemos, Katz, Roblimo, etc. also post stuff? I'd say its the "sandbox" of the Slashdot crew. They post stories about what they think is interesting or relevant to "News for Nerds." Then people comment on them. If you don't like the stories being posted, you can start your own site, or try and convince them to make you an editor, or find another reporting site.
-RickHunter
Re:Who Cares About The Vocal Minority?
on
Tech Stocks Tumble
·
· Score: 1
I know I'm generally happy with the content on Slashdot. Some of the comments that get moderated up I don't agree with (either the point of view or the fact that it should get moderated up). Especially the stuff that seems to get moderated up just because it bashes Slashdot. But the content the site owners provide, and a good percentage of the 3+ comments are generally very interesting.
IMHO, the entire free software "thing" is about individuals. If you start treating "free software types" or even "Slashdot" as a single entity, you're already way off base.
That thing about Reba West may explain some things... Must've been the same stuff Macek was writing when he was translating and writing. BTW, I agree with you about Macek. He did a decent job of tying the series together, but butchered them in the process. That said, we can HOPE that they got some people from Palladium Books helping them. Yes, the Robotech RPG's not the greatest, but Palladium did a fairly good job trying to balance everything and add some decent background data.
As for Robotech 3000, given the poll, we can hope that Harmony Gold has finally gotten a clue. And I know about the lisencing thing, and am extremely annoyed. Crystal Dreams for the N64 looked interesting, and according to their FAQ, Palladium books had plans for the RPG...
Maybe the suspiciously Valkyrie-like Triax submarine in one of the Rifts books was a clue?
First, with Free Software (or Open Source, depending on your views), there is the potential for review of the code. Whereas with closed source, you can only review the code if the company in question lets you. And most don't. With free software, chances are that if there's anything nasty in there, someone will find it. As for a security vulnerability in a binary package... If you're concerned about security, compiling from code is the way to go.
Essentially a denial-of-service attack, no? What would be really funny would be to put yourself solidly in the middle of the mass of people you submit. And, in your description of things that show you're dangerous, put "Spams Pinkerton Security Systems Dedicated to Promoting A Safe and Secure School Environment For All (Who Fit In).";-)
That's not to say that I like DoS attacks. For the most part, I think they're and immature and wrong way to get your views across. However, in this case, it may be justified.
As a high school student at a school where teachers often still give assignments with a minimum length measured in pages, the MakeItFit feature is wonderful. If I'm a few lines over, instead of spending ten or fifteen minutes trimming stuff out (and cutting my mark), I just tell it to MakeItFit. Also handy for when you're just one or two lines onto the next page.
For those interested in Robotech 3000 (which will hopefully be japanese-quality animation), check out the survey on The Robotech Page. And for music type, vote for Macross Plus or Macross 7 style
Lynn-Minmei (American Version) must die (or go mute. Either is fine!).;-)
I personally liked Lain quite a lot. Ditto for the one or two episodes of Starblazers and Captain Harlock I've seen. My all-time favorites, though, are:
Haven't watched Macross to the end, have you? Personally, I'd rather that she'd been squished in Episode 2, and saved everyone a lot of pain. In the American version, at least. The Japanese model might be slightly less irritating.
Although I admit that blue sky stories might have a slight relevance to news for nerds. I'm wondering how many people on here have been inside for long periods of time?;-)
Slashdot Mirror
I believe they did give a "good job, Iowa" in the story header. Personally, if I ever move down into the US, Iowa is currently at the top of my list for places to move to. Methinks that their high-tech industry will be experiencing quite a nice growth, especially if they also set up things to protect their citizens against the DMCA. Of course, Canada doesn't have either the DMCA or UCITA, which is attractive for tech companies, but the US courts have showed that they're willing to charge a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil for something that's ONLY a crime in the US.
-RickHunter
As a note, IMHO, Bush is the lesser of two evils. If I remember right, not only has Gore taken bigger payoffs (for lack of a better term) from large corporate interests, there's rumors that the Chinese are also supporting him. And from some of the noises he's been making, I have every reason to believe he'll roll over at the sight of a green bill. Remember, the DMCA was rushed through when Clinton was president.
-RickHunter
If you want to know the character of a man, find out what his cat thinks of him.
So how do you find out the character of a corporation? What its CEO's cat thinks of it? ;-)
-RickHunter
I personally read the GPL as soon as I started seriously advocating it for anything. It cleared up a lot of things I was confused about from reading summaries. One of the only really clear pieces of legal writing I've ever read.
-RickHunter
I agree, especially about a book being easier to read than a monitor. I can spend hours reading books (even technical manuals, although not to the same degree). I enjoy it. However, reading documentation on the computer screen isn't nearly as fun. I find it harder to concentrate and/or read, and I have a tendency to skip major sections of text. Plus, its somewhat harder to find stuff. Especially if you're like me, and find things in books by knowing generally where they are.
-RickHunter
Who knows, maybe they do? They're being awfully closed-mouth about it. ;-) They should also try and get Dave Dietrich (not sure of spelling), creator of the web sites at Steelfalcon. He's got some very cool ideas.
-RickHunter
Um.... About the GPL, I think you've not read it very carefully. First, a company CAN sell something that's lisenced under the GPL. However, they cannot prevent their customers from then redistributing it for free. They are also required to provide source code (AFAIK) through the same methods as they distribute it, for a "reasonable cost." So if they provide FTP downloads of binaries, they must also provide FTP downloads of source. If they provide binaries on CDs, they have to provide source on CDs (although they may charge the price of the CD+shipping for that). This is so that a company cannot steal a programmer's work, and then pull a Microsoft-style embrace-extend-exterminate.
