You may be right about the monopolies, but in a proper socialist government (at least according to my views), art would not be a business (there would be no notion of copyright). People would not write books, music, or movies with cash as their primary incentive. Instead, artwork would truly be the voice of the public - not the voice of the corporations. I am getting very sick of the commercialized bullshit the media feeds us today (This is perhaps the reason I spend a lot of my time on sites such as YTMND, SA, IRC, and slashdot - where the voice of the people can somewhat be heard. In comparison, I spend very little of the say watching TV - perhaps 10 minutes a day).
Linux can probably never move to GPLv3 (or GPLv4) even if Linus wanted to because there are far too many people with a copyright interest in the code, some of whome will be deceased.
This is only a problem because Linus decided to remove the upgrade clause of the GPL:( If we adopt some other kernel as it develops (the Hurd, for example), this won't be a problem. Unfortunately that is a long while off, I think
We _are_ rebels. Rebellion is what brought the US it's freedom about 230 years ago (an many other countries aswell). It is time for a rebellion against draconian copyright law.
Whenever I hear the words pirate or piracy, I don't think of serious crime. I break out laughing. A theater near where I live has a sign that goes along the lines of "Warning: Pirates will be prosecuted." It has a picture of a pirate - complete with eye patch - with the circle and slash over it. I think that comparing moral otherwise-law-abiding civilians to barbarian sailors who endlessly raped and pillaged innocent villages shows the RIAA and MPAA for who they really are.
Looking back on this, it appears you're right. I guess it's clear I was in a grumpy mood at the time of my posting aswell. Can I buy you an imaginary interweb beer?
I remember I went on a month-long vacation once. Along the 6 hour car ride, my mom said something along the lines of "Ohh, I unplugged that computer with no monitor in case it started a fire." That computer was my server which was providing revision control for a few projects and hosting for a bunch of people.
Long story short: I spent the whole vacation paranoid of the several ways people would attempt to stab me over the internet when I returned. heh
RMS calls it GNU/Linux because Linux is merely the kernel and it takes a lot more then a kernel to power your every day computing environment. All of the utilities on your system - Coreutils, binutils, make, gcc, tar, gzip, and countless others - are the GNU operating system. These are not "Linux." Most of them existed in some state before Linux was born. Calling it "Linux" is like calling football "Argentina" because that happens to be your favorite team.
In my opinion, the time has come where you can again dump windows. I have been happily using GNU/linux as my only desktop OS for 6 months now (I've had no proprietary code installed - at all - other then my video drivers for 2).
I would have modded you as flamebait, but I chose to respond instead. Yes, the GIMP's current GUI may be unintuitive to people who are used to some different program (Photoshop), but that doesn't mean the program is so useless that it justifies complaining about it. I have found the GIMP to be fine over the past few years as it is. If you don't like it, stop complaining and pay excessive amounts of money and use Photoshop if it makes you happy. Who's stopping you?
On the other hand - thanks to the freedom provided by GIMP - people have seen that GIMP could use a redesign (and they are DESIGNING - inventing, _not_ cloning) and that's what appears to be taking place. Cheers to the developers who bust their asses with little/no compensation other then knowing they have contributed to a world driven by free software.
The GNU operating system is a much greater accomplishment then the Linux kernel in my opinion. Without it - Linux would be seen for what it is - an operating system kernel. You can swap out the kernel of your system and not notice any clear difference. For example, you can run a *BSD kernel with GNU (or the Hurd, if you're daring).
Stallman is the one who started the GNU project - to which, Linus contributed. Without his early struggle, we would not have free software as we do today. It seems that now, Linus wishes he had gone with a more lax license. His main disagreement is that he sees nothing wrong with the act of "tivoization." To generalize, he falls into the "Open Source" camp while Stallman falls into the "Free Software" camp. Both of them have made great accomplishments and no one is stealing anyone else's fame.