Secondly, they can't get around the source-distribution by selling a service. The GPL (AFAIK) explicitly says "distribute" not "sell."
As a note, I would be willing to pay a reasonable amount of money (say $30-$40) for well-written software, and slightly more for well-written free software (because I get a bunch of extra rights!).
-RickHunter
It sounds to me like Mr. Love is trying to find something to blame for his company's drop in value other than that they didn't really offer a good product. I tried Caldera once, and I seem to recall (although I may be mistaken) that they replaced a lot of standard free components with proprietary ones.
-RickHunter
No. As Mr. Perens has said, he is fairly sure it was a mistake. This is by no means a "smear campaign." If you want one of those, look at practically any M$ press release about Linux and/or free software. This is someone doing something illegal and it being used as a reminder to others to be careful and make sure you know what the lisence says.
-RickHunter
Yes, Free Software still needs a maintainer. Especially for official stuff. However, if the maintainer (say) gets in a bad accident and can't work for a month, someone else (or multiple people!) can easily adopt the project and keep going. There's the potential for code review, so if a million people use the software, and only a thousand of those (aside from the developers) actually read and examine it, that's still a thousand more than ANYTHING closed. And chances are that if there's something nasty in there, at least one in a thousand will probably find it and write a patch or start informing people.
-RickHunter
You make some very good points. For the upgrading sources thing, I think Debian's apt-get system comes close. I haven't used it myself on a system, but have seen several people using it and seen very good things about it. Stick an apt-get upgrade all (I think) in as a cron job, and you'll update once however-often.
-RickHunter
Excellent response! Pretty much exactly what I wanted to write. Slashdot hasn't (AFAIK) censored anything. Everything posted is still there for you to read. And your freedom of speech also gives me the freedom to ignore you completely. Trying to force me to listen is an infringement on my rights.
-RickHunter
I know that the GPL explicitly says that there is no warrantee (sp?) on the software. So if you lisence under the GPL, you're safe there. Dunno about the BSD lisence, though.
-RickHunter
I wouldn't go as far to say that its CmdrTaco's sandbox. Surely Hemos, Katz, Roblimo, etc. also post stuff? I'd say its the "sandbox" of the Slashdot crew. They post stories about what they think is interesting or relevant to "News for Nerds." Then people comment on them. If you don't like the stories being posted, you can start your own site, or try and convince them to make you an editor, or find another reporting site.
-RickHunter
I know I'm generally happy with the content on Slashdot. Some of the comments that get moderated up I don't agree with (either the point of view or the fact that it should get moderated up). Especially the stuff that seems to get moderated up just because it bashes Slashdot. But the content the site owners provide, and a good percentage of the 3+ comments are generally very interesting.
-RickHunter
IMHO, the entire free software "thing" is about individuals. If you start treating "free software types" or even "Slashdot" as a single entity, you're already way off base.
-RickHunter
There's a reason I browse at +3.
-RickHunter
Divide by cucumber error. Please re-install universe and reboot!
-RickHunter
That thing about Reba West may explain some things... Must've been the same stuff Macek was writing when he was translating and writing. BTW, I agree with you about Macek. He did a decent job of tying the series together, but butchered them in the process. That said, we can HOPE that they got some people from Palladium Books helping them. Yes, the Robotech RPG's not the greatest, but Palladium did a fairly good job trying to balance everything and add some decent background data.
As for Robotech 3000, given the poll, we can hope that Harmony Gold has finally gotten a clue. And I know about the lisencing thing, and am extremely annoyed. Crystal Dreams for the N64 looked interesting, and according to their FAQ, Palladium books had plans for the RPG...
Maybe the suspiciously Valkyrie-like Triax submarine in one of the Rifts books was a clue?
-RickHunter
First, with Free Software (or Open Source, depending on your views), there is the potential for review of the code. Whereas with closed source, you can only review the code if the company in question lets you. And most don't. With free software, chances are that if there's anything nasty in there, someone will find it. As for a security vulnerability in a binary package... If you're concerned about security, compiling from code is the way to go.
-RickHunter
Essentially a denial-of-service attack, no? What would be really funny would be to put yourself solidly in the middle of the mass of people you submit. And, in your description of things that show you're dangerous, put "Spams Pinkerton Security Systems Dedicated to Promoting A Safe and Secure School Environment For All (Who Fit In)." ;-)
That's not to say that I like DoS attacks. For the most part, I think they're and immature and wrong way to get your views across. However, in this case, it may be justified.
No flames please, this is just my OPINION.
-RickHunter
As a high school student at a school where teachers often still give assignments with a minimum length measured in pages, the MakeItFit feature is wonderful. If I'm a few lines over, instead of spending ten or fifteen minutes trimming stuff out (and cutting my mark), I just tell it to MakeItFit. Also handy for when you're just one or two lines onto the next page.
-RickHunter
For those interested in Robotech 3000 (which will hopefully be japanese-quality animation), check out the survey on The Robotech Page. And for music type, vote for Macross Plus or Macross 7 style
Lynn-Minmei (American Version) must die (or go mute. Either is fine!). ;-)
-RickHunter
I personally liked Lain quite a lot. Ditto for the one or two episodes of Starblazers and Captain Harlock I've seen. My all-time favorites, though, are:
-RickHunter
Haven't watched Macross to the end, have you? Personally, I'd rather that she'd been squished in Episode 2, and saved everyone a lot of pain. In the American version, at least. The Japanese model might be slightly less irritating.
Although I admit that blue sky stories might have a slight relevance to news for nerds. I'm wondering how many people on here have been inside for long periods of time? ;-)
-RickHunter