Also, if you read the article, you'd have learned that that RMS doesn't try to force anyone to think his way: "I respect his right to express his views, even though I think they are foolish"
Anyone who beleives in the ideology behind the GNU project would have no problems at all adopting the GPLv3. It adds additional copyleft restrictions to promote the freedom to hack - in addition to making a few important clarifications. If you feel uneasy with GPLv3, ask yourself if your ideals match those of the GNU project. If they don't, there are other copyleft and non-copyleft licenses available - including the BSD licence.
I'm currently a high school junior. I think I have found the value of the written word independently. I'm the only one I know who has read through Supreme Court transcripts, listened to or read speeches. I prefer reading over watching TV.
I'm probably every teacher's dream, but to be honest, I do not enjoy school at all (surprise surprise). All of the classes are generally boring and there is nothing I learn there which I wouldn't be able to learn on my own if I was actually interested in researching the subject. Last year I had a history class with a teacher who was an incredibly interesting man. Though I nearly failed his class, I think I learned the most in his presence then from anyone else. The class headed off on tangents quite often. We talked a lot about psychology, philosophy, government, law, and current events a lot more then we talked about the time period we were supposed to be studying.
I think the best thing school could do (unfortunately this is not what school ever tends to focus on) is training students for life. We are not databases, dictionaries, or computers. We are not meant to remember tons of dates, the definitions of exotic words which are never seen in speech, or to compute a dozen or two math problems every night - Especially if we have no interest in the information or it does not match our field of interest(s) very well at all. We are humans. We have things that we would rather do then study uninteresting subject matter or preform busy work. If there is anything schools should hope to do is to get us _interested_ in subjects, not spoon-feed them (and the mission of trying to get a student interested in every subject available - the way we are typically graded - is flawed). An interested student will learn things much more intimately then one who would rather be elsewhere. Those who are not interested in education at all shouldn't be in the building.
I know university is an entirely different ballpark, but some of the same concepts apply. I'm asking this out of my own curiosity, so a reply would be appreciated. Why should one pay (tens of) thousands of dollars per year just to be spoon-fed information at a higher level. If we are capable of learning things (we're human - right?), I don't see why we should pay others. The internet is packed with freely available information for anyone who is interested - and it costs much less to access. To my, university seems to be an obsticle that one must go through just to get a shiny piece of paper. A paper can't tell anyone a thing about your personality or the actual attachment you feel towards your field of study. It says you ware able to jump though hoops and have deeper pockets then many and that's about it.
Precisely! Right now the internet is a terrible mess. It is much to easy to get away with atrocious abuse of network infrastructure (ie. DoS, DDoS, Botnets, spam ect. ect). The ISPs truly don't give a damn. I have been the victim of a small handful of attacks over the years. I'll tell you the story you all already know. It is quite easy to be a complete scumbag on the net. Being DoSed is not at all a fun experience. It costs time, money, and inconvenience to put up with.
If I plow through Main Street in a tank and fire shells though arbitrarily passing vehicles, I will have my license removed and will certainly spend some time in jail. On the internet, abuse goes unpunished. In my opinion, people who abuse network infrastructure should be quite simply suspended from that network. All ISPs should invest a lot more effort in a counter-abuse department which can actively handle reports from the public. As for those infected by botnets, they need to be pulled over and have a stern talking to before they are allowed back on the net.
I am. I run *only* free software on my computer - with the sole exception of my nVidia drivers. Some of the games I play are Doom 2, OpenArena (and various mods), Urban Terror, Sauerbraten, and Warsow - all multiplayer. I find some of the marketing tactics in the gaming industry to be even more disgusting then any other software market. This disgust has made commercial games a huge turn-off for me.
Anyway, It would seem as though ATI is getting their act together. Unless nVidia catches up by the time I need a new card, it will certainly end up being an ATI. You can't loose with free software.
While on the subject of doom mods, there is one mod for the zdoom/gzdoom engine (which unfortunately makes it's home on the windows operating system - though zdoom does infact run on gnu/linux) which scared me shitless. Playing it was the first time I have ever been scared by a game. It's called "The Ghoul's Forest" and it works in quite the same way. You find yourself lost in the forbidden woods searching around. You are consumed by the darkness of night and the trees which surround you. You will weave through the forest, unsure of which ghouls are out on the prowl - knowing that they could be hiding behind any tree. The only thing worse then the anticipation (which does a lot of damage on your nerves) is when you actually turn up on one of the bastards.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. - 8th amendment of the United States Constitution
I do believe that that is the law of the land here. If you get pulled over while everyone else merrily speeds by, the law is blatantly failing. If you get thrown in jail for doing what everyone else gets away with, that is cruel and unusual... and excessive.
There is little difference from claiming someone to be a witch and burning them in-front of the town and when the RIAA makes an example of an old person or a 12-year-old by suing them for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I's cruel and unusual, and quite excessive. It's neat though that now vigilante justice isn't unnecessary any more. If you manipulate your bits in a way that some large corporation would rather you not, a law will be written speedily and the FBI will knock on your door personally.
That's the gap that no one has crossed. It shouldn't be the job of a VM or special environment, but the operating system itself. While UNIX-like systems are very nice compared to some of the alternatives, I don't think it is the only method of solving the problem at hand, which is allowing users to make the computer do what it is they want it to do. If you have a somewhat intelligent user, they'll point out that it is much more flexible to work with a full language like ruby then it is to work with a shell. When you are programming, you are provided an API you can use, while when you are just meerly using the system, you have a set of programs you can run and that's it. Even if you don't need glue to call upon language B from language A, you still need glue, the programs themselves, to use the functionality from the shell.
Instead of going the UNIX approach, if we look at it from the Lisp machine approach, all of the functionality _is_ available at the user's fingertips, you don't need a glue program to make a really low-level system call or anything like that. There are no boundaries. At the same time, imagine if making a notification show up in the console of your favorite shooter for ever tyone someone talks to you in IRC only took 2 or 3 lines in the OS's native shell.
Take a look at the TUNES project. This is exactly what I have in mind. (I've read some of their design documents after planning out my own "dream OS" and the designs coincided perfectly. no joke)
<blockquote>While fewer people are proficient at it, C/C++ will outlast us all for a language.</blockwuote>
While that is true, I think that as time progresses, the utility of C and C++ will fade as more programming languages develop and are better integrated with their host systems and each other. The only reason they are prefered today is that they hold a niche in UNIX operating systems that no other language really fits into. I have a sense that the long dead LISP Machines of yesterday may make their return someday, only with more ass-kicking power. (imagine C++, Ruby, and LISP coexisting peacefully without glue)
The sandbox many VMs and interpreted languages offer make programming more about mathematics and design, and less about paying attention to every last technical detail and working around oversights made in 20 year old specifications. Unfortunately, each interpreter or VM is off in it's own world and you need to do horrid glue work to get the slightest level of linkage. A large step in the future history in development of computer operating systems will be when the barriers of each language offering it's own ABI vanish and each program doesn't need to be a static black box any more. We have the cars, we just need roads we can drive them on.
Creating a duplicate law in Canada to mirror the already proven ineffective DMCA in the US is just one step closer to having a more American nation.
Hey now, there's no reason to hold a grudge against an American nation - after all, we know everything and are the most important nation in the world. You should look at us as an example. We didn't just decide that "just because piracy is inevitable doesn't mean it has to be easy." No, we we Americans were smart enough to grab everything. "Just because life is inevitable doesn't mean it needs to be easy (or free for that matter)."
Pay more attention to your older brother, soon you'll learn to think like us. Maybe someday when you grow up a little more we could have a nice exciting discussion on which country (which has oil) to invade. Make us proud, Canada.
I don't care who's definition you go by, this source code release does not fit MY definition of "free[d]" (as the article's title mistakingly claims). You only truly have free software when the source code is released in the spirit of community. This source code release is not n any means at all in the spirit of community. This is clearly demonstrated by the very first sentence in the license. This software, including source and object code, and any accompanying documentation ("Software") is owned by Caltech. They do not only hold copyright, they "own" it. Their choice of words makes it very clear (as if it weren't already) that their interest is entirely commercial, not charitable.
I agree entirely and have also noticed this. What I am not sure about is if it is the Bush administration, or if by replacing him, we'll just open up a new can of worms. It's a chilling feeling, I know, but I'm quite sure that when bush is gone, the world won't suddenly be a dandy place.
Our federal government fails miserably to realize that there are more issues then just Iraq. For example: healthcare, global warming, net neutrality, outsourcing, corruption, the patent system, gun control, our education system, and endless others. These ALL need to be addressed IMMEDIATELY and SIMULTANEOUSLY. Right now, our federal government is having a terrible time multitasking. Until the Iraq war ends in 10+ years, I don't expect to see anything fixed (but lets all continue paying our taxes). The level of incompetence found in our government today is just astounding.
Each day the reality grows more and more grim. If we ended up in a situation where a succession were to take place, I would join in a heartbeat. Even if it failed, it would teach the government what happens when it doesn't do it's job. (keep in mind that other then the issue of nullification, the Confederate States of America were fundamentally the same as the USA. They broke away over ideals, not for radical change in government).
The water provided to my town is offered by a company that goes by the name of "United Water Suez," A subsidiary of Sues, a company based in France. They had gained a majority of the stock in Argentina in order to become the water utility there as well, but at least the Argentinian government was wise enough to kick them out. The quality of their service is piss-poor. The water tastes like it is pumped out of a swimming pool made for kids undergoing potty training. Since there is only one water pipe that comes to my house, they have a monopoly that no one can challenge.
The system would be much better if it were owned, run, and controlled by the government directly. Net Neutrality is effectively a campaign to have the same thing come true for communications. I believe it is a wonderful goal. There is is competition in the communications business because everyone needs access to other people's lines, but it is already apparent that all of the telecom companies are already beginning to merge (for example, Cingular and AT&T). What happens if AT&T and Verizon merge? The whole country will be held by the balls for communications just as my general area is for water.
Now, I know no government is free from corruption, but at least we have limited control over the government, and compared to one huge monopoly, it is certainly the lesser of two evils.
Slashdot Mirror
You may be right about the monopolies, but in a proper socialist government (at least according to my views), art would not be a business (there would be no notion of copyright). People would not write books, music, or movies with cash as their primary incentive. Instead, artwork would truly be the voice of the public - not the voice of the corporations. I am getting very sick of the commercialized bullshit the media feeds us today (This is perhaps the reason I spend a lot of my time on sites such as YTMND, SA, IRC, and slashdot - where the voice of the people can somewhat be heard. In comparison, I spend very little of the say watching TV - perhaps 10 minutes a day).
Fuck Capitalism!
warning: you probably do not want to follow this link if by some chance you don't already know what it is.
It means THIS!
We _are_ rebels. Rebellion is what brought the US it's freedom about 230 years ago (an many other countries aswell). It is time for a rebellion against draconian copyright law.
Whenever I hear the words pirate or piracy, I don't think of serious crime. I break out laughing. A theater near where I live has a sign that goes along the lines of "Warning: Pirates will be prosecuted." It has a picture of a pirate - complete with eye patch - with the circle and slash over it. I think that comparing moral otherwise-law-abiding civilians to barbarian sailors who endlessly raped and pillaged innocent villages shows the RIAA and MPAA for who they really are.
Looking back on this, it appears you're right. I guess it's clear I was in a grumpy mood at the time of my posting aswell. Can I buy you an imaginary interweb beer?
I remember I went on a month-long vacation once. Along the 6 hour car ride, my mom said something along the lines of "Ohh, I unplugged that computer with no monitor in case it started a fire." That computer was my server which was providing revision control for a few projects and hosting for a bunch of people.
Long story short: I spent the whole vacation paranoid of the several ways people would attempt to stab me over the internet when I returned. heh
I listen to the radio.
RMS calls it GNU/Linux because Linux is merely the kernel and it takes a lot more then a kernel to power your every day computing environment. All of the utilities on your system - Coreutils, binutils, make, gcc, tar, gzip, and countless others - are the GNU operating system. These are not "Linux." Most of them existed in some state before Linux was born. Calling it "Linux" is like calling football "Argentina" because that happens to be your favorite team.
In my opinion, the time has come where you can again dump windows. I have been happily using GNU/linux as my only desktop OS for 6 months now (I've had no proprietary code installed - at all - other then my video drivers for 2).
I would have modded you as flamebait, but I chose to respond instead. Yes, the GIMP's current GUI may be unintuitive to people who are used to some different program (Photoshop), but that doesn't mean the program is so useless that it justifies complaining about it. I have found the GIMP to be fine over the past few years as it is. If you don't like it, stop complaining and pay excessive amounts of money and use Photoshop if it makes you happy. Who's stopping you?
On the other hand - thanks to the freedom provided by GIMP - people have seen that GIMP could use a redesign (and they are DESIGNING - inventing, _not_ cloning) and that's what appears to be taking place. Cheers to the developers who bust their asses with little/no compensation other then knowing they have contributed to a world driven by free software.
You are a blind idiot.
The GNU operating system is a much greater accomplishment then the Linux kernel in my opinion. Without it - Linux would be seen for what it is - an operating system kernel. You can swap out the kernel of your system and not notice any clear difference. For example, you can run a *BSD kernel with GNU (or the Hurd, if you're daring).
Stallman is the one who started the GNU project - to which, Linus contributed. Without his early struggle, we would not have free software as we do today. It seems that now, Linus wishes he had gone with a more lax license. His main disagreement is that he sees nothing wrong with the act of "tivoization." To generalize, he falls into the "Open Source" camp while Stallman falls into the "Free Software" camp. Both of them have made great accomplishments and no one is stealing anyone else's fame.
Also, if you read the article, you'd have learned that that RMS doesn't try to force anyone to think his way: "I respect his right to express his views, even though I think they are foolish"
Anyone who beleives in the ideology behind the GNU project would have no problems at all adopting the GPLv3. It adds additional copyleft restrictions to promote the freedom to hack - in addition to making a few important clarifications. If you feel uneasy with GPLv3, ask yourself if your ideals match those of the GNU project. If they don't, there are other copyleft and non-copyleft licenses available - including the BSD licence.
I'm currently a high school junior. I think I have found the value of the written word independently. I'm the only one I know who has read through Supreme Court transcripts, listened to or read speeches. I prefer reading over watching TV.
I'm probably every teacher's dream, but to be honest, I do not enjoy school at all (surprise surprise). All of the classes are generally boring and there is nothing I learn there which I wouldn't be able to learn on my own if I was actually interested in researching the subject. Last year I had a history class with a teacher who was an incredibly interesting man. Though I nearly failed his class, I think I learned the most in his presence then from anyone else. The class headed off on tangents quite often. We talked a lot about psychology, philosophy, government, law, and current events a lot more then we talked about the time period we were supposed to be studying.
I think the best thing school could do (unfortunately this is not what school ever tends to focus on) is training students for life. We are not databases, dictionaries, or computers. We are not meant to remember tons of dates, the definitions of exotic words which are never seen in speech, or to compute a dozen or two math problems every night - Especially if we have no interest in the information or it does not match our field of interest(s) very well at all. We are humans. We have things that we would rather do then study uninteresting subject matter or preform busy work. If there is anything schools should hope to do is to get us _interested_ in subjects, not spoon-feed them (and the mission of trying to get a student interested in every subject available - the way we are typically graded - is flawed). An interested student will learn things much more intimately then one who would rather be elsewhere. Those who are not interested in education at all shouldn't be in the building.
I know university is an entirely different ballpark, but some of the same concepts apply. I'm asking this out of my own curiosity, so a reply would be appreciated. Why should one pay (tens of) thousands of dollars per year just to be spoon-fed information at a higher level. If we are capable of learning things (we're human - right?), I don't see why we should pay others. The internet is packed with freely available information for anyone who is interested - and it costs much less to access. To my, university seems to be an obsticle that one must go through just to get a shiny piece of paper. A paper can't tell anyone a thing about your personality or the actual attachment you feel towards your field of study. It says you ware able to jump though hoops and have deeper pockets then many and that's about it.
Precisely! Right now the internet is a terrible mess. It is much to easy to get away with atrocious abuse of network infrastructure (ie. DoS, DDoS, Botnets, spam ect. ect). The ISPs truly don't give a damn. I have been the victim of a small handful of attacks over the years. I'll tell you the story you all already know. It is quite easy to be a complete scumbag on the net. Being DoSed is not at all a fun experience. It costs time, money, and inconvenience to put up with.
If I plow through Main Street in a tank and fire shells though arbitrarily passing vehicles, I will have my license removed and will certainly spend some time in jail. On the internet, abuse goes unpunished. In my opinion, people who abuse network infrastructure should be quite simply suspended from that network. All ISPs should invest a lot more effort in a counter-abuse department which can actively handle reports from the public. As for those infected by botnets, they need to be pulled over and have a stern talking to before they are allowed back on the net.
I am. I run *only* free software on my computer - with the sole exception of my nVidia drivers. Some of the games I play are Doom 2, OpenArena (and various mods), Urban Terror, Sauerbraten, and Warsow - all multiplayer. I find some of the marketing tactics in the gaming industry to be even more disgusting then any other software market. This disgust has made commercial games a huge turn-off for me.
Anyway, It would seem as though ATI is getting their act together. Unless nVidia catches up by the time I need a new card, it will certainly end up being an ATI. You can't loose with free software.
While on the subject of doom mods, there is one mod for the zdoom/gzdoom engine (which unfortunately makes it's home on the windows operating system - though zdoom does infact run on gnu/linux) which scared me shitless. Playing it was the first time I have ever been scared by a game. It's called "The Ghoul's Forest" and it works in quite the same way. You find yourself lost in the forbidden woods searching around. You are consumed by the darkness of night and the trees which surround you. You will weave through the forest, unsure of which ghouls are out on the prowl - knowing that they could be hiding behind any tree. The only thing worse then the anticipation (which does a lot of damage on your nerves) is when you actually turn up on one of the bastards.
grab it here: http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=15030
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. - 8th amendment of the United States Constitution
I do believe that that is the law of the land here. If you get pulled over while everyone else merrily speeds by, the law is blatantly failing. If you get thrown in jail for doing what everyone else gets away with, that is cruel and unusual... and excessive.
There is little difference from claiming someone to be a witch and burning them in-front of the town and when the RIAA makes an example of an old person or a 12-year-old by suing them for hundreds of thousands of dollars. I's cruel and unusual, and quite excessive. It's neat though that now vigilante justice isn't unnecessary any more. If you manipulate your bits in a way that some large corporation would rather you not, a law will be written speedily and the FBI will knock on your door personally.
That's the gap that no one has crossed. It shouldn't be the job of a VM or special environment, but the operating system itself. While UNIX-like systems are very nice compared to some of the alternatives, I don't think it is the only method of solving the problem at hand, which is allowing users to make the computer do what it is they want it to do. If you have a somewhat intelligent user, they'll point out that it is much more flexible to work with a full language like ruby then it is to work with a shell. When you are programming, you are provided an API you can use, while when you are just meerly using the system, you have a set of programs you can run and that's it. Even if you don't need glue to call upon language B from language A, you still need glue, the programs themselves, to use the functionality from the shell.
Instead of going the UNIX approach, if we look at it from the Lisp machine approach, all of the functionality _is_ available at the user's fingertips, you don't need a glue program to make a really low-level system call or anything like that. There are no boundaries. At the same time, imagine if making a notification show up in the console of your favorite shooter for ever tyone someone talks to you in IRC only took 2 or 3 lines in the OS's native shell.
Take a look at the TUNES project. This is exactly what I have in mind. (I've read some of their design documents after planning out my own "dream OS" and the designs coincided perfectly. no joke)
You cant put strings into a switch statement. What would you be hashing?
<blockquote>While fewer people are proficient at it, C/C++ will outlast us all for a language.</blockwuote>
While that is true, I think that as time progresses, the utility of C and C++ will fade as more programming languages develop and are better integrated with their host systems and each other. The only reason they are prefered today is that they hold a niche in UNIX operating systems that no other language really fits into. I have a sense that the long dead LISP Machines of yesterday may make their return someday, only with more ass-kicking power. (imagine C++, Ruby, and LISP coexisting peacefully without glue)
The sandbox many VMs and interpreted languages offer make programming more about mathematics and design, and less about paying attention to every last technical detail and working around oversights made in 20 year old specifications. Unfortunately, each interpreter or VM is off in it's own world and you need to do horrid glue work to get the slightest level of linkage. A large step in the future history in development of computer operating systems will be when the barriers of each language offering it's own ABI vanish and each program doesn't need to be a static black box any more. We have the cars, we just need roads we can drive them on.
Hey now, there's no reason to hold a grudge against an American nation - after all, we know everything and are the most important nation in the world. You should look at us as an example. We didn't just decide that "just because piracy is inevitable doesn't mean it has to be easy." No, we we Americans were smart enough to grab everything. "Just because life is inevitable doesn't mean it needs to be easy (or free for that matter)."
Pay more attention to your older brother, soon you'll learn to think like us. Maybe someday when you grow up a little more we could have a nice exciting discussion on which country (which has oil) to invade. Make us proud, Canada.
I don't care who's definition you go by, this source code release does not fit MY definition of "free[d]" (as the article's title mistakingly claims). You only truly have free software when the source code is released in the spirit of community. This source code release is not n any means at all in the spirit of community. This is clearly demonstrated by the very first sentence in the license. This software, including source and object code, and any accompanying documentation ("Software") is owned by Caltech. They do not only hold copyright, they "own" it. Their choice of words makes it very clear (as if it weren't already) that their interest is entirely commercial, not charitable.
I agree entirely and have also noticed this. What I am not sure about is if it is the Bush administration, or if by replacing him, we'll just open up a new can of worms. It's a chilling feeling, I know, but I'm quite sure that when bush is gone, the world won't suddenly be a dandy place.
Our federal government fails miserably to realize that there are more issues then just Iraq. For example: healthcare, global warming, net neutrality, outsourcing, corruption, the patent system, gun control, our education system, and endless others. These ALL need to be addressed IMMEDIATELY and SIMULTANEOUSLY. Right now, our federal government is having a terrible time multitasking. Until the Iraq war ends in 10+ years, I don't expect to see anything fixed (but lets all continue paying our taxes). The level of incompetence found in our government today is just astounding.
Each day the reality grows more and more grim. If we ended up in a situation where a succession were to take place, I would join in a heartbeat. Even if it failed, it would teach the government what happens when it doesn't do it's job. (keep in mind that other then the issue of nullification, the Confederate States of America were fundamentally the same as the USA. They broke away over ideals, not for radical change in government).
The water provided to my town is offered by a company that goes by the name of "United Water Suez," A subsidiary of Sues, a company based in France. They had gained a majority of the stock in Argentina in order to become the water utility there as well, but at least the Argentinian government was wise enough to kick them out. The quality of their service is piss-poor. The water tastes like it is pumped out of a swimming pool made for kids undergoing potty training. Since there is only one water pipe that comes to my house, they have a monopoly that no one can challenge.
The system would be much better if it were owned, run, and controlled by the government directly. Net Neutrality is effectively a campaign to have the same thing come true for communications. I believe it is a wonderful goal. There is is competition in the communications business because everyone needs access to other people's lines, but it is already apparent that all of the telecom companies are already beginning to merge (for example, Cingular and AT&T). What happens if AT&T and Verizon merge? The whole country will be held by the balls for communications just as my general area is for water.
Now, I know no government is free from corruption, but at least we have limited control over the government, and compared to one huge monopoly, it is certainly the lesser of two evils.